Monday, December 7, 2009

the dirty hippie confesses.

ok, ok, ok, i confess: i am a dirty hippie. but please, let me explain.

i've always had a love-hate relationship with my poofy, wavy, curly, unpredictable, frizzy hair. when i was little i wanted beautiful straight princess hair, and at about age 13 i started growing my hair out in hopes of achieving princess-hood, or at least weighing down the frizzies.

i grew it out for 4 years.

on a good day (after 2 hours with the straightener), i'd get this:
but most days i'd sport a convenient 3lb bun or braid, the embodiment of 1890s chic. i chopped it to my shoulders at 18, hoping the cranial weight loss would lesson my headaches. it didn't, but that's another story. i discovered that my hair curled nicely when washed with special curly hair shampoo and conditioner and slathered with brightly colored gels and sprays. for years, i consumed more tigi and frizz-ease than coffee.

then, joel decided to take anatomy and physiology from a crazy, wacked out professer who insisted that hair was healthiest when it wasn't shampooed! joel came home and repeated this nonsense, which i indignantly dismissed. maybe the hair was healthier, but it wouldn't do much for your social life! besides, what about those of us who rely on mountains of sticky stuff? without shampoo my hair would congeal into a gel-cemented helmet!

fast forward through a few months ... i had a change of heart (or is it change of follicle?) and decided to actually research this "shampoo-less" method. my budget confronted my vanity each month, and i was eager for alternatives. i came across this blog post, which explained a fairly reasonable looking shampoo-less routine - aka, it actually involved washing your hair with something other than rain. so i did it.

i switched from using a gob of shampoo, a bigger gob of conditioner, and half a bottle of goop every day, to one tablespoon of baking soda and one tablespoon of vinegar once a week and nothing else but water.

and my crazy, poofy, wavy hair ... loves it!
(so does my budget.)

3 comments:

Rebekah said...

I have heard rumors of such things...I wonder what my hair would do. Or my charmingly temperamental scalp/skin. That could be fun. :) Any ideas?

lani said...

well, i have dry skin, and i think it's healthier. but then, i usually wash my face with just a washcloth and hot water and my facial skin likes that too. it takes about a month for your hair's natural oils to regulate, so you might not be able to tell right away. joel tried it, but his scalp didn't like it very much so he's switched back to using a dandruff shampoo which provides better moisture for his hair and skin. so... i think it's totally worth trying because the benefits can be so great, but it's definitely not for everyone...

there. long comment. ;)

Tim and Heidi Thomas said...

love it lani!

-from one "no pooer" to another! ;)