Another Great Hair Adventure

I am experimenting with my hair. I go back and forth. Some days I have "I am in love with my hair" days and some days I have "I am so irritated with my hair I should cut it all off" days. My main issue with my hair is damage. As I mentioned in a previous blog, I don't heat style my hair. I haven't in a long time, this helps the fight against damage. I try to go between washings and get my natural oils down my hair shaft, which also helps fight damage. I have learned a lot about shampoos and conditioners. Shampoo is very harsh on your hair. There are strong sulfates in shampoo that can actually dry out your hair and rob your hair of necessary moisture. Due to sulfates and drying, moisturizing shampoos don't necessarily moisturize your hair, the sulfates can make your hair dependent on the sulfates, thus resulting in washing the hair more.

I have been trying to rid myself of shampoo for a while. I do have a TON of shampoos in my shower, if what I'm doing works, Drew won't have to buy shampoo for at least a year and a half (unfortunately, I don't really think I'm joking).
I haven't washed my hair since Friday (3/13). When I showered on Monday, I washed my hair with conditioner, I use Healthy Sexy Hair from the Sexy Hair line. It's a fairly thin conditioner and doesn't weigh my hair down. I use the conditioner as I would shampoo. Put conditioner in my hands, rub it in my roots, paying attention to the sides above my ears (where oily hair tends to show), while massaging my scalp (a way to get the blood flowing on your scalp to promote hair stimulation). I then comb the conditioner through a bit to make sure it's distributed and then rinse. After that I use another, thicker, conditioner on my ends comb that through, let it sit and then rinse. There is another way of washing hair which is called a water only wash (wow), which I've tried, but had trouble adjusting to. With that experiment I went three weeks with out washing my hair with shampoo or conditioner - wasn't very happy with that one.

I was at Sally Beauty Supply yesterday buying hair color and noticed a new/different product. It's called Hair One. It is a cleansing conditioner that does the same thing a shampoo would do but without the harsh sulfates. I have tried WEN cleansing conditioner which is a great product but expensive, Hair One is just like WEN, but $10.00 cheaper. I bought Hair One with Jojoba Oil for color treated hair, I am going to Sally's today to buy the Olive Oil for dry/damaged hair. That way I can combine the two and target my problem areas.

I plan on updating my Great Hair Adventure as I try new products and new ways to not wash my hair. It might sound very gross to some people to not wash my hair. Most people think because I don't wash my hair, I don't shower. Not the case at all. If I am not washing my hair, I pull it up in a bun while showering. As I began my not using shampoo journey, I knew I had to be much more confident about how my hair is going to look and adjusting to sometimes having oily looking hair. Normally I would hair my hair under a hat, but I can't do that anymore. I haven't hidden my roots under a hat since Friday. My hair looks pretty good and feels good too. I have noticed since I haven't washed it that my ends a looking more texturized, my ends hold a curl and my bangs are staying in place without the use of a bobby pin or heavy product. Natural sebum oils are a great styling aid.

I'm pretty excited to see how my hair takes to this. I have gone on different message boards and online hair journals to read about different peoples journeys of going shampoo free.
I'll let you know how it goes =]

To help prove my point, check out this article from NPR
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=102062969