Hair Care Daze

I'm going to make a confession. I no longer "wash" my hair. I stopped using shampoo and conditioner nearly two months ago, opting instead to go the baking soda/vinegar route. The first three weeks, I kept wavering, almost returning to the shampoo because I didn't like the waxy feel to my hair. Many of the testimonies I was reading that specifically targeted moving away from shampoo indicated this might happen and suggested staying with the new routine a bit longer. These testimonies declared the waxiness will eventually go away once the hair adjusts to not being stripped of its oils every single day. I was skeptical but thought what the heck, I'm three weeks in, so what's another week or two? If my friends noticed how awful my waxy my hair was, they never said anything, which could be because they were (maybe still are) just being extremely nice. Whatever the case, I stuck with it. Now, nearly two months in, my hair has lost the waxy feeling (now I have "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" going through my head--my hair's lost that waxy feelin', oh oh oh, waxy feelin') and is instead soft and easy to manage. I spend way less time on my hair these days, and way less time even thinking about how it looks throughout the day.

Along with not shampooing, I've decided to let the gray have its way. For several years now, I've been coloring my hair, like a lot of women do. The last color treatment, complete with highlights, cost me close to $135. Over the course of a year, I was shelling out more than $1000 just to keep my hair colored. That $1000+ can definitely help out in other places, so gray it is. And to be honest, I'm not hating it. I'm actually kind of diggin' the gray. Others can't see a lot of it when I keep my hair down, but when I pull it up and away from my face, the gray pops. I'm wondering just how long it's going to take for the gray to fully take over. I'm thinking a year's time.

Making these changes hasn't been easy. I've wavered here and there, thinking I should just go back to shampoo like most everyone else. But I don't want to be like everyone else. I don't want to simply buy into and follow the herd mentality. That's the easy way. And it's no wonder it's easy. We're constantly bombarded with messages throughout our days that tell us we have to look a certain way, which includes what hair products to use to have long, shining, full, beautiful hair. Phhhhst. Whatever. Not continuing down that road anymore. My hair is just fine the way it is, and I truly feel like I'm no longer in a daze every day when it comes to dealing with my hair.