The Archives: The Merged NW/SO/WO Thread

[bumblebums]

I have some questions about scritching and preening. I've been reading these posts and I got the idea that they are important steps for the WO method. I usually massage my scalp harder before I wash, and do nothing in between. I only finger comb to detangle, and I don't brush or anything because my hair breaks easily.

Yesterday, I tried scritching for the first time. It felt good, but afterwards, my scalp started to itch terribly, and lots of flakes appeared! The itching stopped after half an hour, but I'm not sure what to do with the flakes. Is washing the only way to get rid of them? Should I be scritching more often?

Also, after scritching and massaging, my fingertips were only slightly greasy... how do I preen with that?

I hope my questions make sense... I'm still not quite sure what sebum feels or looks like, just going by the descriptions here.

I don't think it's really required. Sebum is a weak surfactant, so it washes off a bit in the water. Sebum-Only folks need to spread it out on the hair, but WO both washes it off and spreads it out for you. At least that's my understanding.

As for itching after scritching (wow, I'm a poet and I didn't even know it), I've experienced it, as well, so I don't do it now. My scalp is fine without it.

[perkidanman]

Azhie,

I think the flakes might just be the skin you worked off when you were scritching. The itchiness might be that your skin just isn't used to the sensation? I'm not sure about that one. I know that massaging your head will stimulate your scalp to make oils, so if you massage long enough (I usually do about 5 mins but my scalp has no problem making oil for me) then you should be able to preen with it.

[wrinkledamanda]

Hello, all!

I haven't washed my hair since the end of November, and I have a few questions. If they're too vague, just tell me to elaborate. haha

1. (This is the vague one I'm worried about) What are your routines? I think I'm just kind of looking for an idea...

2. What is scritching? And preening?

3. My scalp is itchy and I still have flakeys. Will scritching help? If not, does anyone kind of know what might?

4. I'm a smoker (have cut down a lot though, yay!), and so is everyone in my household. What do some of you do for the smell?

5. I was loving the way my hair was feeling, but now it's getting dry-ish again. Not nearly as bad as when I was washing it but... ugh. I've noticed that this happens after I brush it. I use a bbb, which I thought was to help move the sebum down the strands and eliminate any smells but I don't think my hair likes it that much.

My hair has just reached the bottom of my bra strap, and is moving towards waist length (Ohhh how fun to be able to say that!). And I'm sorry, but I haven't typed it yet... Maybe I should figure out how to do that?

Thanks in advance for all your help, and sorry about the long post!

[rose.grace]

Hi This subject is fascinating to me. How do you get started? For example, CO washers or WO washers say to begin with first clarifying your hair. Can you please tell me what the first steps are?

How long have you gone without water on your hair? Is this a method for wurly or curly women's hair or does it work best on straight? I have read about the woman who hasn't used water on her hair for 11 years and hers is very straight, plus, brushing my hair seems to make it poof out like the wild man from Barneo's. Still, I'm curious and looked for it on the Articles section but found nothing.

[frizzinator]

Welcome Wrinkledamanda and Rose.grace!

The answers to your questions are in this thread, so while it may seem like a daunting task, it really is best to read the whole thread. Plus, there is another thread like this in the archives!

Not all of us are doing exactly the same thing, so that is why reading the thread is so helpful, and it is also the reason why an article might not be particularly instructive.

The big problem some folks encounter is thinking that this is a method of neglect, which is untrue. This method will probably take at least as much time as any other method you have used.



Here are the answers to your questions, but reading this whole thread will more thoroughly answer your questions:

I have rinsed my hair once in three and a half years.

Sebum tends to hang around the scalp and on the hair nearest the scalp. You have to physically move the sebum down the length of the hair.

Spreading sebum is best done by preening. The bbb removes sebum from my hair, so I don't use it to spread sebum, however, the bbb is good at removing the kind of flakes from the scalp that scritching will not remove.

The bbb is exceptionally good at removing stuff from the hair, and I use the bbb whenever I need it, which is rarely because I wear my hair up all the time, so it gets very little in it.

In order to smooth my frizzy hair, I scritch and massage my scalp to get sebum on my fingertips, then I preen with my fingertips to put the sebum exactly where I want it. I do this over and over again, on a daily basis.

My hair does not look good unless I scritch, massage and preen. Scritching is scratching the scalp to remove whatever is on it. I usually can remove flakes with just scritching and then shaking them out of my hair.

Preening is just picking up a few hairs and pulling your sebum coated fingertips down the length of these few hairs, then do it over and over again. When done on a daily basis, you can eventually spread the sebum down the length of all of your hairs. If I don't preen, my hair becomes frizzy, snarley, dry and breaks easily.

I cannot comment on smoking, but scritching, massage and preening helps with smells. It's important to let the hair be down sometimes so that the hair and scalp can get some air.

I started SO by first using the WO method for a number of weeks. I think it is best to remove all product residue, and I felt that was best done with water only, and it takes a lot of rinses to remove all product residue.

Good luck on your journey!

[rose.grace]

Dear Frizzinator, (and I do mean Dear!) These things are exactly what I was looking for. Sorry I didn't read through the whole thread before asking. I read a lot of it because I had a migraine yesterday but was frightfully curious and it seems to be one of those things that are "tapping me on the shoulder" cosmically, if you know what I mean. Some things just hit you as, "This is for you!"

I have the same results with the BBB as you do and thought I must be a freak. Everyone else I know has told me that they move the sebum down the shaft but all they do is frizz my hair! So, do you use a Denman brush? Are they best because they don't have the plastic "veins" left over from the molds, etc? I'm wondering because I have read that the "air" brushes that have the little balls at the end damage hair by catching on the cuticle and ripping it. So I'm looking for a good brush for when I need it.

You do sound a lot like myself, I even have been thinking (just since yesterday when I found this thread and the idea struck me like lightning) that I would use WO for a few days first to make sure I get all the product or anything else out of my hair before I move forward to NW/SO, but wasn't sure if this was a good idea or not (since the idea is to avoid water). This method of cleaning hair and scalp just seem natural. I think about animals and how clean their fur smells when they never bathe (cats especially, but even dogs have to get wet before they smell like a dog--and oddly enough, even that smell doesn't offend me. Dogs smell like dogs because they're dogs--it's natural). And unlike skin, which does replenish and replace itself, all hair has it sebum to protect it. It doesn't rejuvenate itself. It needs very special treatment and care but I just never knew what that was. Just the thought of my hair being coated with sebum instead of product or stripped bare, makes me feel "protected" and healthy. I've never been "conventional" and don't intend to start now As you can see, I've done a lot of thinking about this in the last 24 or so hours.

What do you clean your favorite/trusted brushe(s) with? Do you clean it/them every day? I will go through the thread now and read the whole thing. I am supposed to be knitting a sweater but my hair is so important to me that I'm making it my priority for today. I can't wait until pay day so I can get a good brush that won't make my hair frizz in exasperation.

Thank you SO much for this information. You really do sound a lot like me and I love your hair!

P.S. After reading more... some women gave up their combs and brushes... what do they use to groom their hair?

[frizzinator]

Rose.grace, I used Denman brushes for many years and I like them very much. I don't have one now, but I don't brush much either.

I think those brushes with the little balls at the end of each bristle are dangerous because of the way the brush is constructed. When a bristle is inserted into the base of the brush, there is usually a little piece of another bristle inserted with the bristle in the brush base (presumably to hold the bristle tightly in the brush base), and hair gets caught between those two bristles jammed together in one hole in the brush base.

I basically don't brush because it is too easy to break hairs when brushing. For me, part of growing long hair is avoiding breaking hairs. Broken hairs enhance the frizzy look that I'm trying to eliminate. Therefore, I try to be very gentle with my hair. My routine is to remove tangles with my fingertips while I fingercomb, scritch, massage and preen. Then I use a wide tooth horn comb. I'm finding that just using my fingers is the most gentle way to groom my hair. Using only the comb and being in a hurry always results in broken hairs.

When my hair was shorter, broken hairs didn't matter to me, but after looking at the surface of long hair and seeing shorter broken hairs sticking up, I started thinking about how I could do better.

Another eye-opener is measuring the circumference of the base of the ponytail, and then measuring the circumference near the end of the ponytail and if you notice a huge difference in the measurements, then you might start thinking about trying to not break so many hairs. Of course none of this would matter to a person with thick hair.

There are a number of hairs that are going to break which you cannot control. It happens especially when learning different updo styles and the first few times you practice using a new hair toy. But if you try not to break hairs, then you eventually will be able to see the result of your efforts.

I will use a brush when I need to remove something from my scalp or hair, but it seems like I need to brush less than 3 or 4 times a year. I use a Mason Pearson bbb which came with a cleaning brush. This cleaning brush is handy because it allows the brush to be cleaned dry. If my bbb still looks dirty after dry cleaning, I will also use the cleaning brush to wet clean my bbb.

[rose.grace]

Ah... so that's why that brush is so expensive! I might just get a Denman after all for those times I want to just feel a brush through my hair. I see your point about the "air brushes" and why they are damaging.

I feel that even if my hair is thick, I don't want to break or lose any of them (the lace tablecloth comes to mind)! Thick hair is a blessing in my opinion. And the money I'll save from not spending it on hair chemicals might just allow me to get one of those Mason Pearson brushes. I'll make it one of my goals.

Thanks again for these tips. They are so valuable. Experience is the best teacher and it's so much nicer to learn from others' than having to do it the hard way

[fairy_ends_girl]

Hi all! I am into my day 5 of WO and my hair has never looked better!!! I am however, coconut oiling every night before bed so I am kinda greasy looking but for me it is great because I don't look like a frizzy puffball anymore

[Una]

Hi all! I am into my day 5 of WO and my hair has never looked better!!! I am however, coconut oiling every night before bed so I am kinda greasy looking but for me it is great because I don't look like a frizzy puffball anymore

Congratulations! I am glad it is working out for you. It is a relief not to have to worry about buying shampoo and conditioner again Keep us all posted on your progress.


I have not been so lucky... I have been WO for 15 days now. Unfortunately, my hair is a pile of grease. I miss my fluffy, clean hair so much. But I feel that I have come this far, so it would be a shame to drop out now.

Yes, I have no fly-aways, but my hair looks thoroughly wet with oil (gross, I know).

My big question is: does the grease and 'slick' look ever really go away?

I have read over most of this thread, and I can't seem to find a definitive answer to this question. It seems that WO hair is always going to be quite flat...is that right?