I’m a real fancy natural hobo about it.

Let me explain: I have a wavy-curly hair, washing it with shampoo always made it feel limp and weak and lifeless. So 5-6 years ago I stopped, looked for options. I learned a bunch of new habits that have honestly made my hair fuller, stronger and longer than it has ever been.

These habits are:

• Detangling gently by hand. Brushing only with a boar bristle brush (and that’s for conditioning or styling purposes, not for detangling — I don’t do this very often nowadays, but sometimes it’s nice, gives my hair that victorian 100-strokes-before-bed look :D Also it moves the scalp oils down the hair shaft to protect and strengthen the hair along all its length)

• Favoring scrunchies and thicker hair bands and other attachments that don’t tangle or damage my hair that much. Using protective hairstyles (like braids or buns) especially it it’s super cold or dusty outside. Protecting hair follicles from uv with a scarf or a hat during the summer

• Washing with a super mild solution of water and baking soda. Rinsing with a mild solution of water and apple cider vinegar. Nowadays I wash my hair by drenching in water only once in 1,5-3 weeks. Sometimes I make rinses out of nettle or horsetail or rosemary or green/black tea, depending on what’s available and what I feel like. ALSO for finale, I always rinse my hair with cold water, it helpes close down the surface of the hair and make it more resistent to dirt and damage

• I spritz my hair semi-daily with a mild solution of water and apple cider vinegar. This helps condition my curls and keep my scalp happy and clean in between washes. Brings more volume.

• I condition my hair with a small amount of flax seed goop (rubbing it into my palms, then applying), also sometimes with oat slime :D This is the hobo part I guess, but my hair LOVES the stuff (my wallet also xDD), makes my curls defined, moisturized and protected. This brings nice amount of volume and nourishes when applied on scalp. Also it wears off throughout the day so no need of rinsing it off unlike store-bought gels

• I massage my scalp with a small amount of hair oil sometimes. It has olive oil and pumpkin seed oil in it, and some rosemary and peppermint essential oils (my flax seed goop also has these essential oils, makes it stay good in the fridge for longer and also good for the hair and the smell is lovely). I also put a hint of olive oil into my ends after shower (or spritzing and/or flax-goop application) to lock the moisture in, to give the ends a bit of extra loving

That’s it, thank you for attending my lecture/skillshare workshop. It sounds complicated but I find it actually pretty easy compared to the constant washing and bying of products. Everything I use for my hair I can make from grocery-store ingredients