Hair-ology

The other day I was at Pap and Grandma's house (as usual) and one of our neighbors stopped by to drop off our daffodils for the American Cancer Society's Daffodil Days.

She is such a kind, sweet lady who has been friends with Jordan's family for years and she sits behind me and Jordan in church. Every Sunday, without fail, she touches my hair and says "Oooh, I wish I had long, thick, beautiful hair like you!!!" I typically don't like people touching my hair, but she is such a nice lady and she doesn't do it in a creepy way.


Anyway, she went on to tell me that she has such thin, fine hair and she has to wash it everyday because it gets greasy so quickly. Well, my quick retort was "It get's greasy quickly because you wash it every day. Every time you wash your hair, you strip it of the oils and your scalp over compensates and produces more oil; THEREFORE, you end up having greasy hair."


If you don't believe me, you can read this article from NPR about it and even listen to the broadcast. I heard it on the radio a few years ago when I was in college and commuting on the 405 freeway. It was like divine intervention. Ever since I heard that piece on NPR and essentially "trained" my scalp not to produce as much oil, my hair has been extremely healthy. 


Also, I think using the right kind of shampoo is really important too. I try to use only shampoos that are sulfate and paraben free so that my hair doesn't get weighed down and look dingy. I used Iden Bee Propolis shampoo for years and then switched to Aveda Brilliant for the past year and a half or so, but a friend of mine found a line called Simply U while she was shopping at Walmart and I decided to give it a try.

So far, I like it well enough for the price. It is only $6 for about 25 ounces. It kind of smells similar to the Iden shampoo and conditioner and my only gripe about it is that my hair is not as soft when I let it air dry compared to when I use Iden and Aveda. 


I am very blessed and I have thick, dark Asian hair and I get complimented fairly frequently. It really means a lot to me because I am kind of a plain Jane and I don't do much to it besides blow drying it and running a flat iron through it every couple of days. Now that I'm not working, I really only wash my hair once a week. You can think I am a dirty bird, but read the NPR article and you will be enlightened.