Trying Water Only (sort of)

[kinkycurlygurl]

I actually have more gray than you do. I've been going gray since I was 19.

 

[Cendra]

This is a most interesting thread OP, thanks for starting it. I never considered that sebum could be manipulated to cover the whole shaft of the hair. I baggy regularly but I wasn't even thinking that I was already spreading the sebum around when I style in the morning.

Loveygram,
The shrinkage in your siggy is NUTS, do you have any pics of your flattened hair?

 

[Loveygram]

This is a most interesting thread OP, thanks for starting it. I never considered that sebum could be manipulated to cover the whole shaft of the hair. I baggy regularly but I wasn't even thinking that I was already spreading the sebum around when I style in the morning.

@Loveygram,
The shrinkage in your siggy is NUTS, do you have any pics of your flattened hair?

Cendra
Not when it was that length.

 

[lilyofthenile]

Hi, what dilution are you using for your ACV wash? I go very dilute for my rinse. I use a 1/2 tsp to a gallon of water.

I'd like to hear about your results too. Have you been doing it for long?

As I'm not rinsing, I use it to just cleanse my scalp, I dilute about two teaspoons with 10ml of water.. it's been surprisingly ok, I think this is the dilution my scalp is comfortable with. I've only started doing this recently though but I'm going to keep this up for a while and see how it goes.

I'll keep you updated =)

 

[kinkycurlygurl]

I colored my hair on Sunday. I went back to a simple dark brown color trying to erase the patches of red from my previous botched dye job.

The color is fixed, but coloring my whole head stripped all of the sebum from my hair. I'm slowly building up the sebum coating on my hair again. I'm going to hold off washing it for at least 3 weeks. I imagine I won't be able to take the sebum coating back down to zero with a plain water wash, we'll see.

My hair feels stripped, and a little crisp. I've decided to just stick with the dark brown so that I won't have to put color on the entire length of the hair again. Going forward I'll just be able to touch up the roots.

I didn't want to put the "sealing" conditioner that came with the dye kit on my hair after I colored so I skipped it. My hair was easy to detangle with just water and I air dried it braided.

Here are some pictures from this week:

3/5/12
http://www.flickr.com/photos/77383090@N08/6957431691/

3/6/12
http://www.flickr.com/photos/77383090@N08/6963499923/ Front
http://www.flickr.com/photos/77383090@N08/6817385212/ Back

3/7/12
http://www.flickr.com/photos/77383090@N08/6963500143/

 

[reeko43]

kinkycurlygurl, I can't wait until I am comfortable enough to try this! Question, do you still do wash and go's? If so, do you just use water and air dry? I am a regular henna user. I use for the color mostly but also for the added benefits. I think when I can figure out how not to have a head of straw w/out conditioning I might just go for it.

 

[kinkycurlygurl]

reeko43 : No, I haven't worn a wash and go in years. In the last year or two I've been wearing protective styles. I like the way skipping wash and goes cut down on my detangling time.

I'm considering doing a wash and go as an experiment to see how it would work. Maybe on my next wash. I'm going to wash in three weeks and I think the key will be not washing out too much sebum. So it'll be more like a quick rinse.

I noticed on my recent washes, my hair curls up into ringlets without any trouble at all. I've been braiding to dry. Then wearing the braid waves in some sort of updo. Instead, I might let it air dry next time.

@kinkycurlygurl, I can't wait until I am comfortable enough to try this! Question, do you still do wash and go's? If so, do you just use water and air dry? I am a regular henna user. I use for the color mostly but also for the added benefits. I think when I can figure out how not to have a head of straw w/out conditioning I might just go for it.

 

[kinkycurlygurl]

Update on the aftermath of the dye job. My hair was so dry that tiny pieces were breaking off when I massaged my scalp and stroked the hair to gather and spread the sebum. Moreover, my hair was so stripped that the sebum wasn't building up fast enough for me.

On Friday night, I put a mix of 75% olive oil with 25% castor oil on my hair to help the situation along. I divided the hair into 4 sections and put 3 drops of the oil mix on each section.

That oiling really helped the brittleness. Today, I have what I consider to be the baseline sebum coating on my hair. It is becoming flexible again and the ultra-dry, stripped feeling is gone. My hair feels soft and smooth again. I'm optimistic that next week's scalp massage and preening will put a good coat of sebum on my hair.

I'm sticking with the decision not to wash my hair for 3 weeks. I want to build up a heavy sebum coat before I wash. In the mean time, I think the nightly scalp massage and brushing is keeping my hair and scalp free of dust and lint. I don't see any and my hair smells fine.

 

[Loveygram]

Sorry your coloring was a problem but hopefully the remedies will help. I just wanted to let you know that I've added aloe to my routine. I'll have to see how that works.

I found that 3-5 days is what works best for me so far. Best wishes with your 3 week stretch !

 

[kinkycurlygurl]

What are you doing with the aloe LOVEgram? Washing, conditioning or using it as a rinse?

 

[Loveygram]

What are you doing with the aloe @LOVEgram? Washing, conditioning or using it as a rinse?

I just tried it today as a wash (aloe vera gel). So... I'm not water only now.. . I saw info where aloe is good for strengthening the hair and I feel like I really need that. I mixed the gel with rosewater and few drops of oil, applied to wet hair like poo, then let it set a few minutes and rinsed.

I'd have to try it for a bit to see if it's helpful but I have hope .

 

[kinkycurlygurl]

Sounds luxurious. My grandma used to use fresh aloe on her hair as a kind of conditioner she had some nice looking hair. Let me know how it goes.

 

[Loveygram]

Sounds luxurious. My grandma used to use fresh aloe on her hair as a kind of conditioner she had some nice looking hair. Let me know how it goes.

It did make my hair drier but not DRY. Still very soft...and... made friends with a super soft brush. Thanks for the tip. Still too soon to know how this will all work out. Wish I still had my giant aloe plants !

 

[kinkycurlygurl]

I colored my hair on 3/4/12. It's taken more than 10 days to build up a decent sebum coating on my hair because the dye stripped my hair bare. In the mean time, I continued to massage my scalp, spread the sebum with my fingers, and by combing and brushing, then I added moisture to my hair with water each night. This process is called preening.

Twice I added a few drops of oil to my hair. The first time I used a mix of olive and castor oil. The second time I added coconut oil. My hair was super dry for the first 3-4 days and I got nervous.

Some days, when I had time, I also preened in the morning. My hair has regained it's flexibility, softness and moisture level. 3/18/12 will make 14 days between washings I'll have only 7 days to go until my next scheduled water wash.

My hair smells fine. There's no product smell because I'm not using much product. I also used so little of the oils that I don't have any noticeable oil smell either. My hair smells like my sebum. I'll admit I was a little paranoid about what my hair would smell like. It's hard to describe, but it's not at all unpleasant. There's an earthy, almost herbal quality to the smell.

Any way that's my update on the water experiment.

 

[kinkycurlygurl]

At last, my hair is feeling soft, moist and flexible again. This weekend I'll do a water wash.

My grays are showing along my hairline and in my part, but I'm ambivalent about coloring. The color stripped my hair down to nothing last time I used it. I'm a little scared that if I do a root touch up the roots will be so dry that the hair will snap really close to the roots when it breaks.

The other thing I've been working on is keeping my hair in protective, yet fun styles. I've compiled a little "look book" of hair tutorials on youtube that I like and each day when I style my hair I look there for inspiration if I'm stuck for ideas or not feeling like a bun.

Yesterday, I did a half up-half down with three fishtail braids that I intertwined in a fancy looking knot at the crown. I let the bottom half of my hair hang free.

Not surprisingly, when I took the style down for the night, the hair that was braided felt way more moist than the hair that was loose. I'm going to keep my hair in protective styles everyday and only let it out for special occasions.

The only complaint I have about my regime so far is that it's boring. I think I'm just so used to all of the products and procedures that I kind of miss them. I massage my scalp nightly, spread the sebum from the roots to the ends of my hair, separate any tangles by hand, brush the length, spritz with rose water, then braid, twist or pin curl for the night.

I'm planning a length check for late August. Six month of this regime should be enough to see if it has a positive or negative effect on the amount of length I'm able to retain.

Changes to the regime

This week when I wash I'm going to skip the ACV rinse and see what result I get. I was using only a half teaspoon of ACV to a gallon of water. If I get the same result without the ACV I'll eliminate that from my regime.

I've stopped using the comb as of yesterday to see how finger de-tangling works for me over time. When I followed the CG method, in the past, I ended up with dread locks in the under layer of my hair.

I'm going to try this now because I break my hair with the comb. I break fewer hairs when I use my fingers to de-tangle. I don't think I'll get the dread locks this time because I'm not saturating my hair with product, and I'm de-tangling it nightly in sections. I should catch any stubborn knots before they become a problem.

 

[kinkycurlygurl]

I forgot to mention that I've been using coconut oil in addition to sebum. Twice this week, my ends felt a little dry so I spritzed them with rose water and added a tiny drop of coconut oil to them.

I'm finding that my hair likes very small doses of oil. I was shocked at how little I really need. At this rate of use I don't think I'll have to buy another bottle of coconut oil this year.

 

[Vintagecoilylocks]

Can't see the pictures. You have your photos set on private.

OT your hair is lovely

 

[Vintagecoilylocks]

I forgot to mention that I've been using coconut oil in addition to sebum. Twice this week, my ends felt a little dry so I spritzed them with rose water and added a tiny drop of coconut oil to them.

I'm finding that my hair likes very small doses of oil. I was shocked at how little I really need. At this rate of use I don't think I'll have to buy another bottle of coconut oil this year.

This sounds reasonable. I tried this WO several years back and now I can not remember why I gave it up. But oh well glad to hear it is working for you.

I was impressed with the testimonies on LHC years ago. Combining it with the coconut oil made me think that my length was the problem. The scalp and hair near it was nice but the length was still too dry.

Happy growing.

 

[lilyofthenile]

Nice update! I'm staying tuned b/c what you're saying could potentially save me a lot of money and headaches when it comes to my current regimen.

This is week two from using ACV to cleanse my scalp. I'll be honest, my scalp doesn't feel dirty at all and it feels cleansed when I use the ACV. This weekend I'll be DCing my hair but I will only use diluted ACV on my scalp. Some weeks I wash my hair and thers I don't, so I will keep track of what it's doing but so far I've had no problems with it, but it's still early days. One thing though, I have been using castor oil on my scalp nearly everyday for the GHE method, but my scalp does feel cleansed after using the ACV rinse and the build up is gone, but I need to test this method with my hair loose etc.

 

[kinkycurlygurl]

OT your hair is lovely

Thanks

 

[kinkycurlygurl]

This sounds reasonable. I tried this WO several years back and now I can not remember why I gave it up. But oh well glad to hear it is working for you.

I was impressed with the testimonies on LHC years ago. Combining it with the coconut oil made me think that my length was the problem. The scalp and hair near it was nice but the length was still too dry.

Happy growing.

I learned about this method on LHC too. I wanted to see if it would work for my hair. My length was drier than the hair near the roots, but once I started brushing my hair with a super soft goat-hair brush, I was able to to move the sebum down to the ends.

Now I notice that my ends (the last inch or so of my hair) feel dry when I leave them out, that's when I add a drop of coconut oil and rose water and that seems to take care of the problem.

 

[kinkycurlygurl]

Nice update! I'm staying tuned b/c what you're saying could potentially save me a lot of money and headaches when it comes to my current regimen.

This is week two from using ACV to cleanse my scalp. I'll be honest, my scalp doesn't feel dirty at all and it feels cleansed when I use the ACV. This weekend I'll be DCing my hair but I will only use diluted ACV on my scalp. Some weeks I wash my hair and thers I don't, so I will keep track of what it's doing but so far I've had no problems with it, but it's still early days. One thing though, I have been using castor oil on my scalp nearly everyday for the GHE method, but my scalp does feel cleansed after using the ACV rinse and the build up is gone, but I need to test this method with my hair loose etc.

I was thinking about the money saving aspect of a mostly product free regime last night. I used to use Miss Jessie's products (boucoup expensive) eventually I switched to the Shea Moisture line which was cheaper than Miss Jessies, but I was still shelling out a good bit of money at Target for that stuff on a monthly basis.

So far to work with my natural sebum and water I've bought:

1 Goat-Hair Baby brush 24.00
1 Bottle of Parachute Coconut oil 5.49
3 Bottles of Rose Water 22.00

Total 51.49

I started this regime in late February, it's almost the end of March now. I don't forsee having to buy anything besides the rose water. I spritz it on my hair and body. I'll probably have to replentish my supply of rose water by the end of April. Otherwise, there's nothing I need to buy for my hair.

So, over time this will be the cheapest hair care method I've ever had.

What's the GHE Method?


*I got 3 bottles of the rose water because that's how it came packaged from amazon.

 

[lamaria211]

Excellent thread kinkycurlygurl ths is def something i would like to try

 

[kinkycurlygurl]

Excellent thread @kinkycurlygurl ths is def something i would like to try

@lamaria211 So far, I'm enjoying the experiment. I was so programmed to use products on my hair that, the idea of not using much of anything on my hair besides water, sebum, and coconut oil was daunting at first. In some ways, I feel like I'm getting to know my hair for the first time again and I've been natural for more than ten years. LOL

I hope you do give it a try.

 

[lamaria211]

@lamaria211 So far, I'm enjoying the experiment. I was so programmed to use products on my hair that, the idea of not using much of anything on my hair besides water, sebum, and coconut oil was daunting at first. In some ways, I feel like I'm getting to know my hair for the first time again and I've been natural for more than ten years. LOL

I hope you do give it a try.

Im scared i might try it and like it cause i have about 1,000$ worth of products that will go to wasteerplexed

 

[kinkycurlygurl]

Im scared i might try it and like it cause i have about 1,000$ worth of products that will go to wasteerplexed

@lamaria211 I feel you on that. I just looked in what used to be my product basket day before yesterday and I thought about just throwing that stuff away. I have Carol's Daughter, John Frieda, Organix, Shea Moisture, Deva Care, Tresemme, and Jonathan products in there just sitting there.

I tapered off product over the course of a couple of years. The first thing I quit using was shampoo. Eventually, I gave up conditioner. Then I gave up the mud wash. I found that if I wasn't stripping my hair to begin with I didn't need so much stuff to give it back the smooth soft feeling I was used to.

It seemed to me like it was a vicious cycle, strip the hair, then use product to reconstruct the hair, then the product builds up and you have to strip the hair again.

I think I'm holding on to my old products like a security blanket. In case I wake up one day and my hair is completely dried out and breaking off, I guess.

Thanks for making me think about my products again. I'm going to dump the stuff I know I'll never use again today. So I got rid of my: Deva Care Arc Angell, Shea Moisture Hold and Moisturizing Mist, John Frieda Mousse, Carol's Daughter Hair Milk, Organix Curl Definer, Shea Moisture Curl Definer. That lot right there probably added up to $100 worth of product.

 

[kinkycurlygurl]

The experiment continues to evolve, this week I skipped the dilute ACV final rinse when I washed my hair. The results were fine. The biggest change I made was trying Cipriana's Dry Detangling method: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICBrxoG9s8Y&list=UUUqHjTLwXaCjYIxK7XaD16A&index=1&feature=plcp

It took almost 3 hours, but in the long run, I feel the results justified the time. My hair was easy to work with all week. When, I washed the hair, I was careful not to tangle it up again and because I wear protective styles like french braids, french rolls and buns it didn't get tangly all week.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/77383090@N08/6963500143/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/77383090@N08/6957431691/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/77383090@N08/6957431365/

I snapped very few hairs in styling and it was easy to section for my massage and preening process.

It was cold and windy this week and I didn't wear a hat like I should have so I put some coconut oil on my ends 2x this week. The day I washed and night before last.

I didn't use my brush this week because I had awesome curls from a technique that I saw on Youtube that I tried out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAPHSAPshJE&list=PL21DC8D9B45E289FD&index=161&feature=plpp_video

I've been trying to put pic in my album for days. All I managed to upload was one of the hair "cocoons" that I used to create the curls. I don't know what I'm doing wrong, but I haven't been able to resolve the uploading problem.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/77383090@N08/6874565196/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/77383090@N08/7020669961/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/77383090@N08/6874567234/

I'm going to stick with the program as is. So far, it's working for me.

 

[lamaria211]

@lamaria211 I feel you on that. I just looked in what used to be my product basket day before yesterday and I thought about just throwing that stuff away. I have Carol's Daughter, John Frieda, Organix, Shea Moisture, Deva Care, Tresemme, and Jonathan products in there just sitting there.

I tapered off product over the course of a couple of years. The first thing I quit using was shampoo. Eventually, I gave up conditioner. Then I gave up the mud wash. I found that if I wasn't stripping my hair to begin with I didn't need so much stuff to give it back the smooth soft feeling I was used to.

It seemed to me like it was a vicious cycle, strip the hair, then use product to reconstruct the hair, then the product builds up and you have to strip the hair again.

I think I'm holding on to my old products like a security blanket. In case I wake up one day and my hair is completely dried out and breaking off, I guess.

Thanks for making me think about my products again. I'm going to dump the stuff I know I'll never use again today. So I got rid of my: Deva Care Arc Angell, Shea Moisture Hold and Moisturizing Mist, John Frieda Mousse, Carol's Daughter Hair Milk, Organix Curl Definer, Shea Moisture Curl Definer. That lot right there probably added up to $100 worth of product.

and you havent noticed a change in growth at all, i mean your hair still grows at the same rate? and retention is not a problem? how do you normally style ur hair?

 

[kinkycurlygurl]

and you havent noticed a change in growth at all, i mean your hair still grows at the same rate? and retention is not a problem? how do you normally style ur hair?

I haven't noticed any change in my rate of growth. Nor have I noticed any breakage. I've included some pics of my hair in different styles that I wear up the thread a bit. I'm doing a combination of things that seem to be working for me:

1. I'm really gentle with my hair. I've started finger detangling in small sections, I never use heat on it, when I use a comb it's seamless and wide toothed.

2. I wear protective styles 95% of the time. I let my hair down for special occasions, but I like to wear it up. I'm not really one for leaving my hair in a style for long periods so I re-style it in quick and easy ways daily. I'm wearing buns, french braids, and simple french twists and what I like to call braid and bun combos.

3. I'm moisturizing with water and sebum daily. This process includes massaging my scalp which may improve blood flow to the area.

 

[kinkycurlygurl]

I made some missteps in my routine. I noticed over the course of the month that my hair was dry and not building up a sebum coat the way I'd like. The only change that I'd made that I could attribute the dryness to was that I'd switched to Cipriana's dry detangling method and I was not combing my hair.

So Tuesday of this week, I resumed using my wide-toothed comb along with my brush and voila! My hair started to become coated with sebum.

I'm going to stick with combing and brushing to move the sebum and coat all of my strands.