Halfway through shampoo detox

I got a haircut last week and they used shampoo (it was stinky Aveda stuff - am I the only person who doesn't like the way Aveda products smell?). What could I do? Pull out my baking soda/water solution and ask them to use that? They'd think I was crazy! Besides, I was secretly jonesin' for a shampoo. The only way I can describe how my hair feels during this transition is how your hair feels when you've had an updo done and they used a LOT of product and you've taken your hair down but still haven't washed it. It doesn't look greasy but it doesn't feel like I'm used to it feeling, that's for sure!

So using shampoo basically put me back in square one and yesterday was my second one-week mark. I did do a quick internet search to see if maybe I should use a little more baking soda. But I think what I'm experiencing is normal. I did find this site that has a LOT of information.

I've still only gotten a comment from one person that my hair looks flatter than normal. It was funny because I was actually in the middle of explaining to him that I think it was my scarves making my hair look fuller when another coworker came by and commented about how great my hair looked! Ha, take that!

I'm hoping that my hair is feeling halfway normal by Saturday.

No Shampoo - Day 2

I hadn’t planned on blogging about this so early in the process but I really want to share my thoughts thus far. We went away over the weekend and I something planned tonight so I wanted to wash my hair last night so I wouldn’t have to deal with it after getting home late tonight. When I remembered I was out of shampoo and conditioner, I suddenly regretted my decision to ditch the shampoo. I was feeling particularly lazy after a bad night’s sleep with two 17 month old toddlers in a hotel room and a 3 hour drive home. I didn’t want to take the time to mix up my baking soda/water and apple cider vinegar/water. I realize just how lazy this is because let’s face it, how hard is it to mix up a few things?

But it wasn’t just laziness I was struggling with. I was also dealing with the fear, however small, of what my hair was going to feel like and behave. My hair is very fine but I have a LOT of it and it’s down to the bottom of my shoulder blades. I kept envisioning me trying to detangle my mop instead of doing other important things. In the end, it was the first blog post I wrote that kept me from digging through the closet to find some shampoo/conditioner. I had already committed to doing this…in writing. I had to follow through. I also want to prove a few people wrong. I want to show them you don’t NEED shampoo and conditioner to have clean, healthy, manageable hair.

I must say I was pleasantly surprised by the whole process. As I knew it would be, it was easy to mix everything up. I used the bottles from my beloved Herbal Essences for my new mixtures. And while my hair wasn’t as easy to detangle as it is with my conditioner, it wasn’t as bad as I imagined it would be. And for some reason, I kept expecting it to tangle up as it dried but it continued to stay nice and smooth as it dried. I was happy with how it was today too. We’ll see how it is tomorrow on day 2.

Barring any catastrophes, I plan to stick with this for a minimum of six weeks to see how it goes. I mentioned it to a coworker and asked him if my hair looked any different. He said yes. When probed about what was different, he said it was flatter than usual. While this may be valid, he’s a guy. Can they really be trusted to be a good gauge of anything related to hair?

Ditching shampoo and conditioner

I’ve been wanting to write this post before I went through with this crazy idea. I knew I only had till the last bit of my shampoo and conditioner was gone but I kept putting it off. Maybe I'm subconsciously stalling? I wanted to get my thoughts down and then come back with my thoughts as I’m going through my detox.

I first read about going “no ‘poo” sometime last year. I thought it made sense but quickly decided I couldn’t give up one of my last good-smelling things – my shampoo. I’ve used Herbal Essences as my main shampoo since college. I’ve flirted with others. I’ve even tried some good stuff (my sister has a friend who used to work at L’Oreal). Even over Shu Eumera, Kerastase and MANY other high end shampoos, I prefer my Herbal Essences. I use the formula for extra body and it’s just perfect for my hair. And I love the scent!

I subscribe to several green living blogs so I kept coming across this whole idea of ditching my shampoo AND conditioner. Here is a good post explaining the process. But basically you use a combination of baking soda and water to wash your hair and apple cider vinegar to condition. And no, your hair will not smell like vinegar. We use white vinegar in lieu of fabric softener and you can’t smell it at all. Honest.

From what I’ve read, there will be an adjustment period while my hair gets used to not having its natural oils stripped every day. I already wash every other day, use minimal conditioner, don’t use anything else on my hair, and let it air dry 99% of the time. So I’m hoping my adjustment period won’t be too awful.

When I told my mom my plans to ditch shampoo she said, “Where did you come from?” I told her she couldn’t give me a hippie name and not expect this to happen! Her real question was, “Why would you want to do that?” I gave her the briefest explanation I could muster, “the chemicals they put in these products are not good for us.” All you have to do is Google Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS) or Sodium Laureth Sulfate (SLES) and you’ll see what I mean. Eliminating a few chemicals from the many products I use on a daily basis is just the tip of the iceberg for me. But I think this is a good place to start. Plus, it’s much better for the environment AND my body.