shampoo! No thank you! - the saga continues

Three and a half months and feelin' fi-YI-ne.

When I started this, I really didn't think I'd be a stubborn enough fool to make it this long. BUT - I have. And it hasn't been even remotely difficult. That's what has shocked me the most. Once I moved away from the baking soda/vinegar routine, my hair evened itself out pretty damn quickly. Sure, every couple of weeks I'll have a day where my hair feels greasy or extra curly or just weird, but I had those days when I washed my hair... I'd go through periods where I'd wash every day, or where I'd cut it down to every 3 or 4 days. My hair was just generally unruly and uncooperative. It actually does what it's told now, which is a revelation!

I'm still no kind of authority on the subject, but I've figured out some key things during this process that I feel I need to pass on.

• Unless your natural smell is less than pleasant, your hair will not stink. I was so worried I'd stink.

• You can probably skip the baking soda and vinegar rinse. It'll get you nowhere and just make your hair act confused and upset. I don't know if maybe it works perfectly fine on oily hair or on thinner hair, but with my thick haystack it did a whole lot of nothing.

• You can scrub away dirt and grime just fine with a bit of conditioner worked into your hair and massaged into your scalp. I've devised an anal retentive system for how I scrub mine; what speed, what direction, how hard... and it works wonders on my particular head of hair. I feel clean and refreshed and moisturized with just basic conditioner.
  

• Switch conditioner types each bottle or two you buy. Your hair gets used to stuff and after awhile it doesn't work as well. I switch back and forth between Joico's K-PAK Intense Hydrator (I buy it from the salon where I get my hair cut, but it is available at most supermarket/drugstore chains), Pureology Hydrate Conditioner (also available pretty much anywhere these days), and Organix Conditioner in Coconut Milk, Teatree Mint, or Pomegranate Green Tea. I'll usually have more than one choice on hand in the shower (since I share conditioner with my dude) and whenever I empty a bottle, I make sure that the next one I buy is different than what I was just using. My scent has some variety and I save money by switching $5 bottles into the rotation with $20 bottles.

My hair is still looking redder than I remember. This is the longest I've gone without dyeing it in my entire adult life. I've been dyeing my hair since I was 11 and to think that it's been almost two years since I colored it now - is insane. It's healthier than it's pretty much ever been. And this has inspired me... I've marked my calendar exactly two months out from when I last got my hair cut. I will be having them trim it and even up the two asymmetrical sides, maybe cut the bangs short again just because it allows lots of growing room, and I will be growing my hair out. This is a major exercise in patience for me. My hair hasn't more than grazed my shoulders since I was 16 years old. And that was the first time it had touched my shoulders since I was about 11. So this is big.