Curl While You Sleep!

I've been hearing a lot about headband curls, and I tried them out.  I started by cutting off the bottom of an old tank top and wrapping it around my head twice.

Then I started twisting the hair around the headband until it was all wrapped up.

 Then I went to sleep!  It was not uncomfortable to sleep on at all, and although I did have some lines on my forehead when I woke up, they went away pretty quickly.  Here's how it turned out:

I'm actually pretty impressed since my hair usually doesn't hold curl very well.  I will say one side definitely curled better than the other, but I'm chalking that up to my twisting/wrapping ability which I'm sure I will improve on.  Next hair experiment: plopping.

Low Rider

The DWV didn't make any difference (that I could notice).  I decided to try "low-poo" as opposed to no-poo.  I figure, as long as your hair is still healthy (free of parabens, sulfates, silicones) and happy, then that's what we're aiming for right?  I strolled on down to our local Whole Foods Co-Op (not associated with the chain Whole Foods Market) to check out what they have in the way of hair care.  I purchased these travel sized Alaffia products:

(Sorry they're not right-side up)

I thought it was really handy they had travel sizes because if it turns out I don't like it, not too much wasted.  The shampoo does not lather really at all, which I consider a good thing, since most lathering agents are detergents that are harmful to your hair.  However that means I kind of use a lot of it to make sure it gets all over my hair.  I'm not in love with the scent, it's an orangey smell, but it's very light and once rinsed out it's barely there.  I may try another brand once these run out, called Nature's Gate.  Here's a link to a Facebook post about low-poo and lists low-poo products.  I'm pretty well convinced low-poo is for me mostly because I'm too lazy to do all the experimenting that no-poo requires (let's just be honest, eh?)

Rotten Eggs

I'm starting to get frustrated.  My hair is limp and stringy, even later on in the day of day one post-wash!  I tried an egg wash (note: I did not use rotten eggs. It was only a month past the sell-by date.. that's okay, right?) My hair was not a fan of this.  Not only was it quite awkward to try and get it on my hair, but my hair felt waxy and sticky afterward.  Here's a note to anyone who wants to try an egg wash: use cold water.  Really cold water.  Raw egg + heat = scrambled eggs in your hair.  I used (what I thought was) cold water and I was still picking egg bits out of my hair post-shower.

Then I tried switching to distilled white vinegar (DWV) instead of apple cider vinegar.  So far, it's the same: greasy, limp, stringy hair.  I'm considering going low-poo but if I have to spend $20 on a bottle of low-poo shampoo and it still has things in it that I can't pronounce, I feel like it's defeating the purpose of going au naturel.  I tried putting the DWV mix on my whole head tonight instead of just the length, we'll see how that works.

I Just Wanna Be Okay, Be Okay, Be Okay

One thing this whole process is (very slowly) teaching me is to just be okay with my natural hair. Whatever curl or wave or weird flick it decides to do, just be content with it. Here are a few photos of my hair post-wash where I just let it air dry.

Granted, it looks kinda limp and oily in the back and this is right after I washed it. But I've been reading about egg washes and applesauce washes to deal with oily-ness (oiliness?) and switching to distilled white vinegar (DWV) rather than apple cider vinegar (ACV).  The point is, I went out with my hair like this, to lots of places that day.  Which is kind of a big deal for a person like me, who, at one point, straightened her hair every day for at least seven years.  Baby steps.

Caution: boiling water

I went five days before washing today, which felt like a comfortable time.  My hair was definitely greasy before I got in the shower, but I had been brushing it a lot with my BBB.  I also decided to boil my water/baking soda mix.  I read that it helps the bs dissolve better.  However, I think it's worth noting that you need to let the water cool down before putting on your head, or really any part of your body.  So don't decide to do this right before you want to shower.  I also waited until after the solution was in the bottle before adding the tea tree essential oil, because it has a very strong smell that I don't want my future food to smell like.

After getting out of the shower I let my hair dry for 30 mins to an hour.  Then I pulled one of these.  Pretty good tutorial video.  However, I didn't sleep on it.  I left it in for about.. five hours.  Here's how it looked half an hour after taking it out:

It's definitely a lot looser in the back, probably because my hair was too wet when I put it in, but I'm just spending my day hopping airports today so it's ok!

Revelation

So I had a revelation.  Or not so much a revelation as someone said something to me and I thought, huh, that makes sense. My original thinking was the longer I go between washes, the shorter my transition period will be.  That may be true, however, the greasier it'll be as well.  I posed this problem to the Facebook help group and someone said " My first month I only went 3-4 days between washes. Then, as my hair adjusted, I went longer." Why didn't I think of that? I was all, go! go! go! that I didn't really think about the journey. Yes, I want to be past transition, but why can't transition not suck so bad also? As of today it's been seven days since my last wash, and I'm washing tonight. I think I'll aim for five days in between washes until I feel like I can go longer.

Caved

I caved and washed a day early. I could not take the grease anymore. I must say, my hair feels glorious to be clean. I also adjusted the formula a bit. My hair's been feeling really greasy lately so I decided to up the baking soda. I mixed one cup of (warm) water with 1 1/2 tablespoons of baking soda. I put in a few (read: too many) drops of tea tree oil and like three drops of lavender oil. Then I shook it realllllllly well.

My hair is definitely still in transition, but after I washed it felt a lot better. It feels thicker in the shower but by later in the day, it feels limp and thin, which I'm hoping is just my scalp producing its own oils throughout the day, and it'll get over it.

I am curious as to how I'll know when it's that "magic" moment; when I'll know that my hair is done with transition. I'm really quite scared when I read these posts on the Facebook group from women who've been doing no-poo for MONTHS (like, seven!) and still no success. I'm hopeful that since my transition is not ridiculously horrible so far, that I won't end up in that situation.

Here's a picture of my roots post-wash and dry. Please excuse my finger partially over the lense.

Two Weeks

It's been two weeks since I started no-poo.  My hair is currently in transition, but I don't think it actually started transition until a week in.  So I'm expecting at least one more week of transition.  Hopefully that's all though, although I wouldn't be surprised if it took three weeks of transition.  Hair was super greasy today:

But I'm going to try to wait until Wednesday evening to wash it again.  I figure, the longer I wait between washes, the shorter my transition period will be.  I think I can update my status from cautiously optimistic to plain old optimistic. :)

New brush!

Water only tonight, but this time I brushed BEFORE I showered. And I used a new brush!

This one is a lot smaller than the one I've been using, but it's a flat brush (not round) and it's smaller and lighter than my previous one.  Also, it was under $6 at Wal-Mart. Score!

Greaseball

This was my hair do today for my (really, really) greasy hair:

I french-braided the crown and then pulled one of these: http://yogabycandace.com/blog/2011/9/16/easy-hair-updo (or at least tried to, my hair isn't all the same length so it didn't turn out as nice as this girl's blog).  I brushed for a while (read: only five minutes) before washing again tonight.  Good afternoon, Father, it's been seven days since my last wash.  I feel like I'm going to confession when I say "since my last," which is probably what Sunday School does to your brain, lol.

I will never use another dry shampoo other than the cocoa powder/cornstarch mix.  Not only does it actually soak up grease without making my hair look grey, but it smells AMAZING the next time I'm in the shower!  Seriously, the most wondrous of chocolaty smells surround me in the shower.  It's glorious. So after the shower this time I did not use the bbb, but a wide-tooth comb, which was my pre-no-poo after-shower routine.

I'm excited to see how my hair is tomorrow.  I bought some jojoba oil to maybe use after flat-ironing.  Note: do not use before flat-ironing or you will literally fry your hair. Oil + heat = fried. 

It's been a week

I decided not to wash last night, I went four days last time and this time I'm trying to really push it. I did water only but when I woke up, still pretty greasy: 

So I decided to use dry shampoo before work this morning. My ingredients: Hershey's unsweetened natural cocoa powder and baby powder with cornstarch found at CVS for $1.77

I couldn't find my tablespoon so I just used a teaspoon and did one tsp of cocoa powder with one tsp of cornstarch. Then I added a pinch more cocoa powder because my hair is pretty dark. 

Then I applied it with a big makeup brush (the slightly smaller than all-over-face size). Here's what it looked like: 

Not awesome, BUT once put into a bun, it looks fine!

And then I dressed it up a bit with a cute headband (which also keeps strays from falling out)

And voila! One more day done without washing. I imagine I'll have to wash Wednesday night. But that'll be almost a week without washing!

Something else I picked up: I've been brushing with a bbb AFTER I get out of the shower and I was doing some reading on the awesome Facebook group for no-poo that you should brush with a bbb BEFORE showering with water only. I'm learning. Baby steps. 

Green Tea Rinse

This morning I did a green tea rinse in the shower.  Last night I steeped four bags of green tea in 10 ounces of hot water.  I let it sit overnight and this morning put it into a spray bottle.  I think I may have sprayed too much on the crown of my head because afterwords it was really greasy:

But the length of my hair felt pretty nice, and I think looked decent.  Here's a photo after I took my hair out of braids, about five hours after my shower:

Fullness?

Is it me or is my hair looking fuller? 

I bought some green tea and am going to let it steep overnight and do a tea rinse tomorrow. Which I'm not even totally sure how to do. 

Friday

Can I just say my hair looked bomb today? Washed it this morning. 

And later in the day: 

Still good! I think I was actually going "low-poo" for a while without realizing it. Since last summer I've been using sulfate-free shampoo and I think that may have started me out on a good foot with this routine. I will say the shower this morning took a bit longer than usual, separating out the hair to wash the roots takes time. But it was worth it. How long can I go this time before washing again?

Mmm chocolate

Yesterday my hair felt pretty greasy so I took the advice of a few websites and dusted cocoa powder into the roots to try to soak some of it up.  Can you tell?

I read that cocoa powder is better for dark hair because cornstarch can make dark hair look grey (like some store-bought dry shampoos do).

Here's a side view, I think the length of my hair looks pretty good for not having been washed for 2.5 days.

And here's how I've been styling it when it gets too greasy:

I used to be anti-low-ponytail because my sister told me it made me look like a man when I was growing up.  But high ponytails really take a toll on my head and scalp if they're in all day.  This has been working out pretty well.  And here's a top view of later in the day:

Pretty greasy at the back of my head, which is why I decided to wash it again this morning.  I could smell chocolate as I was washing it, haha!  I used a claw hair clip to section out my hair which made it easier to feel like I had covered all of my scalp with the BS mixture.  I left it in for about a minute while massaging it through the scalp.  I actually saw tiny suds on my fingertips so I'm hoping that means I was doing it right.  Then I sprayed on the ACV mixture and left that in for about two minutes before I rinsed it.  It's been drying for 55 minutes so far, not completely dry yet, which makes me a bit sad because some people were claiming their hair dried a lot faster on this routine.

Cautiously Optimistic

My hair felt pretty normal today.  Just rinsed with water last night and tonight.  I did decide to wear it back since it felt a bit greasy, but nowhere near as greasy as it would be by now if I were still using shampoo (I think). And it feels like less hair is coming out in the shower. Also found out that I shouldn't be using that heat protective spray anymore. Apparently sebum is a natural heat protectant. Which will be great once my hair is actually coated in its own oils. For now, I'll just turn the heat down on the straightener and curling iron and hope for the best.

A few concerns I have:

• I was always told to use a wide-toothed comb right out of the shower because a brush will pull and break the hair, but I've been using the boar bristle brush
• Am I rinsing too much?  Should I skip a day and  put my hair in a cap in the shower?
• Is my scalp actually getting itchy or is that in my imagination?
• Is my face wash doing the same bad things to my face that shampoo was doing to my hair?

It is starting to feel like my roots are greasy while my ends are dry, which I'm guessing is my hair starting the transition period.  The sooner it starts the sooner it can be over, yeah? Some blogs I've been reading say that there will be this magical day where my hair flips a switch and is no longer transitioning and is now amazing. I'm having trouble believing that's actually how it goes, but I'm cautiously optimistic.

Morning report

Woke up and hair felt.. the same as it usually does. Brushed it with a boar bristle brush (bbb) and the roots seemed to get slightly greasy, which makes sense if you think about the brush as a tool to spread sebum (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sebum#Sebum) from the roots to the tips of your hair. I decided not to straighten my hair, because I usually use a heat-protecting spray and I need to do more research on whether or not that will derail my progress.  Also because I used essential oils (although only a tiny bit) in my baking soda (bs) and apple cider vinegar (acv) mixes.

At the beginning...

I have experimented with so many... strategies for my hair.  In the summer it gets frizzy, in the winter it's a static nest.  The ends split, the roots are greasy, it's a nightmare.  A few weeks ago I heard about the no-poo movement and started asking around.  Once I get it into my head to do something, it's basically already done.  I went to the store, bought baking soda, apple cider vinegar, tea tree and lavender oils, and turned my back on store-bought shampoos and conditioners.  This blog will chronicle my hair journey, mostly so I can see where I've been and keep track of what I'm doing.  Tonight's the first night I'll be using the new method, last night I used a clarifying shampoo to get any silicone build-up out.

Here goes!


Update: 8:58 pm

So I just got out of the shower after doing it for the first time.  The formula I used for the shampoo was:

1 tbsp of baking soda mixed with
1 cup of water

and conditioner:

1 tbsp of apple cider vinegar mixed with
1 cup of water
2 drops each of tea tree oil and lavender oil

I added the tea tree oil because I read it can help with an itchy scalp, which I sometimes experience (also I thought it was the lavender oil at first, whoops).  Here's what my hair looked like pre-shower, only 24 hours after showering with clarifying shampoo:

Already getting greasy! And you can even see the static making it flare out.  Welp, we shall see what tomorrow looks like.