ocelot | State of the Hair Address

I am happy about my hair today.

I haven't used shampoo since April 2005. For a while I washed with baking soda/apple cider vinegar, but found that my hair got too tangled with that. So in November 2005 I switched to washing with conditioner, using the bs/acv occasionally to help remove buildup (which I've done just two or three times since this last April, and probably will again with a bit more frequency after we move). I also haven't been using plastic combs/brushes since April 2005.

I've had some lingering doubts about this. My hair felt fine to me, and

koyote said it was fine, but I don't entirely trust his judgement as he's more crazy hippy than I am. I'll admit - a large source of the doubt was that I stopped getting compliments on my hair after we moved away from LA (which happened to coincide with the start of the experiment). I suspect this is more because LA is full of creepy freaks than anything to do with my hair, but I'd still become accustomed to it, and it was a little disconcerting.

Last night I was hanging out with a bunch of people I didn't know (and some who I did). One was trimming hair, and she offered to trim mine. I took her up on it, as it hadn't been trimmed since last Thanksgiving. She declared it perfect, and took off about 1/4".

Yay validation!

I think it would probably be best (and cheaper) if I cut down to conditioning once every 2-3 days. Every day seems like overkill. Or maybe I should just do more research and find something that works that doesn't involve store-bought conditioner.

I'm not sure what the best option is for Leif. Between his dislike of anyone messing with his hair and his picky seeming scalp, it just doesn't seem to be working wonderfully. His hair is well behaved for a few days after a hairwashing, and then it starts getting terribly tangled. But I hate putting him through the torment of either combing out the tangles or conditioning more frequently. And

koyote doesn't want his (Leif's, or his own for that matter, but that's a different story) hair to be cut. So... I don't know. Try the olive oil one more time for his scalp, and look into a better spray-on detangler? Or perhaps leave-in conditioner would work well for him. (Hmm... diluted conditioner in a spray bottle apparently works well as a spray detangler. Should find a spray bottle and try that.)

And no,

koyote, dreads are not an option at this point.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

The Major is really awesome, we will miss her muchly while she is away on active duty.

You hair is positively lovely.

As for Leif, no more tangles worked very well for me at that age, and i used to hae similar textured hair. I think he let us all play with it because of the attention and how it was different than the usual... My kids did similar(and still do at times) where they let people do things with them that they pitch a fit if its just me.

http://www.johnsonsbuddies.com/products.html also has a shampoo with extra conditioners and detanglers.

The problem with spray-on detanglers is that all but the expensive natural brands that you have to order online have -cone ingredients in them, which apparently build up in hair that isn't being shampooed and muck things up. Which is too bad, since its the easiest answer.

If spray bottle with diluted conditioner doesn't work well, I may end up just giving up on the no shampoo thing for him and going with more normal stuff until he's old enough to brusg his own hair effectively.

And yeah, I'm rather annoyed that I met her just as she was moving out.

State of the Hair Address

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