Control, Variant, Results

So you know how I mentioned that I'd stopped drinking apple cider vinegar a few weeks ago? And how a few weeks into starting the internal apple cider vinegar routine, I noticed that my usual bra was fitting loosely? Well, the opposite effects are now taking place. Pants are noticeably tighter and I've started popping out of the smaller bras that I'd resorted to wearing while doing the apple cider vinegar. I believe it's time to start with the vinegar again.

Also, the hair situation is kind of odd. I'm thinking that the combination of hard well water at home and a different kind of apple cider vinegar (distilled, maybe?) have led me to greasy, dandruffy hair only a few days after doing my vinegar, baking soda, vinegar routine. I managed to get most of the dandruff out through rigorous scritching, brushing, shaking, as well as messing it around with a wet washcloth in the shower and ending with a hot rinse and cold rinse. But it's still greasy. I'm going to go grocery shopping today and see if I can't find an undistilled apple cider vinegar, if not a raw, organic one. (I've seen Bragg apple cider vinegar around as a favorite.) Or maybe even trying a different vinegar for my hair, like rice or white vinegar.

Unplanned Test

The last couple of weeks, crazy pack-and-write-and-move-and-help-to-pack-and-move weeks, have finally come to an end. In the midst of it, I stopped oil pulling and vinegar drinking. I think I should bring the vinegar back, as I felt notably less sluggish when I was doing it. We'll see if vinegar was really the source of that energy once I reintroduce it.

Also as a result of the hectic schedule, I went for over a week without showering and/or doing anything with my hair. By day six, my hair was a little danderful and greasy, although not disgustingly so. Most noticeably, it got a little itchy. I took to wearing a hat to keep myself from scratching and making the dandruff situation worse. Putting off washing my hair until getting back home ended up being a test of how much my scalp's activity has changed since I stopped using shampoo, and the results were pretty good. After a whole week without any help, it was not nearly as bad as after those first few days after I decided to stop using shampoo.

I'm growing out my leg hair for sugaring fun.

Sugaring Victim & Solid Routine

Guest contribution by my sister, who experimented with sugaring and sent pictures and descriptions of the process and results.


This is the goop, cooling in a pot.


This is the goop, looking goopy on my sister's hand.


She applied it to her leg using her fingers, which she does not recommend. Instead, use a tongue depressor to apply the goo against the grain.


Initially, she used a no-cloth method where you just pull the crap off your legs, but resorted to cloth after disastrous results (which are pictured below).


As you can see, the right leg looks like it's been a victim of domestic abuse. Pulling the goo off by hand was apparently difficult and bruised like crazy. On the left leg, using cloth to remove the goo and hair (against the grain) was easier and had better results.

I'm looking forward to trying this. We're planning to make a party of it.


In my own progress, I think I've reached a point that requires less experimentation in terms of hair and face care. I'm down to weekly baking soda washes and apple cider vinegar rinses with daily or every-other-daily water only washes. (I say weekly, but it's just determined by when my hair gets unmanageable by non-washing means.) If the problem is just grease and I don't have time for a full-fledged shower, I put some corn starch in my hair, brush it in, remove as much as possible by shaking it out or rubbing it with a dry washcloth and then just rinse out the powdery remains in a quick head shower. When dandruff is particularly noticeable, I saturate my scalp with undiluted apple cider vinegar and let it sit for ten to twenty minutes before getting in the shower and doing the normal diluted baking soda and diluted apple cider vinegar routine. I also cut my hair really short, which makes the whole thing a lot easier.

Face care has been somewhat simplified. On a daily basis, I scrub and exfoliate with a baking soda paste and follow that with a shea butter face massage. When I have some free time, I do a honey mask after the baking soda scrub for twenty minutes, if possible, which helps with acne and such. I read that massaging pure shea butter into your skin can help to reduce pore definition, and I think it's working to some extent. I take a quarter-sized lump of shea butter, melt it down in my palms, rub it onto my face, and then massage it around in little circles. Usually, I do about two of these applications to get everything evenly moisturized. You'd think that putting oily buttery things on your face would make it more oily, but I'm starting to think that the opposite is true. Kind of like with hair sebum, face sebum won't overproduce unless it's being stripped away.

I also got unbelievably sunburnt this weekend and have been putting apple cider vinegar on it after reading that this helps. I'm convinced that apple cider vinegar can be used for every ailment.

Oil pulling might be doing something, but I'm really not sure. I'm continuing out of curiosity, but mostly because I have nothing else to do with this bottle of sesame oil.

Wiping the Slate Clean

Baking soda and apple cider vinegar do wonders on a greasy head. My hair is fluffier and softer than it ever was with shampoo and conditioner (not unlike the first time I washed with baking soda and vinegar). I got into the shower a half an hour ago and it's almost completely dry already. Considering the state of my hair yesterday, this is miraculous.

I think that starting water only from an already greasy head of hair was not ideal. I'm not sure how quickly my hair will grease up this time, but hopefully I can go for another week-or-so without it getting nasty. I'd like to think that leaving it grungy for a while helped my scalp realize what was up and maybe even made my hair a little healthier. But I have no idea.

Also, I stopped using my apple cider vinegar toner because the lines between my nose and the corners of my mouth seem more pronounced than before. It might be completely unrelated, but I'm going to see whether this makes a difference.

Unsought Benefits & Update

I was going to save this update for a day where I had more to report, but I noticed something this morning. I've been noticing it for the last few days.

My favorite bra, which was always on the big side, is now more ill-fitting than ever. My boobs have shrunk.

It's more than any monthly fluctuation in cup-size I've experienced before, which has me believing that I've lost weight since I started drinking diluted apple cider vinegar daily. I didn't weigh myself at the start of this, because weight-loss wasn't one of the benefits of apple cider vinegar that I was seeking, but I definitely read a lot of people's happy recommendations who were drinking it for this very reason. For anyone who is looking to lose a little weight without doing anything at all, give it a try.

An update on hair: I got my boar bristle brush (and safety razor) in the mail this week. I tried the brush , and I think it did a lot to distribute oils, but there's so much crap in my hair now, it just looks more evenly grungy than it has. I've been pinning it back, which is how I wore it a lot when I was shampooing, so that's not a problem. It doesn't itch or smell, but definitely don't want to run my hands through it. A few days ago, I thought I had reached peak greasiness and that the only way it could go was cleaner. Guess I was wrong.

I am taking a weekend trip and would like to look presentable, so I'm going to cave on water-only and do a baking soda wash and apple cider vinegar rinse with a few drops of orange essential oil, which I've read can help with sebum control.

Progress?

Rather than address a specific topic, I'm gonna use this post as a report of sorts.

I got my pound of shea butter and bottle of orange essential oil in the mail on Monday. I have been using shea butter as a moisturizer on my hands, face, and lips. I broke out a little on the cheeks, but that may have started before I got the butter and could have to do with hormones, insufficient sleep, and experimental face washes, among other things. I've read that people whose lips never responded well to petroleum-based lip moisturizers have had success with shea butter, so I'm hoping the same will be true for me. And I just mixed up a batch in my double boiler (canning jar in a rice-cooker bowl) with some honey and orange oil, which smells less nutty than plain shea butter. It's cooling in the fridge right now, but I used some of the liquified stuff on my hands, face, and lips, and it's quite nice.

NO [SHAM]POO: Water-only washes are keeping my hair from smelling but doing little else so far. The natural oils are still around, as promised, and my hair is greasy, especially in the back. There's some dandruff emerging as well. I'm hoping that the boar bristle brush and patience will get me through this eventually. Using baking soda and vinegar worked on a greasy head of hair when I was on spring break, but I have a feeling that the water quality at school (really hard) doesn't react well with those ingredients. I'm not too concerned about grossing people out (as long as they can't smell me from a distance) and have been pinning my hair back when I need to look presentable. If it gets out of control, I will try baking soda and vinegar again and let you know what happens.

TEETH: I tried using baking soda as a toothpaste but didn't really like the results. There were a couple of spots where my gums started bleeding and I didn't really feel like my mouth was all that clean. I also read somewhere that baking soda alone is too abrasive to be used every day. I have no idea if that's true, but I've been sticking to my toothpaste. If I don't find a cheaper alternative by the time this intensely minty tube of Crest runs out, I'm planning to switch over to something more natural like Tom's.

FACE: Like I said earlier, my face is a laboratory right now. I've been experimenting with baking soda and honey, either combined in that order or using them alone. I think my face is confused about how to react to all this change. I'll figure it out soon.