Last night someone dm’ed me on Instagram and told me to join their online class to learn how to become an influencer and gain more followers.
I read the message and laughed for a full minute. ME? An influencer? NEVER. Ain’t no way, this girl is going to be an influencer of anything. Nobody is gonna get inspired to do anything from what I got going on, except to maybe eat more and try and save money.
Here’s honest to goodness truth; everything I know about being classy came from my Mother. It’s just super unfortunate that not much stuck.
All the stuff that I know about how to be a woman in the 21st century and survive all the things (like 871 kid activities, school obligations, full-time work, looking semi-decent half of the time, wearing any new fashion trend, meal prep, etc) all came from FABULOUS women around me.
I know how to meal prep because someone graciously shared with me what THEY do. I know how to do winged eyeliner (ok, not really, but I get the concept), curl my hair, and do loads of other cool things that make my life easier because I have asked other women I look up to, HOW on earth they do it.
And so it goes that recently, I learned how to NOT wash my hair. Total game changer. GAME CHANGER. You all know my unlove for ironing. Doing my hair might be a close second. Unfortunately, or fortunately, I still care what I look like. Even if my clothes are wrinkled. I have not given up completely. Yet. Give me a few years.
So I have friends who do not have to wash their hair every day. For the longest time, I just didn’t get it. I knew from experience that I needed a wash every day.
A couple of years ago, over a long weekend, I was not feeling well and laid in bed all weekend. I only moved out of a horizontal position to try and put some white soda down my gullet to tame my stomach. When I woke up on the third day, and I emerged from my sickbed to shower, my hair looked like l’d brushed it with a comb coated with “I Can’t Believe it’s Not Butter”. EWWWW. I hadn’t left the house since my last shower and there was no product in it. The sludge was waxy and chemical feeling. I was just sure that MY scalp and hair was chalk full of extra grossness. Made total sense to me.
Then dry shampoo became increasingly popular and every so often my friends would talk about which one they loved the most and what product gave them the best results. I offered that I had some extra stink and dry shampoo was not going to fix what my hair follicles were producing.
And then one of my friends asked me what kind of shampoo I was using. I told them what Walmart brand I had seen was touted as “professional quality”. I was not ashamed to tell them that old habits were hard to break and I was still using something near the quality of Pert Plus because I was used to cutting costs at every turn.
One of my friends nicely told me that maybe I should try some big girl shampoo and actually spend some money on quality shampoo. The extra junk in that shampoo was likely making the sludge. Turns out the professional quality shampoo and what ISN’T in it is quite important.
So I bit the bullet and started spending money on salon-quality, paraben-free shampoo. VIOLA. I can go at least two days without a wash and sometimes three if I work for it with dry shampoo. (FYI, I still shower. Please don’t message me about hygiene.)
In the last year or so, I have been washing my hair every other day. My hair and skin are healthier and my hair grows faster. I also have so much more time to do things that need to get done (well, full disclosure: more time to sleep in).
My favorite products: Pureology Shampoo and Conditioner and Redken Mega Soft Shampoo and Conditioner, Living Proof Dry Shampoo or Dove Dry Shampoo. And when I am in a pinch, I use good ole .98 cent bottle of travel size baby powder for a nice hair refresh. Old habits die hard. I am forever grateful to women who tell me their trade secrets. My hair thanks you. And please, keep ’em coming.