DevaCurl First Impressions

So, after reading several good reviews and watching a few online demonstrations, I decided to give DevaCurl a try.  Yesterday I went to Ulta and I picked up the basics of their line, and I thought I'd jot down my thoughts after using them for the first time today -

No-Poo Cleanser:

Really nice smelling - some hints of tea tree oil, which is great.  Does not lather at all, but it isn't supposed to.  Having used the conditioner wash method previously, I wasn't as freaked out by this as others might be.  It does feel a lot like the conditioner wash - you work it mostly through your scalp, but I also invariably get it on my ends as well.  Make sure you massage your scalp when using.

Just remember - lather does not equal clean.

One Condition:

Not quite as nice smelling as the No Poo, but also not a terrible smell.  Honestly, this seems much like any other conditioner.  The directions recommend using a "generous" amount and doing a light rinse, which I imagine means that the design is to have some left behind to continue moisturizing your hair throughout the day, so... good for porous hair.  I actually went a step further and ran a small amount through my hair after the rinse as well.

AnGEL:

Love the smell of this - I feel like this is the smell that has been in my hair all day.  It's clean and fruity.  The instructions are to towel dry your hair (they recommend microfiber or paper towels - I used a tea towel.  I think the bottom line is not terry cloth because the fluffy bits cause discord and separation, which is devastating for curly hair).  Basically, you tilt your head and then scrunch the hair toward the scalp with the towel to soak up the water without doing too much disturbance to the curls that are already forming.

At this point, I left the towel around my shoulders and got dressed and put my makeup on.

Set It Free:  

This is a moisture lock spray.  I sprayed this in my hair both before and after the blow dryer per the instructions to help with frizz.  This is pretty self explanatory.  Again, a good smelling product. 

DevaFuser:

This is a diffuser attachment for your blow dryer.  It looks like a weird claw thing.  The design is to provide constant airflow to all parts of your hair and allow it to dry from the inside out.  Personally, I usually let my hair air dry, but that's mostly because I've never liked the way it came out with a blow dryer, and also that I'm too impatient to stand around and wait while the blow dryer does its thing when I could be out and about while nature does her thing.

At any rate, I was impressed with the work of this diffuser.  You have to finagle with it and get it as close to your scalp as possible, with hair both on the top and the bottom of the "claw" (for lack of a better word).  I was definitely impressed with the lift that it gave me - I tend to have flatter hair at the scalp (most curlies do - there's a technique called clipping to combat that, which I will eventually try as well).  But with the DevaFuser, I found today that my hair looked less flat at the scalp.

Now I will say this, I did not wait for my hair to be completely dry from the DevaFuser - once again, my laziness and impatience got the better of me, and I made sure that the hair at my scalp was dry, but I didn't wait for my ends to be dry - I let nature take care of that.

Overall Impressions:

You can see some of the ringlets.  I wish I had a better camera.

My hair has smelled fantastic all day today, which is one of the things that I had been missing since I ditched the 'poo, so that is a definite plus.  Additionally, my hair did look lovely today.  It fell together in some very pretty ringlets with a minimal frizz factor.  There is a definite difference in texture, my hair feels very thick and very soft today.

I'm really hopeful that my experiences will continue to remain pleasant.

As always, please leave me any questions you have in my comments section, and I will be happy to attempt to answer them.  :)

Does losing the shampoo "fix" damaged hair?

So I just posted a comment on a blog that appears to be dormant now (no posts since December), but I also wanted to share my thoughts here.

The blogger in question basically asked whether or not the "curly girl" or shampoo free method of caring for your hair really does anything to restore already damaged hair, or if people are just noticing the results of not damaging the new hair as it grows in.

Now, I didn't have particularly damaged curly hair to begin with - I've always been very heavy handed with the conditioner, and the moisturizers, and using creamy styling products because I knew that curly hair is drier, and I'm fortunate enough to have a hairdresser that actually seeks out products to help me with my hair.

But what I said on this blog is that the difference in my hair isn't as noticeable as the difference in my scalp.

Three months in and my hair looks great - I think the color
looks better too! 

I have eczema - it's a lovely, genetically inherited condition that causes my skin to dry up in awful, flaky and sometimes painful patches.  Everywhere but my scalp, it was usually triggered by stress, and occasionally as a reaction to laundry detergent.  But in my scalp, the eczema was ever present.  It never went away, and was so bad that I would very often avoid wearing black or dark colors for no other reason than that I didn't want to spend the day brushing the flakes of dead skin off of my shoulders and back, because, well, gross.

I must say, after three months on CG, the eczema is gone.  I have a nice, healthy looking scalp, and for me, that's enough to keep that shampoo away.

So, bottom line is that, I don't know whether it fixes already damaged hair, but I do know that it fixes a damaged scalp.

As always, your thoughts and questions are welcome.

Why?

My good friend Sandra of InkySticks asks:

Hey! I came across this new blog the other night and am intrigued! It's very 19th century, maybe that's why, lol. What prompted you to start this 'poo-less experiment? I seem to have a confused and endless supply of shampoo since things just stop working for me; it's really annoying.

I had been debating for awhile because I had read and heard in several places that it was actually better for curly hair to use less shampoo because curly hair is naturally drier, but it squicked me for the same reasons it squicks most people - so I put it off.  But then I read this article, and that prompted further web searches, which ultimately prompted me to finally try it out.

~*~*~*~*~*~

I'm at a point right now where I'm ready to experiment again - I think using baking soda every day is a bit too much.  I think I'm going to make a trip out to Ulta and pick up DevaCurl No-Poo.  I've read lots of good reviews of that.

Of course, please leave any questions in the comments and I will gladly attempt to answer them, as an experimenter in the shampoo free universe.  :)

Wow!

So, I came back to my blog a few weeks after posting to discover that I actually had a question!  


Needless to say, I was pretty shocked because I was starting to wonder whether I should have just posted this on my original blog (Kit Knits). 


So Barb the French Bean of Two Beans or Not Two Beans asked: 

Doesn't your hair smell a bit funky after using this???

Here is my experience: 


The first time, yes I did think that my hair smelled funny after using this method.  That first time, all I did was a baking soda paste and I didn't use any styling products afterwards, so I didn't have that lovely smell that we all associate with clean hair.  


What's interesting is that we have all been trained to think of the smell of our natural hair oils as a dirty head.  


That being said, as I've developed how I'm working with my hair without shampoo, I've found that I am able to use regular styling products, so I still get the "nice" smell of the product in my hair.  I certainly don't carry the smell of the shampoo and conditioner all day like I used to, but my hair still manages to smell nice over the course of a day.  


Barb, I hope that helps.  (Also, definitely check out her blog - I enjoyed it!) 


Of course, as with the last time, if you have any questions that you would like me to answer, leave them in the comments and I will be happy to try!  

A long overdue update

So, I'm very happy with my sulfate free hair life.

My current routine is a baking soda rinse, followed by a soak with apple cider vinegar.  (Both are diluted with water - my non-scientific recipe will follow).

What I've noticed is that my hair feels softer and it does seem to curl a little better.

Unscientific Recipes:

Baking Soda rinse:  About 1-2 tablespoons baking soda to 6-8oz of water.
Apple Cider Vinegar:  Somewhere between 1 part ACV to 3 parts water and 1 part ACV to 2 parts water.

You should play with it and discover what works best for your own hair if you decide to try it - that's what I did.

If anyone reads this and has any questions they want me to answer, leave them in the comments and I'll answer them in a new blog!

A small change in plans

Okay... so I'm finding that I REALLY don't like my hair on the baking soda days. I mean, it's still soft, but it gets frizzy and difficult to manage. I think for right now I'm going to switch to an every other day conditioner only/shampoo and conditioner regimen.

I'm considering the thought that I might need to use more diluted baking soda to get the desired effects, but I'm going to slow my roll a little here (so to speak), and let my hair gradually adjust to this new process. The one thing that I have noticed is that my scalp feels nicer and I'm having less flakes, so that's good news, but I seriously can't deal with ugly hair - I spent way too many of my teenage years hating my hair to go back to having it be unruly.

As I have said, this experiment is a work in progress. Experiments require adjustments, so it is not outside of the realm of possibility that I may not ditch shampoo, but merely shampoo which contains sulfates. I may carry this experiment all the way to hand soaps and body washes. I'm just not sure. But for now, I'm not 100% shampoo free, and I'm pretty okay with that.

First week

Used my sulfate free shampoo today to clarify.  Still experimenting with trying to find silicone free/wax free hair products that I like.  My hair feels soft today, so I'm happy.

My hair is longer than I want it right now, but I haven't got the time to get a haircut.  Soon, I hope.  I've been working lots lately, and am somehow still poor.  So, for now it stays longish.

I haven't been adding pictures because I've been pulling it back for work, so you can't really see what it looks like.  As far as feel, it almost feels like it's thicker when I've got it down.

Overall mood after about a week is pretty okay.  I'm still experimenting and I may completely modify how I work with this to make it work for me.  I honestly never had major problems with my hair before, but I read an article that suggested that this method might help with my dry scalp.

So we'll see how this goes.  No major changes or issues after week one.  :)