Hi Everyone! I'm sort of losing track of what week this is in my experiment, but I think it is 5ish. So I have a few things to share this week. Let me start out by saying I feel like my hair is really well adjusted now, and I am enjoying no pooing. So let me share with you some of what has happened in the last week.
1. I had my hair cut. My hairdresser knew I was doing no poo, and was very understanding. I had "washed" my hair that morning with my BP/ACL routine, so she just sprayed it down with water and gave me a trim. I will say this totally helped with my crunchy ends. I'm going to let it grow out some, just do the collarbone length thing... Short is too high maintenance for me... I don't want it halfway down my back like I used to have it...but something that still looks stylish but I can throw back into a ponytail if I need to... so now I have 6 months or so of growing out to do. Sigh. The take away from this is still get your hair trimmed!!
2. I colored my hair. I still had some of my regular standard color that I've used for years, so I used that. It took fine like it always has, but I did do something a little different when I rinsed it out of my hair. I know you are supposed to just rinse color, but I can't stand that... it seems like if I do that I get color stains on my towels and sheets and it really hacks me off. So I do like to shampoo the color out. I did the color on Saturday, and it is now Thursday (keep that in mind). So instead of my BP/ACL mix I usually use, I did use some liquid Castile soap. The Castile soap is a great low poo method (I won't get into specifics here, but I've been using it as shower gel lately and I really like it). You still need to do an ACL rinse to restore your hair's pH from the Castile soap, but it got the color out nicely. My hair felt great afterwards, and not stripped of natural oils. One note, I will say the new growth that I colored seems to have faded a little already. I've read accounts that BP/ACV will fade hair color quicker and this may be the case. It isn't horrible, but I did notice it is slightly lighter than my dark brown almost black color I've been using as of late. I low pooed on Saturday to get the color mixture off my hair, no pooed on Sunday (I had a date, felt like I needed fresh hair here.. I know... it's a mental thing) and no pooed Wednesday night. I noticed the fading this AM.
I am going to try the Henna/Indigo mix next... (I'm ordering today so I'll have it on hand when the bug to color my hair bites me). I've heard that Henna does not fade. Once it's on your hair it is on there.... so I'm hoping that it may not fade as the regular color seems to be doing.
3. I tried an all natural leave in something. It's not really a conditioner, or styling product. But it is. My hair is wavy/frizzy and I've been having some issues with that. It has gotten better since the trim and my hair adjusting to no poo... but it still is a little fly away if I let it dry on it's own. So I felt I wanted to put a little product in there, but something natural. I know I have my coconut oil, but I wanted to try something that would be more portable if I wanted to travel. So I found COCONUT & HIBISCUS CURL ENHANCING SMOOTHIE by Shea Moisture. It is a nice creamy formula, about the consistency of hand cream. Just a little goes a long way. I put about a dime sized (or less) dollop of product on my wet hair and let it dry naturally. I really loved how this made my hair feel. Very soft, yet lots of body and waves. I need to get rid of all my other unnatural styling products that have silicones and other bad stuff in them. I need to do a serious purge.
So...... I do like how my hair feels now that it has adjusted.... When it dried last night it felt so soft yet has good body. I'm looking forward to drying my hair with the Shea Moisture smoothie to see how it behaves. I would say the dryness I was experiencing has subsided, and the trim helped that too.
My current routine that has been working VERY well for me is: BP/ACV (Shall we just call this no poo from here on out?) every 3 days. In between no pooings I use the corn starch/cocoa mix and sprinkle that in my hair about 10 minutes before I shower. I really work that in. This soaks up any excess oil on my hair and makes it smell cocoa-y. When I shower I rinse it out. I don't like leaving the powder in.. personal preference. My hair is looking really great with this regimen. OH... I'll admit I've added just a bit of the liquid Castile soap in my BP wash. (Maybe 5-10 drops per cup) It gives it just a bit more "slip" and a touch of fragrance. I know... I'm obsessed with how things smell. The ACV rinse does kill the fragrance, but I like my mix. The BP wash on it's own has a bit of slip to it, and they say to add BP till it feels slippery. The thing to remember is try stuff, what works for me may not work for you.
My stylist said my hair felt "different". And it does. The natural oils that are SUPPOSED to be there does make it feel different than hair that has been totally stripped of it's natural oil and silicones added to give it that "slipery" texture. When my hair is wet, it isn't slippery like we are used to.... at first I wasn't sure how I felt about it... but now I like it. I think it is how it is supposed to feel.
I still need to try the aloe/honey "wash" but I'm having such good luck with my current regimen I don't know if I'll change. BUT, I will mix some up this weekend and give it a try so you don't have to. Hahah.
I did make my own hair scent. I found some fragrance oil that is rated to be used in lotions/soaps/etc. I figured that those were safe to get on the skin. I added a dropper of the fragrance to distilled water. I've been spraying it on my hair before I dry and I feel that it works really well. Now I just have to fine tune the scent to what I want. The generic almond/honey is too almond-y and the lavender/vanilla needs just a bit more vanilla I'd say. So now I'll be trying to find my perfect scent blend (I LOVE how honey sent smells!!).
So that is my update for this week. I'll let you know how the aloe/honey wash goes and just keep you in the loop of how everything is going. I will say that I think this is such a great alternative to shampoo and conditioner. BUT you have to give it at least a month I would say. Your hair will not be at its best till it gets used to the regimen... It could be dry or oily... but it will be freaking out for a while.
Hit me up if you have any questions!
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