#wateronlywashing

[strangelystrange]

Oh hi. Another selfie. Just cause it's been 3 months now since I stopped using shampoo and my hair doesn't look savage. And I'm kind of still shocked. #wateronlywashing #nopoo #aunaturel #sopregnant

[donnallycaia]

Trying to up my hair game... #wateronlywashing #naturalhairjourney #snacksdoeshair

[pomadedruzy]

Water Only Washing - Week Three (Days 14-21)

This week, I reached two breakthrough moments. 

The smell of my hair has to be addressed, I was unable to tolerate smelling like one of my uncles or like my daddy's hair brush. These are familiar smells with good memories attached, but not something I want to carry on my person everyday.

I may offically have accumulated excess sebum on my scalp and need to do more than just rinse to remove it.

I bit the bullet and decided that Water Only Washing cannot only be water at this point in time. I've read about tea rinses and ACV rinses that WO washers have to employ from time to time to help them out. With the problem of smell at the forefront, I felt that a light ACV rinse was the way to go. I was concerned that the ACV would strip all of my sebum accumulation, but I had to at least see if I could cure the scent issue with the rinse.

With this plan in mind, I jumped in the shower and began to rinse and finger detangle. I was noticing some serious sebum. Like literally water was beading up on my hands. All of the shed hair was sticking, and finger detangling was like raking mud. This was my first time having too much sebum. I then knew that an ACV rinse was well overdue.

I poured maybe 1.5 - 2 tablespoons into 6 oz of water and poured onto my scalp, concentrating on my scalp. I rubbed the mixture on my scalp and pulled it down my hair. Immediately, I could feel the sebum loosen up at the root and my hair felt extremely soft, not coated like I was used to. I knew this meant sebum was going down the drain, but I felt that this was what I was supposed to be doing, and I also felt confident that whatever sebum rolled off my scalp also contacted my ends if only a little bit.

I was also worried that my wet buns would suffer since the excess sebum acted as a natural pomade. I was right. The ACV rinse made my hair a bit fluffy, but I know I can build up the sebum in this area very easily. Check out some pics below:

Regarding the smell, it lightened up so much! Yasss bitch yass! I was beginning to think that I had to dump WO washing. I think that I was experiencing a slight scent sensitivity for 2 reasons:

1. I did not start WO washing on a fresh head. I just jumped right into WO washing, which was probably a no no. The suggestion is to begin on clarified hair. Shout out to the ACV!

2. I am NOT 100% comfortable or used to human body smell! Now that I've mildly clarified, my scalp scent is very light but it still concerns me that I can smell me. I've finally realized that I'm so used to smelling like coconut breeze or some vanilla-y almond something, that the natural, normal, and healthy smell of myself bothers me a bit. SMH. And we all do it. As a society, we are VERY scent sensitive and almost to the point of unhealthy obsession.

This Buzzfeed article: http://www.buzzfeed.com/rachelwmiller/how-often-you-really-need-to-shower says that we shower and perfume and deodorize excessively, that its normal to shower every other day as our bodies are somewhat self-cleaning. Obviously, the main bits (your privates, underarms, ass) should be cleansed more often (especially depending on weather, activity level, ect.), but I think the social expectation for cleanliness is unreasonable.

I find myself noticing my scent during certain times of the month (you know, that point in the cycle before the menstruation, the vagina gets a little potent, probably trying to bring all the boys to the yard!). And I freak out because I'm afraid others will smell me too. I never stink, it's never a funk. It's not the smell of bacterial vaginosis. It's plain pussy, and I can't stand the scent of me. This makes me sad. All of the scents and fragrances that we use mask the normal, benign human odors we have. We're shamed into buying things like scented maxi pads or douches, which always smell exactly like how a plastic flower looks, and never really make you feel any better. Whomp, whomp.

After all is said and done, I am woman and i like to smell nice. So I do plan on experimenting with some essential oils to fragrance my hair as I continue with WO washing. Been reading up on aromatherapy and hope to come up with something special for my senses. 

[pomadedruzy]

Water Only Washing - Week One ( Days 1-5)

Night before Day 1

I was planning to wash my hair after having it in a bun the whole week before, but noticed that I had accumulated a surprising amount of oil in my hair when I took the bun down. If I had not already heard about WO washing, I would have immediately washed with black soap or cowashed. Since I had such a substantial amount of sebum built up, I thought it was a perfect time to try Water Only Washing.

I scritched (lightly scratched) and preened (massaged scalp to get oil on fingertips to spread down hair strands) for about 10 minutes, before hopping in shower and rinsing with very, very warm water. While under the stream of the water, I continued to rub my scalp, preen, and finger detangle. 

I was surprised at how easy my hair was to detangle without product. I can never finger detangle without conditioner. When I have, its almost like I could hear my hair screaming for help. This attempt went so smoothly. I could feel that my strands were lightly coated in a way, and I could feel that my roots were slighly heavy or ladened with something. While my hair was still wet, I could see a white cast on the hair near the scalp. This is what wet sebum looks like. It is obviously colorless when I dry. At the center part of my head, I could also see the wave of my roots more prominently, they were shiny and moist looking.

I put my hair in braids with no product at all except a drop or two of castor oil on area around my edges (broken off by excess brushing while wet bunning about a year ago smh).

DAY 1 - Braid Out

This is the take down from the braids. My roots felt so deliciously silky, but my ends were more than a bit dry though. The definition I got on the uppermost part of my hair was truly impressive. No smell from my scalp or hair.

In this pic, you can see at the front where I have some breakage. You can also see how laid my roots are as well.

DAY 2 -5  I wore my hair out. I did not rinse as I should have, but used a blow dryer to get more volume and stretch. This was the week I got more specific details on a WO washing routine, and decided to be more serious about it.