Yes, ‘Poo!

I found one of the boundaries of my crunchiness.

I’ve been trying the “No ‘Poo” hair cleaning regimen lately. Basically, instead of washing your hair with shampoo and following with conditioner, you use a baking soda and water mixture to wash your scalp and hair and an apple cider vinegar and water mix to condition. It seemed like it was perfect—the chemistry was sound, the price was right (the whole set up cost me less than $3) and it appealed to the side of me that always wants to try the Nouveau Hippy experiments.

However.

I just never got to the point where I felt really comfortable with the results. The first wash and condition was not bad, but every wash thereafter felt like I was this sopping sponge of grease and oil and that I was never getting it quite clean enough. Add to that that I would feel alternately really dry and powdery from the baking soda in some areas and you can imagine the fun I was having.

I finally got fed up with it during conference when I was washing my hair one morning before heading out to a class. When I got done and out of the shower, I couldn’t comb through my hair, so back into the water my head went. Rinse, rinse, rinse. Sprinkle the cider, let it sit for a few seconds and rinse again. Feel for smoothness. None to be found. Rinse again. Cider again. Rinse yet again.

I finally got the comb through my hair, but by that time I was running late and didn’t have time to dry my hair (another big no-no, but whatever—I’m a busy lady and don’t have time to air dry my hair in the morning; so sue me). I instead pulled it all up in a bun and ran out the door, all the while swearing that this crap was OVER WITH.

And so it was. I washed my hair with the hotel shampoo and conditioner the next day and my hair was soft and smooth and CLEAN. I gave the experiment almost three weeks. I’m sure it was probably part of the ‘getting adjusted’ period that all the blogs talk about. I’m sure if I had stuck it out, it would all be perfect by now and I’d be part of the Super Crunchy Hippy Dippy Society.

Or it would feel even worse and I’d be depressed because I thought my hair looked bad and smelled worse.

Thing is, this kind of thing is always sold on the premise that ‘our ancestors didn’t use these new fangled [thing they’re railing against]. They would never dream of washing their hair with shampoo and finishing it off with conditioner! They did it the old fashioned way, the God-planned way, and they liked it!

Our ancestors also put lead in their face makeup, belladonna drops in their eyes and died of typhoid and botulism.

Maybe modern conveniences aren’t so bad.

[Incidentally, for those of you with the patience and ability to make this thing work, all the best to you—I’m not saying it can’t work. I’m saying that I gave it the honest effort that I intended and it didn’t  work for me. If your Twinkie is creamed with this stuff, by all means, don’t let me stop you. I’ve got a Head and Shoulders bottle calling my name, though.]