No-Poo Should Be Called ShamFree, and Other Haircare Tips

When I watched Hungry For Change, I began questioning my beauty regimen.

Okay, regimen is a pretty loose interpretation of my random haphazard method of caring for my skin and hair. But that's beside the point.

I said to myself, "Self! Is there a more healthful way to wash your face and hair?" Of course, Google is super nosy and always wants to interject its thoughts into my little self talks. And as usual, Google had a lot to say!

You guys! I never knew there was this whole "no-poo" movement out there with people making there own toxin-free shampoo and conditioner. And not just chicks living out in tree forts and stuff. It's pretty trendy. And guys! Their hair! It morphs into these beautiful, often wavy or curly, shiny locks of perfection. Here is a great site that shows pics of hair 9 months after beginning this method for haircare. I'm down with that. Especially since this is what I'm currently dealing with:

Unfortunately, whoever started this whole thing didn't have the sophomoric mind of a 10 year old boy like I do, because -- seriously? This was the best term to describe natural haircare? I don't even know, guys. How about just calling it ShamFree?? I totally heart this idea, because spending a zillion dollars on haircare is totally a sham and it incorporates the word "shampoo." I mean, admit it -- that's pretty genius right?

There. Problem solved. Internets, listen to me! ShamFree is the way to be!

Anyway. After reading a trimillion different blogs, it seems like most everyone going ShamFree (see how much more awesome that sounds?) is happy with the following method:

• 1 TBSP baking soda + 1 cup water = wash that hair!
• 1 TBSP apple cider vinegar + 1 cup water = condition that hair!

I'll admit, I was skeptical. First, we all know that if there is vinegar anywhere near my eyeballs, I'm definitely going blind. Second, baking soda? Will wash my hair? Color me unconvinced. 

But it's summer and I don't have to show up to work every day looking all professional and spiffy, so this is a decent time to experiment on my head, I guess.

So this morning I mixed up my two potions and hopped in the shower. Because I never do anything the easy way (and I'm not about to dump out my current shampoo and conditioner just yet) I didn't have any squirt bottles. I did have the next best thing, though! Water bottles! Yep, I definitely mixed up my concoctions in two different water bottles and took them into the shower with me.

Shower time! Ryan Gosling not included.

Here's the deal, guys. Washing your hair with what is basically just water is sort of tricky. You can't exactly plop a glop into your palm and sudsy it up into your hair. Today's application method involved holding a water bottle above my head, tilting my head way back, and dumping what was probably way too much baking soda mixture on my head. I was worried I wouldn't be able to tell when I had enough on my hair, but I could definitely feel a difference between the hair that had the mixture on it and the hair that didn't. It was smoother, I guess. 

You're supposed to massage it in a circular pattern to work everything in, and then wait one minute before rinsing it out.

I forgot about the one minute part. Imagine that. But it's okay! My hair still got clean and didn't turn weird colors or do strange things.

The next part is using the apple cider vinegar rinse. Well, I have to tell you that I was a little freaked out when considering dousing my head with vinegar. See above regarding the certain blindness that would follow. But then I remembered reading that you are supposed to concentrate the vinegar on the ends of your hair! Duh! Problem solved. This time, I somehow remembered that "wait one minute before rinsing out" part. It was a proud moment.

I decided to let my hair air dry afterwards, just to see what the texture would be like without any straightening or product. Also, I was in a hurry to get out the door. I tucked a hair tie in my pocket in case of ultimate hair disaster, and off I went!

But here's the thing -- I never needed to pull back my hair to hide its terrifying shame. It dried without being oily, and even felt thicker than usual. In fact, normally when I let my hair air dry, it becomes this weird mix of straight, wavy, curly, frizzy strands of lackluster sadness. Today? Thick and much less frizz than normal.

See?

I'm not saying this is hair that anyone is going to envy, but it's much better than what I expected after my first round of ShamFree™! In fact, it's actually better than an air dry/no product day when using normal shampoo and conditioner.

I'll post more pics in a week to document this crazy hair experiment. Word is, your hair goes through a sort of "terrible two's" kind of rebellion when you first start this, so in a week you may get some pretty gnarly footage! Until then -- what's the strangest beauty routine you've tried to perfect your 'do or save some pennies and get natural?