Day 58

Oooh! Two months this weekend! I feel much better today, back to what works. I did a BS wash, followed by an ACV rinse (1 tbsp in some water) and then the chamomile/ rose/ honey tea, followed by cool water. Ahhhh! It's just right today, not dry or greasy, but nice and swingy and pretty. Plus the super awesome bonus that I always have body with no product in it!

I'm going away for the weekend, so at least I know it will be pretty.

I don't know about clay... I read about Moroccan clay (Rhassoul) and French Green, but neither of those things are available here so I'll probably stick with what I've got. After all one of my reasons is sustainability and a lighter footprint on the environment, so I guess shipping stuff from overseas wouldn't qualify. I'm intrigued though! Especially if it's less drying!

I don't feel dry today, and I think it's because I did ACV after, a small amount so I'm not greasy but enough to balance things out. This may be the formula that works for me.

Day 54

Ok, today I used bentonite clay (from Death Valley... the only clay they had at Whole Paycheck). I put 1 tbsp in 1/2 cup water, mixed well- a watery paste. Put that in my hair, massaged well, and left it in for a bit while I did other shower stuff. I rinsed and rinsed... being worried that it wouldn't rinse well... then did a chamomile/ honey rinse.

Gross.

OK? Just, gross.

My hair feels dry and greasy all at the same time. I bet it just isn't rinsed out enough, because it has a sort of powdery feel to it. It also is evident that the oils were not stripped out, which makes me happy, but I feel like it's going to be yucky sooner before my next wash. I feel that when I rinse tomorrow with water (chamomile) that it will feel better, when I will likely get the rest of the clay out. It was not fun blowdrying it this morning though, it felt dry and was difficult to brush. This would have been a great day for vinegar, I think. Perhaps that would have even helped rinse it out! Ah, well, it's all a grand experiment. I'll try clay again, with vinegar, and see what happens. It will be interesting to see how the week plays out, starting with a less than stellar wash. Hmmm.

Day 53

This photo was taken last night, after brushing and then a water wash (it was pretty much dry by then). As of today, I still have not "washed" it since my BS wash on Monday the 6th. I wanted to show that it really isn't gross. It looks alright, even! Well, to tell the truth, if you comb it straight back, it stays slicked. It looks ok if I fluff it and leave it alone, as shown here. But you can pretty much position it where you want to and it would stay. I think this once again illustrates that the experiment would go differently if I had longer hair.

I would like to space washing my hair out even further, but it means I only have it in a ponytail. How boring! Anyway, I am not washing it until tomorrow morning. I bought some green clay (bentonite) and I'll see how that goes. I don't like how drying BS is so I'm hopeful it will be a little different, though clay has drying properties as well.

I don't feel icky, for going 6 to 7 days without a "wash". It helps that I brush every day and have done a water wash nearly every day as well. I'll admit I've been waiting for that magical period to pass where I suddenly can go forever without washing it, but that hasn't happened yet. True, I've been in a routine of washing Monday and Friday so who knows???

Day 51

I last used BS on Monday, with a chamomile, vinegar and honey rinse. Since then I've done a water rinse everyday, but nothing else... I haven't had time to brew chamomile everyday, but that doesn't do much but color and soften anyway. I usually do a BS on Friday also, but I was late today running my boyfriend to the airport, so there! Actually it doesn't look too bad, you can see it's a bit oily at the hairline but honestly it looks normal. I may just see how it looks tomorrow. I take it down and brush it every evening, and though it looks funky down, it's not horrible or nasty. On me, it looks now at day 5 how it would have looked on day 2 before.

So I haven't been blogging much since I haven't many changes to report; I was settling into a routine with BS washes on Monday and Friday, and rinses on the other days. I believe my hair is adjusting. I'm starting to see the gray sebum funk on my comb, as I have read in other people's blogs. It doesn't stink or bother me at all. My hair has tons of body and behaves differently. On day 42, a comment was left by my friend Ursula about French green clay, and I may try that, since I am distressed about how drying BS is. A new experimental piece!

Day 42

I ran today, so I did a water wash and chamomile rinse. I took this photo while it's still a bit damp (no blowdrying, I'm doing a ponytail today) but honestly, it's drying nicely and not at all greasy or stringy. It feels soft, normal, not oily or icky. I washed two days ago. I think it's getting better between washes. Once again I think, if it were longer I'd leave it down and see what it looks like through the day... but this in between length and ugly haircut offends my vanity. So ponytail it is.