UHF: Shampoo - Hair today, gone tomorrow (Part II)

What, you don't remember part I? Well, think back, I wrote it about 8 months ago. But Katie asked last week and it just so happens that some stuff has changed so I thought I would update y'all.

For 7 months, I was happy just washing my hair every 5 days. My hair was in the best shape it has ever been. So, why mess with that? Well, for a long time I didn't. But there is one really annoying thing about only washing your hair every 5 days...and it probably isn't what you think.

You have to remember 5 days back! I couldn't do it. It was fine when I washed every 3-4 days, I just picked Sunday and Wednesday as my days. But every 5 days, I kept forgetting when I last washed it. And I tried to stretch it out to a week so it would be easy to remember, but my hair was not having it - at all. So I hung out at 5 days.

But then I saw Life in a Shoe's "No Shampoo" trials (and yes, they have had some extremely funny trials) and for some odd reason, felt the need to try it again. At first, I just stopped washing, and was doing good until I hit that 6-7 day mark. All of a sudden, my hair was gross. So I tried the "egg technique" where you mix an egg with some lemon juice and a little warm water. (The warm water isn't necessary but I always forget to let my egg get to room temperature and I don't like the idea of an ice cold egg on my head). Just make sure you rinse with lukewarm water or you will cook the egg on your head. (See my note above about "extremely funny trials," but they learned the hard way so I didn't have to).

And it worked surprisingly well. I made it through my Easter trip and all the way to the next weekend. I would have been fine even then but we had Craig's prom. Okay, technically it was a ball for his department, but realistically - it was a prom. And I had to do my hair all fancy. Hairspray and no-poo do not mix so I shampooed and then I was back at square one. But worse, my hair felt so dry and awful. I don't think it was really any worse than when I used to wash more frequently, it just felt dry in comparison. So I started my second trial.

But this time, I had castile soap as my secret weapon. I made up Lindsay's recipe but I used a lot less Dr. Bronner's because in my experience, Dr. Bronner's soap can, and should be, diluted a lot. I'm not sure that was such a good idea because what I didn't count on was that when you spray it on, you use very little, so it does get diluted - just on your head! Right now it has been almost three weeks since I used shampoo. I used an egg once, about a week in and now am just using my homemade shampoo every 3-4 days. My hair is not great, but not awful either. It feels thicker than normal and I like to wear it up if it has been more than two days since I wash it but after my experience with shampoo I am confident that my hair is better than it was when I first started this whole thing (and to be honest, I like to wear it up most of the time anyway). I actually think I would be better off not using even the homemade shampoo and just trying to work through with just baking soda and vinegar with maybe an egg a week but I am too nervous to go full steam ahead.

I wish I had a nice summary for you, but I don't. My head is a work in progress. I can't even actually tell you why I am doing this, I have no idea at this point. Maybe it is the thought that my hair might be better off in the long run. But I think it is really my curiosity and stubbornness. Some people have gotten this to work, so surely I can figure it out, right? I'll let you know.