I fell off the wagon today. I washed my hair with shampoo. Just a little bit from my boyfriend's bottle this morning in the shower because my hair felt disgusting and it was either that or shave my head.
My hair felt better, but not spectacular or anything.
Tonight, I showered with my own shampoo for the first time in 2 years and a few months. I used conditioner. I used face wash, which I'd been avoiding since I started no 'poo and wouldn't be able to get it out if it got in my hair with baking soda.
I smell wonderful. I haven't smelled this good in a really long time. Hair has its own smell, and while it's not unpleasant, it's not exactly the picture of what you think of when you think "girl". I missed smelling like flowers and herbs and random fruits. My hair is manageable for the first time in months (except on hair washing days, when it looked and felt good for about 12 hours before it was sad and waxy again), it smells incredible, and I feel more like a girl than I have in ages.
This is a big, big change for me. It makes me a little sad, because of everyone that tried it with me (Sondra, Magus, and Heather), I was the longest holdout, as far as I know - Sondra switched back a few months after trying it, Heather gave it a year, and I have no idea what Magus did with it. I stuck with it, because I stick with my decisions and try my best to be consistent and keep my word. So, even when no 'poo was making me miserable, I stuck with it, because I had made a decision and it was important to me to stick to my principles. Plus, the amount of chemicals we use on our bodies scares me.
The thing is, because I wanted so badly for no 'poo to work, I stopped doing things. Like taking hot baths and submerging and swooshing my hair in the water. Or bubble baths. I stopped going swimming (not that I ever went often in the first place) because the chemicals in swimming pools are nearly impossible to get out of hair with only baking soda and water as a solvent. I stopped using face washes, masks, and scrubs because I feared getting these things in my hair and being unable to get it out. I stopped doing things that made me happy, and that really bothers me.
My hair would cause my face to break out if it got too greasy. Also, it's a pain in the ass to make the solution on hair washing days. It's a pain in the ass to scrub that hard for that long over the whole scalp. I went two weeks this past July without using anything in my hair because I just didn't care anymore. It didn't matter how often I showered, my hair felt like ass regardless. Imagine rubbing something like dried out vaseline (still greasy, but thicker and stickier) all over your arm, and then trying to get it off with just water every couple of days. That's what my hair and scalp have felt like since probably about April, especially since June. It's really hard to feel sexy and feminine when your hair is chunked and greasy and completely unmanageable. It's really frustrating to only have two hairstyles available to you because you can't use hairspray or hair gel or mousse or anything because you can't get it out of your hair if you do.
No 'poo worked great for me for a good long time. It was great when I was too poor to buy things like shampoo - you can buy baking soda with food stamps; you can use baking soda to clean your hair and your house if it comes down to it. Maybe my body chemistry changed, or I was too busy to maintain it properly (I had an actual schedule for my hair for awhile until I was too tired to do it). Maybe it's because I'm probably depressed and too busy dealing with basic stuff like eating and wearing clothes and leaving the house to do something as complicated as no 'poo. I know I can go back to it if I want to or decide I hate shampoo (not today at least), or if we can't afford shampoo later on or if the shampoo makes all my hair fall out.
So, for the foreseeable future, I'm saying goodbye to no 'poo. Good luck to those who are trying it, learning about it, or having success with it.
(Also, they brought back 90's Herbal Essences. I seriously want to toss my hair around while screaming "YES YES YES!!!" because it smells incredible.)
