ROM

i answer google search terms that brought people to my blog – PT 2

welcome back! 🙂

here we are again, almost exactly 1 year later (ha…), reviewing my blog stats and getting to read what people searched to wind up on this site.

black walnut hair dye

this was by far the most searched term that drove organic views to this site in the last year. yes, i have dyed my hair with black walnuts, and yes, it actually works. here’s the original post from 7 years ago (wow).

norwex cloths

among the phrases in this search term were things like “home cleaning” and “private parts”…. when i first used norwex cloths in 2013, it was because a rep provided them to me to review. i ended loving them so much that i purchased a pack with my own money. those washcloths are still in my bathroom to this day, lovingly being used and in great shape. highly recommend!

dragon’s blood

dragon what? what blood? good ol croton lechleri sap is fantastic for skin-support. i first wrote about it here, but it’s now found in countless green beauty products. and guys – it can be used undiluted on skin as a liquid bandaid. super cool!

msm face mask

methylsulfonylmethane (msm) is a sulfur compound that is great both externally and internally. if you want to learn more and try it in an exfoliating mask, try this post. if you want to combine it with anti-inflammatory powerhouse turmeric, try this post. and if you want something moisturizing and skin-softening, try this post. happy mixing!

hydrojelly face mask

hydro-gel face masks have become my favorite, since i live in a high-altitude, dry, polluted city. think: 100% Pure but make it DIY. they’re easy to customize and easy to make, making them a fun diy tailored for your skin needs. the coolest part is they come right off with no scrubbing and no mess. i usually make/use these every other week. here’s a post!

water-only washing

while i personally can’t follow this method anymore, because i live in a high-altitude, dry, and polluted city, i think it’s a fantastic option for those that can. it’s exactly what it sounds like, and no, you won’t end up stinking. my hair ended up shinier and softer than ever, and could actually hold a curl. here’s a post on w.o.w. for hair and one for body.

(product name) dupe

i do have a formulation educational series on this blog, which took inspiration from actual green beauty products on the market. while no companies or product names are used, it’s a nice series on learning to read ingredient labels and understand how that translates into a formula. it’s also a nice starting point for those wanting to get into diys, but don’t know where to start. here’s the full series. there’s lot of good info in those posts, if i do say so myself!

===

anything else you’re curious about? maybe we’ll have part 3 in another year 😉

XO, ALEXRAYE

rinse-only (water-only) method… update 5

2021 edit: i no longer subscribe to or support the “all-natural” label. more here.

hey crunchies! it’s been months since i’ve last updated you on my ROM journey, and i’ve gotten a few emails and comments asking how it’s going. i figured i should do a little update, and this will hopefully be the LAST update on my ROM journey! (that’s good news! lol)

if you’re new to ROM and/or the AE blog, i’ll give you a quick run-down:

the ROM (rinse-only method) is only washing your hair with water, and using your natural scalp oils to “condition” your hair. it’s a very tough transition for a lot of people at first (myself included) to get away from using anything but water to keep your hair clean. it took me about 4 months! and i think my arm muscles improved from all the scritching/preening i had to do to move the oils form my scalp to the ends of my hair.

but going water-only has proven (for me personally) to be the best option for my hair. even after the dye abuse my hair went through, it’s grown out to be soft and shiny and strong. long story short, me love da ROM.

water-only washing for hair

what i’ve been doing:

ditched the dry shampoo completely
use a shower head filter
scritch and preen about every 3 days (just being honest 😦 ), and then again very thoroughly before WO washes
use my bbb once a week to week and a half (…again, just bein honest)
gently comb and separate my hair into 4 sections before i hop in the shower, then preen under the running water
let my hair air dry (shower at night)
no oils and no conditioners of any kind
spray rose water into my hair just for scent (i’ve considered using the yummy smelling versions of alcohol-free witch hazel, too. we’ll see! has anyone tried??)

how it’s been:

it’s actually gotten much, much, much better than it used to be. i can now say strongly that i’m strictly water-only. and daggone it feels good!

20140331_223316

my one huge problem with going WO (water-only) was the back of my head. for some reason it was always feeling heavy and greasy and just overall pretty gross. i had to REALLY focus on that area to scritch/preen/brush/wash. on select weekends, i’d stay at home allllll weekend and let it get as greasy as it wanted to. i think it helped out with not producing as much oil as before, but it was still a problem area. and now when i wash, it’s the back of my head and the underside of my hair that’s greasy. not so much the top parts. but no more heavy feeling!

one huge hiccup i had: i visited my best friend in phoenix one weekend, and he has hard water. as soon as i wet my hair in the shower, it felt sticky and heavy. i tried to preen as much as i could, but my hair felt heavy and weird/sticky after my shower. once my hair dried, it just looked weirdly greasy. needless to say, my hair was in a braid and a bun that entire weekend.
but other than that hiccup (i’ve traveled many, many times since, even out of the country) i haven’t had any issues with stickiness or being overly-greasy. i did notice that my scalp gets greasier around that time of month (yea, TMI). thanks, hormones.

20140331_222345

my scalp definitely got drier this winter, but i’ve used the honey/witch hazel rinse a couple times and it’s been fine.

i think the biggest difference i’ve noticed in my hair is the way it feels. no matter what day i’m on between washing, it always feels so freakin soft and moisturized. the second biggest difference i’ve noticed is how much faster it dries after washing it. when i used conventional shampoo/conditioner, my hair would literally take hours to dry. we’re talking 3 or 4 hours or more. not exaggerating. now my hair dries in about an hour. it’s been a miracle! haha. best of all, i don’t ever have that tacky, heavy, weird feeling in the back of my head anymore. my scalp has finally gotten its stuff together!

20140331_222727

right now i’m washing every week, usually sundays. some weeks i wash sunday-ish and wednesday-ish.. i really have no set schedule, but that’s what tends to happen. i just kinda go with the flow. it’s usually something like “oh, good morning hair. are you lookin greasy? think we can wait to wash till tomorrow? ok, cool. good chat.”

kidding.

… kind of.

tips for ROM success

if you follow me, you know the ROM has been a long journey for me… and i was already a no-‘poo-er.

i thought i’d share some things i learned along the way that really helped my transition!

tips & benefits to using ONLY water to wash your hair!

make sure your hair has been clarified at some point before your ROM transition. it’ll help drastically! there’ll be no silicones for your hair to slowly slough off, and i mean slowwwllyyy. not to mention, the slow silicone sloughing (i love alliteration) will make your hair appear greasy, feel “heavy”, waxy, dull, and tangly. who wants that? no one.
don’t use hard water. i have hard water and learned to deal with it for no-‘poo. i thought it’d be okay for the ROM because i’d only be washing with water…but nope! either boil your water beforehand to wash and rinse (ain’t nobody got time fo dat), buy distilled water, or invest in a shower head filter. i vote shower head filter. it’ll be nicer on your skin too. oolala! your best bet would be to go to a lowe’s or home depot around you and search for a hard water filter. to filter out chlorine and sediment, these are expensive, but here’s a couple you can look into:
– aquasana
– heaven fresh (fixed head & hand held)
invest in a nice bbb. your boar bristle brush (bbb) will be your absolute best friend during this whole process! it’ll be the saving grace for your oily mop. for me personally, there was a huge difference in the “before & after” grease levels of my hair from brushing. after about 15-20 minutes of using my bbb, it seemed as though the oils had been thoroughly distributed and the grease almost “disappeared.”
dry shampoo is essential. if you’re going to be in public, at least. if you can go through the super oily transition phase and use water-only cold turkey, PROPS to you! you won’t need dry shampoo! i seriously wish i could’ve done that. however, corporate america doesn’t like to see greaseball hair. blegh. i wouldn’t suggest using it more than 2x between washes though. things can get cakey and weird.
steer clear of ‘poos. completely if you can manage. only use low/no-‘poo if you HAVE to. keep in mind it will prolong your transition. i learned the hard way. for example, i was already washing every week and a half to 2 weeks, and found out i’d be around my company’s CEO. i decided to wash with a low-‘poo and diluted it to 1 part ‘poo to about 5 or 6 parts water… then my hair got greasy again after 4 days! only 4! i was so so so upset!
don’t be afraid… to have nasty, dirty hair. i mean dirrrrtyyyy. let your grease-flag fly!
watch the conditioning. you might not need it, or you might only need it on the very ends of your hair. for me, the bbb coated my hair in my natural oils and my hair is now SUPER soft and shiny. when i first switched, i was really fond of using raw honey in my hair in the shower. after a few weeks, if i used the raw honey, it left my hair too heavy. my hair is now at a point where it doesn’t need conditioning at ALL. it’s just too much for it now. if you find you don’t need conditioning, then simply don’t. at the same time, make sure your hair is suffering from being too dry!
scritch and preen EVERY day!! yes, like a bird! this and not using hard water are the MOST important tips i could ever offer anyone that’s going water-only. to scritch, lightly use your fingernails, or a comb (like a wooden comb) to “scratch” your scalp all over, and loosen everything up. then to preen, use your fingers to pull the oil from your roots down the hair shaft in small sections of hair at time. my bbb does a great job at doing the job! yes, this is quite time consuming, but it feels SO GOOD! and it’s very, very worth it! and bonus – the additional scalp stimulation increases blood flow and can help with faster hair growth! bam!
be patient. seriously. doesn’t that suck to hear? it’s like the worst piece of advice ever. but if you thought no-‘poo was tough, get ready for ROM. i’m a hardcore almost hippie and this transition made ME want to quit and go back to no-‘poo…. i consider myself a dedicated, tough cookie, but it was a rough ride for me.
find motivation and support. it’s great to have someone/people to reach out to for help, to swap stories/experiences, tips and tricks, etc. find those people. find that support. and relish in the fact you aren’t dependent on commercial products and you’re letting your hair be as natural (and as healthy) as possible! i had this blog as an outlet to connect with you guys and you all really kept me going.

and don’t forget the benefits!

save money. you don’t need to buy products.
save space. going somewhere? no need to pack hair products! more room for clothes! 😉
& the most important benefit…. healthier hair! see the picture above? that was taken earlier today. my hair’s never been this soft and shiny before. and it’s all completely natural! no silicones; no products!

i personally feel great about going WO (water-only). but as with any natural or conventional beauty routine, the ROM is not for everyone.

anyone have some tips & tricks for going WO??

hippie stamp Sig

ROM (water-only) update #4

2021 edit: i no longer subscribe to or support the “all-natural” label. more here.

whew, it’s been AWHILE since i’ve updated everyone on how the ROM is goin for me.

the last time y’all heard about it from me, it was a bunch of frustration…..
now, long story short, i’m beginning to really, truly LOVE it.

it’s been about 6ish weeks since my last post, so i’ll do my best to sum up what my hair’s been going through:

i used only water to wash my hair every thursday or the following saturday (idk how i came to that conclusion, other than i was hoping my hair would be “nicer” for the weekend.. ha)
i used my BBB every other day (like a dummy. i got lazy)
i used my dry shampoo either every week or week and a half.
……prepare yourselves for this one… i cheated!…. i used a diluted mix of shea moisture shampoo (1 part ‘poo to about 5 or 6 times water) the night before i was going to be around the CEO of my company. the C.E.O…

dear ROM,
i’m sorry.
love,
alexraye

at least it was low-‘poo…right? Wrong! even though it was diluted, the shea moisture was way more cleaning power than my hair was used to at that point in time. so guess what happened…. my hair became grease city 4 days after! FOUR DAYS. i was NOT a happy hippie!
that started this nasty cycle where i was super greasy and used dry shampoo every 5 to 6 days. and when i tried to do water-only, it just wouldn’t work! i used an egg to wash and raw honey on the length of my hair a couple times, and that set me back on the ROM path. thank goodness!

i also took a week off of work (10 days total including weekends) to get my life together (i’m still between states.. the midwest and the east coast are fighting over me..haha) and decided it was the perfect time for me to not wash my hair at all! so i gave myself the completely-made-up-on-the-spot-10 day challenge.

THE 10 DAY CHALLENGE

no dry shampoo
no diluted shea moisture
no eggs
no honey
no ‘poo of ANY kind!
BBB every day
water only wash on day 1 and day 10
nothing else. nothing. else.

results?

as amazed as i was that my hair turned greasy super fast after using ‘poo, i’m even more amazed at how fast my hair bounced back into the ROM swing of things. my hair’s done the BEST it’s ever done with water-only since i started. so now it’s been over 2 weeks since i’ve washed my hair, and 1 week since i’ve washed it with only water. and lemme tell ya, i’m so stinkin proud of my hair!! looky, looky!

2 days after my water-only wash –
(& before my daily BBB brushing… which was 8 days after my last diluted ‘poo…don’t remind me of that terrible mistake lol. sorry that i forgot to take pics with flash, too.)
20130813_101750 20130813_101641

& 1 week after my water-only wash –
(which is 2 weeks after my last ‘poo. these pics are after i used my BBB… with flash & without. idk if you can see the greasiness differently)
20130814_113844 20130814_113814 20130814_113331-1 20130814_113245

so greasy, but not as greasy as i thought it’d be! i still have 3ish days left for my 10 Day Challenge… but after tomorrow’s post, you’ll understand why i decided to post an update now 😉

dare i say i’m at the very end of the transition?!?

water-only washing is possible!

hippie stamp Sig

rinse-only method…. update 3!

2021 edit: i no longer subscribe to or support the “all-natural” label. more here.

so i’m terrible at updating you guys apparently. sowwy ❤

this post is gonna be much longer than my past updates, but it’s honest. please keep in mind i’m still a HUGE fan of water-only washing when you read this! it seems like i’m discouraged (kind of) BUT i’m sticking to my guns!

rinseonlymethod

one more thing….

……

………….

i only took a few pictures… IM SORRY! and they were from before my first wash and after my last. i was in the shower thinking “i can finally update people….cool! ….CRAP I DIDNT TAKE PICTURES!”

meh.

ok, so let’s see what i’ve been doin:

– used my bbb like it’s my job
– didn’t wet my hair between water-only washes
– washed my hair with ONLY water on 6/10 (last wash was 5/24)
– used my dry shampoo last weekish
– washed with water ONLY day before yesterday, 6/19 cuz it was getting oily
– washed my hair with ONLY water last night, 6/20

before my first wash ^

so this time around was really weird….

i water-only washed for the first that monday night. to “wash” my hair, i stood under the warm shower water and rubbed my scalp all over in small circles. after i was out and my hair air dried, i only had that clumpy grease feeling in the back of my hair. so i thought “whatever. i’ll just rinse better next time and my scalp can deal with itself…” lol. i didn’t do anything about it.

then about 3 or 4 days later, my scalp was SO greasy. probably because my scalp was thinkin “hey, wanna ACTUALLY wash me now?!” … to which i naturally replied, “nope.”

so before i went to bed, i used my bbb for twice as long as i usually do. then i woke up with less greasy hair. thanks, bbb ❤ it was still on the gready side, so i used a TINY amount of dry shampoo. then i went about my life, loving how low maintenance and hippie my hair is for the next 3ish days. then i REALLY needed to do something. i’m quite certain that greaseball head doesn’t scream “i’m successful at life” in the office. so, i used dry shampoo before work and went about my day with voluminous hair.

then that day and the days after, i had SO many fly-aways. SO many. it looked like i just hadn’t brushed my hair in days (well. i hadn’t. but you know what i mean, right?). and to top it all off, my hair was getting that “heavy” feeling from the grease. so the day before yesterday, i broke down and washed with water only again…so about a week later, instead of 2.

the day after i washed (yesterday), my hair was SO greasy in the back. the front was golden. it was soft and grease-free. but the back….and the underside…. it looked like i put too much leave in conditioner in or something. idk. so what did i do? told my hair to deal with itself faster and threw it up in a bun. when i got home from work, i couldn’t take the grease anymore! iiiiiiii couldn’t take it. i think that says a lot, coming from the girl that wants to only wash her hair once every few weeks lol. so i gave in and washed it with only water again last night. it helped, but it’s still not where i want to be.

verdict- the FULL transition to water-only wasn’t as smooth as i thought. it might also have a lot to do with the fact that i love sleeping in summer weather. it drives my matt insane because he loves having a fan on him while he sleeps, and i’ll use a full on comforter in the middle of the summer. clearly from the grease ball i am, my scalp wasn’t my biggest fan the past couple weeks.

about “washing my hair”— guys. i didn’t realize how much work it’d be. haha. i was rubbing and rubbing and rubbing and rubbing… and my arms were getting tired, and my neck hurt because my hair was entirely too heavy. i had to ‘fold’ my hair over my shoulders to keep the weight off my neck while i tried to scrub my scalp with water lol. at one point, i got so fed up with it that i stopped and just stood there staring at my castile soap mix.

meme-angry_00283374

exactly how i felt in the shower last night

but i didn’t use it! i didn’t!

so here i am, total greaseball after washing 2 nights in a row, giving you Update 3. i’m not as frustrated as i was last night… just want the transition to be over with, ya know? 🙂

after my third water-only wash…blegh. the top is okay… the underside…grease city! wish me luck at work today!

but when i think about it, i haven’t washed my hair with any sort of no-poo in almost exactly 1 month! it’s been either nothing or water for almost 4 weeks. so i’m a little more okay with where i’m at.

anyone else still tryin to chug through that transition period? i’m right there with y’all!

signature