No shampoo (week 7)

[mistress_elaine]

At the end of last week, I found myself complaining about the way my hair looked after water-only washes. It looked fine after bicarbonate rinses, but far less so after water-only washes. Well, guess what? All that changed in Week 7, during which I finally seemed to put my horrific adjustment phase behind me. With the exception of an ill-advised

Comments

[gkingsley]

Yay! So glad to hear things are improving for you.

If you're interested in reddening your hair, have you looked into henna? I've become a henna convert. It's good for your hair, it thickens fine hair just enough to be noticable, and the color is spectacular.

If you're interested, let me know and I'll give you all the information I've amassed from my own research.

[mistress_elaine]

Thank you! As you'd expect, I'm quite happy with the way things are going at the moment. I suspect it won't be long now before I can go completely water only. Yay

[supercarrot]

it washes out wonderfully with just a little bit of brushing under the water and some ACV. (in fact it washes out better than back when i was using shampoo) but make sure you have a designated hair towel, because there will be color leakage for the next 2 or 3 washes.

but i have thick hair, so i can brush it while it's wet and not have a problem. i've heard it's not that great for thin haireds.

anyway, most of it comes out without brushing if you want to allow it to dry before brushing.
(check out the henna tag)

[mistress_elaine]

ACV, eh? That'll be interesting. So far my experiences with vinegar have been quite bad, but I'll give it a shot. I'm sure a very little bit of vinegar won't hurt...

My hair doesn't really seem to mind being brushed when it's wet, despite it being thin and fine. I actually have to brush it while it's still wet, or it will be hard to style once it's dry -- even more so on no poo than before.

Anyhow, thanks for all the advice, as usual! :-)

[supercarrot]

did you rinse the hibiscus tea out on day 46? or did you leave it in? if you left it in, that might have been why it was so unmanageable.

also, you might want to try the hibiscus flowers. it'll probably have a different effect on your hair than the leaves did.

[mistress_elaine]

I did in fact use hibiscus flowers. They're what's used in Egypt to brew karkadeh, the national drink. I bought them for drinking purposes only; I was pleasantly surprised when I discovered I could use them for other purposes, as well.

As for how I went about the rinse, I left the tea in. I have in fact been considering trying it again, only rinsing it out this time, as its effects seem to have survived the water-only wash I did the next day. My hair does seem a little redder than it has been lately. So if I make a slightly stronger brew and rinse it out afterwards, I may get the effects without looking like a freak. I suppose it's worth a try...

[supercarrot]

oh! ok, i thought you meant flowers, but you said hibiscus leaves in your post, so i didn't want to assume anything.

yeah. try it again with rinsing before throwing it out the window.

[mistress_elaine]

Hmmm. Fair point. I'll adjust it in the post. Thanks for pointing out the mistake!

For the record, I wasn't going to throw the flowers out of the window just yet; I like my karkadeh too much for that. Best-tasting rinse I've ever had! :-)

[anardana]

How are things going now?