Honest Talk about WO method

[aenflex]

I'm curious and non-judgemental.
Of course I have some preconceived notions about WO (or SO), and I am hoping some of you will share your experience with me and dispell any myth or assumptions that are not accurate. I will say honestly that at this juncture I am not considering trying this method. I am just looking for stories direct from sources. It's intriguing that people have reverted sucessfully to what I consider 'the old ways'.

Sebum/grease level of scalp:

Smell of the hair:

Scalp itchies?:

Breakage:

Texture (coarse-ness):

Best benefit from switching to/using this method?

Thanks much yall!

[Morrighan]

I hope you don't mind that I answer even though I don't do WO all the time anymore. I used to, but now I occasionally throw in a CO or shampoo. WO by itself wasn't very successful, though it didn't make things worse either. I'm also probably an unusual case and haven't had to go through what a lot of WO people do (the transition period).

Sebum/grease level of scalp: When I first started there was very little, and what was there was hard. Currently, none that I can tell. My hard little sebum balls have stopped appearing and I've developed psoriasis.

Smell of the hair: Nothing. At least I couldn't smell anything.

Scalp itchies?: Oh yeah. At least when I first started and was pure WO. But now after tweaking it a bit I rarely get the itchies.

Breakage: Not any more than I did before WO. Sometimes I get a little breakage just from combing gently.

Texture (coarse-ness): Fine

Best benefit from switching to/using this method? I guess just the act of experimenting and finding what works best and what doesn't. Also, I don't use as much product as I used to and save money.

I decided to try WO because of scalp problems from lacking sebum and it being hard in texture. Somehow it just dried me out even worse. But so did every method I tried if I used it consistently. So I tweaked it by heavily oiling my scalp with coconut oil the day before I wash, and oiling the scalp with jojoba oil after a wash/after my hair dries (one day later). And then continuing to oil the scalp with jojoba, usually 2-4 times a week until I do the coconut oil and wash again (which can be anywhere from 1 week to a month, but is usually 2 weeks). I also started to do CO and shampoo sometimes because my scalp doesn't seem to like repetition and gets dryer, though I still do WO for the majority of washes.

[IcarusBride]

I think what puts people off of WO is the idea that if you aren't washing yourself with shampoo, you are dirty. It's not so much your own opinion you ('you' being someone contemplating WO) are hesitant about, but "What would people think?!" and "I don't want to be associated with poor personal hygiene".

I have very good personal hygiene! I shower every day in the summer and every 2 or 3 days in the winter, and I wash my body with soap every time. I brush my teeth and wash my face every day, always wear clean clothes, keep my nails and body hair appropriately manicured, etc. WO=Uncleanliness is a myth I'd like to dispel. HOWEVER, the people on this community are much more open-minded about it.

To be honest, I don't tell people (outside of long-hair communities) that I do WO. "Mainstream" people are very judgmental towards it. I told my mother and she tries to be supportive, but she also avoids letting my head touch her when we hug, and won't share a pillow with me (we went camping and I forgot to bring a pillow and she brought two, so she gave me one but she told me to keep it afterwards b/c she doesn't want it back). It's a little hurtful, but I accept it. My little sister (11) tries to use my WO as an excuse of why she shouldn't have to shower (She's going through a poor-hygiene spell) saying "Tori doesn't wash her hair! Why do I have to shower?!"

As for your questions specifically:

Sebum/grease level of scalp: When I first switched, my hair got WICKED GREASY. For almost a whole month, I looked horrible. My hair clumped together, so I looked like an anime character, with clumps of hair instead of individual strands. Since then, though, it settled down. In my opinion, my hair is NEVER greasy at all anymore. Even if I didn't shower at all for a week or so, I don't think very much oil from my scalp would accumulate, only whatever I put on (coconut oil). I don't think it looks greasy to other people, either. However, my sister has told me that my hair always looks wet. Perhaps she can see greasiness that I can not, or perhaps it's just because I have darker and healthier hair than anyone she knows, and it's pretty shiny.

Smell of the hair: There is none. Absolutely none. No good smell of shampoo/products, but no stinky smell either, as you may associate with 'unwashed body'. In the summer especially, I am very careful to completely wash sweat out of my hair. Occasionally you can smell a lingering coconut smell from the huge amounts of coconut oil I use.

Scalp itchies?: None. I do notice though that I have to take more care to remove dead skin than I used to before switching to WO, since the chemicals aren't removing it for me I have to gently 'scrub' my scalp with my fingertips in the shower. I tried a salt scrub once, but it totally didn't work.

Breakage: Very minimal. I almost never have breakage in general, the only time I get it is if I wear a hairtoy that snags, or if I comb a tangle out too roughly. However, I do have a very high shed rate. I have always had a very high shed rate, S/C-days and now.

Texture (coarse-ness): I haven't noticed any difference from before. I never had coarse hair, and do not now either.

Best benefit from switching to/using this method?: No friz! I used to have static, frizzy hair no matter how much conditioner I used. Now there is none Hallelujah! My hair is soooo soft now (not sure if this is only because of WO, or a combination of my new habits since joining LHC) and I never ever use any kind of products (hairspray, mouse, etc), I can get any kind of style to stay without it. Well "any kind" excluding teasing/curling which I won't do anyways.

[nytquill]

My experience with WO may or may not answer your questions but I'll throw it out there anyway. I didn't do it for a long time - 2 months or so maybe, mostly out of curiousity - but I came to it from CO and didn't have any noticeable transition period.

My hair was...not exactly greasy, but kind of piecy. Definitely not that smooth clean and shiny look that we're all used to from commercial shampoos and such. I never felt like I couldn't leave the house without a headscarf but my hair definitely didn't look like what I was used to it looking like.

I didn't have a particularly itchy scalp. I think because my itchies come from overdrying the scalp with cleansers which WO doesn't do, and because I didn't have the "otter in an oil slick" transition where there was a lot of sebum hanging around making my scalp itch.

My hair dried super fast after showers with WO. Sebum on its own repels water, sort of like the lanolin on sheep's wool or something. So all the water just kind of beads off the hair and you're left with very little water left to air dry out, so it doesn't take long. I don't recall there being a particular smell though I know some people do get that, but if there was it was just sort of a natural skin smell...like smelling an animal's fur up close, which I think smells kind of good actually.

My husband never had any complaints (none that he voiced anyway - good man) and I never got any comments about it although I was working in a "people" job at the time. In the end I stopped because I just could never get into the routine of scritching and preening every day and as cool as I thought it was to be able to clean your hair with just water, the way my hair looked with it just wasn't what I wanted. I told myself that if nobody in the world had ever discovered shampoo we would all be WO and no one would think it was weird, but society has changed and the "shiny fluffy shampoo look" for better or for worse is what I wanted.

But don't let that discourage you if you want to try it! I had really a pretty pleasant experience with it, no negative comments, but I learned that it's just not for me (or more accurately I'm not suited for WO). Nothing wrong with that either

[pelicano]

I really wanted it to work for me, and I did it for 4 months. It really didn't though, in fact, it was one of the worst things I ever did to my hair!

Sebum/grease level of scalp: started off quite bad for a few weeks, then became manageable, then bad again. Sebum leaves a grey film on things if you lean against them - very embarrassing when you lean against restaurant windows and leave a mark!

Smell of the hair: Not sure...

Scalp itchies?: I have seborrheic dermatitis, and it was honestly no better or worse than shampoo

Breakage: Lots

Texture (coarse-ness): It went very frizzy/dry (my hair is very fine)

Best benefit from switching to/using this method?

Obviously it's very cheap! Also, I shed a lot less. But my hair condition was so awful with it. I think with soft water it might be fine, but my water is very hard, and I now realise I constantly had a film of mineral deposits all over my hair, drying it out.

[embee]

I did WO one winter. It was ok. My hair dried faster than usual, which was a great plus as I keep my house cool. I only rinsed my hair maybe every week or so, not every couple of days. I noticed no smell and nobody complained. My hair tends to be stringy no matter what, and this was just more of the same.

It didn't work so well in summer - I was so sweaty from the garden.

I wear my hair up always, so the fluffy shampoo look is not something I have.

This winter I'm going SO, just to see. So far so good from Oct 24. It's lovely not to ever have long dripping wet hair! I feared total greasiness but I brush more and have not seen greasy yet. Smell? No. Less static, so less tangles. Shedding seems to be irregular - some days almost none, other days it looks like a lot. Probably pretty normal. Itchy? At the beginning, not now.

My hair is fine, thin, and straight. (I am old and not as oily/greasy as I was. Probably SO and WO would have been total FAIL when I was young.)

[Gem]

Hope you don't mind if I answer twice

WO

Sebum/grease level of scalp: Occasionally a little dry sebum build-up, but my hair didn't look greasy.

Smell of the hair: Fine.

Scalp itchies?: Occasionally.

Breakage: Slightly more than on S&C due to lint and a bit of waxiness.

Texture (coarse-ness): Do you mean softness? Because it didn't change my texture... My hair was a bit stiff and waxy at the crown, but otherwise quite soft.

Best benefit from switching to/using this method? Much softer than on any detergent method that I have used (S&C, clay, or herbs).

SO

Sebum/grease level of scalp: My scalp just feels like well-moisturized skin. My hair doesn't look greasy at all, not even my bangs.

Smell of the hair: Neutral to nice - I got confirmation from a variety of sources.

Scalp itchies?: None.

Breakage: Very little. No lint issues like with WO, and no waxies.

Texture (coarse-ness): Incredibly soft and shiny.

Best benefit from switching to/using this method? Ridiculously soft and shiny hair.

ETA: Ooooh, I get the texture question now...sorry, I'm a bit sleep-deprived My hair is mostly 2a/M with some 1a/F thrown in.

[McFearless]

I wanted to try WO but I use oils and I don't think this method would work with the products I use. Also I think its easier for type 1 and 2 hairs because they are naturally more moisturized.

[Thinthondiel]

I'm not WO anymore, but this is what it was like when I was still doing WO:


Sebum/grease level of scalp: More sebum on the scalp than with sulphate shampoos, but (I seem to remember) less than when I use non-sulphate shampoo, which is what I use now. It could be because I don't massage my scalp anymore while I'm in the shower.

Smell of the hair: I suppose it just smelled of... me. There was a short while (a week, I think) during the transition period when I had smelly sebum, but after that it just smelled 'natural'. I was dating a guy who didn't know I was doing WO, and he told me he liked the smell of my hair.

Scalp itchies?: None! At all. And I didn't have flakes, like I do when I use shampoo.

Breakage: I didn't really notice any difference in breakage, but I shed a lot less.

Texture (coarse-ness): I have coarse hair, and while I was doing WO it was softer, not as dry and wiry.

Best benefit from switching to/using this method? I got completely rid of the flakes, my hair dried super fast, it was smooth and shiny (not greasy), and I didn't have to spend money on hair products.

There was one downside to it for me, and that was that the combination of WO and brushing with a BBB every day (which I had to do to distribute the sebum) made my waves something like 2a/b rather than 2c. Oh, and sebum builds up on brushes and combs, so they have to be cleaned quite often.

[Milui Elenath]

I will start by saying I have extremely extremely dry hair and was previously CWC once a week. I had no transition to WO. My hair was almost TB when I began and the ends of my hair not in the best shape. I WO wash once a week.

Sebum/grease level of scalp: I actually enjoyed a level of slip/strength but not greasiness. (with preening)

Smell of the hair: just hair most of the time. If my hair has been up constantly it might have a faint stale smell that dissippates quickly but others don't seem to be able to smell even that (ie. family members who I made smell my head )

Scalp itchies?: NONE - I used to have terrible dandruff and be a constant scratcher as well.

Breakage: My ends have suffered (bad splits) but I have not lost length. If I had WO with a shorter length to begin with I believe that they would have been more protected by the sebum. I should have oiled the ends and babied them more. I don't believe this will be necessary for the hair that is grown during WO as it won't be so dry/damaged.

Texture (coarse-ness): my hair is fine and with WO feels stronger-smooth-silky and less silky-fly-away

Best benefit from switching to/using this method? My scalp - very little dandruff almost none, less shedding (I wasn't a big shedder before however) no reliance on commercial products and the knowledge that I can have beautiful hair so long as I have access to water!

I'll add that the hardest thing with WO is that it is so individual, it's been difficult learning how to identify the source of hair/scalp problems and their solutions -waxiness, strange texture, greasiness, flakes, which can be anything from water hardness, lint, water temperature, lack of preening or build up, etc.

ETA sadly my hair doesn't dry any faster (not slower though)