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.