Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Thing 15

Change my hair drastically.

Yesterday I was feeling feisty. 
Yesterday I was feeling daring.
Yesterday I cut my own hair.

After going to the bathroom, at work, I was brushing my hair and chop!  I cut it off.  Only about 2 inches, because what would that matter, my hair is past mid-back on me.  Besides, I was at work and couldn’t waste time playing salon.  In, literally, a moment of madness I pulled a few inches into a ponytail and snipped it off.  It was horribly uneven, but I didn’t care.  And so I went back to work.

Later that evening, after arriving home with enough time to shower before my Finance class, I decided to layer it up.  Standing there, dripping, after my shower, I cut another 2-3 inches off of my hair; following it up by trimming my bangs another 2 inches.


It was madness.

Why do I do these things?

In the end, no one else can probably tell what I’ve done.  But I can.  And I have such a huge relief!  I’ve not only saved money, but I no longer have split ends!  The last time I went for a hair cut was almost a year ago.  Seriously.  And now I’ve got the bug.  I now cut my own hair.  It’s very empowering.

You’d think that that would be my drastic hair change, wouldn’t you?

Well if so, you’d be wrong.

I hesitate to write this, but I’ve committed myself to doing so now, therefore it’s too late.  I’m keeping you posted on my triumphs and trials during 52 Things, and because of that I owe you…
 

This is something I will never post on facebook.
This is something I will (probably) never talk about with others in person.
This is something I judge others for doing.
This is something that will shock the crap out of those who know me.
This is something that if my sister reads this, she may never forgive me.

My drastic change…

I’m “poo free”.

Let me explain.
 
1.  I have pretty thick hair.  My hair has tangled awfully my entire life.  I use baby detangler at times to help comb through my tresses after swimming, bathing or showering.  It can be terrible.  My Mother used to call it my “rat’s nest”.  The Winter previous to this one, I bought Aveda Deep Moisturizing Shampoo and Conditioner; they worked wonders.  This year I went back to buy some and was shocked by the price I had paid, and was unwilling to pay now, for this product.  Almost 60 bucks for the two?  No way, Jose!

2.   My hair has been getting terribly greasy the day after showering.  Maybe that’s normal, but not for me.  It just meant that I was needing to wash it more often.  It’s probably not surprising that this wasn’t an exciting development in my life, seeing as it can be such a project just to brush it afterwards.

3.   Coming up during the Summer is my Family Reunion.  We camp.  When I say “we camp” I really mean it.  Meaning, there are not facilities of any kind.  Sitting outside in the hot Summer sun means dang, my hair will be double greasy.  Great.

All this to say, I finally gave in to something I’ve read a LOT about over the past few years.  Ditching shampoo.

I’m a dirty hippie.

It all started with me researching alternative ways to get moisture back into my hair.  I’d heard it said dozens of times in beauty magazines throughout my life and mayo, eggs, or olive oil and avocado makes a wonderful hair replenishing mask.  At the view of saving sixty bucks, I went for it.  I mayonnaise’d my hair.   I put mayonnaise in my hair and wrapped it in two plastic grocery bags for a half hour.  It worked BEYOND my expectations.  My hair had never been so smooth and brushable! 

My excitement was short lived as I spent the entire following day smelling like a sandwich.  It was so nasty.  In the future, I’d scrub the heck out of my mayo’d hair just to be sure it was ALL out!

But this all led to the final decision… the choice to try something that I don’t know of any of my friends doing.  So, my fellow 52 Things pal and I, went “poo free”.  Can I just say that I really hate that term, too?

For over almost 10 days now I have been shampoo and conditioner free.  All in attempts to improve my hair.  And do you know what?  I love it.

Incredible, I know.

These are my new friends:

Honey, baking soda, rosemary/rosemary water, apple cider vinegar, and water.

Instead of lovely foaming, sweet smelling, shampoo, I mix 1 cup of warm water with 1 tablespoon of baking soda.  I dump part of it on the crown of my head and massage it into my scalp.  I then repeat throughout my scalp till it’s gone.  Then I rinse.

Instead of, literally, a whole handful of pricey conditioner, I mix: 1 cup water with 1 tablespoon of ACV (apple cider vinegar).  I dump it on my head and drench to the ends of my hair with it.  I then let it sit while I wash, shave and whatever.  Then I rinse with cold water and am done.

I’ve recently begun a trial and error game of mixtures.  For scent I’ve added some essential oils to the ACV rinse.  They were alright.  I added almond extract.  Didn’t work.  I boiled rosemary yesterday and used the water for my rinse, I liked that.  And now I’m adding a teaspoon of honey to my rinse – shaken well into the ACV mix.

You know what?  My hair is so soft.  My hair is so smooth and has a healthy shine now.  I’ve noticed that the “grease” is already stopping.  My hair is brushable now.  My head feels cleaner than it has in the past, and I’m not kidding you.  My head always got itchy.  Not dandruff itchy, but, product buildup itchy.  It always felt like I wasn’t getting totally rinsed out.  Not anymore.

I didn’t expect this at all.

I didn’t expect to be using things that would make me judge others as a dirty hippie.

And my hair, it looks okay…right?


So who knows where this will go.  I won’t openly talk about it, because, dude, it’s weird.  But I may just stick with it.  I’ve already saved so much money just by using things I already have in my home.  And it’s working!

PROS:

-          healthy chemical-free hair

      -          no product build-up

-          less money

-          less washing of hair (within reason)

-          manageable hair

-          while showering, I actually feel like I’m cleaning my tub instead of messing it up!

 CONS:

-        I miss the smells that I’m used to.  My hair doesn’t smell bad, at all, but it doesn’t smell like I’m used to – like shampoos etc.  And as a result of it being so clean feeling, I’m less inclined to add products, sprays and perfumes.

-        It is undeniably weird.

-     I miss rich foaming lathers...


So there you have it.  I haven’t shampoo’d my hair in almost two weeks. 

And I think I like it.

I think that camping will be 100 times easier now.

Happy washing!

I swear to you that I don't have dreadlocks or bugs crawling through my hair! ;)


3 comments:

Tina said...

You are such a dirty hippie. :P

Actually, I was recently reading about poo free on pinterest or something like that... sounds interesting. Don't know if I could do it, but interesting just the same. Also, your way of doing it is way better than the way they described it.

Miss Taken said...

It's all trial and error at this point. Like, I just realized YESTERDAY that baking soda flippin' desolves IF YOU USE WARM WATER! I was using cold water and it kept separating.

And you're right, I'm such a dirty hippie!

BeeKay said...

Your hair looks lovely! This is something I might experiment with, just to see what happens. It's handy to know your "recipes."