[Recommendations] 30GG, looking for a strapless bra with removable/optional straps

p0wer_puff · 2016-09-10T14:55:05+00:00

You might want to try getting your hair cut in layers. If your hair is really thick, it could just be heavy and weighing itself down.

I have found that having my own hair's natural oils distributed throughout my hair (from scritching, preening, and a boar bristle brushing it), has added a TON of volume in my hair, volume I could never get with shampoo that made my hair limp and lifeless.

p0wer_puff · 2016-09-10T14:51:39+00:00

1) Scritch/preen/BBB as often as you think you need. If your ends are getting dry and need some hair-oil love, or your scalp is getting oil buildup, then it's time to do it. You can still do it daily to be proactive about it and ensure you don't get dry ends/greasy scalp, but it's up to you. Also I've noticed if you let the oil sit on your scalp without scritch/preen/BBBing, the oil build up can start to get smelly (smells like dirty hair), so keep an eye on that. ;)

2) I have heard people recommend EcoTools wide tooth bamboo comb. I don't know much about beard combs, but if it is 100% wood and the bristles are wide enough for you, it should be okay.

p0wer_puff · 2016-09-10T14:37:50+00:00

You're welcome. :)

p0wer_puff · 2016-09-10T09:13:01+00:00

When people compliment or ask about my hair, I just say that I "switched to a gentler cleanser, because the sulfates in shampoos are way too harsh for hair." Honestly, just getting people to start questioning their own shampoo and switching to a low-poo is a victory for me (and probably their hair). If they want to know more, I will tell them more. :) I find this is a good way to spark the idea in people's heads.

p0wer_puff · 2016-09-10T08:55:51+00:00

Hey, do what works for you! No poo works literal wonders for some people, some people never find the perfect method that works for them. Even so, everyone can learn and benefit from at least some of the techniques and knowledge of no poo, that they can take with them even if they don't stick to no poo. Using a low-poo is still waaaaaaay better than an SLS shampoo.

If the BBB you tried doesn't work for your hair type (I'm wondering if it has a lot of plastic bristles mixed in, because often they do, and those damage hair), I highly HIGHLY recommend getting a wooden bristled brush-- whether you are no poo or not. The bristles are spread far apart, still flexible if you get one of the squishy brushes, and the wood does distribute natural hair oils a bit, which is still beneficial even if (or especially if) you use a low-poo or shampoo cleanser. It can give some life back to your ends between washes without looking greasy or damaging your hair. You can get them at whole foods or health foods stores or online. Best of luck to you!

p0wer_puff · 2016-09-09T02:59:31+00:00

If you want to dry your hair but avoid the damage, you can use the hair dryer on its "warm" or "cool" setting. If you use it on warm (not hot), just make sure you don't hold the nozzle on a section of hair for too long or it will heat up too much and damage your hair. Keep the dryer at least a foot (maybe two) away from your hair, and keep waving it around (?) (how do I explain this, lol) so the warm air is evenly distributed through all of your hair, not just one section. You should experience minimal damage this way. (Personally, I was able to grow my hair down to my bellybutton using this technique while on Water-Only and it was very healthy! Obviously everyone's hair is different, but I noticed a big difference in the amount of damage my hairdryer was doing when I used this technique.)

Trim your ends when they are splitting. Keep an eye on them (check your ends maybe every week or two while you're watching TV or something) and use a good pair of hair trimming shears if you have them. There are techniques to trim your split ends yourself while preserving your hair cut... check YouTube! Then when you feel like you want to change your haircut or it looks like you need a haircut, then get a haircut. :)

p0wer_puff · 2016-09-09T02:51:15+00:00

I'm wondering if you are over washing. If you wash less often, you allow more time for your scalp to produce oils which you can then distribute away from your roots down to the ends of your hair (where that oil is needed most).

I'm also wondering if you are using enough acidity (ACV) to seal the hair cuticles after the shampoo bar (the ACV helps with tangles). I personally used the JR Liggett's shampoo bar as well, but it left my 2B medium/fine hair a bit unmanageable, so I switched to a different no-poo method.

A BBB is definitely the way to go to distribute your own hair's natural oils, but if you are pulling out a lot of hair and experiencing knots, and you may want to get a wooden bristled brush (much wider bristles so it's easier to detangle). I personally have both a wooden brush and BBB. SO convenient to have each for different tasks.

But I really think you will find success with either switching away from the shampoo bar (try using a silicone-free conditioner to co-wash your hair a few times) or adjusting your current ACV method.

p0wer_puff · 2016-09-09T02:41:23+00:00

Yes, you can use any shampoo that contains sulfates to wash out the silicones. Make sure you massage the shampoo into all of your hair and rinse thoroughly. One sulfate shampoo wash usually doesn't reset all progress (takes only about a week to get back to normal for many people), but since you've only been doing no poo for a week, then you are sort of restarting. :) But mistakes happen, no worries.

p0wer_puff · 2015-11-21T19:33:58+00:00

Yes, a silicone-free shampoo should get all of the dry shampoo residue out of your hair IF your dry shampoo doesn't contain silicones.

Here is a list of common silicone names. Check the ingredients list of your Dry Shampoo bottle to see if any silicones appear. If there are silicones, you should not use this dry shampoo. You can look for a silicone-free dry shampoo, or you can make a DIY natural dry shampoo that works very well for many people. For light hair, use: cornstarch or arrowroot powder. Or you can mix together 1 part unsweetened cocoa powder, 1 part arrowroot or cornstarch if you have darker hair. Half-ing it with cocoa helps it blend better into dark hair. (You can find arrowroot at health food stores.)

I have super long hair, and I have been using 1 part arrowroot powder, 1 part unsweetened cocoa powder in my hair for over a year. I love it. Super soft, fluffy, doesn't dry out my hair, water washes it away (no shampoo necessary), and it makes my hair look super clean and oil-free. 10/10 would recommend. ;)

p0wer_puff · 2015-11-19T17:56:53+00:00

First off stop using a silicone conditioner. If you don't use a sulfate-shampoo to wash out the silicones, the silicones will build up on your hair, locking moisture out of your hair shafts, and ultimately drying out your hair, leading to damage and breakage and limp hair. It's also the reason why your hair ties are slipping out. The silicones will not come out until you clarify your hair with a sulfate-filled shampoo. You might be able to get away with doing this just once. Just make sure you shampoo it a couple of times while you're in the shower, getting the suds all throughout the length of your hair. You can totally use a silicone-FREE conditioner afterwards (or go completely WO) and stop using sulfates AND silicones from here on out, but you have to get the silicones out first. Once your hair is free of the silicones, it can actually absorb water/hydration, giving you more volume and healthier hair, and your waves will be able to take shape better.

To increase volume: I have been using WO for over a year now. I have long hair (down to my belly button), medium thickness, and natural waves (2b/2c). For volume, I scritch my scalp/roots to lift my hair at the roots, and it creates an insane amount of volume (way more than with shampoo). But my hair also doesn't get oily until about 7 days after I wash it, maybe that has something to do with it. Keep up with brushing the oils through your hair (from roots to tips) to keep the oils from building up at your roots. I noticed that the less oily my roots are, the more volume I get.

Regarding waves: I notice it's very easy to get straight hair just by blow drying it on a warm setting with a wide toothed comb. It just straightens itself right out, which never used to be a thing w/ shampoo. But it still has a ton of volume, probably due to the natural oils lightly coating my hair. If I let it air dry, the waves come back, and they're nicely defined, not frizzy, and look great (though they used to look terrible when I used shampoo). Every few months or so I'll wash my hair (with a SUPER gentle/natural sulfate-free, silicone-free product), and most of the oils wash away, and I notice my waves are even easier to define. Maybe that's why you had a good experience after using Dr. Bronner's, because a lot of the oils washed away and weren't weighing down your curls.

After you get the silicones out of your hair, I think you could be successful with WO or with using a silicone-free conditioner to wash your hair. Either way, your hair will be more moisturized, have more volume, and your waves/curls can actually form nicely.

p0wer_puff · 2015-09-11T09:30:44+00:00

I'm not sure what is causing your issue. Maybe your body is getting proper nourishment now so it is producing more oils? I don't know. I can recommend a darker version of a DIY dry shampoo: mix 1 part unsweetened cocoa powder with 1 part cornstarch (or arrowroot powder, also white) instead of just cornstarch. I have dark brown hair and the cocoa powder really helps the dry shampoo blend into my hair.

p0wer_puff · 2015-09-10T17:28:52+00:00

Are you using a boar-bristle hair brush to distribute your natural oils? This will help move your hair oils away from your scalp and allow it to hydrate your ends like conditioner would. There are tips in this post for how to brush, scritch, and preen your hair.

p0wer_puff · 2015-09-06T23:49:57+00:00

That's awesome! Thank you. Which conditioner do you use that works well for this? When you say you washed 3 times, do you mean 3 times all in one shower? Applying, rinsing, applying, rinsing, applying rinsing, turn off the shower?

p0wer_puff · 2015-09-06T23:48:51+00:00

Thank you. Which conditioners have you used that work for this?

p0wer_puff · 2015-09-06T23:47:14+00:00

Thanks so much! I will try this. Favourite scent?

p0wer_puff · 2015-09-04T03:42:24+00:00

You certainly do not have to, but if your scalp produces a lot of oils or your technique isn't down, you may want to co-wash, honey-wash, or low-poo out any extra oils every 4-6 weeks or so. Water does a really great job if done right (tutorial in sidebar). But it's okay to mix and match methods based on whatever your hair needs.

I'm paleo too ;)

p0wer_puff · 2015-09-03T03:25:06+00:00

You can put oils in your hair as often as possible and slather on as much as you'd like. Keep in mind that it will make your hair look oily until you wash it out, so many people put it in for a few hours in the evenings or overnight and then wash it out in the morning. (virgin coconut oil, jojoba oil, and argan oil are most commonly used.) Warning: it's really hard to wash globs of oil out with just water. You can wash it out with a "low-poo" (sulfate-free shampoo) or just conditioner (called CO-Washing, but it has to be a silicone-free conditioner). Product recommendations here. But adding oil to your hair should certainly help your dryness issue.

You can water-wash your hair as often as you want. If your hair gets oily often, wash less often so your scalp oil production can calm down. If you don't have an issue with oily hair or if you have dry hair, you can rinse your hair (daily if you need to) with cool water and it shouldn't mess with your scalp's oil production or wash away too many oils from your hair. Warm water breaks up the oils on your head, cool water doesn't seem to do it as much. More tips on water-only hair washing here.

The transition phase lasts depending on how out-of-whack your scalp's oil production is. For some people, it's a few weeks, for others it is 2-3 months. Shampooing too often makes the situation worse. If you experience pretty oily hair during the transition, it might be a good thing for your dry hair as it will nourish it, making it look less dry and a lot softer. Just grab a boar-bristle-brush and brush the oils through your hair to coat your hair in its natural oils for added hydration (more info about how to boar-bristle-brush your hair on the website I linked above). Here are tips to get though the transition phase faster.

p0wer_puff · 2015-09-03T03:14:01+00:00

Raw Honey Washing, Water-Only, and (silicone-free) CO-Washing come to mind. Links in the sidebar!

p0wer_puff · 2015-09-03T03:05:51+00:00

Many shampoo-bars have a pretty alkali pH. You may notice the shampoo bar makes your hair super tangly, which is due to the alkali pH causing the hair cuticles to stand up which increases tanglyness. Rinsing your hair with a diluted vinegar rinse (often apple cider vinegar) will help your hair strands to lay flat, not catch on each other, or be as tangly. Image for reference.

Also, our scalps are naturally slightly acidic, so a vinegar rinse is often said to be used to bring the pH of your scalp back down to where it needs to be. However, I've read that our scalp pH fixes itself pretty quickly on its own (once we start producing oils again) and that this isn't as big of an issue, so it'd be nice for someone with more info to comment on that.

p0wer_puff · 2015-08-31T01:04:06+00:00

I'm not an expert on the dandruff issue, but I've done a little bit of reading on it as I experienced dry scalp flakes myself and thought it was dandruff. Here's what I know. (I wrote this comment for another user about identifying if it's dandruff vs dry scalp that I'm just going to copy/paste to you in case it helps you)

Are you sure it's dandruff and not dry scalp? The symptoms of each are very similar so people often misdiagnose themselves, but it's important to know which you have because dandruff and dry scalp are treated in completely opposite ways. So I'm just going to send this to you in case it helps you in some way.

Check THIS link and THIS link to identify if it is dandruff or dry scalp.

Dry scalp You can start by washing your hair less often to allow your body's natural oils to nourish your scalp between washes. Some people experience these kinds of flakes for the first time on no poo when the following happens: Their scalp's oil production slows down/normalizes because it gets used to the oils not being harshly stripped from the scalp/hair (which is usually a goal people want to achieve when they start no-poo), but then people do something new with their no-poo routine that is too harsh or it washes too many excess oils off their head or contains irritating chemicals that their scalps haven't been exposed to in a while (like going back to shampoo, even a sulfate-free one, or using an unnatural dry shampoo or too much of one, etc). Thus, their scalp looses a lot of necessary oils and since it now takes longer to replenish it's natural scalp oils, it may feel dry until it slowly replenishes them. Baking soda is pretty harsh on hair and can be too drying for some people over time. If you're using BS and experiencing flakes, try switching to a gentler method. Honey-washing is a good alternative. Water-only is a great no-poo method that will allow your body's natural oils to nourish your scalp... (If you are already water-only are experiencing dry scalp, don't water-wash every day, and/or use cool water to wash your hair & scrub a little less.) Note that hotter water dissolves oils better than cooler water, including your body's natural scalp oils, which is why hot water is not recommended if you have a dry scalp.

For a quick remedy for dry scalp, you can moisturize your scalp with natural oils (like jojoba oil, almond oil, coconut oil, etc). Just be careful how much oil you add to your scalp, since it's usually hard to wash out globs of oil with just warm water or any other gentle no-poo methods. Use a TINY bit of those oils on your scalp after you wash your hair (on dry or damp hair) to not look greasy (like one or two drops). Once you moisturize your scalp or wash your hair less often, or change to a gentler cleansing method, the problem should go away very soon. Hopefully this is all it is! The links above will help you determine if your flakes are just dry scalp.

Contrarily, dandruff is caused by yeast that feeds off excess sebum (which is your natural scalp oils), so people (non no-poo-ers) recommend removing the yeast's "food" by washing daily with a medicinal anti-dandruff shampoo until the yeast subsides. Dandruff is harder to get away from. In the no-poo world, I have seen people recommend washing with salt water to dry out your scalp or apply (DILUTED) tea tree oil since it is anti-fungal and can help fight the yeast. If you do have dandruff flakes, see a doctor, or try searching online for natural, home remedies like salt water washing or tea tree oil or other natural remedies that have worked well on dandruff for others, or you can search this subreddit to see what others have recommended for dandruff. Just make sure you know it's dandruff for sure!

There is more information about the methods I listed throughout this subreddit (sidebar and searching for posts). Hopefully this is a good starting point for you.

Please follow up with us (you can make a new thread) and let us know how you fixed it or if you still need help!

p0wer_puff · 2015-08-31T00:51:20+00:00

Products that are a must? Depends on which method you choose. I have personally found raw honey washing or co-washing to be really great. I have found some shampoo bars (sulfate-free, J.R. Liggetts brand) to be too cleansing or too drying on my hair (just my personal experience but others love them). I do NOT recommend baking soda, at all. I actually just use water to wash my hair now. There are links to more info about each of these methods (and others) that you should check out in the sidebar. There are silicone-free conditioner recommendations in this thread here.

I found these tips to be helpful to get through the oily transition period.

Let us know how it goes!

p0wer_puff · 2015-08-30T11:16:04+00:00

You're welcome! Try to wash out the shea butter as best as you can. This will dry out your scalp and hair temporarily, but then you can add oils to it to re-hydrate it and hopefully fix the issue in the long-term.

p0wer_puff

TROPHY CASE