be that as it may, there's actually a growing movement out there called the "no 'poo" movement (no shampoo). it started, like most things, when someone out there with a brain read the back of a shampoo bottle, researched the ingredients, and then started telling everyone they knew, like "you guys. do you know what's in a bottle of shampoo? and do you know what it can do to our bodies? and we put it on our head every day!" and then those people started going home and reading their shampoo bottles and decided, something has to be done.
and there's a second wave that joined the no 'poo movement that was generated by people that just wanted to wash their hair less often. i mean really, it's quite tiresome. and most hair experts agree that every day washing isn't optimal for hair health.
that's kind of where i started out. my sister washes her hair probably 2-3 times a week. me? every day. by day two, i look nasty. my hair is very fine and my skin is oily. so when i was pregnant and had, like seriously, the best hair ever, i started going every other day. my hair had so much volume i got away with it. and it was long so i could braid it or put it in a bun and it looked totally fine (and on day 2 your hair is much more manageable with a little more oil to help it stay in place). i kept this going post-partum (and then some, thanks to shifting priorities) until those wonderful post-partum hormones kick in around 3 months and you break out like a teenager, sweat constantly, and your hair starts falling out. it really is a wonderful time. so enjoyable. then i cut all my hair off and started washing every day again. i experimented with "hair training" and dry shampoo, but it really only bought me an extra half a day.
then i saw the author of this blog on tv, who hadn't washed her hair in 3 years. like literally, hadn't done anything to it. rinsed it with water. how can this be possible??? do you ever watch movies that are set in older times (revolutionary war or victorian era) and think "well one thing that's totally inaccurate about this is it doesn't portray the greasy hair everyone must have had from only showering once a month." no? just me. well anyway, that thought is totally wrong.
turns out our hair isn't meant to be washed that much. greasy hair is just an overreaction of oil glands in our scalp to the harshness of shampoo ingredients.
but i thought (like most), i can't do that. the transition period would be terrible for me. i would be SO greasy. and i look terrible in hats.
but after some research i did start using baking soda as a cleanser on my hair during my normal shampoo routine. even with the more "natural" shampoos, i couldn't get rid of my persistent "scalp funk." you know what i mean? when you scratch your head and you are left with a sticky white goop under your nails? and the baking soda helped a lot with that.
then i saw the above blogger again on another tv network and so i read her blog. and she mentioned a baking soda/apple cider vinegar routine that she tried before she went water-only. i thought, hey, i know people who have done that! i've heard of that! so maybe i can try it!
and so i did. and i told very few people until now. and yesterday when i got my hair cut was the first time i had shampoo on my hair in 30 something days. i've only been using baking soda and apple cider vinegar (acv).
here's some things that i've observed. keep reading. some of them might surprise you:
1. my oily hair does better with a higher concentration of baking soda. at first i was only using a couple of teaspoons per cup of water in a solution. but my hair kind of had a dull clumpiness to it, so i upped it to a tablespoon. and i only use the acv once a week. if i use it every day it gets too greasy. you can experiment to find a good balance. some people find they need to use both every day with thicker, less oily hair.
2. my hair has become straighter. naturally i've considered my hair curly/wavy for the majority of my life. i guess with all the shampoo residue gone, i'm discovering my real natural hair? or it could be that it just reacts differently with different ingredients. it's still wavy, but less so. it looks like "beach hair" when i wash-n-go.
3. my hair has more dimension, and looks a little more strawberry. i dyed my hair blonde, and then red for a lonnnngggg time (for 10 years i never saw my natural hair color). when i went natural during pregnancy, i was disappointed with my natural mouse brown. but now, i'm getting a little excitement back. some blondes in the front and hints of strawberry. and that's not just because of sunnier weather. have you seen my skin? this pale girl is not "laying out" in her "spare time" (i joke because our new neighborhood's "pool committee president"--haha--stopped by our house to offer me a pool pass in case i want to "lay out in my spare time"). i like my shaded porch just fine.
4. volume! not something this fine haired girl experiences too much! but i've also cut it short so that helps take some weight off of it.
5. you could spend a lot of time at night doing wild hair styles to laugh about and show your husband after your toddler is asleep. my hair is much more manageable (is this kind of a broad term? i feel like it is), and what i mean by that is, it does more of what i tell it to do. fine hair usually just slips around on itself and falls out of whatever hair style you put it in. but now, i'm the boss.
6. my hair does not stink! baking soda and acv are both anti-stink compounds. they absorb and expel odors. now, my hair doesn't smell like a tropical passionfruit coconut flower when i breeze by you, but it doesn't smell like a 5 year old boy who has been outside all day. so just because i don't use shampoo on my hair, don't hold your nose around me like i'm going to offend you. because i ain't! mmkay?
7. i'm slowly going longer between washes. i started out using my routine every day. and now i can comfortably go every other day, and sometimes stretch it another half day after that. and i still rinse it in the shower so i can re-style it if i have bedhead.
8. no one has noticed. ha! in fact, i've had compliments on my hair. and when i tell (very few) people my secret they automatically put their hands in it and go "oh my gosh! but it feels so good and soft!" um, yeah it does!
these are two photos of me taken in the last month (thank goodness some exist, because i normally hate having my photo taken). i had not washed my hair on either of these days. you can tell it's not greasy or dull. it looks pretty good!
is it so weird that not putting 25 different chemicals on your hair can be better than just two very simple things?
it shouldn't be!
so now you know. crunchier by the day, folks :)
{i realize this post would have been a whole lot better with photos along the way, but i didn't intend for i to be a documented experiment to blog about. i just started doing it, and when i got my hair washed, i thought "when's the last time i had shampoo on my hair?" and i was amazed. but since i had it washed yesterday and i'm starting all over, maybe i'll do it this round and post them for you to see. stay tuned!}
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