I'm Still Here

And just LOOK what's happened with my hair!

Hi kids. Did I mention I had a vacation? Well, I did (which is why I've been radio silent for so long), but I'm BACK and I'm still no-poo :)

Where was I? (You ask. You did ask, right?) I spent a glorious week and a half in Vancouver and SE Alaska, the latter on a surprisingly fun cruise. (Surprising, because I'd never been on a cruise before and had somewhat low expectations.) It was a great trip, filled with hiking, kayaking, canoeing, snorkeling (yes, snorkeling in Alaska), whale watching, and glacier viewing.

Glaciers are totally cool, in both senses of the word.

Going Low-Poo

As you may recall, I had a plan for my hair regimen going into the trip, which mainly consisted of holding out for as long as possible, and then indulging in a low-poo shampoo (is that cheating?). Well, that's pretty much exactly what I did. I landed in Vancouver with hair that hadn't seen a rye flour wash in 5 days, and—other than being matted airplane hair—it wasn't so bad. Which was great, because I promptly tested it—and myself—with a 3-hour mountain hike in North Vancouver the next morning.

The view was lovely.

And I celebrated by using my low poo that night! Now, I think I'd been building up in my mind what using low poo would feel like. After all, it's been quite some time since I last used a commercially available shampoo of any kind, and I have to admit I've missed the glorious sudsy feeling you get from a good lather. And since I'd so bravely conquered that mountain in the morning (a big deal for me, as I have a terrible fear of falling), I felt like I needed to reward myself. 

So in I went to my fancy hotel shower with my fancy non-SLS, moisturizing and thickening shampoo with its fancy-sounding ingredients, and it was...meh. Yes, it lathered and yes, it smelled great, but it also felt...slimy. You know that feeling you get in your hair when you use conditioner and it feels like a lot of work to rinse the product off your head and your hands? (I'm not making it up, I swear.) That's the feeling I had with the low poo, and I found that I didn't like it. It reminded me of the first time I ever used conditioner myself, which, honestly, wasn't until early college. Yes, that's right. Full disclosure: my childhood was a shampoo-only one (my mom didn't believe in the added expense of conditioners), which probably explains the giant knot that formed in my waist-length hair in high school, prompting an overnight switch to a shoulder-length style. So, you see, I grew up used to feeling my hair squeak after a wash, whereas the application of conditioner always made it feel a bit slippery, like I still had soap in it. And the Shea Moisture low poo, which was probably doing exactly what it says on the label, made my hair feel slippery and still soapy to the touch. Sigh. 

In all likelihood, it made my hair look fabulous and probably added some not unwelcome nutrients in, but I kind of missed my rye flour wash. Plus, I felt like my hair got greasy within 3 days. Boo. In any case, great-looking hair was not really a necessity on the rest of the trip, since Alaska was, well, rainy.

Can you see my hair? Doesn't it look fab?

Yep, my typical gear every day was a ponytail or pigtails and a ball cap, pulled low. Hey, Alaska is wet, and I had lots of outdoor physical activities! Water-only sufficed for most of the vacation, though there were also a few skip days (I was tired of my hair being wet).

And now, I'm back (and back to rye flour and ACV), trying to catch up. Did I miss anything?

Back to no poo, and cool with it.

Edwina's Current Status

# of days since last SLS shampoo: 48

# of days since last low poo: 9

# of days since last rye flour + ACV wash: 7

Hair Happiness Scale: 9/10

Public Perception Paranoia Scale: 0/10