The Summer Hair Challenge—Join Us!
Oh hey folks. How’s it going? Good summer so far? How’s your hair been treating you? Misbehaving as usual, hey? We feel ya. And actually, we have a theory about that, and we’d like you to help us prove it. So we are going to propose a challenge:
Some time in the next week, when you get up in the morning, shower, shampoo and condition your hair using nontoxic natural products, comb it when you get out of the shower, and that’s it. Once it’s dry, send us a pic.
Some rules: No sneaking in a little blast from the dryer on your roots, no irons, no natural leave-ins, and certainly no toxic ones. Naked hair, air-dried.
Instructions: As we said above, you have to get it wet, whether you use shampoo and conditioner or both or neither is up to you. You can use a brush or a pick, and that’s it. Once your hair is dry, take a pic with your phone or computer or whathaveyou and send it to us at nomoredirtylooks (at) gmail (dot) com with HAIR CHALLENGE in the subject line.
Please include your first name and where you live, and if you feel like it, tell us what you normally use, how long it takes you to get ready in the morning—and be sure to include what you used the day of the pic, too! Email us by the end of the day Friday, August 13th. Once we’ve compiled them all, we’ll publish them on our site.
Special favor: Help us make sure this is not one of those embarrassing challenges no one actually does. Tell your friends on Twitter, Facebook, at the gym or at the bar. Friend us, follow us, and then RT us, or whatever. Spread the word!
The reason for the challenge: We all wage war with our hair on a semiregular basis, and we want to see what happens when we switch to nontoxic, nonstripping products, and then leave our manes alone. We already did the challenge—those are our pics up top—and we want you all with us. One day! Please?
It’s about to be on, girls.
I can’t wait! I already do this.
I can already tell you my hair won’t be looking all foxy like yours, ladies.
Yikes.
YAY! We can’t wait to see the pics. Tell your friends!
This is what I do with my hair normally. Haven’t even owned a blow dryer since Dec. 2004. Although, today, I did braid it.
I’m in. I will have to choose a day I don’t care about going around with wet hair because my hair takes forever to dry! This will be fun!
A very cool challenge, but I must say this will be quite easy for me – I haven’t used a hairdryer in years!
I never blow dry either! Who has the time? I will send you my roots. My clean, natural roots.
This is going to be GREAT. Can’t wait to see all the pics.
Hey ladies!
Got your book (Siobhan, on your cousin Lauren’s recommendation) and I haven’t shampooed my hair since! I’m using the no ‘poo hippy method (baking soda and apple cider vinegar) and it’s working really well!
Thanks for writing the FANTASTIC book. I’ll send a pic soon!
My version of the challenge would be to force me to blow dry and use product. So feel free to post any picture you might have of me, because for sure it qualifies. Welcome to my world, ladies!
Now Erika, we want the most recent picture possible of your untamed mane. Send!
OH! I love this! Game on.
I, uh, actually do this anyway. i would probably look worse if I tried to use some product or something.
But go you guys!
Any recommendations for a nontoxic shampoo and conditioner?
Have I mentioned that I freak out whenever I do not have access to a hairdryer? Ok ladies, it’s on…
I do this every day (minus the conditioner; I only use shampoo), but usually pin it up in a bun or French twist before it dries. Would an end-of-the-day photo be acceptable?
Wow. I’m doing this. I’m not sure how my coworkers will feel about it, but we’ll see. (I have a mane and a half.)
This sounds fun! I do use a bit of product after washing (a natural one), but otherwise don’t do too much fighting with my hair.
@LR, I love Chagrin Valley Soaps, although you wouldn’t be able to get them in time for this project. Here’s info:
http://www.chagrinvalleysoapandcraft.com/shambar.htm
Doing a final apple cider vinegar rinse works wonders as well. (say, 1TBL ACV per 2C water). I have 4C hair texture, but I’ve heard that this works for a lot of different textures.
Oh my. Any women with short hair going to attempt this? I’ll have to wait for a Sunday where I don’t plan to go anywhere; my un-blown-dry hair is ridiculous.
I LOVE this challenge. A friend sent this over since she knows how I feel about removing toxic products from our lives as much as possible. I’ll try to send a pic later today or tomorrow. Love my products!
I can bet my hair will not look nearly as good as you ladies! Will be sending my photo in before Friday :) Can’t wait to see them all!
Oh we’ll see about that. And keep in mind we’ve been using naturals for a long time now—but do it all the same. The pics are rolling in and you’re all a bunch of babes. We don’t want to give anything away, but the pics are all different, and they’re all good.
Ha. Bet your hair is amazing. I have lots of hair too and actually feel bad for my hairdressers when I get a trim. Way more work for all involved.
Any reqs re: number of pics or how styled? (ie – braids/buns ok, as long as no product is used?)
Hi Emily! Whatever you want, yeah. Most pics so far have been hair-down, but really up to you!
I bought your book for Kindle last night and have already read most of it! I’ve been thinking of going “clean” for awhile and was half way there. Now I’m convinced! My shampoo and conditioner are non toxic, so now I’m working on lotion and face products! I’ll send my pic today!
Great idea.
I wrote it up for Folica’s blog HairJunky (www.hairjunky.com) and sent social media <3.
Love No More Dirty Looks and looking forward to seeing all the au-naturel on Friday.
Cheers!
Yes! I’m stoked.
Oops, I missed the photo deadline…But a suggestion to ladies with curly hair:
Don’t brush it!
A lot of curly girls deal with frizz because brushing curly hair separates the curls. After showering, try scrunching upward with a towel (from end of hair to roots) then wrapping curls around your finger to shape them. I use a hair pick about twice a month to avoid unwanted dreadlocks.
Good luck!
I go back and forth. In a normal year I would be full on air dry at this point in the year. However, May in Los Angeles has been unusually cool so I continue to dry it. If you do this, this august I will totally join in. All my coworkers will be used to the curls by then. Unless I bite the bullet and go for the keratin thing.
Just found this, almost a year late but…I’m going to do it anyway and spread the word to my girlfriends! So excited! =)