Announcement to the world: I am not a straight girl!!!
But if you've ever met me or even just seen a photo of me, you already know that. Despite my best efforts to hide it or ignore it for a large portion of my life, I am ready to embrace it. I am a Curly Girl.
I always have been and I always will be.
(Hey, what did you think I was going to say?!?!)
Anyway, about a month ago I followed some interesting links in the naturalliving community to find out about no-poo, and from there, discovered curly_girls!!!! The community explains that it's based on a book, so I ordered it and it finally came today!!!
I will try to be brief about my curly revolution, (ha ha) but basically, the book explains that curly isn't just a hair type or style, it's a state of mind. And a lot of curly girls have self esteem issues about their hair and themselves because they were teased for being different. And mainstream hair care is all designed for straight girls. It doesn't work for us, and we get fed up with frizz and try to go straight and that doesn't work either and we either give up or die trying to have straight hair. (Straightening products and blowdrying are HORRIBLE for your hair.)
Want to know what else is horrible for your hair, especially if you're a curly girl? Shampoo.
No kidding. Some of the stuff in the book I already knew, just from actually having curly hair and paying attention. No. 1 lesson. Curly girls cannot wash their hair every day. Most know this. Some lie about it, because in America it's ZOMG, so gross! not to wash your hair every day. But I found that mine really only needed to be washed about three times a week.
Well hell, now I've learned what's actually in shampoo, from the no-poo people and from curly girls, and I'm going to try and wean down and maybe off of it. See, they put these nasty stripping chemicals in it that causes your head to go bananas and over-produce oil. Well, then you feel oily and shampoo again. It's an addiction. It's the same as the softlips people who put drying agents in their lip balm so you'll be addicted to it.
I learned the names of the nasty chemicals that are in all commercial shampoos, and I went to the natural foods store and bought a gentler shampoo. The curly girls author says that this is the chemical usually found in baby shampoos, so I checked Ben's. Nope. His has the harshest of the nasty ones. Great.
Anyway, so I got a gentle shampoo and some natural conditioner with no ingredients that end in -cone. It took a half hour of reading bottles to accomplish this, but I'm pretty happy with my choices, I think. (Updates to come after actually USING them, lol!)
So I'm going to go down to washing my hair shampooing twice a week and then once a week and then maybe every 10 days and then maybe no-poo. It's not that you live with gross oily smelly hair. It's that you don't use SHAMPOO to wash it. No-poo people use a baking soda and water mixture. Curly girls use that, or a brown sugar and conditioner mixture. Anything to keep the oils from being stripped. It's not the foam in your shampoo that cleans your hair anyway. That's just there for marketing.
The curly girls lady describes that as long as you wash with water and scrub your scalp, your hair won't smell gross. It's the actual washing action that cleans your hair, like the agitator on a washing machine.
There is a two to three week transition period (esp. if you quit the poo cold turkey) where your hair freaks out and just keeps making more and more and more oil because that's what it's always done. It takes a while of gentle cleansing to get back into the natural balance. She does recommend conditioning everytime you shower though.
Personally, I'm not that interested in having mega-gross hair for three weeks, so that's why I'm using the natural poo and weaning down slowly. If I'm happy with how it's going, I'll stop at whatever seems to work for me.
I read the book while I was in the bath today (Ben was napping) and didn't have my new stuff yet. So I used my old chemically grosso conditioner to wash my head and did not use shampoo. (One of the things in the book is that your scalp is skin and needs to be cared for like skin. Your hair is entirely different, and needs different care.)
I did my hair like she said with a little bit of gel and no blowdrying or ponytailing. I have to say, it looks AMAZING!!!!
It does itch a tiny bit, but she says that's OK. If it itches, scratch it. You're helping exfoliate the dead skin cells without any chemicals at all!
One of the most poignant parts of the book (if you're not a curly girl, you probably have no idea how a hair book could be emotional or poignant, but if you are, I bet you get it) was a photo of a woman who had her hair pulled back into a straight low ponytail. There was a black censoring rectangle over her eyes, as if she was so embarassed at how bad she looked in this photo that the only way she'd be willing to let them use it is if she couldn't be identified. And she did look very terrible. And then in shock and horror, I realized that's how I wear my hair every single day. I never noticed how bad it looked on me. But on her, it was so ugly!!! I looked in the mirror.
Yes. I was that ugly too.
I could go on and on about how it's this weird sprial, that you think you can't look good so you don't even try and then by not trying, you're saying that you don't care, and then you feel so smug next to the "vain" women who fuss over their looks. You think, I have more IMPORTANT priorities in my life than primping and preening.
But what kind of example are you setting for your family/children if you don't think you're worth some care? Not hours a day and hundreds of dollars. But more than dollar store shampoo and a scrunchie for the rest of your life ...
The thing that's slightly different for me from many of the curly girl stories in the book, is that I have seen my hair look nice, and DO like my curls when they behave. But before now, it was always on a whim and a prayer and usually just plain old dumb luck. My hair did it's own thing, and if I wanted it to look nice for some special occasion, well, it would think about it and get back to me.
I hope this is the begining of a new, happy, pretty, confident me.
Curly girls of the world, unite!!!!!
ETA: Note new icon!!!!
I always have been and I always will be.
(Hey, what did you think I was going to say?!?!)
Anyway, about a month ago I followed some interesting links in the naturalliving community to find out about no-poo, and from there, discovered curly_girls!!!! The community explains that it's based on a book, so I ordered it and it finally came today!!!
I will try to be brief about my curly revolution, (ha ha) but basically, the book explains that curly isn't just a hair type or style, it's a state of mind. And a lot of curly girls have self esteem issues about their hair and themselves because they were teased for being different. And mainstream hair care is all designed for straight girls. It doesn't work for us, and we get fed up with frizz and try to go straight and that doesn't work either and we either give up or die trying to have straight hair. (Straightening products and blowdrying are HORRIBLE for your hair.)
Want to know what else is horrible for your hair, especially if you're a curly girl? Shampoo.
No kidding. Some of the stuff in the book I already knew, just from actually having curly hair and paying attention. No. 1 lesson. Curly girls cannot wash their hair every day. Most know this. Some lie about it, because in America it's ZOMG, so gross! not to wash your hair every day. But I found that mine really only needed to be washed about three times a week.
Well hell, now I've learned what's actually in shampoo, from the no-poo people and from curly girls, and I'm going to try and wean down and maybe off of it. See, they put these nasty stripping chemicals in it that causes your head to go bananas and over-produce oil. Well, then you feel oily and shampoo again. It's an addiction. It's the same as the softlips people who put drying agents in their lip balm so you'll be addicted to it.
I learned the names of the nasty chemicals that are in all commercial shampoos, and I went to the natural foods store and bought a gentler shampoo. The curly girls author says that this is the chemical usually found in baby shampoos, so I checked Ben's. Nope. His has the harshest of the nasty ones. Great.
Anyway, so I got a gentle shampoo and some natural conditioner with no ingredients that end in -cone. It took a half hour of reading bottles to accomplish this, but I'm pretty happy with my choices, I think. (Updates to come after actually USING them, lol!)
So I'm going to go down to washing my hair shampooing twice a week and then once a week and then maybe every 10 days and then maybe no-poo. It's not that you live with gross oily smelly hair. It's that you don't use SHAMPOO to wash it. No-poo people use a baking soda and water mixture. Curly girls use that, or a brown sugar and conditioner mixture. Anything to keep the oils from being stripped. It's not the foam in your shampoo that cleans your hair anyway. That's just there for marketing.
The curly girls lady describes that as long as you wash with water and scrub your scalp, your hair won't smell gross. It's the actual washing action that cleans your hair, like the agitator on a washing machine.
There is a two to three week transition period (esp. if you quit the poo cold turkey) where your hair freaks out and just keeps making more and more and more oil because that's what it's always done. It takes a while of gentle cleansing to get back into the natural balance. She does recommend conditioning everytime you shower though.
Personally, I'm not that interested in having mega-gross hair for three weeks, so that's why I'm using the natural poo and weaning down slowly. If I'm happy with how it's going, I'll stop at whatever seems to work for me.
I read the book while I was in the bath today (Ben was napping) and didn't have my new stuff yet. So I used my old chemically grosso conditioner to wash my head and did not use shampoo. (One of the things in the book is that your scalp is skin and needs to be cared for like skin. Your hair is entirely different, and needs different care.)
I did my hair like she said with a little bit of gel and no blowdrying or ponytailing. I have to say, it looks AMAZING!!!!
It does itch a tiny bit, but she says that's OK. If it itches, scratch it. You're helping exfoliate the dead skin cells without any chemicals at all!
One of the most poignant parts of the book (if you're not a curly girl, you probably have no idea how a hair book could be emotional or poignant, but if you are, I bet you get it) was a photo of a woman who had her hair pulled back into a straight low ponytail. There was a black censoring rectangle over her eyes, as if she was so embarassed at how bad she looked in this photo that the only way she'd be willing to let them use it is if she couldn't be identified. And she did look very terrible. And then in shock and horror, I realized that's how I wear my hair every single day. I never noticed how bad it looked on me. But on her, it was so ugly!!! I looked in the mirror.
Yes. I was that ugly too.
I could go on and on about how it's this weird sprial, that you think you can't look good so you don't even try and then by not trying, you're saying that you don't care, and then you feel so smug next to the "vain" women who fuss over their looks. You think, I have more IMPORTANT priorities in my life than primping and preening.
But what kind of example are you setting for your family/children if you don't think you're worth some care? Not hours a day and hundreds of dollars. But more than dollar store shampoo and a scrunchie for the rest of your life ...
The thing that's slightly different for me from many of the curly girl stories in the book, is that I have seen my hair look nice, and DO like my curls when they behave. But before now, it was always on a whim and a prayer and usually just plain old dumb luck. My hair did it's own thing, and if I wanted it to look nice for some special occasion, well, it would think about it and get back to me.
I hope this is the begining of a new, happy, pretty, confident me.
Curly girls of the world, unite!!!!!
ETA: Note new icon!!!!