The Archives: The Merged NW/SO/WO Thread

[pdy2kn6]

CALLING OUT FOR NW-LADYS

and gentlemen***

[pdy2kn6]

hey, i was just wondering if you guys know a way you can move sebum down your hair without using a brush? i left my brush at home, so i won't get access to it in a while. Do combs work? finger combing move down the sebum? any other methods?

[Peregrine]

redeyedtreefr0g, Keep it up! I know at this point it doesn't seem to be getting any better but it will. Like I said in a previous post it took me over three months to transition (I used a shampoo bar two or three times), and the last two weeks were the worst oil-wise.

My hair quite literally went from oily to dry after that last WO wash. Completely shocked me.

I don't recall what the longest time it took for someone to transition but definitely keep it up for 3 or 4 months. It will happen and think of all the money you'll save on shampoos.

Best wishes on your journey.

[Hairytale]

Hi! Just wanted to check in again, the last days I didn't write anything, I think.
Getting a new brush will be more work than I thought because the store where I wanted to buy it didn't have it. So either I purchase one on the internet or I wait till I see it in the store. Currently I'm using a comb.
Last night, I had a really bad dream. But not about my hair - it was about another person's routine...imagine what? I dreamed frizzinator washed her hair and was now CO... that was so creepy!

For my hair, I find scritching and massaging are really important and I have to do it till my hair looks better. But this time seems to shorten already, I had to scritch/massage 30 minutes first, but now sometimes 20 are enough!
Preening doesn't seem as important, my hair is okay if I only do it for 5 minutes (in addition to the scritching and massaging).

I really hope I'll be able to stay NW/SO.

pdy2kn6: try using your fingers, that should work! frizzinator posted some pages ago really good instructions on preening, perhaps that'll help you.

[Peggy E.]

Here's a pic of the hair receiver and matching vanity jar I use to gather the hair for the add-on braids. The tops are celluloid and the bowl sections are very heavy amber-colored faceted glass. I just LOVE them!

[Peggy E.]

Sorry for the repeated entry. So might as well take advantage of the post and update my ongoing adventure experience.

I'll have to look back and see how long it's been now - nowhere near as long as most of you, something like three-to-four weeks - my hair feels stiff and heavy, is much thicker (where it required three wraps of a hair elastic on CO, it now takes two and it's even difficult getting that second wrap), but looks great!

I've been S/M/Ping every night and am happy to say that the "widening part" is still gone and my scalp feels fine, there's no itching, no odor, as I rather thought there might be from reading the experiences of previous posters.

I've been doing a much gentler scritch, followed by the massage, and my scalp seems to appreciate the effort - even my arms are getting stronger! This is the most exercise I've gotten in years, though I'm afraid I'm paying for it in increased back pain. Always a flip-side, right?

For some reason, it doesn't appear to be as long. This is probably due to the fact it's "plumping out" and that must take up length. Maybe the same theory as you find with larger sized clothing - they're longer than the smaller sizes. Not because larger people are taller, so much as they fill out more of the material. To get the same length you need to start out longer.

Maybe as my hair is thickening up it is using up some of the length in doing so? I don't know, and it really doesn't matter, as we're not talking short here even with a loss of length. I'd just as soon lose the length and have stronger, healthier, easier to work with hair, anyway!

What more can I say? So far surprisingly good! )

[ratgirldjh]

well i started WO again after first doing a heavy virgin coconut oiling yesterday.
today i washed with cool and then cold water a couple of times. the oil is still in there - but already my hair looks wavier and happier! i know it will take another couple of WO washes to get all the oil out but i am happy it is there soaking into my hairs and making them healthier and stronger!

last time i was WO i had the greatest luck that when my hair got yucky or gunky that i would do a heavy overnight oiling. then i would WO for several days until all the oil came out. when it was finally out my hair was perfect! shiny, very strong feeling and ready to go WO again for at least a couple of weeks.

it also seemed that the more often i did this that the easier it was for me to get the coconut oil out of my hair. also it seems easier for me to get a heavy oiling off with WO than a light one and also it is easier to remove the longer you leave the oil - i think because it starts dissipating on its own.

so here i go again... i also made some of my lavender oil mist - 1 drop of lavender EO in a 1/2 pint of pre-boiled water. this really helps my hair to feel cleaner somehow.

[bouton99]

Oh, Peggy, it's so good to read how well this works for you.
Congrats!

[jahof45]

groan...I gave up this morning (Day 15) and did a poo/condish. I failed. I just couldn't stand it anymore. It felt as though I had dipped my hair in wax. It was so coated and my face was so greasy. I will keep an eye on the thread and cheer you all on but I don't think NW/SO is for me at this stage of things. I might try it again someday.

I look forward to reading about your success!

[Peggy E.]

It's like all the other routines available to try - there's something for everyone and not everything works on us all. I'm pretty sure I could not have done this as much as five years ago, my hair and skin would simply have been too oily and I probably would not have even considered trying the routine.

It still seems odd to me that I could be looking at months, years?, without washing my hair, when that was such an automatic part of my life, my entire life - from babyhood! Why, as a teenager I'd wash my hair in the morning and then again at night, every day.

As I got older I switched to washing every morning, then it switched to every-other-day and I kept that up for years. Then I got to where I'd wash it once a week. I went from once a week with shampoo to once a week CO and this is the routine I had when I decided to give this a try.

Much better so far, but I've only been at it now since 3/11, so it hasn't been a month yet - next week! ) Sure a lot cheaper without all the conditioners I'd been using!

I have purchased a new wooden bristle massage brush which should be coming some time next week. That will make it a little easier to brush and style, as the paddle brush is awkwardly large for me, and using my fingers for preening is okay, but I can't style it that way without it looking like the farmer's just gone through and plowed the field..... (

It's so weird. I tried running my beloved Mason P. combo brush through it for the first time since I'd WO'd it and it immediately turned into a static mess! Ran the wooden bristled brush through it and it settled right back down, with a big smile on its face, happy, happy hair! And, believe me, when my hair's happy, I'M happy!!