Hair Brained

Don't fear, the Whispers stories will continue faithfully. However they will be mingled with other posts, because I don't have enough Whispers to last every day until I'm 30. That series will continue later this week with Values Clarification.

First thing's first (another Al-Anon favorite of mine). I HAVE AN INTERVIEW WITH A PHD PROGRAM!! I am incredibly honored to even score one of these spots. There are hundreds of applicants from all over the country ultimately competing for about 10 spots, and the pool narrows considerably for interviews. I'm honored and excited to meet the other applicants during our upcoming "interview weekend," most of whom will be flying in from who-knows-where.

I decided for the interview, and also for life past 30, I should learn how to tame my hair. Specifically, how to truly stop the frizzy and puffy hair that happens when I try to style it, and to learn a few ways to wear my hair and look professional instead of like a 13 year old in a glamor shot at the mall. My problem is that the strands of my hair are fine and prone to breaking and frizz, yet the volume of hair is great- it's a thick heavy mass that weighs itself down, pulling the curls straight at the top, easily leading to more breakage, and causing headaches sometimes. So I need an easy hair care regime that fits all of that, and in 29 years I've never really found one. Stylists have recommended so much crap that I didn't like. I've just been using a leave in conditioner, wearing pony tails or clips most days, and being content to look like a mountain woman when the air is humid. But that really won't do in professional situations. Looking rumpled does not inspire confidence in your abilities. But every visit to a salon leaves me frustrated as they just peddle the exact products I told them I don't want- gels and sprays and pommades, ugh. So I decided to systematically study simple ways to care for my hair and find something that works.

I started on a long hair care web site that my sister recommended. It suggested not shampooing your hair as often because it dries your hair out and strips natural oils. That seemed correct because my frizzies are related to dryness. But I was confused- how do you get the greasy oily hair look to go away (it recurs after about 24 hours for me) without shampooing? So I set about googling how to clean your hair without shampoo. I was surprised and intrigued to find among the top matches this site about going completely 'poo free.

http://simplemom.net/how-to-clean-your-hair-without-shampoo/

Coincidentally, I have a friend who has been 'poo and commercial conditioner free for several months, though using some different products than this site, so the idea wasn't completely foreign. I had just expected to have to gather some rare herbs and oils in order to make a switch like that. I was surprised at how easy and logical the site made this process sound, especially when explaining about the modern origin of shampoo. I decided to give baking soda as "shampoo" a try.

The instructions are so simple- put a tablespoon of baking soda into a bottle and add water. I got baking soda everywhere. Rowan had been using my funnel as a hat, megaphone, spyglass, and silo, and my attempt at making a temporary one out of paper failed miserably. But after that disaster, the rest of the experiment went well. I used the special hair towel one of the sites suggested, and which I coincidentally already had. And so far I'm really happy with the results.

Observation 1: My hair stayed in its natural small ringlets instead of separating into frizzies. Very good.
Observation 2: Rowan is not afraid of me with my hair wrap towel on. That's very helpful since it can take over an hour for my hair to dry, and having it up as long as possible reduces the amount the heavy hair can stretch out my natural curls as they dry.
Observation 3: My hair is as long as my son is tall. If only it could always be so.