Hippie hair

The last few months, I've seen pins and links floating around the internet about using alternatives to shampoo. After seeing so many articles, I gave it a chance. This trend is often called the "no-poo" method. Now I don't really believe that the ingredients in shampoo are comparable to poop. I was attracted to this trend because (1) I like the idea of eliminating unnecessary chemicals or ingredients I don't understand; (2) I've had to wash my hair everyday or every other day due to grease since I can remember. I barely have enough time to shower, let alone wash, dry and style my hair everyday. (OK, if you really know me you know that I usually skip the styling step. Whatever). ANYWAY, I was mainly attracted to the idea that I wouldn't have to wash my hair as often and have it still be clean (or at least appear so???). Also, the idea of spending pennies every month on my hair was appealing. I started this as an experiment and wanted to really give it a chance. 

Wanting to keep it simple (and sidenote: washing your hair with eggs, applesauce or honey just sounds crazy) I stuck with a baking soda wash and an apple cider vinegar "conditioner". Basically, I would take a tablespoon of BS and massage it into my scalp after my hair was wet. I would let it sit while I washed my body etc and then washed it out very thoroughly. Then I separated my hair into 3 sections and dipped each section in a apple cider vinegar/water dilution (2 tablespoons per cup of water) for several seconds. Then I washed that out thoroughly. 

Every article I read talked about a "transition period" where your hair gets super greasy but you have to hold off another "wash" until at least 4 days. (Otherwise the baking soda would probably dry your hair out). 

I took out the big camera every few days to document. Don't laugh at my lack of selfie skills.

 Directly after drying after my first "wash." It was super tangly after I got out the shower. And it just felt dry. But smelled like...nothing. (Nate will agree). VERY static-y. My thoughts: mmm, keep pressing on.

A day after my second wash (5 days after my first wash). Not too shabby. I never really felt like it was very greasy until the 4th day (when I planned to wash). I did start to notice a waxiness at my roots. I couldn't easily run my fingers through my hair at the base. 

Second day after my second wash. Not looking bad, but getting frustrated with the waxiness at the roots.

After two weeks since my first wash, I started researching the waxy weirdness at my roots. I figured I should be about over my transition period. A few articles mentioned that hard water can cause issues with the whole process. Basically, our (very, very) hard water was reacting with the baking soda and causing the dry, waxiness. (A simple solution would be to get a water softener but since our landlords didn't bother to get one while their own children lived in this house, I didn't waste any time on calling them). So I tried at my next washing what some suggested, making a distilled water and baking soda solution. I did exactly as suggested. I massaged this solution into my hair before I even got it wet in the shower. I tried to be really thorough. I didn't let it sit, I washed it out immediately. Then I did my normal apple cider vinegar/water conditioner. But I'm starting to wonder if rinsing my hair with water from the shower head just canceled out all the effort with the distilled water?

At this point, I was getting frustrated. I wanted to keep this simple but now I have to buy distilled water to wash my hair? It just seemed silly. But it did make a difference. My hair was softer directly after the distilled water wash. 

Now I'm on day 2 after my third baking soda wash (first wash with distilled water). And it feels softish. But already starting to feel icky. My hair is very static-y and very dry at the ends. I know I could use a trim, but the ends just feel and look awful. I did buy a boar hide hair brush which is supposed to help distribute the sebum (natural hair oils) throughout all your hair. It seems to help!

But gosh! I actually miss a thick, rich lather of shampoo in my hair! It's so easy and nothing to figure out! You just wash and you don't have to worry about the chemistry of your hair. But I did have to wash a lot. So I'm gonna stick it out a few more weeks to give this no shampoo thing a real shot. I think the next time I do a wash, I'm gonna kick out the apple cider vinegar and just use normal conditioner. And if I don't like this baking soda thing after a few weeks, maybe I'll look for a cheap natural shampoo. Or maybe a homemade shampoo? Or maybe I'll just go back to the fake stuff!