SO/NW with Blonde Hair?

[Gaalsong]

Hey everybody,

I keep seeing the SO/NW thread, and I am super curious. I tried WO for a few months and it was just not working for me. I have blonde hair and it looked so dark with sebum at the scalp, and so light on the ends. I noticed most of the people who really loved WO or SO seemed to have dark hair.

Is there anyone with blonde hair who has had long-term success with these routines?

Thanks in advance for your help!

[mindfull]

I have naturally dirty blond hair so nw/so and cold water washes bring out the darkness in my hair so that the little bit of blond looks more like highlights if that makes sense.

[Gaalsong]

I have naturally dirty blond hair so nw/so and cold water washes bring out the darkness in my hair so that the little bit of blond looks more like highlights if that makes sense.

Thanks, Mindfull. You mentioned cold water washes bringing out the darkness--do you do cold water washes with NW/SO? Do you mind the darker looking hair?

[Vanilla]

I have tried NW/SO for exactly 1 week. Everyone kept asking me if I was feeling ok, because it looked as if I had a fever and my head had been sweating. I could not get past that point.

In reality, my hair was just stuck to my scalp. No amount of SMP made my hair uniformly one color, and the oil slick stage didn't treat me well. I think it's nearly impossible to be blond and do NW/SO.

Now I do SMP only right before a wash. I have also had a lot of success using a small amount of coconut oil as a pre-wash treatment to keep my ends from drying out b

[pailin]

This is exactly why I don't even like to stretch washes. (well it's also the itching).
I wonder if it might work better on someone with really white blond hair? My impression is that the lightest blond shades don't change color so much around the roots,although I could be completely off base. My niece's really pale (not from a bottle) hair never seems to change color with grease like mine does.

[Gaalsong]

Vanilla--I know about the wet hair look! Today is wash day (I only wash once a week) and yesterday my grandmother thought I had *just* washed it. Because it looked wet. I didn't correct her.

Pailin--I wonder about that, too. I don't know anyone with white-blonde hair as an adult.

I guess I can stretch washes to once a week because my hair looks good about four or five days out of that, and when it doesn't look great I know wash day's just around the corner. When I WO for a few months, there was no relief. I used a BBB, preened, scalp massaged... my hair looked different levels of dull and dark the whole time. I remember thinking "I miss being blonde."

[Akville]

I'm blonde and I've tried WO and it was no good... looked really disgusting couldn't make it ....so I do CO wash .. it works sooo much better...

[Gaalsong]

Akville, thanks. That is one thing I have not tried yet. Maybe I'll give it a go. :)

[mary*rose]

I'm a medium-dark blonde just short of blonette (when my hair gets wet, it doesn't look blonde anymore), and my roots are darker, but they are still blonde. I noticed my ends were much lighter than my roots even before I went SO/NW, and I think lighter ends are just a product of hair being older and more exposed to the sun.

I've been SO/NW for about a year or so, and I think it's only darkened the slightest bit, so that I notice it, and no one else does. My friends and family would point it out to me if my hair looked significantly darker.

Haha you're going to think I'm a liar about my hair color judging from my avatar, but honestly, it's blonde.

NW/SO is the easiest hair-care method for me - my hair gets an serious attitude when it gets wet. Not meaning smell, but the texture gets waxy like nobody's business.
It just takes some time to get used to, is all :)

[mindfull]

I use nw/so routine of smp and protective updos to stretch out cold water washes.
I don't mind the darker hair since I've never been a 'true' blond

[Gaalsong]

Mary*rose -- Thanks for your input. Maybe I can start seeing my hair as "blondette" and just embracing the slightly darker color.

Mindfull -- Thanks!

Would anybody mind posting photos of their hair if they regularly do NW/SO or even WO? You don't even have to be blonde, but that would help me figure out if I want to try this routine again. If not, I understand!

I really love doing things the natural way, but I also don't want to feel like I look bad all the time. I have seen a few photos of people who have been doing it for a year or more that look normal. But I just never seemed to get to that point last time I tried it. My hair looked wet when I was doing WO. Maybe the rinsing of my hair was making it like that? Maybe going SO is the trick, no water? Hmm.

[mary*rose]

No problem :) This gave me an excuse to post in the bun thread.

Judging by your avatar, I don't think your hair will ever not be blonde - it looks like a lighter shade of blonde, and even with darkening, it'll still be in the "blonde" category.

I took two: One with flash and one without; lighting that isn't daylight or something similar is always rather deceiving :shrug:

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1577/24652537240_acdc2ee8c9_z.jpg
https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1708/24921736506_a1b0434bde_z.jpg

[Gaalsong]

Thanks so much, Mary*Rose! That's an amazing bun. And your hair looks really healthy and shiny.

My hair does look very blonde in my avatar, but it changes colors in real life. When I was doing WO it looked more dull and light brown, you could see where the sebum was and where it wasn't. I worked to get it spread through to the ends to make it even but it always looked dark/wet around my head and lighter/dry around the ends.

I'm going to keep experimenting. Maybe I'll try SO instead of WO, but I'll have to get my courage up!

[AJNinami]

This is exactly why I don't even like to stretch washes. (well it's also the itching).
I wonder if it might work better on someone with really white blond hair? My impression is that the lightest blond shades don't change color so much around the roots,although I could be completely off base. My niece's really pale (not from a bottle) hair never seems to change color with grease like mine does.

When my roots were still platinum, it took a very long time to get greasy due to being very high porosity. But when they did actually get greasy, it was near impossible to tell. It only got a bit softer and visibly smoother/shinier. As a medium gold blonde though, it's extremely difficult to hide any sort of grease.

[mary*rose]

When my roots were still platinum, it took a very long time to get greasy due to being very high porosity. But when they did actually get greasy, it was near impossible to tell. It only got a bit softer and visibly smoother/shinier. As a medium gold blonde though, it's extremely difficult to hide any sort of grease.

Oh, yes, there's definitely a delineation between my canopy and my scalp; it's much more visible when my hair is loose, though. I need help to take that kind of picture properly haha.

And it is harder to hide, but I wear my hair up, and I think half ups would do a good job of that.