Sunday, June 4, 2017

Why I Switched to Water Only - No Poo Update #2

What Is No Poo and How Did I Start? - January 2014
http://kaseyajohnson.blogspot.com/2014/01/i-dont-shampoo-my-hair-no-poo.html

Update #1 - January 2016
http://kaseyajohnson.blogspot.com/2016/01/no-poo-update.html

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Well, no poo started to fail me this year. Over the winter, I noticed that my hair was super brittle and dry. But at the same time, my roots would get greasy on about day 3. When, in the past, I could go a week in between washes. I did some research and I think a few things were going on:

1. I was low on Vitamin D. I got a prescription supplement from my doctor and that seemed to help.

2. I had gotten lazy on my brushing routine, and the oils were staying in my roots and not moving down my hair.

3. I found a lot of bloggers that said it's hard to keep the Ph levels accurate in your hair when you use Baking Soda and Apple Cider Vinegar. Many of them recommend transitioning to water only. I decided to give it a try, and have been very happy with the results so far.

These pictures were taken February 2017. When I was noticing that my hair was not looking as healthy as it once did.





I read some blogs and watched a bunch of YouTube clips. These are the few that explain and show how to do water only hair washing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4SHplfVnZc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8cNg-cJxoo&t=61s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2XjmoejpIw&t=249s

My personal routine is very similar. I scritch and preene every day, and brush out with my natural boar bristle brush.

Depending on how I feel and the weather, I'll either straighten and keep dry / touch up with the straightener throughout the week. Or I'll get it wet each day and blow dry it with the diffuser so it's curly.

I'm finding that I'm, once again, going longer and longer in between washes, and back up to about once per week. Instead of wanting to wash every few days.

My hair is softer, shinier, longer than it has been in a while. I can't emphasize enough how important daily brushing and pulling the oils through your hair is.

Furthermore, I don't use any product in my hair. If you are still using products, water only washing may not work for you. You also have to make sure you don't have hard water. Do your research.

I'm seeing dramatic results in very little time. Hopefully this method will work for me long term.

My hair has decided it can be curly again, since I started water only.
(I had lost some curl through pregnancy.. and probably also because I wasn't distributing oils like I should).

Here is my hair from May 2017. A little messy on this hike, but you can see even though it's not perfectly styled, it looks significantly softer and healthier since the February pic.





And my curls are back!