So my plan was to wash my hair twice a week on Tuesdays and Fridays.  So far I’m 1 for 3 in sticking to that.  Ironically, the deviation in the schedule has nothing to do with my hair not behaving properly, but more to do with my very rigorous, um, social schedule.  Due to a little snafu on Sunday night (aka me turning into a hot mess, thus forcing KC to take care of my sad self.  Seriously, that boy deserves a trophy.  I’ll tell you about the incident in person if you’re curious — I don’t think it’s really blog material at this point) my wash got pushed from Tuesday to Monday.  Thrilling, I know.  Anyway, my hair is still doing well.  I have gotten comments (usually in surprise) like “Wow, your hair looks great!”  Yes, it’s surprising that you can have good looking hair after giving up shampoo, I understand.  I think most people are shocked to see that I’m not a homeless, greasy mess since beginning this challenge.  I have to admit, I’m a little surprised myself.

Truth be told, I had hopes that this challenge would change my (hair’s) life; but in reality, I kind of thought that I would give it a whirl for the 30 days and then most likely go back to the ‘poo.  However, being 1/3 through the challenge now, I don’t think I’ll be going to back to shampoo anytime soon.  Since day 1, I feel like my hair is looking and performing better than when I was using shampoo.  As I mentioned before, my hair is naturally somewhat wavy/curly, but because I am not particularly adept at styling my hair, I end up just straightening it.  However, due to my natural wave and the humidity of the Bay Area, my hair tends to not stay as straight as I’d like throughout the day.  Since beginning this challenge, my hair has suddenly stayed straight and styled the way I always wanted.  Why?  I have no idea.  All I can chalk it up to is the condiment party happening in my shower.

Ok, so I apologize for the crappy light in my apartment.  These pictures were taken on Photo Booth after I got home in the evening.  The point of these pictures is this:  this is my hair after being out all day — it’s still straight.  Amazing!  I didn’t even brush it before taking these.  Also, my hair was put up in a ponytail for class at Bar Method for an hour during the day, and look — no dent left from the band.  How is this all possible?  Baking soda and vinegar I tell you!  Look, I’m even taller and thinner too!  Ok, so that’s not true.  But the hair stuff is (I wouldn’t lie to you would I?  Well, maybe.  But not about this.)

Alrighty, onwards and upwards.  One of the questions I got recently was, “How much shampoo do you really use?”  I guess it would make sense that I would start this challenge because I’m lathering up daily with handfuls of perfumed goo; but no, truthfully, I only washed my hair twice a week before this.  Think of it this way though, even washing only twice a week with an ounce of shampoo and an ounce of conditioner adds up to 208 ounces of shampoo and conditioner going down the drain each year.  That’s close to 2 gallons.  Multiply that by the number of years you’ll be showering regularly (let’s hope that’s all or most of them) and you’re looking at, easily, over 100 gallons of shampoo and conditioner over your lifetime.  Not to mention the number of plastic bottles that this represents on top of that.  A bit of impact on the environment, no?  On top of that, if you’re anything like me, you spend a bit more on your shampoo and conditioner (color care?  Yes, please).  On average, I’d spend at least $10/bottle on shampoo and $10/bottle on conditioner.  My new regime?  A bit more cost effective.  Not even buying in bulk (hello Costco…), I got 12 oz of baking soda (which works out to 24 washes, or 12 weeks) for $1.99; 16 oz of apple cider vinegar (which works out to 32 washes, or 16 weeks) for $1.49; and .5 oz of lavender extract (which works out to 300 washes, or 150 weeks — yes, seriously) for $8.99.  Cost per week?  A whopping $0.32.  Yes, I did the math — $0.16 per wash.  And if you bought your baking soda and vinegar in bulk, it would be even cheaper.  Think about what you could do with all that extra cash!  You could get your hair done more often, save the whales, and still have something left to buy your sweetie that flat screen TV he won’t stop talking about!  Ok, so maybe that’s an exaggeration, but see if you can do the math and figure out how much you’d save on the natural diet.  (And hey, maybe you can use that extra cash to take your friend Chelsea out to dinner.  Yum.)