So last night the challenge began.   I opted to use a drop of lavender essential oil in the vinegar rinse in the hopes that my hair would not smell like a salad after the shower.  (KC specifically let me know that if my hair smelled bad I couldn’t continue with the challenge.  Vinegar hair or boyfriend — you have to choose.)  I’ve heard, though, that the vinegar smell won’t stay on your hair either way once your hair is dry, so don’t worry too much about those visions of chopped romaine and bleu cheese crumbles you have in your head while you’re showering.  The oil took the edge off the vinegar in the shower, and after my hair dried it had a nice light lavender scent as well.

I had dreams of the beginning of this challenge going one of two ways: One, it’s the worst thing that has ever happened to my hair in the 25+ years it’s been on my head; Two, my hair suddenly is shiny, soft, manageable, and dries naturally into soft curls (as I always imagined my somewhat wavy hair would).  Well, neither of these things happened.  I tried letting my hair air-dry as I felt it was the “natural” way to go (and had heard stories of Shirley Temple-type curls happening to people with hair like mine after going “no ‘poo”).  Unfortunately, my hair behaved as it normally does when I let it air-dry: it got weirdly curly/wavy in all the wrong ways.  Supposedly you can concoct a natural spray from sea salt and water (1 tsp. sea salt + 1 cup water) which will give you “beachy curls” like you’ve always wanted; but given that I’d just lathered up with two kitchen staples, I decided to leave that experiment for another day.  I ended up applying a little heat styler to my hair and blow drying and straightening like normal.

Ok, so I didn’t get the maintenance-free hair I had dreamed of, but on the upside, my hair performed well and looked nice when all was said and done.  My hair is definitely a little on the dryer side than normal, but given that most people only wash 1-2 times a week on this “diet”, I guess that makes sense.  Also, today it rained, which generally means that by the time I make it to the city on BART, my hair is no longer smooth and straight like it was when I left the house; it’s a little frizzy and wavy in spots (thanks, humidity).  However, today my hair stayed beautifully straight and smooth all day.  Coincidence?  Perhaps.  I guess I’ll have to continue with the challenge and see.