When I was a kid, I had a DIY hair ruining experience that traumatized me. My hair melted off and it was my own fault for not reading the warning on the perm bottle. Over processing happens to many of us at some point. But it left me feeling very self conscious about the way I looked. At the age of nine, I had officially became the perfect target market for Big Beauty ad campaigns.
For the same reason that a junkie might turn to jesus, I turned to the enticing promises of beauty products to fix my down-and-out hair. I entered the Big Beauty marketplace as an up-and-coming insecure teenager with bad skin and hair and a will to be beautiful. It took me 20 years to look back and understand the origin of my unwavering belief in the words printed on plastic bottles.
By my late 20's I had 2 daughters and had slowly emerged from the fog of my young years. I began questioning my own beliefs and reasoning. I started to understand myself better and I saw my own "don't tell me what to do" attitude morph from a child's defiance to teenage stupidity and finally into a grown woman's will to find her own identity despite mainstream standards set by multi-billion dollar industry and outdated patriarchal opinion. This is the will that my children will inherit.
As a hairdresser, I had been hearing about the no-poo method for years. No-poo-ing means using Baking soda and Apple Cider Vinegar or lemon juice to cleanse and condition the hair. My first thought was 1. Gross for not shampooing your hair, and 2. Double gross for using the word 'poo' associated with hair.
But there was something about it that I found intriguing. Everyone I encountered who used this method generally liked their hair while the rest of us (myself included) complained and bitched about our hair, desperate for that hair product system that would magically turn us into Pantene models.
My hair has gone through many changes. Cuts, colors, styles, bangs, not to mention texture changes due to hormones. After I had my first child, my curly thick dry hair straightened out, thinned out, and got oily. Nature's way of being an asshole while I nursed my colicky baby. nice.
Still I remained, notoriously a hair product junkie. I was controlled by my restless and constantly unsatisfied hair, which in hindsight was just a reflection and manifestation of my unsatisfied mind. My hair has always been my barometer for life.
I still believed the words on the labels of the products I used regularly on my clients, hoping that my perfect head of hair would appear one day, and I would be cured of all hair drama and discontent. I would find a product or product line that I liked, use it until it ceased to please me, and then move on to another. A new one would work for a while but at some point my hair would inevitably stop liking it, meaning it was time for a switch. I would be happy with my hair for a couple weeks, and then all of a sudden it would be lank, lifeless, and oily all over again. Over my now nearly 30 years, I have spent more money and invested more hope and faith than I would like to admit on hair products.
One day, I was at home with a baby, and at my wits end. I was in that perfect place in life where you realize that something has got to change. I was spending too much time thinking about my hair, and that was wrong. There was so much work to do to make this world better for my tiny daughter to be worrying about my hair.
While watching Mad Men, I had one of those 'DUH' moments when I realized that a good ad makes you think that you need something. A necessity. Without even wanting it, it becomes absolutely necessary to have it. I had been naive enough to let myself get tricked into thinking that I needed to empty my pockets to buy my own beauty.
This 'duh' moment was the origin of my no-poo journey. I got tired of searching all over for something to fix me and make me beautiful. I was being fed BS by companies who wanted my money in return for my promise to never feel beautiful enough and keep on buying. And as a new mother, my bullshit sensors were sharpening up nicely.
So I ditched shampoo. All I wanted was to like my hair and not pay dearly for it. I started blogging about hair to share the hair trials and tribulations of my no-shampoo journey with others, and to connect with other people who were sharing similar thoughts and feelings. Part of starting my blog was to report about jumping off the hamster wheel of beauty industry standards, into the great black abyss of what I hoped would be a more sustainable and self honoring beauty regimen.
First thing I did was rename it the ShamPHree method. It sounded prettier and made it easier to talk about going shampoo-free. Sham for Shampoo, PH because it balances the PH of the hair and scalp, and ShamPHree because it is about freeing your hair of shams.
It took a bit of experimenting with different ways of applying the B.S. (Baking Soda) and ACV (Apple Cider Vinegar). I went and purchased paint mixing bottles from my local art supply store to use as my applicator bottles. I also purchased some yummy smelling essential oils to add to my ACV so I would still get the yummy clean and fresh scented hair that I missed from my shampoo days.
My hair looked and felt great after my first ShamPHree. Two weeks in, my hair was better than it had ever been. After 2 months, I had my ShamPHree system down. My hair was shiny, soft, smooth, and balanced. I could go for 4-5 days in between ShamPhree-ing and it never looked or felt oily and limp like it did before. I honestly didn't expect it to be such a drastic change.
I am now four years into my ShamPHree journey and I have no intention of ever going back. My hair is as happy and healthy as I could ever have imagined. I have successfully detoxed my hair and mind from the grips of mainstream beauty and now I'm on to questioning and personally boycotting other corporate shams and taking a stand against harmful standards that oppress women. I only wish I would have started sooner. But then, had it been sooner...It may not have inspired me to share my journey with you.
Are you ready to embark on your ShamPHree journey? Check out Troubleshooting ShamPHree for different hair types and HTHG's answers to frequently asked ShamPHree questions to get you going in the right direction!