Challenging myself. Anyone care to join?

[aliceinmadness]

I'm a product h0r. I can't help myself - if I see something new, I want to test it. I try to trim down the stuff that I have, but it seems to breed on its own :(

If anyone's heard of the "6 items or less" challenge (for clothing...I've done it and it's fantastic. I'm thinking about permanently minimizing my closet), I'd like to do a hair version.

5 items or less to cover *everything* from styling to cleaning, including oils and butters and such. If anyone wants to join me in Sparta, that would be spiffy! As an additional rule for myself, once I pick the products, they have to stay in the rotation for a month before I can switch them out if I decide they're not working the way I want them to - that should be enough time to go through a sample size and make a decision.

Here are my picks:

1. Aveda Dry Remedy Shampoo

2. Couture Color Pequi Oil Treatment (I got a free sample of this which will probably take me a thousand years to use up at the rate I'm going, but it's good stuff)

3. Living Proof Straight Spray (yea, I'm not going to lie. I have no idea if it's any good, but I'm going to buy a sample and test out this little polymer)

4. Garnier Fructis Pure Clean Shampoo (as a clarifier, if needed)

5. A deep conditioner - I'm kind of divided on this, but I'm not terribly impressed with the Fructis Triple Nutrition, so I think I'm going to pick a Biolage treatment after I run out of the Fructis.

[QueenJoey]

Oooh, that's a good idea! I too have the most awful habit of blowing all my money on any hair things that catch my eye. It's budget time!

[jujube]

Great idea! I'm also thinking of minimizing.

1. Suave conditioner, no matter which scent.
2. Grapeseed oil.
3. Wide-tooth comb.
4. Biolage Conditioning Balm.
5. Clarifying shampoo.

[ennuideluxe]

This is a great idea!

My five would be:

1) shampoo

2) conditioner

3) Diluted rosewater in a spray bottle

4) A scarf, which keeps my scalp from burning and my hair from bleaching out

5) ACV

[Aveyronnaise]

1 Coconut oil
2 Melvita familial shampoo
3 Garnier triple nutrition
4 Castor oil
5 Camelia oil
6 Wide tooth comb

I think I already was a minimalist , since those are all of the hair products I use . But I do have about 8193738926 hair ties and hair toys cluttering the bathroom .

[Ligeia_13]

Does this apply only to stuff you use topically? If so, I only have four anyway :)

1. Conditioner
2. Castor oil
3. Coconut oil
4. Boar bristle brush.

[Elysium]

1. SLS-free shampoo
2. non-coney conditioner
3. Vatika oil
4. My trusty BBB :)
5. Almond oil

I do love my oils, I've got to have those :D

[Raiscake]

1. Shampoo
2. Conditioner
3. Weekly deep treatment
4. Coney serum
5. ??
6. ??

As far as products go, those four are the only things I really need. It's not cheating if I leave the two slots open, is it? :P I might toss in hairspray in there one of these days (only to hold overnight curls for extra special occasions). I'm planning on switching out coney serum for EVOO as soon as I finish my bottle.

[GRU]

There are a bunch of us in the Use Up Your Stash Challenge thread (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=50735) too -- you're definitely not the only person with this problem!!!

[pink.sara]

This is a great idea :) I've been trying to use up my huge stash before a house move and failed miserably when there was a 35% off sale at my local hairdressing wholesaler :( only 10Kg of hairstuffs to move!

1.) Goldwell, Almond shampoo for damaged hair.
2.) John Freida, Radiant Red conditioner.
3.) Aphogee, 2 minute keratin reconstructor.
4.) Jamilla BAQ henna
5.) Batiste, tropical dry shampoo.

Coconut oil and White vinegar live in the kitchen so they dont count right?!

[aliceinmadness]

Whoo! I didn't think I'd get too many bites. I guess I should expound a little bit on the rules.

- You do NOT have to count combs/brushes/hairtoys/pins/scarves/etc...only goop. Unless you just want to, lol.

- Oils, rinses, etc. DO count, even if the ingredients normally live in your kitchen.

- If you use a DIY recipe, you do NOT have to count the ingredients separately. Just list "DIY avocado mask" or whatever it is

- If you use something infrequently (i.e. one every 4 or 6 weeks or more, like a gloss or a dye), you do NOT have to count it

- You do NOT have to count anything done at the salon if you go in for a deep treatment or keratin or something of that nature


If you need to modify something to make it workable, do feel free. The point is not so much to get rid of what you own, but to reduce the variety of products that you use...even if you go through your stuff, you might still end up with de-frizzer, thickener, hair-spray, mousse, gel, shine spray, finishing spray, texturizer and so on and so on. You may only have one bottle of each, but still end up with 20 different things!

[CurlyNaomi]

1: grapeseed oil
2: DE italian red grape condish
3: live clean moisture condish
4: clarifying shampoo
5: KCCC

[Kristin]

I did the Use up Your Stash Challenge and it really helped eliminate my stash AND alter my buying habits. While it's sometimes fun to try something new, I've found what works for me and pretty much stick to those things these days. (And, bonus: the stuff that works is CHEAP!)

Good luck to you guys!

[Buggheart]

I'm totally in! I moved twice in the last year (to a new state then again within that state) and used up a lot of my beauty and candle stash, but I've come to the conclusion over the last 2 weeks that I know which things work best for me and that I should just use them and quit buying new stuff to try out.

So for the next month I'm committing to:

1. VO5 shampoo
2. Mane & Tail conditioner
3. Henna for color
4. Hsuan wen hua deep conditioner
5. Root pump plus
6. Aussie hairspray

[Plumeria]

Oh that´s great. This is exactly what I thought about since last month. I want to join this group.
I pick the following five:
1. cider vinegar
2. rhassoul
3. camelia-seed-oil
4. Monoi-Tahiti vanilla
5. Cassia

:)

[goldenmoments]

1. Tresemme natural
2. Coconut oil
3. Evoo
4. Honey
5. Aloe

Haha, it great to realize once I use up the surplus of protein conditioners in my stash, I'll have such a simple counter top display of hair items....

[Catladyintown]

You women and men have courage:D to do this. I salute you.:D:D

[DuckyDot]

1. Naked *forgotten name* shampoo
2. T-Gel Shampoo
3. Coconut Oil
4. Naked Bounce Conditioner
5. Toni and Guy curl creme

I wonder how long I can keep this up for?

[Joliebaby]

I'm a minimalist and love simplicity..

I use

1.shampoo (this varies; I don't remember what my current one is called, LOL!)

2. conditioner (this varies too, now I have a Phyto)

3. leave-in (phyto7 or 9)

4. oil -now it's wheat germ oil which is great for my hair but smells weird. I'm also off gluten and will get another oil once this is used up.

5. my mix with Mega tek and oils -will use this for a while to see if I can get faster growth. It's too much hassle for my wash-and-go style so I know I can't continue it for more than a few months.

[ancilla]

I have to admit, I love trying new things because I'm never 100% satisfied with one thing. This is what I am going to challenge myself with for a while though:

1. Henna+indigo (counted as one lol)
2. sulfate free shampoo (currently trying out L'oreal eversleek, though I prefer Cocoa Pink's Princess Poo)
3. Garnier Fructis Triple Nutrition conditioner
4. Suave conditioner (for CO)
5. Coconut oil
6. Argan oil

I really like John Frieda's Full repair conditioner though, so I might use it from time to time when in a coney mood (which is rare)
I also like clarifying very rarely, but the above list is what would work 98% of the time.

[kdaniels8811]

Mine is pretty much natural

Shikakai for washing hair
Catnip for conditioning
Coconut oil for the ends.
Clarifying shampoo - rarely used, a bottle lasts well over a year.
Kimberly's anti-frizz spray

I try hard to be chemical free, especially after dealing with cancer. And I am a cheapskate, this stuff is way less expensive than conventional shampoos and conditioners and works much better for me.

[proo]

Distilled water
Prell
Wide tooth comb
Silk scarf
Sharp scissors

[SoulOfTheSea]

I think I've been 5 items or less for a while... lol let's see:
1. Tresemme Naturals Moisturizing Shampoo
2. Tresemme Naturals Moisturizing Conditioner
3. Jojoba Oil
4. Aloe Vera Gel
5. Ocean Breeze Suave conditioner for when I feel like CWC-ing... (and it doubles as my shave cream!!)

That's it ^_^... I should start doing deep treatments with Coconut oil... =/

[archel]

Let's see if I can do this.

1. Giovanni Smooth As Silk shampoo
2. Giovanni Smooth As Silk conditioner
3. Ojon restructuring treatment (really just oil)
4. Olive oil for deep conditioning
5. Giovanni Smooth As Silk Xtreme for dry dry days

I think I can do this....

[SarahKayfa]

I do enjoy these minimalism challenges. My hair stuff is totally under control, but I need to do some kind of use up your stash challenge for skin stuff. Let's see, I will use:
1. Neutrogena Clean shampoo for the occasional shampoo

2. Conditioner- Right now I'm using Garnier Fructis Extra Nourishing Cream Triple Nutrition Conditioner, but when it runs out in the next day or two I'll buy some VO5, because that's my favourite.

3. I'm out of olive oil, and I plan to use up the Canola in the kitchen before buying more, so I'll substitute Apple cider vinegar in my hair for the forseeable future.

4. Tea rinses- I use whatever is left over to pour though my hair.

5. Beer as a setting lotion for curls. (I know, I'm old-school like that)

and I'll leave #6 open for my hair colour, since I haven't decided if I'm going to touch up my roots or go au-natural.

[jacqueline101]

My hair items are:
1 mane n tail shampoo
2 mane n tail conditioner
3 wide tooth comb
4 hair oil
5 hair elastic pony tail