The Archives: The Merged NW/SO/WO Thread

[serin blackwood]

Congratulations!!! :cheers: That's so exciting!!! Of course all the lurkers and I want to know if you feel okay wearing your hair down at this point, so, do you?

I actually hate wearing my hair up, I always have. So since joining LHC in my new effort to get my hair to grow longer, I have been keeping it in braids to protect the ends from rubbing on clothes (hoodie sweatshirts, jackets etc.).
But if I am going where I will be around people, I unbraid! It looks great down!

I'm serious when I say it looks newly washed. My scalp seems like it is producing, like, zero sebum. I've increased my oil consumption to see if that stimulates some. It's sort of a mixed blessing, I guess, as opposed to battling the greasy look, but I may have to keep oiling my dry ends.
On the other hand, is this one of the ultimate goals of NW/SO? To get your scalp adjusted to the point where mine is already at?

congratulations! That is a big accomplishment!

Thanks! And thanks for all the cheerful support

[Flittingsis]

well, everyone's hair is different & i'm really only just a beginner with the W/O washes.

i'm sure your hair does things mine will never be capable of doing. to thine own hair be true!!

So true!! Love that quote...

[Flittingsis]

Update time!
I've been sick with a cold for the past few days. Laying in bed, sleeping most of the time with my hair French braided and under a cashmere, knit hat. Today I had to go to work so I pulled my hair out and it's not too bad. I did some scritching the other night, but I wasn't really paying attention, and I can tell I need to do more. The first few inches of hair are thick with sebum so I did a quick spritz wash and combed a bit with my wooden comb. If I had had more time this would have worked, I think, but I didn't and it's still pretty thick at the roots. I think what I'll do this evening is actually do a mermaid wash. That way I don't waste water or energy in the shower and I can take my time cleaning my scalp. 
Last weekend I only powdered my hair on Friday night, brushed it out Saturday and it was fine until Tuesday when I WO washed. But with not working with it at all for the past few days there's a lot of (natural) build-up that I'll need to work out.  
I also started doing the OCM (oil cleansing method) recently, and my face definitely missed that while I was sick. The OCM seems to really help with my (recently diagnosed) eczema, which I'm thankful for b/c I really hated using pharmaceuticals that only lasted a few days. 

Here's to feeling better and getting back to playing with my hair!

[lunardaydreamer]

Flittingsis, I hope you feel better !

I am interested in trying the WO method! My hair is so dry on the ends from bleach damage, but I get very, very oily at the scalp. I'm going to give it a try!

My boyfriend hasn't washed his hair (it's short and curly) with anything but water in almost 8 years I think, and it's gorgeous! I want some of that ha!

[GreenGirl44]

It's good to see some activity here on the NW/SO Thread.

I'm returning to TLHC after a loooong hiatus. And I was never very active here, as my post count shows... I'm more of a reader/listener than a poster/talker.

Anyway, I fell into NW/SO after my baking soda/vinegar routine stopped working for me, and my blowfrying once a week seemed too harsh, and I just wanted my hair to look great naturally without stuff in it. So I started my WO journey and very quickly figured out that I HATED getting it wet! So I started working toward NW/SO instead. But I was lazy... and my NW/SO turned into just pulling up a tangled mess into a bun or detangling just enough to manage three sections for a braid... not pretty. My poor hair...

So I've returned to TLHC in search inspiration for a good daily hair care routine. I was so happy to read the description of the scritching and preening! My hair is already braided for the night, but I'm excited to try it! I never seem to have the time or energy to do the s&p that I KNOW is so important. But I'm hoping to establish the routine and then just do it automatically.

And I know I've read about this before, but I thought I'd ask anyway...

What about sweaty workouts and swimming? Does the sweat just get taken care of by the scritching and preening? And for swimming I'm supposed to wear a swim cap to protect it, right? I don't see that happening... I was in the pool once a week with my son for his swimming lessons, but now it's been awhile. I guess I'm answering my own question, but I'd probably just have to find a different hair care method if I won't keep my hair from getting wet. Hard to be "no-water" with a wet head... Oh well, we'll see if we start frequenting the pool again any time soon.

[Flittingsis]

Thanks lunardaydreamer! I'm getting there.

I say give WO a try, but take it slow and don't be too hard on yourself if you have to use crutches (as DoubleCrowned calls them) like cornstarch or oil. The sprits washes at the roots seem to work well for me, too. They help spread the sebum away from the scalp without drying the length out with a WO wash.

Best of luck!

[lunardaydreamer]

Thank you so much!

I'm so new to really taking care of my hair, are "dry shampoos" frowned upon? I can't imagine them being that great. Would it be okay to use baby powder in place of cornstarch?

[serin blackwood]

Hi Lunar,
I'm NW (no water) and have used "dry shampoo" and I'm not calling it cheating!
BUT I think there are good and bad to look for. I will only use powders that are talc free as I've read that talc can be to harsh for hair, and nothing commercial, some have alcohols etc.
Check out the thread on using cocoa powder and here is a link:

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/...77&postcount=6

for one that I am currently experimenting with. I like the fact that there are oils in with the powders as opposed to, say, straight cornstarch. I feel that these add some slip and conditioning, making the powder easier to brush out and contributing antibacterial properties from the EO's used.
Cheers,
Serin

[serin blackwood]

Hi Green Girl, and welcome to the thread!
I think if you read through the posts you will see that without s&p you are simply not washing your hair. S&P is essential for the method to work. It IS the way that the hair and scalp are cleaned and certain amounts of time need to be applied to the procedure.

Personally, I have the sense that my scalp is cleaner than ever from all the scritching I do! Cleaner than just shampooing with water. I'm pretty confidant that my follicles are not clogged in any way, and are stonger ( I have way less shedding), and that i am removing any and all dead skin, flakes, lint and dust everyday, more aggressively than water ever could.

As for sweating and swimming, I don't have the answers. I don't sweat much in general and I've never noticed sweat on my head per say and I don't swim (I'll sit in a hottub, though!). But if I did, I would just suffer with the swim cap no matter what regime I was on to protect my hair from chlorine...

Good luck with whatever routine you decide on!
Cheers,
Serin

[Bedhead]

Hi Everyone!

I've been meaning to drop in here to let you know what worked for me and what didn't. I was WO for over 9 months before going NW/SO three and a half weeks ago, and by that time, My hair was soft, silky, and healthy looking again, I even had my lovely curls back!

I tried everything a lot of you are trying, but as you know, not everyone's hair responds the same way to the same treatment. For instance, I can not put any vinegar, ACV nor white, on my hair, the least tiny bit fries my hair to the point where it looks like yellow hay (I have auburn hair). Coconut oil on my ends did the same thing, only not as bad.

This is what did work for me:

I scritched well before I washed. I never used hot or even warm water on my hair, that only resulted in the waxies coming to haunt me. I never rubbed my lengths, only massaging my scalp, and before the final rinse, I pressed in 5 drops of jojoba oil into my ends, pressing my hands together with my hair between them like i was praying sideways. The final rinse lasted only a mere 10 seconds, and then I was done! The entire wash was done with my head upside down, facing the water. I then plopped for 10 or 15 minutes, and let my hair dry on its own.

I didn't touch my hair until it was dry, but what that meant was, I found the hair near my scalp dried the fastest, so while I waited for the rest of my hair to dry, I fingered the inch and a half that was dry, helping it to not stay plastered to my head, which allowed air, which resulted in my scalp breathing, which resulted in less sebumness. Finally, when all was dry, I finger combed my hair and let all my curls swirl happily around my head.

After the 4th day (in order to have a few days of curls) when my hair started to show some sebum I brushed with a BBB every night before bed, nice and slow and right to the ends and built up to the infamous 100 strokes. The same happened 3 or 4 days later. I found out when my hair got sebumy, if I bbb'd or smp'd my hair was fine the next day. This allowed me to spread out my washings to 10 days. So, I had 4 days curly and 6 wavy. If I had any waxies I rubbed my scalp with coconut oil and left it on for about 5 to 15 minutes before I stepped into the shower, and that worked splendidly.

The one thing that stretched out my transition period was my water. Like I said, I had tried EVERYthing, and my hair was doing well on the above regiment, except the waxies came back with a vengeance in October. I put two and two together, and looked up my city's hard water level, and found it was one of the hardest waters in the country! OH my! : Not only that, but water tends to get harder in the winter, which is what gave me the clue in the first place. That's when I turned around and looked at my Brita, and thought, "It's worth a shot!"

So I filtered two full juice jugs of water and bent over my tub, pouring then massaging, pouring then massaging. I used about a quarter to a third of the jugs for each pour. When the very last 3rd of water was left, I did my jojoba oil pressing then poured away.... My hair was like never before, even on S&C, so soft, so silky. I was in heaven!

So yes, before you begin this, or if you've been struggling where it seems others aren't, check your hard water levels, it'll save you a lot of time and energy.

I hope this helps some of you, beginners or not! Just know this! It is doable, and it is so worth the time and effort!

Bonne Chance!

P.S. Thank you to all who wrote in this thread. It was this thread that I was reading when I lurked or for so long, and it's the knowledge in this thread that helped me do what I once thought not only impossible, but a little out there.