new thread
Hi,
it is two years already that I'm occasionally looking into this hyper-board, now that I've started posting I reckon I aught to present myself properly.
I'm from Italy, but I left my country in 2004. After 8 months in Japan (some funny hairstyles coming probably from that), I moved in France in 2005, and I've been living there since.
I'm slim but with a great appetite, I'm eating a lot of Mediterranean food, which includes pasta, vegetables, meat, cheese, with oil of olive everywhere in abundance ;-)
My hair used to be short-to-very-short (almost military style) until 2003. Then I let it grow to 40-50 cm, at a period when I started to be unhappy of life as single and when I was "ready" for making a family: I reckon that the two changes are linked.
All that stopped one day in winter 2009/2010, when I radically reverted back to short. I am not very proud of that move, I was in rage after a serious quarrel with my (then) partner, the haircut was crying loud my psychological distress.
Beginning 2013 we definitely split, and sure enough I decided to find again my roots, starting from my longhair. This photo is from this morning, and it looks like the "optimum" I was used to in 2005-2006... except for white hairs that are invariably increasing in number with age (I'm now 42).
Beginning 2014, another big turn: I've stopped washing my hair. This was the end of a 6 month transition. My scalp was sometimes itching, I suppose because of the hard water in the region of Paris where I live now. I started washing infrequently, once per week or every other week. Rinsing with vinegar, which is supposedly good for the keratin in the hair. Finally, I was asking myself what actually shampoo is good for, whether I could space washing every three or for weeks. Or maybe not at all? I googled for "consequences of not washing hair" and to my surprise I discovered people living for years happily like that. I remembered then that my grand-aunt was doing the same (with my mother laughing at her as an old fool): finally that was actually making sense for me.
Today the only cleaning procedure I am using is purely mechanical (scritching, combing, preening). I do not see any reason to revert back: my hair and scalp are doing fine. It actually works very well for me.
Voilà, that's all for now.
Lucio
WOW, thanks so much for that excellent introduction, Lucio, it was a joy to read such a thorough and detailed presentation! (and your hair looks hands-down TERRIFIC, too!!)
It's interesting how so many of us here have gone through similar emotional ups & downs, including taking things out on our hair by cutting it off when not happy in life... I did that, anyway, back in the year 2000. The important thing though is that we learn something valuable from these painful experiences, and then be willing to progress forward, wiser and more committed than ever after the negative experience is far behind us.
Again, thank you so much for your wonderful introduction! You sound like a very deep thinker, and I predict that your contributions here at MLHH are going to be greatly appreciated by everyone, especially those who take the time to closely read what you have to say and share.
- Ken in San Francisco
Hey Lucio,
"Bienvinuto!"
Welcome to the tribe, bro!
Your hair looks awesome!
I would like to hear more about how you are caring for your hair.
You'll find support and encouragement from the members of this hyperboard.
Welcome to the family, bro.
Your long haired bro,
Raymond
As I said, I am not using shampoo, nor water or powders.
You may know that this is known in some groups as "sebum only" hair care, see for instance the official thread:
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=144
The idea behind is that the skin (and so the scalp) is a self regulating evolutionary jewel, produces fatty acids as much as needed for protecting against aggression from water, wind, bacteria... Sweat (water+salt) improves even more (it's acidic). A couple of sample articles that goes in that direction (but the scientific literature is actually very vast):
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3535073/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3943473/
Well, then, you'd say, why not get rid of body soap altogether? Mmmh, I was not going to that length until a few months ago, when I discovered that my girlfriend never used in her life any body soap, and by personal experience I can assure she's smelling good 0:-)
So I decided to give it a try and take showers with water only. I can say it was a neutral change: I feel no more no less "clean" than before. I was afraid of armpit smell, which I know being from bacterial decomposition of body secretions (other than sweat, so not concerning the scalp). It looks like water gets rid of nutrients for bacteria which then starve resulting in no body smell. So for the time being I'm stick to "no soap" as it seems unnecessary. One main exception: hands. I'll always use soap whenever needed, in particular before eating, after using toilets, etc.
Anyway. I retain that if anything one should wash the hair and not the scalp, in order not to interfere with natural sebum production. But hair is covered with keratin scales, which are tightly bonded in acidic environment, and become loose when it becomes more alkaline (that is why I was rinsing with hard water but with the addition of vinegar) or when wet. So those fatty acids (the sebum) should do only good to one's hair, shouldn't they? At least this is the argument put in advance.
You can find many apologetic, tests and critics on the internet, just google "sebum only hair".
But nothing can replace experience, so I tried it for myself, and this is my routine nowadays:
* every other day I massage my scalp, a few minutes, to let falling everything that is going to fall (dead skin), and to help blood circulation, and because it's pleasurable :-) Not that systematic, and just a matter of a couple of minutes.
* twice per day: combing with a horn comb (supposedly good for hair because it's keratin too, so less static), to detangle, to remove fallen hairs and to get all those lumps of dust, fibers etc glued with sebum. Then I use shampoo to... clean the comb.
* at any occasion: smoothing my hair with fingers, from roots to ends, supposedly good for spreading freshly produced sebum. I'm doing it when reading a book, watching a film, often in the train. It's anyway nice to play with one's hair :-) I know that one can use brushes to do the same, I tried a couple of times and I found it not effective, but I did not insist too much so use a brush if it works for you.
I do not now if this procedure is universally applicable (my girlfriend for instance cannot live with less than a shampoo per week, so much about coherence...), but for sure my hair and scalp have been doing perfectly well in the last two years (I am tempted to say better than before). If it hadn't, I would have long ago reverted back to shampoos (I am not on the "paleolithic" philosophy or the like, I am just trying to be objective).
So to whoever advocates shampoo, conditioners or other stuff as essential daycare I would say to be a bit less absolute with such statements.
Good to hear from you, and thanks for sharing your experiences. I hope you continue to grow and enjoy your hair.
I had a period of illness nearly 2 years ago and was unable to wash my hair for several months. At the end of that time, it was the best is has ever looked! So yes, it works!
Hi Lucio,
I enjoyed your presentation and the photograph. Thanks for taking the time to share that. I've recently cut down on the frequency of shampooing (from almost daily to about 2x per week) and so far it seems to be working fine - plus I'm saving money on shampoo. Also, I like your hair style - it looks good.
-Marx
Ciao Lucio,
Bei capelli.
Don