Just a quick note — I’m getting my hair trimmed tomorrow (finally!)  It’s been almost 4 months since my last cut (woops…) so my ends could definitely use a little TLC.  I’ll let you all know how my hair holds up post cut (and how my stylist reacts when I ask him not to shampoo my hair!  Awkward…)

Chop chop!

Hey friends.  So for this post I’ve decided to show you all pictures of my hair throughout the week, so you can see how it looks day to day (since I’m only washing twice a week).  Many of you said that you could never only wash your hair only twice a week because it would become too greasy.  As I said in my previous post, I definitely recommend trying the no ‘poo thing for 30 days and seeing how it pans out for your hair (remember, you may have to work through a week or two with your hair up while your scalp readjusts).  Ok, onto the pictures…

Day 1 — Wash day

As you can see, nice and straight with good volume.  (Jesus Christ I am WHITE!  Yes, I can own up to it.  I’d like to blame the lighting, but I just hate lying.)

Day 2

Take a look at the fly-away situation.  They seem to be confined to the ends of my hair (because that’s where the most damage is, argh…)  Before this challenge, I had fly-aways all over!  Now my hair looks much smoother and healthier (despite the fact that I haven’t had a cut since early December!)

Day 3 — aka Project “Don’t Get Sick”

This was yesterday.  I did nothing to my hair (yeah, didn’t even pick up a brush… girlfriend of the year!) as my day was spent on the couch chugging gallons of water trying to fend off an oncoming cold.  Yes, the lighting is terrible and I look like a mess (luckily KC was snowboarding all day so he didn’t have to witness me in all my anti-sickness, pajama-clad glory).  But anyway, my hair didn’t really look that bad actually.  I even ventured outside at one point (sans styling) because there was a car accident near my apartment building (seriously, it was like a scene right out of a Dane Cook routine — everyone running outside, “Shoes?! F#@$ shoes!”, “Officer, I was washing a dish.  The dish can be Exhibit A”).  As far as I could tell everybody was fine (the cars…not so much.)

Anyway, back to the hair…

Day 4 — Here’s today (I included the most pictures for today since it’s the last day before washing and I figured it would be the most relevant for people thinking of trying the challenge)

So, not quite the volume of days 1 and 2 obviously; but as you can see, not exactly a greasy mess either.  When I was on the ‘poo, by day 4 my hair would be thrown back into a bun or ponytail as it would be far too flat and greasy to be styled straight and worn down.  Now, not so bad though.  I’m not saying I would head out to an important event with my hair looking like this, but it’s certainly good enough for everyday activities (talking about you Bar Method — hence the royal blue Lulu tank I’m wearing in the pics).

Alright, that’s all for now folks!  Remember, if you have any questions or comments, I’d love to hear from you!  And don’t forget to send me suggestions for future challenges if you have any in mind.  Ciao!

Yes, it’s quite exciting.  Today I got my very own domain name — chelseagofor30.com.  So now you don’t have to type in the chelseagofor30.wordpress.com!  It’s like I have my very own website.  How very 2002 of me.  On another note, Happy Saint Patty’s Day lads and lasses!  Yes, it’s true, not only do I look like a riverdancer, but I do actually have some Irish roots.  I will be celebrating tonight with some corned beef and cabbage and Irish soda bread.  Delicious!  Also, the weather today is GORGEOUS so I hope you all had some time to go out and enjoy the sunshine on this holiest of holidays.

Alrighty roo, down to business.  I washed my hair on Monday night, but due to a full day of babysitting + KC’s dad’s birthday dinner last night, I had pretty much zero time to post yesterday.  So here I am posting about it now, just back from working (and working out) at Bar Method.  Here are some pictures I took of my hair this morning…

That last shot is one I took at Bar Method later in the day while I was working.  My hair held up fine, even after the BART ride into the city.

Ok, on to a few questions.  I’ve been asked about tangles — since I’m not using conditioner, does my hair get more tangled, is it harder to get the tangles out of your hair, etc.  Truthfully, I guess probably because I straighten my hair, my hair doesn’t tend to get too tangled throughout the day.  The tangle issue was a concern for me when starting this challenge, but I haven’t really noticed a difference in the severity or amount of tangles I have.  I do brush my hair before getting into the shower, and then comb the baking soda and vinegar rinses through my hair once in there.  I have noticed that even when my hair has to withstand a windy day that my tangles aren’t too bad and tend to be confined to my ends (because they’re so fried….ahhh need a haircut!)  The funny thing is, on windy days my hair tends to perform better and stay less tangled than it did when I was using shampoo and conditioner.  I’m not really sure why that is (since I, too, thought that no conditioner would equal more tangles).  It’s a mystery, but I’ll take it!

On to the vinegar rinse.  If you’re thinking about going no ‘poo, here are a few tips regarding how often to wash your hair and how to use the vinegar rinse.  If you’re going to go natural, I would not recommend washing more than twice a week with this mix, only because it tends to be drying.  For those of you who wash everyday or every other day, this means that you may want to start by weaning your hair off the ‘poo more slowly (cut down your shampooing little by little until you’re only washing twice a week before making the switch).  Also, especially if you’re a frequent washer, know that when you switch to no ‘poo your hair may go through a transition period where it’s really greasy for a week or two.  I read about this when doing my research before beginning the challenge, and basically it’s where your natural oils over-produce while your scalp adjusts to the natural diet (because shampoo strips your hair of those natural oils).  During this time, resist the urge to over-wash your hair and stick to the 2 washes a week.  The grease will pass; just throw your hair up and revel in the “Wow, your hair looks so SHINY!” compliments.

As for the vinegar rinse, this is the main part of the routine which will need tweaking based on your hair’s individual needs.  Some people leave the vinegar rinse on their hair, opting not to rinse it out, because the natural diet can be very drying for those with already dry hair (also, this can help prevent tangles for those of you with long and/or curly hair, according to my research).  Others claim that the vinegar rinse makes their hair oily and opt to either use it on the ends of their hair only, or simply cut it out altogether.  If you’re dealing with greasy hair during the transition period, this may be the time to cut down or cut out the vinegar rinse, until your hair regulates itself.  Also, don’t forget that there are things you can add to your vinegar rinse based on your hair’s needs (see this website).

Any other questions, feel free to post a comment, email, or just ask.

Fun fact for today: I have been getting lots of compliments on my hair lately from people who were unaware that I have been doing the no ‘poo thing.  I will take this as a sign that the benefits of my new natural diet are not all in my head (but, rather, on it.  Hilarious.  I know.)

Hope you all enjoy your Guinness, Killians, and Ginger and Jameson’s tonight!  (And don’t drink and drive.  Drink and BART!)

So I said I would post an update about how my hair fared on that very rainy Friday.  Well, here it is (only a few days late…sorry!)

Ok, rewind back to Friday… Despite my sour mood due to the rain, I did end up hanging out with Alexis.  She came to my place for coffee, then we headed to Walnut Creek for lunch, manicures, and shopping.  Lunch was at Tomatina (delicious, of course), then post-bar celebration mani’s at The Nail Shop (my gift to Alexis for running the mental marathon), then we walked all over Walnut Creek shopping (no purchases, but lots of good leg work).  So yes, despite the rain, we managed.  My hair got lots of rain exposure so I was very curious to see how it handled the whole day.  Normally, on a day like Friday, my hair would be all kinds of wavy/huge and I would end up tying it back out of sheer mane embarrassment.  However, while my hair wasn’t perfect, it performed much better than the usual frizzy blowout.  Here are the pics (post-rainy shopping):

Sorry for the serious face, I was probably sulking over the fact that I’m unemployed and will soon have to panhandle with the crazies in SF in order to make rent.  Ok, just kidding, let’s not be dramatic.

Anyway, as you can sort of see (again, sorry for the crappy light, it was night time), my hair isn’t super straight (as I usually aim for), but it’s not a large frizzy mess of random waves (victory!).

Alrighty, off to wash the hair!  Post later 🙂

So normally, I love the rain.  Being a fair-skinned lass, I love the cold, rainy days where I can bundle up and stay inside with a hot cup of coffee.  However, today I had plans to head to Bar Method for class in the morning and then meet up with Alexis for lunch, manicures and shopping.  I got up early and got all ready to go this morning, went downstairs and opened the door leave the building and…RAIN.  Buckets of it.  I was under the impression that there was only a chance of rain, and if it did rain, it would be light and only in the morning.  Well, judging by the torrential downpour which was happening and the 6 inch puddles all over my street, that was a big, giant LIE.  So, I trudged back upstairs in my workout gear because I just can’t seem to handle doing the walk to and from BART twice just for an hour of workout bliss in the city.  Blah.  So here I am, back at the apartment, still Lulu-clad.  I made some oatmeal to cheer myself up and added too much brown sugar.  It’s one of those days.

Ok, enough moping.  Alexis will be here for coffee any minute so I’ll make this quick.  I washed my hair this morning.  There’s the before shot… Having washed my hair Monday evening, I think I could have definitely gotten away with not washing it today (and, due to the rain, it probably would have been a better idea to wait, but whatever).  However, I’ve got weekend plans (which now includes a workout since I bailed on mine today) so I didn’t think I’d have time to wash.

Ok so more about the hair.  I’ve noticed that my hair has gotten a little static-y lately.  I only mean more so than when I was using shampoo and conditioner, which means rather than never being static-y I’ve noticed some static on (I think) 2 occasions.  Big whoop.  Yes, boring, but true.

Ok, the post-wash picture… I noticed more fly-aways today than usual.  I am going to chalk this up to the weather (since my hair tends to freak out when it rains).  I haven’t actually set foot outside yet so I’ll try to do an update later about how my hair fared in the rain today.  I’m hoping the natural diet will keep my tresses tamed so I look less like a lion than I usually do on rainy days (just call me Mufasa…RAWR.)

Another fun fact about the natural diet, my hair dries way faster now than it did when I was using shampoo.  I’ve noticed that my roots are dry literally about 2 minutes after stepping out of the shower, and my blow-drying time has been cut almost in half.  I think this is due to the fact that shampoo and conditioner leave a waxy deposit on your hair which slows down the drying process.  Speaking of which, previously when it came time to wash my hair, I couldn’t wait to jump in the shower because, by that time, my roots were pretty slick and there seemed to be a bit of build up on my scalp (sorry, gross, but true).  I assumed this was due to the heat styling products I was using on my hair.  But since going no ‘poo, my hair is significantly less greasy on day 3/4 and there’s no build up.  I think if I really wanted to, I could actually get away with washing my hair only once a week (let’s see just how lazy I get…)

On another note, I did finally get to cleaning my apartment last night, and ended up finding the earring I lost in the great debacle that was Sunday night.  I guess maybe that was the universe’s way of saying “Thanks for getting up off the couch and cleaning your dirty apartment, finally.”

Speaking of lazy, time to text Alexis and find out where the heck she is.  Adios!