Back in January I caved into the advertising machine of New Wash and paid an inordinate amount of money for an 8 oz bottle of this “shampoo” (that’s not really shampoo). I also bought some of their Hair Balm (also kind of expensive). I just couldn’t resist the siren song of possibly fabulous hair.

If you don’t know about New Wash, it is, essentially, a co-wash product. Co-washing is when you wash your hair with conditioner instead of shampoo.

So using it is quite the production. You have to massage it into your scalp and then comb it into the ends and let it sit in your hair for a few minutes before rinsing it. Rinsing it takes FOREVER because it is hard to rinse out and if you don’t rinse every single bit of it out of your hair it will look and feel greasy and the opposite of fabulous.

After a month of hair fail  I came to realize that this type of product just wasn’t meant for me (I have wavy hair but it’s really fine and not necessarily dry).  However, I read somewhere online that using a regular shampoo once a week with it is helpful, so I tried that and it did, indeed, improve my experience with the product and in the end I kind of liked how it made my hair feel. It was kind of a love/hate thing. I loved the fact that I could get a comb through my hair, but I hated how flat and lifeless it made my hair, no matter how long I spent rinsing it out. When I finally ran out at the beginning of this month I was relieved to be done with this expensive experiment.

I kept on with my regular shampoo and conditioner but after a few days the same old problems arose from before I started using New Wash (and the reason I was drawn to it in the first place). My skin is ultra sensitive and dries easily. The shampoo I was using was drying my scalp and making my head itch. Not fun!

Over the weekend one of my social media friends (I can’t remember who it was now!) posted a selfie with the hashtag #curlygirl. I decided to jump down that rabbit hole with both feet. The absolute best thing about this was that the products for it are CHEAP! Drugstore conditioner and hair gel – and the cheap stuff at that! The cost of these two products is a fraction of a fraction of the price of New Wash. The Curly Girl method was the originator of co-washing, which is something I didn’t know until this weekend. I bought the book and bought some conditioner and gel (which I haven’t used in YEARS) and gave it a shot this morning.

I am really happy with the results! My hair formed into really nice natural curls today and it feels good! And my scalp feels moisturized! And the conditioner all rinsed out! I didn’t leave any in, as some of the websites suggest, since I don’t really need that. I just rinsed it all out.

I’m super stoked to have figured this out and that it is something that isn’t going to nickel and dime me to death.

Here are some before and after photos. The one of the left was taken on Sunday and the one on the right was taken this morning.

Another hair-related empowering moment  was that I realized, and learned how to, trim my own hair over the weekend. This is something that will take some practice but, again, I’m really happy to not have to go to a salon to do this. Personally, I hate getting my hair cut at the salon because it is never done right and I hate the hour of awkward conversation. Doing it myself is so much better!

Here is a good video about the Curly Girl method that I found helpful. And here is a website that will tell you pretty much everything you would want to know about it.