No-Poo Challenge - Week 1

No photos here, just a quick update on the no-poo challenge.

So .. I washed my hair this morning with the baking soda mixture & "conditioned" it with my homemade conditioner. I think the last time I did this was Friday. Between Friday and today all I had done was rinse my hair with water.

How'd the weekend go?

Well, my hair is definitely in the transitional phase of it all. It doesn't look greasy or weighed down, which is really surprising because before all of this I had to wash it daily or it WOULD look like that.
By Sunday evening though I could see my roots beginning to look greasy, and by this morning I was wanting to wash my hair. But only because of the roots looking funky.

The overall length of my hair has been a different story. If I brush it out it becomes very "poofy" and "fluffy" (what a friend of mine described it as today ~ very kind and diplomatic of her!). I think it looks frizzy and a mess. I've had to brush it out a couple of times if I want to be able to pull it back properly (short layers won't stay back otherwise).
I had it up today and took it down to show friends how it was going. Hence the above comment. They were kind friends. I then proceeded to have one of my dirtiest hippie moments yet where I went to the water fountain and .. no I didn't stick my head under it .. but I did scoop several handfuls of water onto my hair to try and show them what it looked like wet & not so "fluffy." -- the wet hair was a bonus as the park was HOT today!!

When it is wet it feels completely different. I can feel the natural oils beginning to coat my hair. I'm trying to appreciate it, but it's difficult to get used to.
1) I remind myself (or something like that) of a sea otter or something. Water rolling off my hair rather than being absorbed into it. It makes me wonder if my hair was just truly stripped and dried out before, begging for moisture. I can definitely feel more water dripping off my hair than used to though. It's odd.
2) When I'm rinsing through my hair I can feel the oils on my hand. This part I'm not so thrilled with and I have to keep talking myself through. I'll admit, I did wash my hands with soap after doing that in the shower this morning. -- But on the other hand, I've washed my hands after I've come home from getting a haircut and have been running my hands through my hair. For that matter, I usually come home and wash my hair too because they make my hair feel greasy. ~ So .. which one is right? What is normal??

The transition phase really isn't so hard, but it does make me wonder if I'll get through it and my hair/scalp will get back to natural. It's always hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel I suppose.
I'm glad it is Summer and I can wear my hair up. I do like how my hair looks when it is down and hasn't been brushed. That is a completely different thing for me. I was "Marsha Marsha Marsha" about brushing my hair with my Mason Pearson hair brush. No more. It is bittersweet and I am not 100% in it yet.
I've been trying to leave my hair down though as much as possible to try and let it be natural. Bundling it up close to my head doesn't seem to be the right thing. Gotta let it breathe and live.

As for the boys. They look fantastic, particularly Shannon whose curls are eating this up. Guess years & years of damage hasn't been done to their scalps yet. But even Tristan's hair hasn't looked greasy or flat or anything like that. And, for the record, they get their hair washed on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.

I'll post photos soon, I promise.