Sunday, August 11, 2013

I have rejoined society!

I finally went back to washing my hair with shampoo and conditioner! It was a difficult decision, because I'd been working on the "no-poo" way for about 3 months, and I didn't want to wash with shampoo and conditioner only to change my mind, because then the three months of working with different solutions would be all for nothing, as I would have had to start all over again.

This was the only day my hair looked good, and that was after washing with boiled water, and this was the second time with boiled water.


I washed two more times after this, and it looked awful.

The final tipping point for me was last night at the Alpine Rodeo (who knew Alpine even had a rodeo?!) and there were 7 million girls with BEAUTIFUL, straight, shiny hair, and mine was in a pony tail because it looked like a rat's used nest. I knew I wouldn't do no-poo forever.. Especially since some girls were telling me my hair might take up to a year to look beautiful again.

I absolutely love hair, especially my hair! It really is gorgeous! But not for the past 3 months! I'd never wanted to shave my head so badly before this experience. 

So this morning, I broke down and used some left over shampoo and conditioner that I had in my bathroom cupboard. I was still a little hesitant though, because my roots felt so soft and clean! But then I turned around and looked at the back of my head, and decided to go for it.

Oh. My. Heaven! If no-poo did nothing else for my hair, it at least got me to realize how amazing the products are that are in the world today. I pumped the shampoo two or three times into my hand, and when I put the glorious concoction on my head, it was like unicorns and rainbows and cotton candy were having a party on my head. I rubbed it in and the party just continued getting better and better, adding gummy bears and puppies to the party list. 

And don't even get me started on the conditioner... Just putting it in my hair felt like I was walking through a world made out of the softest, shiniest silk.. I could run my fingers through my hair (IN THE SHOWER!!) further than 2 centimeters, and it was as if the Hair People (yes, there are such people) were coming to give me a huge, beautiful medal for the softest hair. 



If you can't tell, I'm so excited to be back in this shampoo and conditioner business. I dumped out my baking soda/water & vinegar/water mixtures down the drain, and did a little happy dance.

I'll just let some pictures do the talking now.. And please don't pay very close attention to my face in the first pictures.. I had just gotten out of bed. Also, I took these with my phone (I don't know why I didn't use either of my camera's.. I guess my brain doesn't work in the mornings)

I washed my hair last night, and this is what it basically looked like then too.. Except maybe a little worse.


These are basically huge knots or traps. You can't put your fingers/comb/brush through them for the life of you!

 And like a miracle, I come out of the shower with amazing hair. This was just after I blow dried it. I didn't even straighten it!
My face needed to be put in time out so you could just focus on my hair.


Consider me one happy girl (: My hair smells good (it had no scent for the last 3 months!), I can run my fingers through it, it twirls (picture a little girl spinning in circles with a big frilly dress on) when I shake my head, and it looks much more blonde!! Which I'm happy about, because I can put off getting it colored for a little while longer!


One more thing: If you are doing no-poo, way to go. Apparently it can work for everyone, if they have enough patience and don't mind the transition phase going for three months (yikes!). Everybody's hair is different, and some of you may be having the best hair you've ever had by doing this, but it just wasn't working for me. There are a TON of different options if you don't want to use baking soda and vinegar, but I'm poor right now and don't want to spend money on a bunch of random things (whether they're cheap or expensive) that MIGHT or might not work. 

4 comments:

  1. Way to go Shay. This is a topic that is near and dear to my heart. I give you total props for trying it for so long. No one can say you didn't wait it out long enough. Of all the natural products I've switched over from store bought I've decided that in some cases synthetic is better. For example, Mascara (don't even get me started on the disaster my search for natural mascara was), Shampoo and Conditioner and Face stuff. After completely breaking out (and previously having zit-free skin, almost wrecking my hair and spending over a hundred dollars on ingredients for diy mascara)...I totally gave in. There are some battles that aren't worth the fight. I think the important thing is that we try our best to use or make natural products but we don't have to be completely insane and Nazi about it. Having said that, don't get discouraged with diy and homemade cosmetics. There are still a lot of awesome homemade products that are inexpensive and work better than store bought. I can't wait to get together and make some of them! :)

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  2. I have switched to pretty much all natural household and bath and body products, but the one thing that just hasn't worked for me is shampoo and conditioner. There's just something about those chemicals that just make hair nice! We do what we can. I'm glad you are feeling good about your hair again. It looks great! -Jamee

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  3. Yay!! You have pretty hair again! And holy crap it's gotten long! I love it!

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  4. It was beautiful tonight! So glad to see the super shine again. ;)

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