The hair post, since I've been asked for it.

Because people have asked for it, here's the hair post.

BC (before cancer), my hair grew about an inch a month.  It grew to where I could go donate about eighteen to twenty inches of hair every other year and I'd get it cut off to donate to Pantene Beautiful Lengths, who makes human hair wigs for people who have lost their hair to chemo.  After a cut for that, my hair would still be just barely above my collarbone.  

Because I didn't do anything chemical to my hair, it was always very healthy looking.  I was fortunate, I had decent hair.  

AD (after diagnosis) and one (overdose) of chemo, that all changed.  My hair started falling out by the handfuls.  There was nothing to be done but drag out the clippers.  I shaved my own head.  Strangely enough, I didn't find this as disturbing as I thought I would.  I shaved it and stood there looking at the person who was in the mirror and I realized that was no longer me as a person--that person looking at me had lost twenty pounds in a week from chemo, so she really looked nothing like me and would look even less so like me after a bilateral mastectomy in a few months from that point.

I went bald.  I refused to wear scarves and wigs and didn't give a fuck who I offended by doing so.  You need to realize that at the time, we were living in Lower Alabama, where people thought I was batshit crazy for having gotten my nose pierced almost immediately after diagnosis.  People there would get very bent out of shape when they asked me the required questions about religious beliefs for pre-hospital paperwork and I would answer "Jedi." without batting an eyelash just to fuck with them.  What I believe or don't believe was personal and none of their fucking business.

There were a few compliments about my head, how nice it looked bald, I would usually reply with a thank you and that I was trying to rock the bald since I hadn't been allowed to do anything fun like that back in the day in high school.  (k.d.lang, Dolores O'Riordan, or Sinead O'Connor look, anyone?)

Finishing a year of chemo didn't do much for my hair.  Sure, it had filled in, but it wasn't really growing.  It wasn't doing much of anything except sticking out.  To have gone from decent and straight hair to this bizarre thing my hair was doing was intolerable for me.

My hair was lighter, definitely had more gray in it and I couldn't do a damn thing with it, so I started looking at hair care products with a very angrivated perception.  None would do for my hair what they claimed they would and I wasn't willing to climb onto the batshit crazy expense of trying this, that, or the other hair products and hoping for the best.

So I did what I do best, I started researching.  (I've been on the internet for twenty years now, believe me when I tell you I can do some seriously hard core research on something.)

I discovered there were alternative methods of hair care out there on the internet floating around that actually might do me some good with my hair.  There were even images of before, during, and after, explanations, suggestions, what people were using, and that sort of thing.  I decided to try baking soda with an acidic rinse.  Let me stress here people, that if baking soda is used, it MUST ALWAYS be followed with an acidic rinse to re-balance the pH of the scalp.  It MUST ALWAYS have a minimum of five days in between uses or you risk damaging your hair.

That said, I have to tell you, there are some people with longer hair who go through a time with their hair where it adjusts to being washed less, but it does eventually self-adjust.  Some people go low shampoo, meaning they don't want to use products on their hair which they cannot pronounce, be it for trying to be greener, use less toxins to be healthier, not pad the pockets of some nameless, faceless entity who doesn't gaf if that person does anything but buy the particular product they are marketing, traveling to another country and trying to go with less maintenance on their hair or whatever, some people are doing that.  Some people are no shampoo, meaning they don't use conventional shampoo products at all, and they are water only with their hair care and yes, in spite of being water only, their hair is clean.

I found a group on fakebook that's the low/no shampoo group.  I sat there and lurked for I don't know how long, reading, checking out posts, paying attention, learning, and then I finally jumped in and posted.  I posted about why I was doing this--for me it was an attempt to get my hair to grow back after a year of chemo.  In my brain, if I did mess something up on my hair, well, I'd already recently been bald, I could just shave my head again and start over.  After all, it's only hair and would eventually grow back.

In March 2013, I started actively monkeying around to see what I could do with this alternative hair care thing.  Let me state that, for the record, people who are crunchy still clean their hair, they just aren't doing it the way people these days have been brainwashed into thinking it has to be done.  I'm not a crunchy, though, I'm a crumbly.  Some things I'm more crumbly than crunchy.  Other things I'm more crunchy than crumbly.  That's a post for another day, though.

The water here is hard, which can affect what one can do with the hair, but I figured I'd give it a serious shot.

This is from a post dated September 7, 2013:
Going to jump in here on this one. By washing my hair less and going with the BS/DWV or tea rinse on occasion, my hair is better and grows more and faster. It wasn't doing anything with conventional hair products and I was looking for something to use which wasn't going to cost a fortune, only to have me find it wasn't helping. My hair had all fallen out from chemo. Two years ago, I was completely bald after one dose of chemo. One year ago, my hair was very short and sticking out everywhere, it would not grow. Before I got sick, my hair would grow about a foot per year. Even six months ago, I still had almost no length on it. Chemo wrecked my hair and skin. For someone to have hair that would grow an inch a month or a foot per year, to barely any growth at all was getting on my last freaking nerve.

I was debating on shaving my head and just keeping it shaved, but then people assume one is still in treatment and I didn't feel like dealing with The Looks from other people--I already get those on occasion because I have not reconstructed and will not do so and sometimes people notice I have no breasts. I give zero fucks about it, though. If they have a problem with it, it's their problem, but the lack of hair would be really frustrating for me. I liked my long hair, I missed my long hair. I felt like hair would help with the boobless thing.

Then I tried doing the BS and DWV back in March. The first time, I thought my hair smelled like a wet dog because of the vinegar that I was hyper sensitive to--yet another stupid "gift" of chemo--super nose smelling ability. My husband thought that was hilarious and told me he didn't notice it. It dissipated within a few minutes.

Within a few weeks, I noticed my hair was growing and felt better. My scalp had improved--remember, chemo wrecked my skin, also. No flakes, no itching, so that was a definite improvement. I won't ever go back to conventional hair products at this point. Right now, I'm on like day three or not washing and my hair looks, feels, and acts as if it's been freshly washed. When I started this, saying my hair was two inches long was being generous. Now it's at eight inches long. It still sticks out and I don't know what to do with it since my hair was always straight before this, but it's getting longer and I can now put it in a pony tail.

I feel confidant in saying had I remained with using conventional hair products, I would still have badly growing hair. It's a vicious cycle. Have bad hair? Use XYZ products. Still not good? Try ABC products instead. Still not having good hair? Keep searching and spending and spending and spending.

Not me, not any longer. I will definitely not go back to conventional hair products. I've seen the proof with my own hair and we have hard water and I've still seen a difference.

First, one has to wrap the brain around the concept of realizing our great grandparents and beyond them in the past did not have all the instant ready made hair products available that line shelf after shelf after shelf at the stores these days.  So, what did they use?

Second, it's interesting to grasp of already having stuff available at home to use.  

Third, actually playing around with this stuff.  It's fun. 

For example, today, I used some old basil simmered in four or five cups of water on low for about twenty minutes, let it cool, strained it, and then I put that on my hair as a wash/rinse.  My hair is soft, it smells amazing, and since this is a new "thing" for my hair, I'll see what it does for the next few days.

Probably the best way to start is to get a clarifying shampoo and use it a couple of times.  Stuff does build up on the hair like silicones.  (Personally, I dgaf about a few silicones here and there on occasion as much as I object to paraben/s, so if I use something I haven't made, I don't want it to have paraben/s in it.  There are low shampoo options out there that don't have silicones, sulfates, and parabens in them.)

Things I have put in my hair:  apple cider vinegar, baking soda (just a pinch diluted in two cups of water), basil water, beer, bentonite clay, black tea, cinnamon, chickpeas (pureed and also the liquid drained from them), cocoa (not Dutch processed), coconut milk, coconut water, coffee, honey, lemon juice, lime juice, molasses, potato water, rice flour, rye flour, shampoo bar made of mint and tea tree oil and marshmallow root, (diluted) white vinegar, yogurt, and I'm probably unintentionally omitting something here.

Things I haven't put in my hair that I'd like to try:  aloe, homemade hairspray, henna, jojoba oil, and I'm sure there's a few other odds and ends I'm unintentionally leaving out.

I've learned about henna, cassia, how to make hair masks, what a shampoo bar is, dry shampoo, and all sorts of nifty and interesting things.

There's a ton of information at what I call the Alternative Hair Care Low/No Shampoo group.

And as of today, my hair is waist length, is healthy, shiny, and has no damage.

Skin care is another post for another day.