Hair Revolution: No More 'Poo!

I met a lovely girl a few years ago who was student teaching in my building.  She had the cutest ringlets.  I wondered if it was natural or how you make hair like that--I assumed some kind of perm (oh, what a naive white girl I am).  She just smiled and said it was natural.  I told her I had some curl in my hair, but all I really had was frizz with curl underneath.  She told me she used to have frizzy hair, too, before she stopped washing her hair. 

Say WHAT?  She hadn't used shampoo in over two years.  But her hair looked so clean! 

Talk to your old people, and you'll probably find out they didn't shampoo daily back in the day (and many don't now, either).  It wasn't a "dirty" thing.  We've been programed to believe we have to shampoo every day now thanks to new marketing and advertising.  It's actually bad for our hair.  Well, I couldn't go without shampoo--Fistfuls of glorious foamy bubbles coursing through my long thick hair.  Could I?

I've seen the infomercials and QVC spots about Wen cleansing products.  That's a conditioning cleanser--not shampoo.  I'd love to be a Wen girl.  But Wen girls need a lot of money when the product costs that much.  So I found an alternative at Sally Beauty Supply (where I hang out all the time now, it seems).  It's called Hair One.  What's the big deal though?  What is the difference between washing my hair every day with this stuff and washing my hair with Pantene? 

Hair One vs. Wen... Money Wise

 They're called sulfates: Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (the worst) and Sodium Laureth Sulfate (not as bad, but  not great).  These are detergents that strip your oils from your hair... and everything else (hence that lovely clean feel).  But sometimes your hair LIKES its own oil.  Our hair has a way to take care of itself--its own oils make it happy.  But every time we shampoo, we wash our natural oils away, and when we shampoo every day, sometimes our hair wants to fight back. Hair might be frizzy, overly oily, or just dull and lifeless.

My daughter has lovely ringlets and curls.  I've marveled at the fact that she doesn't have frizzy hair.  That's because we use baby shampoo.  Baby shampoo has some form of coco betaine (feel like a chemistry lesson?  Because this research has been awful because I hated chemistry).  It doesn't have sulfates. 

Hair One (which I love) doesn't contain any of these products.  It has an astringent and a lot of natural oils to help remove dirt and distribute your natural oils.  There's no bubbles, no suds, just a thick conditioner (hence conditioning cleanser).  It's a real process, but basically you're manually washing your hair--scrubbing for a certain amount of time, leaving it on for a certain amount of time... rinsing for a certain amount of time (Wen is the same).  I literally set a timer to make sure I do every step long enough.  But it allows your natural oils to work with these added oils to moisturize.  Your hair is clean because you scrubbed away the dirt and dead cells.

My favorite is the Sweet Almond Mint.  I'm starting the one with Argon Oil though.  Fingers crossed!

The benefits?  The frizz starts to go away.  My hair looked darker, shinier, richer, and of course, my curls started to pop up much better.  Think I'm lying?  I switched back to shampoo this week because of a pinched nerve and a hair gel issue, and my hair got a thin layer of frizz all over.  My curls were weaker.  After three shampoos.  So I'm going back to Hair One tomorrow.

My first day trying out real curls.  Notice the non-frizzy waves.  Oh yes.

So, if you're having hair issues like me, start investigating.  What does your hair really want?  Turns out mine just really wanted to be left to take care of itself, like an unruly teenager with a freezer full of Totino's Pizza Rolls.  I'm excited to share more research, but for anyone interested, look into the "no poo" movement or "low poo" products.  I'm not saying Hair One is your key to success, and there are a bunch of similar products out there like DivaCurl products and Wen.  Some women even just buy really cheap (bad) conditioners and scrub using those and it works just fine.  But maybe it's time you let your hair take the wheel and provide for itself.  Just maybe.