15.2.10

Week 7 Hair Breakthrough (No Poo Follow Up)

This week was just atrocious. I thought I had seen it all, and had patiently been waiting it out, but this week, “IT” has outdone itself.

I washed it Sat, and on Sunday it was stiff, gross and waxy. So I broke my ‘No- hair- washing- consecutive- days” rule and washed it with water only. Scrubbing well and everything. No dice. "IT" is essentially operating on its own, independent of me.  I like it that way, because I kinda hate to be associated with it, and be known is its owner/grower. 

On Monday at work I looked like drowned rat. Stringy, waxy, downright horrifying. Somehow (there may have been beer involved) I went to bed without washing it Monday. I mean, it doesn't smell or anything, but it feels like if your pantry dropped a jar of honey and mayo on your head, and both of them broke, and you accidentally forgot to wash it, so it stuffenned up nice and tight. 

It was rough, and on Tuesday I dared not take it out of braids. On the bright side, I no longer need rubber bands to keep braids in, even.  Around the same time I took a day off work because the flu had me knee deep in snot and headaches, so I was feeling pretty green and slimy anyway.
I broke down and thought may be going back to a baking soda wash would help. Tuesday night, I mixed up some soda, into an old shampoo bottle (Ahhhh.. shampoo…) and did my thing. Wednesday (as in, the morning immediately after Tuesday night) it was like I’d done nothing.  Waxy. Stringy. Stiff. Perfect for fashioning perpendicular Pipi Longstocking braids, or any other gravity defying hairdo sans product.

Thursday night, I did it again, but with more soda. Scrubbing, and washing the length, even. Friday came and no change, expect the dry hair that was super hard to comb. Dry AND super waxy. There’s a combination not for the faint of heart.

It seems that there’s less gray crap on the brush (odd), but, somehow, the hair is worse off overall. May be more greasy? I did the Boar Bristle Brush few days. The grey stuff adapted, and the wax is now in stealth mode. Either way, Russian Orthodox church requires women to cover their hair with a scarf, and the scarf never came off for the rest of the weekend. It may have been stuck to the scarf, too, who knows.

Sunday, I went back to the Lavender Camomille Bar. I rubbed and washed. But, as it was drying in the evening, I could feel it dry up in tell tale stiff strings. SO Annoying. I figured I’d give it a full 10 weeks before calling it quits and going back to shampoo. I just don't keep enough beer in the house for this sort of madness.  I can’t even go and have it cut somewhere, the way it’s behaving, people would report me for being negligent or willfully disgusting or something. I took my comb, and went to comb it out of sheer annoyance. The stringy thing is *really* getting old. So I combed it out, and put in into braids, so it doesn’t surprise me in some sort of a knotty clump coup in the morning.

Well, butter my butt and call me a biscuit. This morning, for the first time in weeks, the waxy shit is gone. I don’t know what happened, cause there wasn’t much on my comb either. I’ll have to inspect the comb when I get home. But, “IT” is soft, unwaxy, unclumpy, and generally behaving like it’s normal shampooed and conditionered self. I’m a little afraid to jinx it. It’s almost too good to be true.   I feel like wearing a pink tutu and twirling about.   I have many questions - will the gray stuff come back?  Do I have to comb it wet for the rest of my life?  How long will it stay this way?  I am a little paranoid, I worry it's a trick, and when I let my hair down (literally, cause it's on a ponytail) it will turn on me with vengeance. 

However, I try to not let that bother me.  Today, the beginning of week 8 will be all about enjoying a wax free head. 

In summary: Week 7 – wash wash wash FAIL wash wash comb while damp WIN. 
5 washes in 7 days. 
A+

3 comments:

  1. Oh, I am so happy to read this!! I did have a gray stage that I had forgotten about it until I read your post about it, but it's been a long time. I hope that this is the start of a great no-shampoo lifestyle :)

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  2. Stacy, do you still comb your hair when it's damp, or is the waxy crap just gone altogether? (It IS really exciting! I almost gave up numerous times. LoL)

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  3. I gave up shampoo over a year ago and yes, it takes a while, but I love my hair now. Are you following the baking soda wash with a diluted vinegar rinse? That's important, especially with the very hard water we have in the OC. I wash with the soda and vinegar routine twice a week, and rinse on the other days...but I have short hair so it's easy. The gray stuff definitely gets less over time. Oh, and if you've never used a vinegar rinse, don't worry about smelling like a salad. Rinse it out well and the smell is gone by the time your hair is dry.

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