My Hair Journey

I have had a love/hate relationship with my hair for my whole life. I didn't hardly get any hair until I was around two years old. When I was little, I had extremely dark, fine hair. People called it black and I got SO MAD! (I was a very emphatic little girl :) It thickened and got wavier as I grew up and also got oily.

From middle school forward, I had to shower every. single. day. The problem was, my hair was thick and took about three hours to fully air dry. Putting it up slightly wet gave it weird bumps and lines. One time, I had a guy ask me, "do you always wear your hair in a braid?" because the only time he every saw me, I had to be to our class early and braids were my only option.

Why can't I just let my hair stay down and air dry? Because it gets frizzy and (in my opinion) looks messy and bad. I thought this was just how life was going to be but then I learned something amazing - you can train your hair!

Genetically, I do have more oily hair. I could wash it in the evening and it would not look great the next morning. So I just washed it every morning. But I started learning that all my washing might be making the problem worse and that I could retrain my hair to not need washed as frequently.

I started out by doing a natural hair wash with water and baking soda. It worked really well but then seemed to plateau and I was not seeing any more progress. I thought I could get my hair to an even better place so I went searching for more things to try.

Since my problem was oily hair, I was not too interested in answers that used oils, even natural or essential oils. I didn't see how adding oil could help me. Eventually, I found a system that was natural and I could do. Sadly, I can not remember where I found it but the system was a four-day cycle.

Day 1: Wash hair as usual. I used my normal shampoo and conditioner. I made sure to use my fingertips and not my nails on my scalp and I had already been not putting the conditioner on the top of my head.
Day 2: Dry Shampoo. I make my own with cornstarch and cocoa. (The cocoa is to help it blend in better with my dark hair so I don't look like I have dandruff.) I flip my hair over the tub and put some dry shampoo in my hand. Then, I just rub it through my hair. (Bonus: your hair smells like chocolate!)
Day 3: Nothing.
Day 4: Apply Cider Vinegar rinse. This was the not-so-fun part of the treatment because it was c o l d and made my hair smell like vinegar. But it helped so I did it.
Repeat.

This system has gotten me to where I am today. I can now go three to four days between washes. If I go four, sometimes my hair can look a little greasy, but if I have somewhere to go, I just wear a hat. If I do a four days between washes, it looks like wash, dry shampoo, nothing, nothing, wash.

From start to finish, the process took about two years (I think). I don't have actual dates, but I know it was a good amount of time. Let me tell you, it was TOTALLY worth it. I never dreamed I could not wash my hair every day. I still marvel at the freedom it brings me. I can adjust my schedule a little bit to work around days I have a nice place to go or a trip or VBS week! Getting ready for church is a breeze. I don't have to get up at 7 am to shower so my hair can be partly dry when I need to do something with it! Can you tell I'm thrilled?

The last part of my journey (for now) has to do with my waves. If I let my hair air dry, I get really pretty wavy/curly hair. The problem is that I also get a ton of frizz and my hair gets really knotty. Then I found out about LUS. I did a Feature Friday post about the product, so you can go check that out if you want more information, but it allows me to enjoy my wavy/curly hair without the frizz and knots!! I also can have them for two days rather than one (I have to see if I can get them to come back for a third day). With the discovery of this product has also come knowledge about combing and brushing my hair that helps how it looks overall.

I just recently got a diffuser and I'm learning how to use that. There are SO MANY voices saying different things but I need to learn what works for me. Let me tell you, sometimes I get really frustrated at setbacks and not making progress as fast as I want or, worst, when something works one time and not the next. But I'm going to keep trying. Besides, everyone has days when their hair doesn't cooperate, right?

Most days, I really like my hair now. I don't feel controlled by it anymore. I can let it be more curly, wavy, and sometimes I even straighten it, just for something different! The road here was long and involved a lot of trial and error. But 11-12-13 year old me would never have thought that what I have now was possible.

If you have questions, I am happy to try to answer them! I hope that sharing my journey is helpful and encouraging to someone.