Giving up Shampoo. Kind of.

I've got pretty great hair. I don't really feel that way about any other part of my body, but my hair is kind of amazing. I got lucky that way and got really thick, slightly wavy, textured hair. It means I can pile product on it without weighing it down and I run screaming from any kind of volumizing shampoo, because, well, I do not need help in that department.

Evidence (I am not the one dressed up as Russell Brand - though that is an AMAZING costume):

That big hair was just with some teasing. This girl does not need any volumizing shampoo/spray/mousse/whatever.

Because my hair is so long now and because I am lazy and don't like blow drying it (my arm gets tired, you guys), I started going longer in between shampoos. I used to do about every other day or every third day if I felt a little wacky that morning. Then I spoke to a girl at my hair salon and I told her sometimes, when I'm daring, I will only wash my hair twice a week! She looked at me deadpan and said, "I only do that when I feel REALLY motivated." She told me she washed it once a week and sometimes not that much.

WHAT?! How is that possible? How did her hair not turn into an oil slick? She was like, "Dry shampoo. Duh."

So I tried several brands of dry shampoo and I felt like they all tended to leave little flakes in my hair after a day or two of use. It looked like dandruff. Oh, hell no.

I started stretching an extra day or two between washes, putting my hair into a bun for an extra day. I hoped I looked stylish instead of homeless. I think I mostly pulled it off.

What happened was the longer I did that, the easier it became. The first few weeks I did it, I could get to the fifth or sixth day and then I needed to wash it. It was pretty gross. As each week went by, my hair started getting less and less oily.

You see, what happens when we wash our hair is that we strip the scalp of natural oils. Those oils keep our hair strong, not frizzy, and protected. When we strip it, our hair gets drier, frizzier, and then our scalp over produces oil to compensate. In reality, washing your hair often is actually bad for your hair and scalp.

I am sure you've seen the #nopoo movement (giving up shampoo) and I wasn't quite ready to do that, so I kept washing my hair once a week. Then I thought, what the hell? And stretched it even longer. My hair/scalp adjusted.

I then learned about cleansing conditioners, which are conditioners made without harsh soaps or the dreaded sodium laureth sulfate crap. It cuts out buildup while conditioning the hair. I was pretty skeptical at first. I tried it once and fell in love.

As of today (November 20th), the last time I washed my hair with shampoo was on October 25th. Since then I have washed my hair only TWICE, and only with the cleansing conditioner. This weekend I will have my roots touched up so I will my hair will be shampooed once again. But after that, I plan to go until at least Christmas without using shampoo.

Results of cleansing conditioner:
- less frizz
- plenty of body without being crazy
- more defined natural curls/waves
- softer hair
- my natural waves hold curl longer since it's not stripped of the oils that help with that

Evidence: