Curly Girl Day 1

[teaberryblue]

Destiny recently started posting about her attempts to go shampoo-free, so after asking her about it and doing a little reading of my own, I decided to do it, too!

I have always heard from stylists that shampoo is very bad for my hair and to only use it once every week or two, but to condition it every day. So when Destiny started talking about not using shampoo at all, I have to say I was immediately intrigued.

I started reading up. The most valuable information I found was from this WikiHow article. It was a lot to absorb, so I kept reading up and read a lot of other opinions and reviews of the book it was based on, Curly Girl, by Lorraine Massey.

The idea is pretty simple: most shampoo contains chemicals called sulfates which are used to strip oils. This is good because it strips out all the non-water-soluble products you use in your hair, but it is bad because it also strips the natural oil out of your hair and dries it up!

So, to repair your hair, you need to stop using shampoo with sulfates. However, in order to do that, you need to stop using hair products that require sulfates to get them out of your hair! These products are products made with silicones, which are…well, you know what silicones are. They’re plastics! Lots of hair care products have silicones in them because silicones coat your hair and protect it from all kinds of junk, and also work to glue split ends back together, but they also keep the natural oils in your hair from getting soaked into your hair like they should, and they also need sulfates or other harsh chemicals to come out!

So it is pretty simple: if you want to use silicones, you have to use sulfates. Sulfates damage your hair, so if you want to not damage your hair, you have to use neither sulfates nor silicones. This means changing your hair care regimen to only use silicone-free hair products. If you do this, you will never need to use any shampoo!

I told my mom about it last week, and she told me about this guy she used to know who worked for her father. Pete had really long, beautiful hair and he always said that they key to his beautiful hair was that he only shampooed it once a year, on his birthday. My mom said it never looked dirty or greasy. So that, combined with reading Destiny’s writeups and lots of testimony online, convinced me.

The next step was getting the products. Thursday at lunch, I went out to do this! This is tough, because there are a lot of ingredients that are silicones. Most of them end with “cone” but not all of them do! Fortunately, I found a huge list online.

And now I will let the video tell the next part!

I made this video four days ago. In spite of reading many warnings that my hair might look worse for the first few weeks, it immediately looked amazing! It has looked really good every single day since I started it Thursday night. Even today when I washed it at night and slept on it, it doesn’t look too bad, and I have never been able to do that before.

There will be more updates on this as I go! If anyone has questions they would like to ask me about the process please feel free!

Mirrored from Antagonia.net.

Comments

[kittehkat.livejournal.com]

When you picked up your hair at about 7:40 and I saw that there was still a more-than-average amount of hair left I got scared of your hair again. ;) BUT! I did last all 8 minutes.

Question: is this a regimen for curly hair only? I have hair issues that are different from yours and probably originate from my age and ethnicities, but just thought I'd ask.

My problem is mainly that my hair looks dirty/oily/stringy, particularly in the front near my bangs, so I have to wash it every day. I get pretty bad dandruff from living in the desert, too. Weird mix. Anyway, I usually only wash my hair with dandruff shampoo, never condition, and wear products maybe half the time. Does your reading give insight to that kind of stuff?

[zia-narratora.livejournal.com]

No! I know Pete, the guy I mentioned in the post, is Native American and has stick-straight hair.

I think the regimen would be different for someone with oily, straight hair but the basic principles still stand. Destiny has straight hair and instead of using conditioners, she has been cleaning her hair with cider vinegar and baking soda. I would talk to Destiny about what she has been doing because it is probably a better solution for your hair. You also probably would not need to use oil in it.

[delizia.livejournal.com]

When I have the patience for it, I work up to washing my hair every other day or every few days and just rinsing it in the shower in between. I find it's easier to style that way and I don't need to use extra product and it's not very greasy, either.

I already use sulfate-free shampoo (not totally intentionally) but my conditioner and product have silicones in it, so it's possible I am just getting a lot of gross build up in my hair. But I've never had much problem with the health of my hair -- it's always pretty well-moisturized and with few split ends (knock on wood)... so I don't worry about it too much. But I always sort of wanted to try the silicone- and sulfate-free thing.

[zia-narratora.livejournal.com]

I tend to be pretty happy with my hair, too, but I feel like it frizzes up a lot and I wanted to see if doing this would make it that much better. I like not having a lot of chemicals on or in me, too! I used to have really gorgeous hair when I wss a small child and while it is still pretty I wonder how much of the less-gorgeousness is not because of hormonal change and more because I use so many more products now.

[joannabanana23.livejournal.com]

OH my gosh. I have been researching "no poo" all day, after hearing the girls' ballet teacher (who has the most gorgeous curls I have ever seen) mention that she had been only washing her hair with conditioner mixed with brown sugar and conditioning with coconut oil.

As you know, there's a ton of information out there, so I'm glad to have your experience to follow! The list you found was awesome!

[zia-narratora.livejournal.com]

It has been pretty awesome so far! I read a lot of different accounts and picked the ingredients that seemed right for me!

a million months notice

[dragonmagelet.livejournal.com]

Hey! I'm going to be in your city the first weekend in October and we should hang out! :D

Re: a million months notice

[zia-narratora.livejournal.com]

Awesome! As long as I am around I will totally hang out with you! There is a change I might not be, though, because that is usually one of the big comic festivals I go to.

[liret.livejournal.com]

Next time I go to lush I will get you one if their curly hair products - they're all chemical free, and work fabulous for me whenever I put in the effort to use them.

In other news, I've started daydreaming about haircare regimins that don't involve coating my head in deet.

[zia-narratora.livejournal.com]

That sounds almost as hardcore as butchering your own moose!

[rubyschnopps.livejournal.com]

I have used shampoo maybe four times in the past two years and I couldn't be happier with my hair. Direct correlation? I think so.