Steady as She Goes...

I've now done my second naturoo, with some slight tweaks, and only very subtle changes taking place, so far. Per Signficant Other, my hair's been a little flatter lately, but per Judgmental Coworker, my hair has looked basically the same throughout this whole process. (Sorry, Jenn.)

Here I am one day pre-naturoo, second time around:

Second verse, same as the first.

As with the same time last week, my hair was fine up until this day, when it just felt very greasy to the touch. It's hard to tell there, but even when up in a ponytail, there was obvious separation of strands happening all over, so it was almost definitely time. I say almost because, well, I may have been hankering to naturoo again so I could play around with the mixes, rather than actually needing a naturoo at that point. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Getting Better, or Getting Resigned?

On this point, I've got far less to be negative about than my partner in crime. While she's been going through some very obvious and significant transition, I'm either proving to be a late bloomer or a quick adapter. Compared to last week, my hair followed basically the same track: steadily getting oilier but not terribly noticeable until 6th day post-shampoo/naturoo, then fluffy and more voluminous immediately post-naturoo. One possible change is that while there was a very noticeable and unpleasant waxy feeling to my hair during water-only rinses (which transferred its waxiness to the palms of my hands), I didn't notice waxiness nearly as much these past few days. Of course, it's not like I've been carefully measuring waxy buildup, so I may just be getting used to that feeling. Still, I remain hopeful that it is actually decreasing, meaning that my hair is actually experiencing a transition of some sort.

One day post-naturoo. Also, zero days post-trim.

That said, other than the obvious oily buildup after about a week, I can't say that my hair has gotten any better or worse, so far. I did venture out for a trim, armed with the knowledge that hair dressers on the web have alternately sworn not noticing a difference with no-shampoo hair or absolutely hating how it feels when they handle it. I go fairly infrequently to a little salon in Chinatown staffed entirely by Cantonese-speakers with very little English (and I understand maybe 10 words in Cantonese), so if Mae did have a problem with how my hair felt, I have absolutely no idea. Oh well. Onwards!

Totally Unscientific Measurements

Oh, I nearly forgot! I adjusted my mixes a bit, partly based on some conversations with Jenn and how she's been altering her mixes—we really need to post one of our chats, soon—and partly out of an urge to just modify something to see if it had an effect of any kind.

With that in mind, when I went to do my naturoo this week, I found, to my dismay, that the little squeeze bottles Jenn and I got are definitely not well sealed. A crust of baking soda had extruded itself around the edges of the cap, leaving only a little water and undissolved baking soda inside. Not to be deterred, I shook up what was left in the bottle to use as normal, but ran out about halfway across my scalp. Doh! Pre-coffee me can be extremely lazy, so instead of getting out and measuring out exact new proportions for a refill, I just added water to the nearly empty bottle. An experimental squeeze proved that whatever was left in there still had that slippery feel, so I figured it was fine. Yep, that's what I used to naturoo.

On the vinegar rinse side, last week's scent nearly bowled me over. Though I initially complained bout the vinegar smell (which, by the way, I could smell coming out of my pores when I sweated for a day or so after), I think the real culprit was the rosemary oil—clearly too overpowering a smell for my delicate sensibilities. I also noticed that when I picked up my vinegar rinse spray bottle, a slimy looking skin had formed on the surface of the mixture—the oil, separated out, perhaps? In keeping with my totally unscientific approach, I fished that skin out and discarded it (gross), added 4 more drops of lemon oil (the scent I really wanted), and added a random amount of water to dilute my mix from 50/50 to...something less concentrated. Gave it a shake and then sprayed away!

Was this better? Worse? My answer so far: About the same, but lemon-scented vinegar was WAY better than rosemary-scented vinegar. Let's see if this naturoo's effects last the same length of time. In any case, I'll probably be a little more measured next time, because, you know, for (hair) science!

Edwina's current status:

# of days since last commercial shampoo: 15

# of days since last naturoo: 1

Judgmental Coworker Check: "Your hair STILL looks completely normal."

Significant Other Check: "Honestly, it's been a little flat, but it looks fine."

Hairdresser Mae Check: [something I didn't understand—I'm terrible]

Public Perception Paranoia Check: 1/10