More on Shampoo, and yes, I have shampoo

If you've stuck with me for a while, then you may remember my whole shampoo issue from last year. The latest installment being here. The TL;DR version is that waaay back in April, I noticed I was running low on shampoo, and decided to share my semi-neurotic decision making process with all of you. Just deal, and spend our meager funds on other necessities? Go ahead and try the product I had wanted to for a while, knowing that it would last me for good amount of time? Break open all those hotel shampoos I had hoarded up?

As you know from the above linked post, moving, a broken water heater, and shake-up of my routine all contributed to a reduction in my normal shampooing, drastically reducing my need for shampoo. Or at least the amount of shampoo which I need. At this point, I'm shampooing about 2, up to 3, times a week. The third time is usually if I manage to get off my behind and actually go to the gym or do my TV yoga (that could be a fun post, huh?).

Currently, I'm using an Aubrey Organics shampoo, no conditioner. The ingredient list is a little long, but certainly not the worst I've seen, and I like what ingredients are listed. It is on the upper threshold of pricey for me, but considering I don't even remember when I bought this bottle... August or July, maybe... and I'm still using it, I think it is ok.

In general and in theory, I did like the JR Liggett's bar shampoo. However, I don't know if I did not give myself enough of a transition time, or if my hair simply didn't care for it. The reality of my hair with the shampoo bar was less nice than it has been with my current, liquid shampoo. Not terrible, just lackluster. I still hold out hope of finding a shampoo bar that my hair and scalp like.

Aren't you thrilled to be kept apprised of my shampoo adventures? What methods of cleaning your scalp do you use?

Shampoo Crisis Voided

That little bit of shampoo stretched out for quite a while. My husband got his own, and I was able to search through my collection of previous shampoos to keep from running out completely.

Then we moved. Then the water heater stopped working. (Right about the time I finally used the last of my shampoo.) Through a series of frustrating events, we weren't able to have the repair guy come out for about a week and a half to two weeks. (Yes, we had tried to re-light the pilot, but it wouldn't take because of a burnt out part!) With my hair washing schedule thrown into the mix, there was a good long stretch (at least a week), where I didn't wash my hair.

Things I did try while waiting for the water heater to come back to life: a cold shower (I chickened out), bar soap (gift) while washing my hair under a faucet, and scarves wrapped around my head.

In the middle of the Great Water Heater Disaster of 2010, I had a wedding to go to. Luckily for us, my uncle lives close, and we used his shower the night before the wedding. Also lucky for us, there was a block of hotel rooms rented for the wedding, with one standing open, so we could use that and its hot water.

With no hot water, I wasn't really washing my hair, and when I did, I was using the above mentioned bar soap (which had been a gift, and I'm reasonably sure didn't have too many bad things in it). When the water heater was fixed, I needed shampoo. So back to the drawing/research board. I settled on the J.R. Liggett shampoo bar, mainly because I knew I could find it in at least one area store, and had read good reviews about it. Oh, and the lack of sulfates was a big plus. I've been using this bar for a week or two now, and so far, so good.

There you have it. Because I know you were on pins and needles, waiting to find out about my shampoo and hot water situations.

Shampoo Crisis Denouement

Back in April, I declared that I was running out of shampoo. And I was. I started writing a follow up post a few times, to chronicle what was going on, each time a little surprised at how long the shampoo that was so near to running out was lasting.

About a week after the above mentioned post, I started a follow up post (that never was posted). In it I mentioned that my shower schedule had been up-ended, but in a desire to avoid using up the precious commodity and not to wash my hair more than once in a 24 hour period, I did things like water-only and conditioner-only. Water-only being a method where you scrub your scalp as you normally would, simply sans soap. Conditioner-only is where you scrub your scalp as you normally would, using conditioner only.

Things that helped me get by with this (as there is an adjustment period, where your scalp is used to a certain schedule and amount of oil-strippage due to washing and has to...adjust to the new regime) were: (1) the weekend and not worrying about it, (2) buns gather hair together, and tuck the drier ends next to the oiler scalp, helping the oils distribute naturally, (3) these methods do scrub the scalp of sebum build up.

That was about one week, stretching my shampoo supply well into May.

Hair today

Here's something you should know about me. I like my hair. I have long hair. (I believe it qualifies as iliac length, which means the ends reach the top of my pelvic bone in the back.) I like having long hair. I do not have any plans to cut it all off in the future. Also, aside from curling it (with overnight sponger rollers) for my wedding, and then again for a school project (that time with hot rollers), I haven't used a heat appliance on my hair since... December-ish of 2004.

I'm a bit obsessive about my hair and what products do or do not go on my head. There are ingredients I avoid, such as sodium laurel/laureth sulfate, and silicone and it's derivatives.

I even have my own pair of hair scissors that I use to dust, or snip off split ends when I see them. (Did you know that if you use the same scissors for paper and your hair, unless you sharpen the blades before using them on your hair, you are really just damaging your ends? It's like my mom having dedicated sewing scissors.)

Sounds like a lot of work, huh? Not really. I shower at night, and let it dry overnight. If it isn't dry in the morning, not a big deal, letting it down from the hair-turbin-towel (like this) helps. In the winter, a scarf can go over it to protect it from the cold.

I brush it with a wooden brush or comb. I wear it simply, often in a ponytail, braid or bun. If I want to fancy it up, I can do more elaborate buns, like a Chinese braided bun or an infinity bun.

I don't spend tons of time or money on frequent trims or styling sessions. I don't get it colored, highlighted or low-lighted. (I do like using henna to color my hair. I've only done it once so far, but liked the result.) I don't spend the time, money or effort to ensure a specific coif every morning.

For me, it is easier. When I had shorter hair (chin length-short), if I didn't wash it in the morning, then dry it, and curl the ends under, I ended up with weird-all-over-the-place hair that looked very unkempt.

I'm telling you all of this because I want to talk about various hair-related things later on in my blog, and I want you to know where I'm coming from on the issues. (yeah, hair-issues. With all the things going on in the world, there are more important things than hair, but here we are.)

I've mentioned quite a few things here without linking to more information. I hope to expound on my choices later on, and think that for a lot of these choices, I can ramble on at length. Quite frankly, I don't want to bore you.

What do you think about hair? Imagining me to be a crazy person right about now? Do you even care to learn about hair care and that you can't actually repair damaged hair?

Water, water, every where, Nor any drop to drink.

That line is taken from The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, which I have not read. One of the many things on my to-do list.

But on to why I chose that as the title of this post. While of the 70% of the earth's surface is covered with water, and only something like 1% is potable.

I'm not even talking about that right now. I'm talking about hot water.

Now, I live in an apartment, with a small water-heater tucked under my kitchen sink. That's a far cry from the large one my parents had, or the behemoth the dorms in college must have had. It also means that running out of hot water happens more often than I care to think.

Last weekend, due to some maintenance that had been done on our sink, we were out of hot water. No showers, no dishes... It was not fun. (Turns out that the maintenance people had simply forgotten to turn something back on.) When the water came back on, I needed a shower, but waited for the tank to fill and heat.

Even after waiting, I was worried that I'd be shocked cold during my final rinse. While a cold water rinse might be good for hair and skin, a surprise like that would not be good for my mood! So, I squeezed soap onto my loofah, and put conditioner in my hair, and turned off the water. Braided the conditioner in, lathered up, and then turned the water back on, all the while thinking about how this would not only save the hot water, but conserve water in general.

Conserving water in general also means that our water bill will be lower.

So, a simple adjustment to my routine, turning off the water when I'm not actually using it will benefit me threefold: 1) ensure that I have enough hot water to meet my needs, (2) cut down my overall water usage, and therefore water bill and (3) help conserve the potable water supplies.

Last night, the unthinkable happened. I ran out of hot water in the middle of my shower. I had not been following my own advice about turning off the water, so I was standing there, conditioner braided and loosely bunned in my hair, and, well, ready to rinse off, with no hot water. So, I turned off the shower.

I tried. I really tried to rinse with cold water, but it was icy, and the ambient temperature of our apartment is around 65 degrees. Not cold, but not all that warm, either, not when you are already chilled.

I rinsed what I could in the cold (like the loofah), and waited.

After a few minutes, I tried the hot water again. Hallelujah! It wasn't as warm as I usually like, but it was warm enough, and I rinsed everything out quick!

During this whole ordeal, I remembered my revelation from the previous weekend, and kicked myself a bit for not listening to myself. But, with an eye ever-forward, I realized that I couldn't change what I had  done, but could change what I will do.

So, I'm going to try to employ this water on/water off method more regularly. Will you?