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| Not the correct way to pose for a mugshot. |
I may have thrown us off-track a bit by blithely declaring, "Oh, any pet store that carries aquarium stuff will have a pH testing kit for sale!" Now, this is not untrue. However, contrary to my bleary memories of childhood fish tank maintenance, the pH kits sold in pet stores provide color guides that typically fall between 6–8 pH only, since it's not likely that your aquarium water is any closer to acidic than that without you actively dumping acids in among the poor little fishies. Also, since pH level is just one of many potential concerns when trying to help your aquarium thrive, the test kits I found were all bundled with a slew of other water testing purposes, driving up the cost of the kit past the point I was willing to spend to do a one-time test of my current BS and ACV mixes. Hello, selective stinginess, my old friend.
That said, as Jenn and I are finding online, MANY before us have done the legwork of testing their mixes and documenting their results, so...I'll continue to be lazy for at least a bit more. In any case, over the past few weeks, Friday morning has been my cave-in-and-wash-with-naturoo day, the day I sort of get fed up with the oily feel of my hair and/or the paranoia actually sets in. This past Friday, though, I had been binge-reading anti-baking soda no-poo blog posts, had not managed to acquire a pH test to determine how potentially damaging my own mixes might be, and also had not managed to find time to seek out rye flour to attempt a rye flour-based shampoo. What's a girl to do?
So, I opted to be daring, did my usual water-only rinse, and swept in to work with my hair down, air-drying on the subway, with only a slight care in the world. No one sat me down to ask me if there was a reason I was neglecting personal hygiene, so I'm guessing it looked completely normal. Phew! And, as it turns out, I think that was kind of the break I needed. I'd been locking myself in to the idea that I couldn't possibly last more than a week, when the truth is, I could probably go for longer. I should at least try, right?
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| Not bad for 3 hours of sweating while walking around in the sun. |
Yes, my hair feels oily to the touch, but only at the very back of my head and, honestly, not as oily as it did say the first week of this whole enterprise. And yes, you can see some separation of locks happening, but I can live with that. (Oh the benefits of doing this with long hair.) Today, I let it air dry in the sun as I traipsed around Brooklyn, and it felt completely normal in the breeze. What's more, as far as I can tell, no one has noticed a difference! Either that or they're all being fake nice to my face. Speaking of which, quick shout-out to my fellow Bella Voce Singers for a lovely concert last weekend, and for—at the very least—being bemused by this blog. I DO hope (and believe) that I can slot you all into the former option, not the latter :)
What's Next?
So with a vacation looming, I think I'm going to hold off on ending this current water-only phase until just before I fly out OR my hair achieves previously unseen levels of oiliness (whichever occurs first). I'm sufficiently scared by all of the BS-is-bad-for-your-hair chatter to avoid a return to that method (though I WILL, I swear, test what's left of my mix...at some point. That said, I did manage, in all my errands today, to acquire some rye flour, courtesy of Whole Foods.
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| Not just for baking, apparently, though baking will also happen. |
I also picked up some Shea Moisture Yucca & Baobab Thickening Shampoo as a low-poo option, if and when I'm ready to go that route. I'm bringing this with me on my trip, in case I need something more than a WO wash but without requiring that I find either BS or rye flour and ACV while on a cruise ship. (Though that would be an amusing request for shipboard services, I'm sure. "Um, could I ask your kitchen staff for a favor?")
Edwina's current status:
# of days since last commercial (sulfate-inclusive) shampoo: 22
# of days since last BS+ACV wash: 8
Significant Other Check (immediately after WO rinse): "There's a slight smell, but it's barely noticeable. It's not pleasant or unpleasant, it just smells like wet hair."
Partner in Crime Check: "Have I mentioned that my level of jealous increases every time we talk about this?"
Public Perception Paranoia Scale: 2/10
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