So, I decided to go ahead and start a hair journal, mostly because I seem to be trying so much new stuff on my hair that I'm starting to lose track of what works and what doesn't!     I've been looking at a lot of long hair websites for advice.  A lot of them say the same basic things, but there are a LOT of different methods and recipes and stuff to try.  So...I'm recording all of my experiments here.  ::bwah-hah-haa!::  I wonder, though...how much time should I give a product (or recipe or whatever) to work?  Will I be able to tell within a day to use it or lose it?  Or should I give it a week? Two weeks? 

An aside before I start recording:  My computer's 'r' key doesn't work, so I have to Copy & Paste all my 'r's.  If I skip one or two, I apologize.   

Alright.  Where to start?  right now my hair is 20" from my hairline to the ends.  I just had the layering cut out at the start of this month, so it's all one length.  It's naturally blond, slightly wavy, fine, and about normal density. 

As for my routine, I wash & condition every other day (trying to stretch to two days between washings, but it gets very very oily) with Organix Coconut Milk Shampoo & conditioner--it's one of the few I could find without sulfates.  I would do CO washes, but the last one of those I did left my hair heavy, greasy, and all-around yucky.  When I run out of conditioner I'll have to get one that's better at cleansing.  I oil my ends at night with sweet almond oil, and I try to put on a good amount of oil the night before I wash.  I sleep with my hair French braided, as it's not quite long enough to braid just the length.  I rinse about once a week with DWV, but not really to remove buildup; the vinegar seems to help a little bit with my seborrheic dermatitis (I'll use 'SD' from now on).  I deep condition every week, but I've run out of my deep conditioner, and since my car's in the shop, I will be experimenting with other methods of deep conditioning this week.    

A lot of my 'experimenting' here will be ways to improve the condition of my scalp as much as my hair.  I was diagnosed with SD as a teenager, and it hasn't improved much since then (I'm 25).  At that time, Head & Shoulders seemed to be the only thing that helped it at all.  I think I've developed a resistance to it, though, so I'm trying to find something that will help the SD but that's good for my hair (preferably something natural--and cheap!     ).  The SD really doesn't bother me much during the day--an itchy here or there, but at night it gets really bad.  So far the only thing that seems to help it is a DWV rinse, but I'm kind of concerned that doing a vinegar rinse every time I wash won't be good for my hair.  I've also read that ACV is good for SD, but I don't know that it's better than DWV.  Also, doing these rinses only seems to help a little; I'm trying to improve the SD a lot.  I'd like to try rosemary and peppermint rinses to see if that helps at all.  Tea tree is supposed to help too, but the oil is kind of expensive.  Aloe is also supposed to be helpful.  Organix makes a shampoo that has all four plant extracts in it, and I might try that if the rinses work.  Or I may just make my own shampoo.  Just how much buildup does castile soap cause?   

As you can see, I've got a lot to try out here.  Wish me luck.  I just hope I don't mix the wrong herbs and make all my hair fall out or something!

Cute puppy avatar!

Enjoy your journaling!!!

I washed and conditioned my hair yesterday morning (meaning I went three days without washing--hope I can stand to keep that up ).  I wanted to see if fewer washes per week would help my scalp, and...

VOILA!  No more itchies!  I never in my wildest dreams thought that washing my hair less would make my scalp better.  Why would I?  One day without washing tended to make it worse.  Hopefully this is a permanent thing.  ::crosses fingers::  I can't believe that my scalp doesn't itch, even after washing.  This is like a miracle.  lol.

So...now I guess it's on to figuring out what works for my hair.  Yay!  The fun part!    

I saw something on the TV yesterday that a few months ago I would have agreed with, but after joining this forum, I got really upset about & ended up changing the channel. 

I was watching the Tyra Banks Show where they were doing makeovers.  There was a woman there with hair literally to the floor, and part of her makeover was to cut her hair off to APL!  She was crying the whole time while they tied a ponytail holder on and cut the hair off right above it.  Now, granted, the last four feet of her hair were really damaged, and maybe they should have been cut off , but certainly not ALL of it!  All I could think of was how much work and time and care was being held in that stylist's hand afterward--all to make this girl fit into a mold.  I mean, I like watching makeover shows and stuff like that, but I'm starting to realize that people are all supposed to be different & to assume that we need to all fit into some predetermined box is not respectful to humanity or the One who created it.

Well, enough of my soapbox rant.     Today I'm doing S&D while listening to the rain and Meerkat Manor.  In a few minutes I'm going to put some warm almond oil on my hair for 30 minutes and shampoo.  Maybe I'll boil some rosemary and put that in there, too.  I love days off!

If you personally favor short hair then that's fine with me but I hate how women are "bullied" into having their hair cut for x number of reasons that are based on myths and misconceptions and strange fashion notions.

So, maybe I was too quick to assume my problems with my scalp were over with.   
Today, even after a few days of not washing it still itches around the hairline in the back.  I suppose that I'm going to have to do a vinegar rinse every time I wash, which kind of makes me sad, because my shampoo smells really good. 

On the plus side, my hair looks great when I wash it less, and it feels really good after being washed, as opposed to feeling dried out, which is what it felt like before.  I'm hoping, though, that my hair doesn't smell funny after a few days without washing.  I need an opinion on this, but I don't really want to ask my boyfriend--he doesn't need to know that I go three, sometimes four days without washing my hair, does he?     I read somewhere recently that you can put perfume in your hair by spraying it on your brush first (to avoid putting alcohol directly on your hair), so maybe I'll try that.  I'd just hate for it to smell like perfume and dirty hair. 

Speaking of my brush...
I walked into my bedroom the other day to find my beagle Gadget chewing on my boar bristle brush!!     I don't even know how she got it!  I took it away from her to assess the damage, and luckily (for her) it wasn't hurt too badly.  But now it has little teeth marks all over the handle and head, and it did have tricolor dog hairs and spit in it until I washed it out.    

right now I'm pretty sure she's attacking my clothes hamper.  I'd better go save it...

I don't know about rag curling but some women can actually absentmindedly pin curl their hair while watching the news and then wrap it all up for the night.  I admirer retro/vintage ladies who are into this for their devotion to style and they say it gets easier the more often you do it but I have ten thumbs and an easily irritable scalp so an easy routine that requires the least messing with my hair is best for me.  Some control the frizz with pomade.   Okay, if it works for them...Some say setting lotion prevents the frizz.  I haven't been able to find any locally, have recently thrown away all my styling products and I just don't want to mess up my hair now that it's so well behaved.

So today I was getting ready for work, and I realized that I only had 5 minutes left before I had to leave, and my hair was all oily, since it's my third day after washing.  I had to throw it up in a pair of low French braids into buns, which ended up looking terrible and loopy because I only had 5 minutes to do it.  Plus it keeps trying to fall out.  My usual style when I have oily hair is a classic, because it binds up my bangs (which are the oiliest part of my hair) and hides the grease.  It's also MUCH easier to do on oily hair.

So here's a question for all of you reading my journal here--What's your cutest 'go-to' style the day before you wash?  You get bonus points if you have bangs.