Also planning a 60th party for my mom, but not sure what I'm doing with that yet. More to come.
A very dear friend of ours is home from serving overseas in Kuwait and Afghanistan. I know I'm not the only one, but I missed him. A LOT. I'm so happy and relieved he's home. I'm the type of person that if I let myself think about something like someone I love being over there, in some of the places he was, it would consume me, and I'd be a mess of nothing resembeling a productive person. So now that he's home, I've been able to let myself think about it, and cry for his safety, and celebrate his return. There are no words to accurately express how I feel, and how all those who have people they care for deployed to dangerous areas. I'm just glad it's done, and proud of him for doing it.
Now on to the topic that spurred me to even write in here again. My hair. Deep Breath, it's ok, you can do this.....
I'm experimenting.
Those of you that know me, (and my hair, because let's face it, it's an entity in and of it's own right) that is HUGE. My hair is the kind of hair that everyone says they wish they had. Long, thick, wavy/curly, and typically pretty. However what most people don't know, is that it is a monster. It eats hair ties for fun, and has been known to take bites out of combs, brushes, and hair sticks too. My friend K normally trims my hair for me. It bites her. It fights back. It does not listen.
I have tried so many different things to keep my hair from being a monster, but short of sending it to boot camp (which I doubt would even work if it were possible) I've yet to get it to be truly wonderful and something I'm happy with. The frizz, the knots and tangles that never go away, the flyaways, and always the fighting.
I keep my hair long. It's just easier to manage for me and I like how it looks on me much more than short hair. I put it in a bun with a single hair stick to avoid all the broken and short hairs stickingg out eeverywhere. I have dropped down to washing it only every few days and using minimal products, and I haven't used a blow dryer on my hair in more years than I can remember. All this has added up to the best hair I've had yet, but it's still not quite where I want it to be.
So I'm trying to switch to the baking soda and apple cider vinegar method of cleaning and conditioning my hair. ACV is amazing stuff, and I love it. I clean nearly everything with vinegar and baking soda. So why not my hair too?
Time to take to the internet and search. I looked through dozens of articles on 'No Poo' and natural hair remedies. I don't know that I could do the no shampoo thing. That would just be too weird after years of lathering my locks. But switching out my usual product for baking soda and acv, that seemed mmore palatable (even if it does remind me of a salad bar).
So after reading a post on TreeHugger I decided to give her method a try. So tonight I tried it. The oddest part, was the lack of that lather that I've always looked for to tell me my hair was getting clean. I felt a difference between when I started and when the baking soda rinse started to work.. My hair felt and sounded squeaky clean. Then the ACV rinse. That one I wasn't too sure about. Myhair felt greasy after rinsing. But I resisted the urge to grab my shampoo and 'fix' it. Once my hair got to more damp than wet, I rubbed a dime size drop of warm coconut oil on the ends. Brushed and brushed to distribute the the oil, and waited. And waited. And waited. Did I mention I have thick hair? It takes hours to dry. Finally the top of my hair was dry. It felt amazing! It was silky smooth, and light without being fluffy/frizzy. I'm looking forward to seeing how the ends look tomorrow after drying the rest of the way.
