More thoughts on "no 'poo"

In the business, this concept of not shampooing every day is sometimes referred to as "no 'poo". It has a cult following among curly haired girls, but also among those with dry hair or serious intense color, like my assistant Anna Lise and her beautiful not-so-natural red hair! So here are some of her thoughts about going "no 'poo" or, in her case, "less 'poo" and the different hairstyles to wear while she waits out the week.

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Hey all! I am so pleased to talk about my experience cutting back on shampooing my hair. I made the decision for a few reasons.
1. I have incredibly dry hair, skin, scalp, etc.
2. I have very thick, long hair that takes forever to dry out and little patience or time to do it every day!
3. Because of my fabulous red hair color, I don't like how quickly it fades by lots of washing.

So here's what my normal week looks like hair-wise.

Day 1
Shampoo, condition, deep condition, blow dry

This is a bit of an ordeal. But I relish it. And I enjoy it, mostly.

I wear my hair down for the day, then at the end of the night, I try to make sure I brush it really well and then put it up in a butterfly clip. I tried to find a picture of what this might look like, but it is akin to Pebbles from the Flintstones.

Day 2 Wake and Go!
I find that most often I can get by to day 2 without any real adjustments or futzing. Clipping my hair up overnight gives it some weight. If I think about it, I keep it in the clip under the shower cap. I find the steam helps make the volume even better. After my shower, you can simply brush and go.

Now, I have really dry hair. If you have oilier hair, you may want to use either an aerosol hairspray or a dry hair shampoo on your roots.

Day 3
"Growing Out Your Bangs" Day

Day 3 is when the oiliness can tend to get in the way. You can always use more dry shampoo or hair spray. Even if you don't have "bangs" you can use these "growing out my bangs" look, like Jen Aniston in this picture. It's a simple braid. Or just using two bobby pins to pull the bang part of your hair back. It's a little easier than a headband. And no headband headache!

As hair gets oilier it's important to keep brushing it often and regularly. I will admit that you are supposed to use a boar bristled brush. The natural bristles help to spread the oils from your scalp down the hair shaft. But I don't use a fancy brush, just a regular one. I find it works just fine. But if anyone wants to give me a fancy natural bristled brush, I'll take it! (a-hem, Daniel? Christmas Bonus!)

So just make sure you give yourself some Marsha Brady moments for brushing each morning and night.

Day 4 It's time for up-do's
I kinda love the retro flavor of what not shampooing every day allows me. So I really like to rock a beehive on the last days of the blow-out. My first thought for a style inspiration was Amy Winehouse, because Lord knows she likes the beehive...but she's too much mess for this hot look! And I found this great pic of Rachel Bilson!

For this look you'll need a simple hairband. For cheap, chic headbands, I always start at Forever21, and they even have one like the gold chain Rachel is wearing in this pic!
(http://www.forever21.com/search.asp?keyword=headband)

So by this point, your hair has got some natural body, and you've probably have had to succumb at least once if not twice to using dry shampoo or hairspray. But because of this, your hair has a lot of natural texture.

This chic twist is so simple, just pull your hair into a pony, start to twist from the base, and pin up. It doesn't need to be pretty, just up and a little textured and messy. To finish, use the headband to pull any flyaways. Easy as pie!

Days 5-? See how long you can go...
By this point, for some reason or another, I'm generally washing my hair. I may have a day off (yes, sometimes Daniel gives me a day off!), or maybe I have a hot date with my BF, or I'm having dinner with my boyfriend's mom, so I decide it's best to shampoo. But there are lots of in-between styles to use. Like some of these nice side and romantic ponies.




So that's a start. In closing I'll say that it took me about a year to get used to not showering every day, or even every other day. So there are no hard and fast rules. But your scalp, color, hair and your pocketbook will thank you!