Whoa, guys. We are, as the title says, floored. So many of you ladies—and spattering of gents—took us up on our second annual Summer Hair Challenge, and you all look freaking fabulous. More than 130 of you did it, which stands as a testament to how much this clean beauty thing is growing. As promised we have a winner. This lucky girl is going to get a basket loaded with amazing clean haircare courtesy of NuboNau.
And the winner is…77! Sarah from San Francisco! (Sarah, the rest of us are green with envy.)
Now, without further ado, have a look at our Summer Hair Challenge lovelies. Keep scrolling. There’s a lot of ’em. Feel free to fawn in the comments.
(Good thing our anonymous winner-picker didn’t pick 132, cause that number isn’t here. Oops! Instead we have 26a and 26b—don’t ask. Um, intern, anyone? Ya, we need one. And if we have any takers here who are amazing at organizational-type things, we’re on the hunt.)
To everyone who participated, we send a huge hug. We are deeply grateful for your support.
Please share this via your networks: your blogs, your Facebook and Twitter. This message of health and natural beauty seems to spread best through word of mouth.
P.S. If you’re missing the Friday Deal, we’re sorry! We just figured that since it’s a long weekend and some people are (hopefully) leaving work early, that we’d skip this week. Plus which, having 130 beauties up on the site for a few days wouldn’t look too shabby either. A most wonderful holiday to all!
So many of you have written to us or asked in the comments if the above—and other variations on the theme—disqualify them from participating in our second annual Summer Hair Challenge.
The answer to “Can I still send in my picture and be entered to win a sweet prize from Nubonau?” is….
Yes! Totally.
Come one, come all. We tweeted this yesterday but it bears repeating: The photos have started rolling in and boy are they all over the map, in the best way. All shapes and sizes are represented here—from people with enviously sleek airdried manes to full-on fros.
Deadline is Sunday. Send us your snaps, please.
P.S. To the “Is my shampoo clean enough?” question, the general answer is, “Probably?” If you’re using some kind of semi-natural or fake-natural product that you bought in good faith, or because it was the best you could afford, or because it was the only thing at your local health food store, then yes, of course you can still participate. And if you are looking for recommendations for something to buy next time you need a new shampoo or conditioner, just do a search on this site for those words—we tag liberally—or ask your fellow Dirty Lookers in the comments. Boom!
So how’s this for irony: The weekend I decide to do the Summer Hair Challenge for my picture is also the weekend I go upstate with friends and dutifully pack my toiletries, not forgetting my toothbrush for once and even remembering to bring my Hope Gillerman Muscle Relief and my Lotus Wei Infinite Love Elixir. What’s the one thing I forget, though? My clean shampoo and conditioner, naturally.
Ugh!
Especially ugh because before hopping in the car, I took a sweaty yoga class—which meant showering and hair washing was going to have to happen at some point. Another problem? We’d planned a scary-hard day hike and after that, indulgent massages at the lovely (and, I’m happy to report, ALL-CLEAN) Mohonk Mountain spa, which, incidentally, carries Lotus Wei—but not shampoo and conditioner. En tout cas, a massage meant someone was probably going to rub oil into my sweaty-from-hiking scalp, necessitating more hair washing.
Maybe you’re thinking, “What on earth is wrong with this chick—can’t she live with a little dirty hair for a weekend?” I mean… Greasy hair is bad enough, but when it’s greasy and sweaty and the air is damp but also hot, it’s a recipe for feeling completely revolting. Plus, I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was a little curious about the Aveeno and the Pantene in the bathroom…
Would my hair be all silicone-sleek and easy to manage? Would I maybe even love the smell? Would it dry quicker with the blowdryer? Would I discover volume I hadn’t seen in ages?
Uhhhhh, ahhhhhhh! Here’s what happened.
Shampoo, day one. Yup, I totally used the Pantene. I read the ingredients while I lathered it into my scalp, trying not to remember what Dr. Mitchell Kline told me while we were writing the book (refresher: Sulfates go right into your scalp!) and banishing thoughts of the inevitable rash to come. I took a deep breath and holy fragrance, batman. Here’s the thing: Alexandra used to use fistfuls of this stuff and hugging her was always a delight because I adore her but also because her hair always smelled so delicious. We’ve talked about this before but it’s always surprising when it hits you again: When you abandon synthetic fragrance and then come upon it again (in an elevator, say, or at Sephora), it kind of makes you want to die. Anyway, I washed my hair with those gigantic Pantene bubbles, slicked on some silicone-filled conditioner, rinsed it and found that my hair felt very slimy even after a long hard rinse. Next up, the blow dry.
Once done, my hair looked, in a word, sick. It was super-shiny from the ‘cones, but not in a pretty way. The ends were going every which way, and it was limp at the top. The smell got to me, too. Better luck next time?
Shampoo, day two: This time I tried the Aveeno. Aveeno’s marketing always irks me (I find it to be greenwashy) and it’s not at all gluten-free, but I did notice it lathered a lot less than the Pantene (though still way more than, say, Rahua or C Tonics) and the fragrance was further down on the ingredient list, making the scent far less pungent. I used a tiny amount on my scalp to rinse the massage grease from me, and then decided to forgo conditioner altogether. There was still oil left over from the spa, and silicones don’t typically wash off in a day. Lo and behold, I could draw a comb through my hair no problem without conditioner. But…
Once dry, I was afflicted with the same gross-shiny mane. Only difference: Lots of volume at the roots, and a less lingering scent.
When I got home last night I decided to wash my hair with my clean stuff and air dry it, then I went to sleep. The resulting photo is my Summer Hair Challenge picture. I emailed it to Alexandra this morning with the subject line “Where’d my waves go?” and in the body of the email: “Let’s discuss.”
Consider this post that discussion. After a weekend of using gross products, my hair isn’t what it would have been otherwise. I’m not mad at how it looks today, but it isn’t exactly representative of how it normally looks when I airdry, and I think it might be a week or so before it’s back to normal.
Lesson learned.
Anyone else have a cheating-with-conventional-products horror story they want to share? Please?
Oh, hi! How’s your summer going? Grossed out by the August weather? Us too. Hair misbehaving as usual, hey? We feel ya. And actually, we have a theory about that—which you all probably know by now—and we want to re-prove it.
Last summer we announced the Summer Hair Challenge this same week and the results blew our freaking minds. You all looked smoking, and, well, it’s that time of year again. And since everyone is sick of the heat and wrestling with their hair, we decided to bring it back.
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. No leave-ins, no heat. Once it’s dry, send us a pic.
This year we’re offering some extra incentive too: A brain-meltingly good haircare basket courtesy of NuboNau. The winner—who will be chosen at random—will get products from Rahua, John Masters, and Intelligent Nutrients. Worth the price of admission, wouldn’t you agree?
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, obviously. Once your hair is dry, take a pic with your phone or computer or whatever 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—don’t forget that part! We like to know where you live! If you feel like telling us what shampoo and conditioner you used for the challenge, include that too! Email us by the end of the day Sunday, August 21st. 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 trying to make it look some other way than it does naturally, and hey, nothing wrong with that. We do it too. But we also 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?
Let’s go!
Let the covers of women’s magazines tell it and you’d think seasonal change only means one thing: getting your body beach-ready (do people really do this?). But for me, it’s always meant getting my hair right.
I’m a huge fan of letting my mane do its thing during warmer months (see last year’s fun summer-hair challenge, for proof), but after a long winter of daily heat styling and dry air, my hair has seen better days. I suspect I am not alone in this! And so I want to help.
The most important aspects of any hairdo are, of course, healthy hair and a good cut. I love my hairdresser, and if he weren’t gay I might want to marry him, but I’m trying to let my hair get longer, so I’m spacing out my visits. HOWEVER! The waves I so love when I air-dry are, well, limp now.
In order to get things looking better as it grows out, I’ve tried LOTS of products and even—gasp—one dirty one. I won’t tell you about that one because it gave me a rash and I only used it once, but I will share five clean products I tried and loved. And if you don’t like these, or want to save your cash, there’s always coconut oil. And avocados.
1. Argan Oil (prices vary)
Arganoilarganoilarganoil. I’m a broken record, I know (there’s nothing like the zeal of a convert, right?). I’ve slept with Kahina Giving Beauty and Amal argan oils in my hair many times, and the next day, after a light shampoo, my hair always looks and feels and smells amazing, with no greasy buildup. I do it extremely rarely for a simple reason: It’s just too “rich” for my stupid hair. Not rich like heavy, rich like expensive. For the price I pay—and I believe it’s worth every cent—it means my face gets to use it, not my split ends.
2. Max Green Alchemy Scalp Rescue Styling Gel ($12.99)
I’m wild about this gel. I put it on my ends wet or dry and it holds nicely. I also sometimes use a pea-sized amount on the hairs around my face, when the hair is still wet. It’s not a typical gel—the texture reminds me a little of aloe—there’s no crunchiness or wet look, obviously, and the ingredients are squeaky clean. It’s nongreasy and smells light and fresh in a unisex kind of way, which gives you full license to throw out your boyfriend’s Dippity Do when he’s not looking.
3. Rare E’lements EL Treatment ($44)
This serum-like treatment is delightful. We both love it and use it with some frequency as an overnight treatment or a leave-in for day on our ends. It smells incredible. Like, “Ooooo! What perfume are you wearing?” incredible, thanks to the ylang ylang and other scented oils. I might go so far as to say that, with frequent use, my ends actually look markedly better than they did. I try to avoid overpromising, but this product really is a winner, and it seems to be more of a winner the more I use it. A dab will do ya, and even with several-times-a-week use, I have a long way to go before I’ll have to repurchase.
4. Whatever is left on my hands after I apply body oil ($0)
Oil-rich body lotions or body oils contain a lot of the same ingredients as natural hair treatments, so if your lotion pour was on the generous side, use the leftovers on your wet hair before drying. I do this probably two or three times a week instead of using a hair product, and it works well. Plus, it saves money and encourages the kind of ingredient savvy and multitasking we’re fond on.
5. Intelligent Nutrients Certified Organic Volumizing Spray ($29)
To prove how clean this product is, Horst made me drink it when I met him. Little did I know it would become the only go-to hair product I would use and reuse for almost two years straight. A word about the name: Maybe it’s because my hair is heavy to begin with, but I’ve never understood why this product is called a volumizer. That said, we both absolutely love it as a leave-in, and have been using it and repurchasing it religiously since we discovered it while writing the book. (Other ladies: Please weigh in if you have tried it and found it gave you a boost at the roots! Is this a volumizer for you?) One bottle lasts several months to half a year, it smells incredible, and it helps smooth wild ends and flyaways. It also makes heat styling much easier.
OK your turn. What have you tried as a hair treatment? And do you do the beach-body thing? (Just kidding!)
Vintage hairdryers via
Well, looky here, MSN Lifestyle (via Real Beauty) is telling us 10 things that men think are sexy—and, despite myself, I’m kind of liking what they have to say. Ok fine, some of these are pretty dumb: Guys like legs! Guys like long lashes and can’t tell when you’re wearing fake ones!
But their top pick? Despite all of our efforts, the sample men just prefer a woman without makeup. According to these dudes, lip gloss is gross and women look best when they first wake up or right out of the shower.
There also appears to be a general confusion around how their girlfriends look with a lot of makeup on. As one guy says: “She still looks good, but she just doesn’t look as much like herself.”
Also in their top four favorites is your squishy tummy (that you probably hate) and—oh hello—when you ditch your hair dryer and flat iron, leaving your natural wave or curl. I guess it’s no wonder then that our guy friends were fawning over the hair challenge results. Oh, and they much prefer your natural color to a bad dye job too.
If you have some time to kill, you can read all ten “sexy moves” on Real Beauty. Any shockers here, or have you ladies heard this all before? Do any of you go out with a naked face?
To see more supermodels without makeup go here
For new readers, we announced a hair challenge last week—natural shampoo and conditioner, no heat, no products, then say cheese. Well, the results are in and they are amazing. Look at all of these beautiful women! And Jordan! And Conall! We can’t believe how many of you did it—among them Alexandra’s sister (see if you can guess which one she is), three of Siobhan’s cousins, our lit agent, our book editor, a bunch of friends, and a whole lot of strangers. What we can believe, however, is how fabulous and pretty you all look.
Many of you expressed surprise at how good your hair looked when you didn’t mess with it, which was sort of the point. In the next few days we will share some of your individual stories as inspiration. But for now, it’s picture time, so enjoy!
1. Sharalyn; 2. Lauren, Columbus, Ohio; 3. Aster, Netherlands; 4. Emily, New Jersey; 5. Jordan of JordanSamuelFragrances.com; 6. Shannon; 7. Amy, Glasgow; 8. Rocio, Glasgow; 9. Talia; 10. Anonymous; 11. Amy; 12. Allison, Urbana, Illinois; 13. Jenn, Arizona; 14. Molly, Los Angeles; 15. Jenn, Nashville; 16. Marna, Columbus, Ohio; 17. Sarah, Washington, DC; 18. Belle, Portland; 19. Lisa, Los Angeles; 20. Bridget, Denver; 21. Kate, Switzerland; 22. Adrianna, California; 23. Lauren, Houston; 24. Amanda, New York; 25. Rebecca, Phoenix; 26. Sheryl, New York; 27. Carolina, Los Angeles; 28. Acree; 29. Dianna, Boone, North Carolina; 30. Karyn, Brooklyn; 31. Tina, Brooklyn; 32. Lauren, Ottawa; 33. Alissa, Long Beach, California; 34. Ilana, Toronto; 35. Mary; 36. Jan, New York; 37. Sarah, Little Rock, Arkanas; 38. Conall, Montreal; 39. Jennifer, New York; 40. Julianne; 41. Emilia, Brooklyn; 42. Casey, Philadelphia; 43. Emily, Southern Indiana; 44. Allison, Austin; 45. Anonymous; 46. Kei, Vancouver; 47. Maria, Tampa; 48. Kathryn, Toronto; 49. Ania, New York; 50. Meghan-Rose, Washington, DC; 51. Nicola, Toronto; 52. Ishka; 53. Abby, Chicago; 54. Cara; 55. Sabrina, Tel Aviv; 56. Alice; 57. Hartley, Henderson Harbor, New York; 58. Maya, Brooklyn; 59. Samantha, Windsor, Ontario; 60. Traci, Macon, Georgia; 61. Laura, New York; 62. Virginia of www.beautyschooledproject.com; 63. Maeve, Kingston, Ontario; 64. Christine, Los Angeles; 65. Katherine, London; 66. Katie, Brooklyn; 67. Anni, Chicago; 68. Dani, Bellingham, Washington; 69. Katie, Little Rock; 70. Anna, New York; 71. Amy, Des Moines; 72. Marina, London.
Okydoke, it’s time for the “what our hair was like before we switched to naturals” post. It explains why we launched the Summer Hair Challenge, it’s related to why we wrote the book, and it speaks to one of our core messages, which is: Less is freaking more. Translation: So many of our products bite us in the ass.
I used to be a four-or-five-hair-products-a-day person and I didn’t think that was particularly high-maintenance. It was just that I had poodle hair sometimes, especially in the summer. I live in New York and grew up in Montreal, islands both, frizzy-hair-makers both. And frizz, every girl knows, sucks eggs. And so I used products.
I used to wake up, hop in the shower, use Garnier Fructis Sleek and Shine shampoo and conditioner, or if I was feeling rich I’d use Rene Furterer’s stuff. Then I’d load Phytodefrisant onto my wet hair, and once blow-dried (and sometimes also ironed), I would use one or two finishing serums that probably had silicone or some other garbage in it.
My hair looked how I wanted it to look, but do the math: that’s expensive, and a pain. I was also unwittingly exposing myself to 11 of the 20 ingredients on our Black List—daily. (For more on what’s in shampoo, check this out.)
Anyway, eventually I realized the unmanageableness (?) of my hair was squarely the fault of the products I was using, and when I made the switch, my hair chilled out. Ever seen a baby with decimated ends? Do we think Pocanhontas had flyaways?
But as we have said in the past: if you’ve made the switch to clean products and are still beefing with some frizz, here are my two favorite tricks: spritz with pure aloe juice in a spray bottle before drying, and for a finisher, argan oil—just a dab, smoothed over the top layer of dry hair.
You got any tricks you like?
Our inbox is already flooding with pictures of fuss-free summer hair in all its glory—and we’re expecting many more thanks to this post on Jezebel (you know, only one of our favorite websites ever—thanks, Sadie!).
However, if you’re stumped—as some ladies appear to be—on what natural products to use for the challenge, here are a few that we like: There are many more in the book but John Masters and Intelligent Nutrients are fancy favorites available at many Whole Foods locations as well as online at sites like Spirit Beauty Lounge and ABC, and Aubrey Organics and Giovanni are two clean and affordable brands you can easily find at your local drug or health food store. So, no more excuses!
Anyone have any other natural favorites to share?
One special note: Some people find that their hair takes a few days to adjust to the less-foamy natural shampoos. Take our word and give it a minute—you have a week to send in your photo!
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.
