Day 7

Well! I've made it through the first week. Yay! It's been interesting so far, though, because I have also stopped using heat to style my hair... and I hate it. Hate my hair right now- the style, anyway.

Although I went to the gym this morning, I didn't get super sweaty... and because I'm used to washing my hair only every other day, I didn't wet my hair. Yesterday, by evening, my hair had gone from the freshly washed look to somewhat stringy, so I ended up putting it up. It had some body though, and that was nice. Today it looks stringy but doesn't feel greasy. I wonder if that's just the sebum working its way through, and what's supposed to happen? I hope that it won't stay stringy forever, that it will even out. I like it to be smooth and bouncy and right now it's flat and looks oily, though it isn't (or at least, doesn't feel that way.) I think if my hair was longer it would look better because the top looks ok, the bottom where it was razored looks like crap.

Today's pic shows my style is all wonky, because of the flyaway ends due to the cut and because I had it in a little nubbie ponytail this morning to work out. If I could do a close up I would, to demonstrate that it looks stringy but isn't truly gross. I'm self conscious about it though so I'll be putting it into a little ponytail today.

Day 6

Actually, it was a week ago today that I last washed with shampoo and conditioner. I was using Aveda, and only washing every 2 to 3 days, so I feel I'm a bit ahead of the game anyway. This morning I was greasy greasy greasy! Yuck. I usually wear little pigtails to the gym (and it's not a fashion show anyway, who cares). Man, I have to say, it slicks back into a ponytail reeeeaaaal easy these days.

So today after I ran at the gym and got all sweaty, I thought it was time for a BS wash. Last one was Wednesday last week. I think that's pretty good! So as usual I brushed my hair well (never a tangle, these days, not that I have that problem). I get everything all ready to go, like baking soda in a cup, vinegar in a cup and chamomile tea in a cup, that I dilute with water while in the shower so it's not frigid. Today I tried a white vinegar/water rinse, I wanted to see if there's a difference from ACV. This time it was not 50/50 but 25/75. I don't like smelling like vinegar when I run. Anyway I did a vinegar rinse, then chamomile tea rinse and followed up with cool water. Invigorating! The photo here is this morning, after the wash, while my hair wasn't fully dry. It feels good though, not stringy or oily. Yay for BS!

Now my hair feels a bit stripped- sort of like when you shampoo and don't follow with conditioner. Of course, today was a BS day so that makes a difference. I was reading other people's blogs that ACV can make their hair feel a bit greasy and heavy sometimes. I wonder if white vinegar is really that different? The smell certainly is. The more dilute rinse seems better I think, less odor. I also got some lovely French Lavender essential oil (EO) and patted that lightly into the ends after the shower, along with some coconut oil on my face and ends. I only used the coconut oil because I felt like my hair was really stripped somehow, and I couldn't get my fingers through it- the coconut fixed it right up.

This photo is from the evening... it shows that it dried nice, but it got a little stringy during the day. Not really oily, I guess; maybe we (I) just don't know what hair would feel like if it were natural? Certainly if every hair were coated with sebum, the hair texture would change, be thicker, behave differently. Either way by mid-day, it was a little stringy and looked somewhat oily behind my ears. I had the top back in barrettes all day and that looked alright, and was glad I didn't have it down.

Day 3

Well, today was a little more challenging. I ran at the gym today, so I couldn't just do nothing as I came home all sweaty. So I brushed and massaged my scalp, and hopped in the shower. I rinsed with lemon juice (1 tbsp in 1 cup water) and followed that with a chamomile rinse- I made tea with 1/2 cup boiling water and added cooler water once it had steeped to make it more tepid. That was nice! It smelled good. At the end of the shower I could feel that the texture of my hair was different- a little more slick. Likely the natural oils coming through. When I got out I put some rosemary essential oil on my hand- a tiny drop- and ran it through my hair. After I moisturized my face with coconut oil I put a little of that in my ends, since they looked dry.

Once again I'm grateful my hair is still short, because that will make the process of coating the hair with natural oils much quicker. However... I'm truly hitting the ugly stage of growing out, and man! It was ugly today. I think my hair looks terrible unless I style it with a hairdryer and brush, which is something I've wanted to stop doing (hence growing it out). I didn't put it in a pony tail and quickly regretted that by mid morning, because I kept playing with my hair (tuck it back, let it down, tuck it back...) until I made it a little greasy. Then I got self conscious, which is never fun.

The photo was taken this evening, after I surrendered to using a carefully placed rubber band to put my hair back... so I have a pony-tail bump at the ends. The ends look a little dry and damaged, no surprise since I've been brutalizing it with a hairdryer all this time!

Day 2

Since I normally don't shower or wash my hair except every other day, I did nothing with it today (as usual) except brush it, for a moderate session. I wore it in a little weensie ponytail yesterday and it looked good, felt silky and shiny. I'm lucky I have nice hair anyway.

This morning at the gym, though, I could smell a vinegar smell- like those damned Cape Cod Sea Salt chips I'm addicted to. Hmm. I don't know if anyone else could smell it though, it was subtle. My plan is to get some chamomile flowers and some essential oils to make the whole thing more pleasant, scent-wise. I'm also going to be slowly and gently extending times between cleaning my hair (but not showering in general!).

Since I'm growing my hair out, I'm about to go through the ugly-no-style phase anyway so it's good I'm going to get all the uglies out of the way at once. While I can still wear a winter hat...

Day 1

This morning I went to the gym and ran, so I was pretty sweaty. I massaged and gently scratched my scalp, then combed my hair for a bit before jumping in the shower.

I "washed" with baking soda (BS) (one tablespoon in one cup water), massaged it in and left it on for a bit. Then I rinsed well, and followed with a "rinse" of 50/50 apple cider vinegar (ACV). This I also rinsed well- with water that was getting tepid due to my tiny water heater. That's fine, though! Cool water is better for the hair. After that, I did a finishing rinse of one tablespoon ACV in cool water.

In this photo, my hair is still a little wet- I'm not using the blowdryer anymore either, as much as I hate the way my short hair looks unstyled. I'll wear it in a ponytail until it's longer.

Why I'm going shampoo-free

A couple of years ago, I saw an article on line about a woman who hasn't shampooed her hair for 10 years. Her name was Penny. I searched, then, for information or articles on how to go without washing your hair... I mean, her hair was not greasy or gross, and the article stated she didn't stink or look funky. How did she do it? At that time, there seemed to be no information on the Web about it. I didn't just want to stop washing... but I had no idea how to get my hair back to a natural state.

Not long after reading that article, I went surfing on Cape Cod with a boyfriend. We camped for a week and I made the decision beforehand not to shower, at all. After all... I would be in the ocean every day, and salt water always makes my hair feel amazing. I did it, and felt fabulous! My hair was funky and wild, gently bleached by the sun, and was fun to play with. I have read so many things online about what it will look and feel like to be more natural and I'm psyched!

Recently I came across a thread on Tribe about the "no-poo" movement and started reading. There were tons of links about transitioning hair back to a natural state, and why... stuff about the chemicals in shampoo (a solvent, after all) and the health benefits of not damaging your hair. Not to mention the beauty!

Shampoo wasn't introduced until the early 1900's. Until then people didn't touch their hair with anything but soap, and only once per month or so. Plenty of poems and stories were written about the beauty of women's hair and so on... how is that so? What did they do before Miss Clairol?

Think about it... dogs don't wash their hair everyday. Unless they have food allergies or mange, they are not unpleasant. Or cats. Or horses. Or anything else that just lives naturally and is covered in fur/ hair.

So here in this blog I am going to track my own progress, what I'm using and how it's going. I have short hair that I've been growing out for the past few months, so this is the perfect time... my hair's still short enough to get the natural oils (sebum) down to the ends in a quick amount of time without too much torture.

I'm excited about this! I've been trying to get back to living a more pure and natural life anyway, and this seems to be the way to go. I'll save lots of money on avoiding hair products, and save the environment by not dumping tons of solvents down the drain.

I am going to blog daily about this, and include pictures and a log of what I use. This is purely selfish, so that I can keep track of what does and doesn't work.

Here are some links to what I've been reading:
http://web.mac.com/jfmori/iWeb/nz/No%20Shampoo%20Experiment/No%20Shampoo%20Experiment.html
http://babyslime.livejournal.com/174054.html
http://www.naturalfamilyonline.com/go/index.php/389/why-you-should-go-no-poo/
http://community.livejournal.com/no_poo