The Hair Diaries

So I found some more random blog posts about not washing (or rather, not shampooing) your hair. I'm still getting a ton of build-up (sebum) on my hairbrush (as in, every time I brush my hair, my brush is so dirty I feel as though I should wash my hairbrush) but it hasn't been even two weeks yet, and what I've been reading is that it takes two to six weeks for the oil overproduction to stop. I could take pictures of my hairbrush, but it would be a gross visual, thus, no visuals.

I washed my hair with the bar shampoo yesterday because I was at the gym, so that may be making the process take longer too.

The baking soda mix (1 TB baking soda to 1 cup of water) does seem to break things down, but even with the vinegar rinse I can't seem to get everything out and I end up with . . . not exactly flakes of something in my hair, but well, I guess flakes. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong, but I've gone through the trouble of truly measuring out the ingredients, to make sure the proportions are correct, and shaking the bottles before application. Which is why I end up going back to the soap bar at the gym--at least then I think everything is coming out of my hair. But not everything, because I don't want to overstrip my hair.

In a show of support, DH has also stopped washing his hair everyday with shampoo (he thinks the baking soda mixture is madness) so his hair is much softer now, much as it was when he started using conditioner or leave-in styling cream. I think his hair is what I want. Aside from its very short length. Hopefully my hair gets better.

The Hair Saga

I exercised at the gym last night. . . and I washed my hair. So I think I only lasted about three days, but it was a gnarly three days. I think the mix of baking soda was not right (the first two nights it was not enough, so then I increased it, making it 1T to 8 oz water), and I hadn't been using the apple cider vinegar, so I'll try less baking soda and add the vinegar rinse, and see how that goes. Yesterday morning my hair was so gross that I had to wash my hairbrush again (I'd just washed it the day before). But it had that much build-up on it.

In other shampoo news, my shampoo bars are set to be delivered Thursday, so that's three more days until they arrive. But tonight at least, I'll go back to the baking soda dilution and try the apple cider vinegar rinse.

Resolutions (continued)

I'm not sure whether this counts as a resolution, but I'm going to see how long I can go without washing my hair. Of course, I decided right after I ordered a bunch of shampoo bars, so I'll save those for when I go to the gym. Have you seen this article? I tried it tonight (the baking soda and water mix, that is, but I don't have any apple cider vinegar on hand and I'm not sure I need it. . . yet).  My hair is still wet and I have no idea what it will look like in the morning, but I'll keep you posted.

A month ago, I started trying to figure out how to do my hair again (this urge appears to be cyclical and appears every five years or so). Jonathan's Silky Dirt (yes, that's the name of the product and yes, people pay to put something called "dirt" into their hair) worked on my ends so that they weren't flyaway and looked more "done," but the front section was still a problem because I needed some hold (to relatively keep it out of my face) without crunch (as in, not gel). Also, I had flyaways. Also, all I'm actually willing to do to "do" my hair, besides washing it, is to put in a few styling products, maybe clip it out of the way, and let it air dry. I guess I feel I shouldn't have to do anything else to my hair so I try to find products that would let me do this.

I got a few samples of different styling creams from a Sephora consultant: Oscar Blandi's Glossing Cream had no hold and didn't really help my flyaways. Ojon's Hydrating Smoothing Cream had some hold, but didn't help the flyaways either. A hairspray they put in a perfume atomizer for me helped flyaways, but as soon as I touched my hair I got hairspray dandruff.

And then we get to today. My hair is dull, listless, and really gross looking. So I found a bunch of positive reviews about J.R. Liggett's Shampoo Bars and ordered some (the lye doesn't bother me too much I guess, because I assume it's not a main ingredient and the list looks like old-time, real soap). But after that, I came across the article about washing your hair with baking soda. So we'll see how it goes.

Does that count as a resolution?

Otherwise, I think I'd like to lower my cholesterol, but I love red meat so much, I'm trying to figure out how to change my diet. When I don't eat meat, I get hungry so much faster, I just don't see how I can stay not famished. Are you supposed to snack all the time? What kinds of snacks? I'm not a salad type of girl.

Resolutions (eventually)

For the one person that reads this (hi! how are you doing?), I apologize for not posting sooner. The holidays were a maelstrom of socializing, as well as the fact that I only had my phone (smart as it is, it's not a full-sized computer) for communication. Also, I haven't had much to post. But, I have a WIP pic of my Revival (still working on it), as well as some FO pics of my Rainbow Coriolis Socks.

That's as much progress I've made on the sweater, hopefully I finish it this year. Which is actually one of my knitting resolutions. I also hope to finish my Skew socks, and knit the Owls sweater again but in Tosh Chunky, and knit a Romy or Romy-like sweater.

But those are only knitting resolutions. I've had other resolutions in past years--I cut out TV in 2011 (I stopped watching TV in April, 2010), and cut out buying candy in 2010 (I had to leave myself a little wiggle room). I'm not sure what I would resolve to do this year, so I'll have to think about it. Any suggestions?