UPDATED: The Halfway Point

UPDATED: I lost the ability to count and originally reported this halfway point as 3 days in, when in fact I was 4 days in. Hurrah!

Well here I am, 4 days in, and I feel...fine.

As taken by Judgmental Coworker (again, a loving moniker).

Hey, I DO have white hairs!

I've definitely noticed that my hair feels heavier and slightly oily to the touch when I run my fingers through it, but so far, it's passed the Significant Other, Bemused Colleague, and Judgmental Coworker (that's actually not a knock against her; we revel in our shared judgment) Tests. (I'd say that it's also passed the Skeptical Friend Test, but I haven't actually seen her yet...) Which leads me to...

Hypothesis #1

When we started, Judgmental Coworker pointed out that we should try to have hypotheses we would test out during this experiment—hello, scientific method! Well, one such hypothesis incorporated the assumption that based on the differences in our hair—Jenn's is short and thick, mine is long and and less dense—that Jenn would have an easier time transitioning than I would. That said, we also need to keep in mind that I am running about 2 days behind Jenn, so I should really be comparing myself to her 2 days ago.

So far, I've been rinsing every morning with warm water, making sure to massage my scalp with my fingertips and rubbing the full length of my hair under the shower spray to rinse off as much daily crud as possible. This was especially important yesterday after walking more than 17,000 steps (per my fitness tracker—yes, I'm one of those people) and sweating like a very nervous, not particularly suave bandit. After showering, I towel my hair dry and let it sit wrapped in a towel to catch more moisture for a few minutes, then detangle with a large-toothed comb. One it's a little drier, I brush it all out, both topside and underside with a natural boar bristle brush. Then it's air dry from there during my morning commute. 

After all that, I feel like my hair doesn't look very different from a typical shampoo day, and I haven't noticed any itch in my scalp, either. So here's a thought, which will either be born out or proven wrong as this experiment continues. Instead of the length of my hair being a detriment, I think it's actually giving me a greater surface area over which to distribute the oil building up at my roots. Maybe?

Let's see where I'm at when I hit day 5!

Edwina's current status:

# of days since last commercial shampoo: 4

Significant Other Check: "Looks fine to me."

Judgmental Coworker Check: "Your hair looks surprisingly normal!"

Public Perception Paranoia Scale: 2/10