Apparently my hairgrease is now 18 years, 1 month, 1 week and 1 day old. Because I happened to wonder "when did I give up shampoo?" and I had blogged it.
Here's a link to the post about going no 'poo:
https://simplicityandfrugality.blogspot.com/2008/05/no-poo.html
Cool. I barely even bother to baking soda wash anymore. Heavy rinsing is my go to. It's like heavy petting only not at all. If I'm in a shower with good water pressure just keep rinsing until the whole thing feels better. Scrub scalp while rinsing. Hard to get the hair wet through all the natural oils and undisturbed cuticle.
When I'm home with the hairwash bucket (which is watever bowl basin or bucket is clean and appropriately sized) and it's warm out or in a place with time on my hands and a good sink set up for hair washery, then I go for the baking soda (or salt) scalp scrub and vinegar (or lemon juice or skip it) rinse. Then, a cold water blast to seal up the cuticle again. That takes off more grease. Sometimes so much that the baking soda, a base, will saponify the hair grease a little and I make a mild soapy water sort of thing. Then I think..."Damn, my hair is gross" and keep washing. This is generally in the summer especially after putting oil on the house project so it's not all hair grease, it's also house oil, making the soap foam. And please don't picture like bubble bath levels of foam. More like gramma's lye soap barely run through the water level. A couple of bubbles is what I'm saying.
So, how's the hair? FINE. Just fine. Curlier. Meaning slightly wavy. I keep it braided up or in a pony tail most days because despite being in better condition, it's still very super fine hair prone to breaking off every time it touches a shirt collar or I brush it. Easier to comb. When I do a big scrub after a hot day of oily dusty construction work it is the least greasy and quite fluffy. Hard to get into a pony tail.
It's also harder to get henna to take. I have to do a big scrub to get lots of oils out. Then leave the henna in for HOURS which usually means I fall asleep and leave it in too many hours. This results in a tone best described as "full bozo red". I do not mind and must say that the funniest moment at work in years was coming in with full bozo red hair (which settles into just shocking copper by the end of a week) and NO ONE said a thing. Just stared wide eyed and wandered off to whisper to other people for a minute. Did they think I didn't know? Or had some specific shade of red in mind? In reality, I had found the henna at a thrift store, unopened. And it was the fox and I usually used the parrot (the company I like puts a critter on each package so you can remember which one you usually buy). The fox is much darker red. MUCH. And I fell asleep. Rinsed for AGES with the garden hose pressure nozzle. It didn't last much over 6 months and by then was faded pretty well. I must not have stripped the grease off the hair well enough. Last time before that I used the parrot but that is STILL in the ends of my hair like 5 years later. My hair is the worst.
Other effects...easy to comb. easy to braid unless just stripped, and no one seems to notice if I go a couple of weeks without even a rinse as long as there is no actual dirt clods in my hair.
A handful of times over the past 18 years, 1 month, 1 week and 1 day I have done the all conditioner option. Mostly when at a hotel and I don't have baking soda or salt in a quantity that would be worth the effort but the hair is grimier/sweatier than I think a rinse will cure. It works but doesn't last and I'm not used to my hair smelling of cheap products anymore and that will bug me for a day or two until it fades away. I avoid it and go for the heavy rinse if at all possible.
So...that's it. And still no hair photo. It's just greying old people hair that doesn't stand out in a crowd.
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