The Archives: The Merged NW/SO/WO Thread

[Not Lynn Merely]

I've been at this for, well, a while now. Three years? I've fallen into scritching and preening once every couple weeks or month, depending on how much time I have. I can wear my hair up with no trouble, but it is too piecey to wear down a good part of the month (based on my cycle, not my SMPing). Once I no longer live in this area of hard water, I will start rinsing a few times a year or so, maybe up to monthly. My big issue is flakes, and scritching brings them into visibility. I can't scritch unless I have the time to scrub my scalp with a BBB, and I seem to lose a lot of hair that way. In the past, when I was SMPing every day, the flakes didn't really go away. They seem to stick to the hairs too well, even with preening, and I think water will be the only thing that will unstick them.

I'm not looking for advice, just trying to update everyone on where I am.

[Bedhead]

Thanks for letting us know where you're at Not Lynn Merely!

I've limited my SMPing too, and find I am just fine with piecey hair when I'm putting it up all the time. However I scritch still, not always daily, but... to be honest I don't know how often; every few days? My body tells me when, and I find my scalp is happier now this way (this was not always the case). I find I massage more than scritch now. And my newest thing as of a few days ago? or have I been doing this for a lot longer and not noticed? Anyway, I've been comb-preening, as in combing with one hand and following and milking with the other. I've done it a few times this week, in the morning before I throw my hair up in a bun for my shower. My hair seems to like it, and it's convenient and easy.

I've also just cut 6" off, as in today. I discovered my hair grew again, and it was at the middle of my tailbone, so now the accidental layers I had made before are lessened, since i did the pull the hair forward over my shoulders thing instead of the head upside-down way. Now my hair is mid-back length... again.

[proo]

I whacked off about 3" recently too Bedhead-
An attempt to rid myself of those ill conceived long ago bangs.
Well, it worked; much happier.

[embee]

I don't remember when I started this.... several years ago? My routine now is to brush (Denman brush) morning and night - which seems to preen pretty well plus scritch my scalp. When I shower I put my hair into a topknot and cover it with plastic bag. Of course water gets onto the scalp, which does not distress me as I still tend to break out at the hairline, bummer. Since I never wear my hair loose anyway, I do not mind piecey hair, but can't even tell if I have it..

So I guess I'm sort of a mixture of NW/SO and WO. Works for me.

[Knifegill]

Suddenly a faint crown of new growth covers my head. Was it always there? Is it breakage? Is it just a natural wave of new growth? Mystery!

[TigerEyes2143]

I'm still continuing with my experiment of washing more often, to see if it has the same effect this did on my face (i.e. I took a break from washing, then washed again, then all of a sudden my face normalized and I didn't need to wash anymore). After doing more research on Indian herbs and having success with the soapnut and methi combination I talked about earlier, I decided to see if my hair likes shikakai.

Does. It. EVER.

This is by far the best product I've ever used to clean my hair. Clean, just the right amount of sebum (i.e. not too much, but not stripped either), good amount of slip, good condition...

I just mix 1 TBSP shikakai with maybe 1/2 cup of water and steep it like a tea for half an hour before putting it on damp hair and leaving it on for 20 min., then rinsing it off. All water is distilled, as per usual, and I use so little of it that I just use a bottle. I just put it on my scalp, since I did it today all over and it's slightly dry on the ends, so scalp only is better, and it just lightly cleans and conditions my length and ends as I rinse it off. It did this even though I pre-oiled my ends the night before, and then again half an hour before the wash. I did this the first time too and only did the shikakai wash on my scalp that time, and my hair loved it. Today was the second time I washed with this, worked even better than the last time, because the first time I filtered out some of the skikakai before putting it on, and also only left it in 15 min. instead of 20. And the last time, my hair stayed at a good sebum level for a bit longer than normal, so the whole "retraining" idea just might work now that I've found the right product for my hair's needs.

Also shaved with shikakai foam today, and I like that even better than the soapnut foam as well! Soapnut liquid is still great for doing laundry though.

Still doing SMP, although only 15 min. a day right now.

Speaking of retraining, my body seems to be retraining itself with the lime juice as deodorant too, although I didn't even do that on purpose. I noticed that the full-strength lime juice was starting to give me a rash again, but instead of diluting it, I just put some on and then rinsed it off with water after 1 minute. Still works great, and no more rash. And I've noticed that while I used to need it every single day, my body now only requires it once every few days. Pretty cool!

[lu_yue]

I figure it's about time I stopped lurking on here and finally join the conversation.
I've been nw/so since July 24, and I have no intention of ever going back. My hair is still quite stringy and not in as good a shape as I would like, but my semester at university just ended, so I'll be able to spend more time doing smp now. I do have a problem right now, and it's because I haven't had any time to really do anything but comb my hair for the past 2 weeks, so it's super sebumy and not the best looking. I don't really mind it, but since I live at home, my parents are kicking up a fuss practically demanding that I wash it. I haven't used shampoo since February, and when I did use it, I had sores and scabs all over my scalp. I can't and don't want to shampoo my hair, but my parents are really making things tough right now. I put some pepperment eo in my hair to cover the natural scent (to them, if it doesn't smell like soap/chemicals, it doesn't smell good) and I've already spent around 5 hours smping, so it looks like it did several weeks ago when I could spend time on it. Yet they're still not happy because it's shiny. I guess the one positive thing is that they think I haven't washed my hair in only a week. :P

[mamivampire]

Hello dear Sebum Only thread

I've missed this place a lot! Truly one of my favorite internet places to hang out... I should pop in more often!!! I've been meaning to do an update on my haircare for ages. (I remember that as a lurker, I always wanted to know how people were doing once they stopped being active on the thread.)

In case there are people around that have no idea who I am anymore, I'll do a quick summary of my journey. I was Sebum Only for one entire year, without any rinses. Eventually I decided to re-introduce shampoo+water, because I wasn't SMP-ing regularly enough to leave my hair down and I missed that. For a while I wasn't really sure where I wanted to go with my hair routine, or how often to wash... So I just washed it whenever I wanted to, without any particular system to it.

And that's what I've kept doing? Sometimes I will only go a week in between washes, sometimes over a month happens before I even bother. And in a way, that is the best thing that Sebum Only has brought me: freedom. I know how to deal with greasy hair so that it will look amazing without fail if I need it to look amazing. But I also don't really care that much about my hair looking perfectly clean anymore. Sure, sometimes I like to have the crispy clean look, and that's exactly when I wash it. But my Sebum Only journey has made me immune to the pressure of always!clean hair. I just can't be bothered. And for me that is an achievement I wouldn't have dreamed to wish for, because I just didn't think it would be possible. Even when I did wear my hair greasy, I used to feel that slight guilt of "not being well-groomed". I've lost that entirely.

I'm not going to lie, I have bad hair days. Everybody does. But the "grease" itself is never the problem for me, it's neglect. With the proper care attached, sebum has always made my hair look beautiful.

What it all boils down to is this: lovely lurker, if you're reading this and you aren't sure if taking this leap is worth it? Trust me that it is. Even if you can't commit to forever, even if you just want to test the waters and challenge yourself. Do it. There is an amazing community here, to give you support and share kindness, advice and inspiration. You'll learn more about your hair (and yourself) than you would think and that's an experience you'll keep with you.

I know that I will come back to this routine more commited at some point in the future. But for now, I'm just really grateful for all the insight and strength (and hair-grooming skills!!!) it has given me to manage my hair on the daily, with or without sebum. 10/10, strongly recommend!

[Bedhead]

Hey mamivampire, it's been awhile! Glad to see you're doing well.

I whacked off about 3" recently too Bedhead-
An attempt to rid myself of those ill conceived long ago bangs.
Well, it worked; much happier.

Ugh! Bangs! Don't remind me. Never again. Currently, my shortest layers are about 4" from the end of my length. Glad you're happier with your hair!

I don't remember when I started this.... several years ago? My routine now is to brush (Denman brush) morning and night - which seems to preen pretty well plus scritch my scalp. When I shower I put my hair into a topknot and cover it with plastic bag. Of course water gets onto the scalp, which does not distress me as I still tend to break out at the hairline, bummer. Since I never wear my hair loose anyway, I do not mind piecey hair, but can't even tell if I have it..

So I guess I'm sort of a mixture of NW/SO and WO. Works for me.

I think you started before I did, didn't you? I've always thought of you as the summer WO person. Good to find your balance!

If you've still got the acne, you might want to look at your diet, or issues you're still stressing about (I know money issues tend to bring acne to the temples on people).

Suddenly a faint crown of new growth covers my head. Was it always there? Is it breakage? Is it just a natural wave of new growth? Mystery!

The magic of NW/SO! Enjoy your new hair!

I'm still continuing with my experiment of washing more often, to see if it has the same effect this did on my face (i.e. I took a break from washing, then washed again, then all of a sudden my face normalized and I didn't need to wash anymore). After doing more research on Indian herbs and having success with the soapnut and methi combination I talked about earlier, I decided to see if my hair likes shikakai.

Does. It. EVER.

This is by far the best product I've ever used to clean my hair. Clean, just the right amount of sebum (i.e. not too much, but not stripped either), good amount of slip, good condition...

[...]
Still doing SMP, although only 15 min. a day right now.

Speaking of retraining, my body seems to be retraining itself with the lime juice as deodorant too, although I didn't even do that on purpose. I noticed that the full-strength lime juice was starting to give me a rash again, but instead of diluting it, I just put some on and then rinsed it off with water after 1 minute. Still works great, and no more rash. And I've noticed that while I used to need it every single day, my body now only requires it once every few days. Pretty cool!

Glad you found what works for you! And I think you rinsing the lime juice is doing what my diluted vinegar is. It's nice to not have to worry about it everyday, eh?

I figure it's about time I stopped lurking on here and finally join the conversation.
I've been nw/so since July 24, and I have no intention of ever going back. My hair is still quite stringy and not in as good a shape as I would like, but my semester at university just ended, so I'll be able to spend more time doing smp now. I do have a problem right now, and it's because I haven't had any time to really do anything but comb my hair for the past 2 weeks, so it's super sebumy and not the best looking. I don't really mind it, but since I live at home, my parents are kicking up a fuss practically demanding that I wash it. I haven't used shampoo since February, and when I did use it, I had sores and scabs all over my scalp. I can't and don't want to shampoo my hair, but my parents are really making things tough right now. I put some pepperment eo in my hair to cover the natural scent (to them, if it doesn't smell like soap/chemicals, it doesn't smell good) and I've already spent around 5 hours smping, so it looks like it did several weeks ago when I could spend time on it. Yet they're still not happy because it's shiny. I guess the one positive thing is that they think I haven't washed my hair in only a week. :P

That's right! No more lurking!!!

Welcome!

Do your parents know people put product in their hair to make it shiny like that???

[Lemon*]

Hi everyone, I've been lurking for about 5 years when I first started no poo. I did baking soda and a dilute lemon rinse for about a year. Then II left out the baking soda and just did dilute lemon rinses. And now I've been water only for 3 years, with a few clarifying washes in between (mostly for my wedding this past July. Because hard water deposits build up too fast on my hair even with ACV rinses, I've been just misting my hair with Distilled water once a week. I've been doing that for 3 months. I also do the scritching and preening that the NW/SO people do.
When I have enough posts I'll share photos of my WO journey!