I haven't washed my hair in a week

No, I haven't been sick or busy or even too lazy to get out the shampoo. And no, I'm not a person who can get away without a good hair wash for a week - my hair is fine, thin and oily and looks pretty nasty if I miss even one day. Lately I've been trying to find a shampoo that doesn't coat my hair with stuff, since it's so baby fine and doesn't need help laying down and playing dead, thank you very much. I've tried brand after brand, good brands even, volume building varieties...and every last one of them lately leaves my hair feeling heavy and coated. By the end of the day I look like I haven't washed my hair at all. Bad enough to look like this on the rare day I don't have time to shampoo, but on a day when I did? Not fair.

So in desperation I started poking around online. I found a bunch of obviously insane people who wrote glowing reports on how they didn't wash their hair any more. What??? I bet these are people who feel that bathing is optional, too. What a crazy idea....until it started growing on me. I read over and over again about people who found their hair was healthier, shinier, more manageable, and even seemed thicker once they stopped the ol' shampoo habit.

So I gave it a try. Everything I read said there's about a week of not so great hair as you get used to something new and your scalp gets used to no detergents. I figured I'd stick it out one week as an experiment. Each day I took a tablespoon of baking soda and tossed it in a cup of water, then poured that over my scalp and rubbed. Rinse. Then vinegar in more water poured over. Rinse again. I was sure my hair was going to be a gnarly, oily mess by the second or third day and figured I'd be wearing a lot of ponytails.

Day one and two were a bit weird, I'll admit. My hair felt a bit oily and stiffer than normal. After that, each day my hair was shinier and had more body. It looked thicker, too. And when I blew my hair dry and curled the ends under, they actually stayed that way! Oddly enough, my hair felt clean and fresh after the baking soda and vinegar. It even felt lighter.

So I guess I've stopped washing my hair for good. The end result? Take a look for yourself. It's amazing what a week of no shampoo can do, isn't it?