Like most of the times I’ve tried to make a lifestyle change, I started off all, “Yay! This is so awesome and it’s going to be so much fun.” Then a few days later I’m all, “I’ve made a huge mistake.”
Turns out, I’m not alone – that’s how most people adjust to change. Once you get into it and really get going and see things start to happen, the doubt creeps in and chickening out looks like a swell option.
It gets worse before it gets better, and all that.
I knew going into Getting Off the Junk there would be a “transition” period, where my hair might get all freaked out and start overproducing oil. No ‘poo-ers report this transition time as being anywhere from just a few weeks and practically painless to two months of smelly, disgusting greasiness.
I’m just going to assume skin goes through a transition of sorts, too. All of a sudden my skin isn’t covered in chemicals and it can breathe. And also release toxins. Boy, is it ever.
Let’s pick up where we left off.
Day 4
On Day 4 I woke up to my hair being a tangled, dry mess and deodorant that had clearly stopped working sometime during the night. As I mentioned in my last post, when I used the crystal before, I always had to wash and reapply it after about 12 hours. So maybe the first few days were just a fluke? Not sure, but my sheets were wet from the kind of night sweats I haven’t had since I was pregnant.
The plan for Day 4 was to do nothing to my hair (bun for the shower, then just brush it out) and shower/shave with the KMF shaving lotion. My hair was a mess, yes, but it was dry and tangly, not dirty, greasy, or smelly, so I saw no reason to change that plan to a baking soda wash. I would leave it alone, then when I brushed it after the shower I would try some of the coconut/almond/vit E oil blend I had on the ends.
You know how I have an almost-10-month-old? Did I mention she’s teething?
I never managed to find my way to the shower on Day 4. At some point in the day my still-tangled hair went into a bun, but that was the extent of my grooming for the day.
No, seriously. I didn’t brush my teeth, wash my face, reapply deodorant, nothing. Add some leaked breast milk to the stretched out nursing tank I was wearing, and I’m telling you, it’s a miracle my husband managed to keep his hands off me.
Day 5
I have an eye doctor appointment today, and my mom is coming with us so we can check out the mall and get Giant Baby some new clothes that she can wear for two weeks before she outgrows them.
I’m still a Yeti, but I also need to do something about my hair. (I try not to shave and wash my hair in the same shower because the hot water starts running out toward the end, and I hate feeling like I’m racing a clock.) My hair still looks dry, my scalp is still not greasy, but it also doesn’t smell clean.
I decide to wash my hair and shave just my pits, saving my legs for tomorrow. I have a theory that the crystal will work better if I stop being a Yeti.
Hair
I use the same routine and amounts of baking soda and apple cider vinegar as before. My hair feels clean and again looks really good as it’s drying. However, when it gets completely dry, I have a bunch of little flyaways everywhere and it looks messy, like I didn’t brush or comb it. But the bottom two-thirds of my hair looks fantastic. I wear a bandanna. Like I’m wearing in this pic:
Body
I still haven’t made any facial cleanser or moisturizer, so I use KMF olive oil soap on my face and body, and shave my armpits with KMF lime shaving cream.
The shaving cream works well, but it’s an adjustment for me because I usually use a foaming gel. My heritage is about 75% Eastern European, and we’re a hairy folk. I need shaving cream to really soften. I don’t think I can judge this until I use it on my legs.
I’m still liking the KMF honey calendula lotion. It feels lightweight, but it’s moisturizing enough to clear up the dry patches I had and keep my skin soft in the dry winter air here.
My face, however, is a dry, flaky mess. The honey calendula lotion feels soothing and clears up the flakes, but I obviously need to start taking better care of my face.
The crystal stings when I apply it to my just-shaved pits. This displeases me, and I’m not sure what to do about it. For a crystal to work well, it needs to be applied as quickly after your pits dry as possible, but I’d like to give my pits a little bit of time to recover from being shaved. Dilemma.
The deodorant holds up during a long afternoon of appointments and errand-running. I go to bed still un-smelly.
Day 6
I braided my hair before I went to sleep last night to try to cut down on the tangle factor, and it helped. This morning my scalp isn’t greasy (or dry) and it’s not smelly. I mean, it doesn’t smell clean, but it doesn’t necessarily smell bad either. Thanks to the braiding, I have this 80′s crimped look going on.
My body is super sweaty again and my pits reek. I think my body is flushing out toxins through my skin while I’m sleeping.
According to my “every other day” schedule, today is a shave my legs, no wash the hair day. I’m going to spend some time googling to see what sort of adjustments (add coconut oil? rinse with water on no wash days? more or less vinegar?) I need to make to the wash routine for the dryness in my hair.
I’m also determined to make my own facial cleanser and moisturizer today. While caring for a teething 10 month old and organizing two bathrooms and a hall closet.
