My head is a mess
That's it. I quit. I really don't think I'd think less of myself if I got extensions at this point, that's how frustrated I am with my stupid, unresponsive hair and this mess of an experiment.
Yesterday. After a month and a half, I stopped the baking soda/apple cider vinegar hair rehab. Most people reported an adjustment period of two weeks, one month tops, and two months in extreme cases. I guess I was an extreme case, because my hair is just plain awful. And I have two weeks left before I told myself I could give up--but in that time, is my hair really going to change overnight into this lush, shiny, healthy hair that I was duped into believing could be worn by me?
But I'm not left entirely unchanged from this project. The good? I had a solid chunk of time weaning off washing my hair every day. I also became aware of all the chemicals I blindly subject my poor, dying hair to.
The bad? Oh god, it has been awful. When my hair is greasy-yet-dry, too tangled and fluffy to straighten it, too greasy and flat at the roots to wear it air-dried and possibly smells like vinegar despite my attempts to mask it with herbs....yeah I'll become a little self conscious and mad.
So I'm a quitter. The culprit was trying to dry my hair over the weekend for the third time since June 23. Like the last two times, I almost cried out of pain and frustration that all of this awkwardness SHOULD be paying off. But it was near impossible to straighten. Even after this long, painful drying attempt, I had to wear it partially up since my hair didn't move at the scalp until a few inches down for the ENTIRE summer so far.
Aside from evoking the desire to shave my head and use a wig for life, the process did yield some slightly noticeable differences. 1) Even though I couldn't comb through my hair when straightening it, I could comb through it in the shower before cleaning it. Very odd, since my hair is so fine and think (in that there's lots of it). 2) Even though I couldn't ever wear it down, my completely naked hair seemed to hold curls better. 3) uhh, it got me to wean off shampoo every day? So not to come off like a Debbie Downer by this point, but as far as I could tell, any good with this whole "no 'poo" process was outweighed by the overshadowing, smelly, brittle-yet-greasy, horrendous downsides.
But I'd still like to use shampoo less. And from what started as a merely narcissistic gratification, I've learned about a lot of the horrible ingredients in shampoo. Who knows if they are as drastic as these hippies claim to be--if I stop using shampoo, I'm pretty sure I'll still get cancer from another source 40 years down the line. But in the meantime, I feel like buying ridiculously natural shampoo is a healthy step. And a pardon, if you will, for quitting this process two weeks early.
So here I go, with my bottle of natural shampoo, free of most things other than flowers, love and recycleability. I figured, as I was guiltily showering with my $10/bottle yesterday, that ANYthing would be better than the baking soda. As long as my hair had movement, I'd be ok. And the shower was marvelous! My hair already felt cleaner and healthier. It wasn't just weight on my shoulders like all this month's showers. This was fantastic! Perhaps organic, natural shampoo is the real key to a life of beautiful, strong, shiny and of course, healthy hair?
But I don't have luck like that.
It took me such a long time to blowdry it; my hair just kept being damp. I shortly realized this is because I emerged from the shower with a head of greasy, gross hair after all. I've never witnessed my hair to be such a gross mess. It was as if I took fistfuls of smoothing serum and caked it on. It took me forever to dry and it still felt damp, and hours later, my hair tie left a crease in it, gross!
So I don't fucking know. I'm going to wait another day and try this hippie shampoo again, maybe omitting the conditioner. I started this mission out by shamelessly wanting my hair to look better. Now I want my hair to feel better and just be like it was if nothing else. And, if after a few more weeks of greaseball Lesley, my old shampoo routine-cancer chemicals and all-might be just the thing to do that.
See? It's especially pleasing to the touch. Mmm, delicious.
It would be kinda cool if just the ends would fray out like that, but no. Even if it weren't all that bad to look at, say, if people mistook the grease for shine, it's just how it feels and how it moves.
Let's hope the next few weeks yield positive changes because I need to stop focusing on and bitching about my hair already.
Yesterday. After a month and a half, I stopped the baking soda/apple cider vinegar hair rehab. Most people reported an adjustment period of two weeks, one month tops, and two months in extreme cases. I guess I was an extreme case, because my hair is just plain awful. And I have two weeks left before I told myself I could give up--but in that time, is my hair really going to change overnight into this lush, shiny, healthy hair that I was duped into believing could be worn by me?
But I'm not left entirely unchanged from this project. The good? I had a solid chunk of time weaning off washing my hair every day. I also became aware of all the chemicals I blindly subject my poor, dying hair to.
The bad? Oh god, it has been awful. When my hair is greasy-yet-dry, too tangled and fluffy to straighten it, too greasy and flat at the roots to wear it air-dried and possibly smells like vinegar despite my attempts to mask it with herbs....yeah I'll become a little self conscious and mad.
So I'm a quitter. The culprit was trying to dry my hair over the weekend for the third time since June 23. Like the last two times, I almost cried out of pain and frustration that all of this awkwardness SHOULD be paying off. But it was near impossible to straighten. Even after this long, painful drying attempt, I had to wear it partially up since my hair didn't move at the scalp until a few inches down for the ENTIRE summer so far.
Aside from evoking the desire to shave my head and use a wig for life, the process did yield some slightly noticeable differences. 1) Even though I couldn't comb through my hair when straightening it, I could comb through it in the shower before cleaning it. Very odd, since my hair is so fine and think (in that there's lots of it). 2) Even though I couldn't ever wear it down, my completely naked hair seemed to hold curls better. 3) uhh, it got me to wean off shampoo every day? So not to come off like a Debbie Downer by this point, but as far as I could tell, any good with this whole "no 'poo" process was outweighed by the overshadowing, smelly, brittle-yet-greasy, horrendous downsides.
But I'd still like to use shampoo less. And from what started as a merely narcissistic gratification, I've learned about a lot of the horrible ingredients in shampoo. Who knows if they are as drastic as these hippies claim to be--if I stop using shampoo, I'm pretty sure I'll still get cancer from another source 40 years down the line. But in the meantime, I feel like buying ridiculously natural shampoo is a healthy step. And a pardon, if you will, for quitting this process two weeks early.
So here I go, with my bottle of natural shampoo, free of most things other than flowers, love and recycleability. I figured, as I was guiltily showering with my $10/bottle yesterday, that ANYthing would be better than the baking soda. As long as my hair had movement, I'd be ok. And the shower was marvelous! My hair already felt cleaner and healthier. It wasn't just weight on my shoulders like all this month's showers. This was fantastic! Perhaps organic, natural shampoo is the real key to a life of beautiful, strong, shiny and of course, healthy hair?
But I don't have luck like that.
It took me such a long time to blowdry it; my hair just kept being damp. I shortly realized this is because I emerged from the shower with a head of greasy, gross hair after all. I've never witnessed my hair to be such a gross mess. It was as if I took fistfuls of smoothing serum and caked it on. It took me forever to dry and it still felt damp, and hours later, my hair tie left a crease in it, gross!
So I don't fucking know. I'm going to wait another day and try this hippie shampoo again, maybe omitting the conditioner. I started this mission out by shamelessly wanting my hair to look better. Now I want my hair to feel better and just be like it was if nothing else. And, if after a few more weeks of greaseball Lesley, my old shampoo routine-cancer chemicals and all-might be just the thing to do that.
See? It's especially pleasing to the touch. Mmm, delicious.
It would be kinda cool if just the ends would fray out like that, but no. Even if it weren't all that bad to look at, say, if people mistook the grease for shine, it's just how it feels and how it moves.
Let's hope the next few weeks yield positive changes because I need to stop focusing on and bitching about my hair already.