The Archives: The Merged NW/SO/WO Thread

[Natalia]

no problem
out of curiosity, what kinds of tea rinses have you previously used? i'm always up for trying new teas in my hair

oh its been a while but i know i did plain black, chamomile, calendula, and a few well its in the cupboard so why not try it lol.

[Bedhead]

Off-topic: Bedhead, do you live in the French-speaking part of Canada? I have cousins living in Montreal (they're French like me, but they moved to the US 15 years ago, and went to uni in Montreal).

Yep! And it's very different from the mountain/prairie culture, where I'm from.

I just hit the 7-week mark today.
My hair is extremely soft and smooth, and it smells nice on the length, but still a bit strong on the scalp.
I had a lot of work this week and could not SMP as regularly and for as long as I'd normally like to. It's now been a couple of days since I resumed normal daily SMPing and it is nearly back to what it's been lately, although my scalp is a little oilier and itchier than usual. I even found some flakes for the first time in ages (TMI: I'm on my period so that may be why).

I have actually been thinking of your 7-week mark experience, Bedhead, to keep my resolve, because I have been less happy with my hair lately and I have been thinking of powdering it with cinnamon/ginger, etc. and even rinsing.

Kamir0, congratulations for hitting the 7 week mark!

Whatever you want to do, don't do it!!! You have reached and are in the midst of a major turning point. I know it's hard, but keep going; you won't regret it. And that sounds like quite the heavy duty fork you've got there! LOL!

Oh yes, please do. I have had a very similar experience to yours, and if it wasn't for your posts, I would have given up and moved on to another experience weeks ago.
Your experience may help others interested in this method...

Also, for the first time in months (if not years), I wore my hair in a half-up (cinnabun) out of the house. I initially felt a little self-conscious, but when nobody commented on it, I relaxed about it. I worried the bun would fall out but my 60th Street Production three-prong fork held like a rock.

Congratulations on the 14-week mark and fully transitioning, Bedhead!

Thank you!!!

I'm working on the blog now. It looks like it might be a three or four part series. Between the 18 pages of just my text from here and the accounts in my journal, it will be a lot to sort through and cut down. I'm glad my posts have helped and motivated you!

I am not sure whether I'll carry on past that date, but as long as the smell is not too bad, there is no reason to change anything. "If it ain't broke..."

By the time you get there, as I've said, this regime, won't seem like such a big deal, you'll simply just be doing your hair with the same la-di-la attitude you once did with shampoo. I see no reason to change at this point, and yesterday, after saying my hair looked great, my friend and neighbour confirmed something was up with the water here - we were both relieved and saddened to find out we were not the only one's experiencing strange problems (he's having skin problems an his hair has been falling out).

[LaceyNg]

I just used the dried ginger powder in my spice drawer, you know, for cooking. It worked OK, but was a bit too yellow for her hair. Next time I may use cinnamon or cinnamon/corn starch blend. I used cocoa powder for my own head and it was pretty good for soaking up my excess coconut oil. Smelled good too.

a word of caution about the cinnamon: it can cause irritation for some people. also, i use it in a honey treatment, and it's not so easy to rinse out w/ WO. it usually takes me 3 WO washes before i get it ALL out. and now days i wash less often, so i do honey treatments with no plain WO washes in between, and i have quite a lot of cinnamon leftover in my hair. i cant SEE it, but i sure do smell delicious when my hair gets even a little bit wet!

oh its been a while but i know i did plain black, chamomile, calendula, and a few well its in the cupboard so why not try it lol.

i wish i liked the taste of teas. i have so many in my cupboard too, and i feel that at the rate i use them for my hair they're going to be there quite a while!

[redeyedtreefr0g]

I think I'm too chicken to try putting things in my hair. I tried an egg wash once. It made my head all itchy,though it did feel as if I had just washed my hair- without putting in any conditioner afterwards! I felt very strange walking to the bathroom with an egg and a bowl, terrified that my husband or his grandfather would walk out and catch me.

I have still been Water-Only since July last year (with the visit to the haircutter place in October being the only exception)

Over spring break I was back in Florida retrieving family members to live out here in Oregon with us. My hair did NOT like being rinsed in that water again.

I'm still waiting for the day that someone notices that the bottles in the shower are only getting rearranged occasionally- not getting any emptier. Then again, maybe no one will notice. I wonder if I should bother taking them with me when we move to Colorado this summer...?

My hair is... ok. It's not great, but then again I tend to ignore it a lot. I brush it with my regular brushes and wear it down most of the time so there is no fuss with my bike helmet.

[soniqui]

I think I'm too chicken to try putting things in my hair. I tried an egg wash once. It made my head all itchy,though it did feel as if I had just washed my hair- without putting in any conditioner afterwards! I felt very strange walking to the bathroom with an egg and a bowl, terrified that my husband or his grandfather would walk out and catch me.

I have still been Water-Only since July last year (with the visit to the haircutter place in October being the only exception)

I, too, am a chicken when putting things in my hair. I've only used jojoba and EVOO in tiny amounts so far. But when I started I bought a pre-mixed ACV & honey bottle that I found in the supermarket. I thought it was interesting and I haven't heard of anyone on here putting them both together, so it's still unopened in the cupboard until I can find the courage to rinse with it. Maybe after a full 8 weeks WO I will.
And it's inspiring to hear you've been WO so long! Thanks for sharing.

My question to everyone is...week 5 and my scalp is itchy. Why is this and what can I do? I have been trying to use Snowy's Massage Technique every day, but I'm still feeling the urge to itch with fingernails sometimes. DH and I plan on buying a shower filter, as he has a skin condition he is convinced is due to chlorine etc in the water...at the moment I'm thinking maybe this would help my scalp stop itching as well. Ideas?

[earthnut]

I, too, am a chicken when putting things in my hair.

I've been sticking to oils and water-soluble items. I wouldn't put egg in WO hair, though I've had it work in my hair when I was using shampoo, because I had a disastrous experiment with mayo. The smell would just not come out, for months, even with shampoo. However, I do put vinegar and honey in my hair, because they both easily dissolve in water and don't have much scent.

[soniqui]

However, I do put vinegar and honey in my hair, because they both easily dissolve in water and don't have much scent.

Thanks for the encouragement earthnut. I know that I will eventually be brave and try it. Mostly because I don't want to have bought the bottle to sit around and gather dust. I just don't think that time has come for me yet. Do you use them together? What effect does it have?

[earthnut]

Thanks for the encouragement earthnut. I know that I will eventually be brave and try it. Mostly because I don't want to have bought the bottle to sit around and gather dust. I just don't think that time has come for me yet. Do you use them together? What effect does it have?

I haven't used them together. I've used vinegar on it's own and it may have helped move some of the sebum down. There's lots of discussion about vinegar earlier in the thread. If you have hard water, a vinegar rinse seems to be an almost necessary part of WO. It can help make your hair shiny too.

I've used honey mixed with some oil as a leave-in. I'm not sure if it had any effect, but it's hard to tell since it was mixed with oil. Honey by itself is on my "to-do" list. Honey is a humectant and can help moisturize the hair.

[earthnut]

I've been about a week on WO and for the last couple days my hair has been dry and in need of oil. I preen it, move the sebum down, and oil the ends with oil. Since my hair seems to need nothing more I haven't been wetting it.

[88Marisa]

Hi everyone! I've been busy and haven't been keeping up with this thread, but I'm still WO, and it's been 11 months now. I've been using aloe vera gel a bit more lately to help hold my curls in formation and I've noticed it seems to help my hair look less oily too, especially the day when I wash my hair, which is still my worst hair day, looks-wise. It can look a little stringy when it's drying. Once I've brushed it out a few times it tends to look a lot better.

However, if I really need to have really good hair in a hurry (ie, interview), I'll wash (lukewarm water!), then put in aloe vera gel (food grade) and then blow dry with a diffuser (gasp!) until mostly dry, let it air dry the rest of the way and then brush it with a BBB until really smooth. I get nice shiny bouncy curls when I do this. Not sure why, but the blowdryer makes all the difference. I don't do this regularly though, so I try to wash when I'll have at least 12 hours so it can completely air dry and some extra time to benefit from brushing and preening.

The rest of the time, if my hair looks okay but not very curly, I'll brush it out well with my BBB, put in a small amount of aloe vera gel at the ends (or sometimes just some extra water if I'd already put in aloe vera gel since my last wash) and then hop in the shower and let the steam help the curls along and do a little scrunching with my hands. Any frizz gets smoothed out with a BBB afterwards.

Right now I've hit most of my major hair goals with the exception of length, which is just a matter of patience at this point. Well, I'm also hoping I get more natural highlights this summer too. But overall I'm happy. My hair is all virgin, looks and feels very healthy, no more serious issues with frizz, no more dandruff since my first (and only so far) cassia treatment, no smelliness (I'm allergic to a lot of perfumes, this is actually one of the major selling points of WO to me), less shedding, etc. I'm consistently happier with my hair than I had ever been before either, and it costs a lot less than all the products I've tried in the past.

I'll check in at my one year anniversary next month, hopefully with some pictures, although I may wait until my hair has gotten longer, as curly short hair can look a bit wild and I don't want to scare people off thinking that's how it behaves on this method with longer hair too!