And that reminds me… Long time ago I read a book about washing curly hair (I don’t remember the author). In it the writer discovered that she does not need shampoo to keep her curly hair clean. That is true: shampoo makes curly hair dryer which tends to be dryer than normal anyway. But she kept using conditioner and thought that you could use it to “clean” the hair. But of course conditioner does not clean the hair, it covers the hair with an oily film to make it feel smoother. Shampoo and conditioner have opposite effects: one strips the hair shaft of all the debris while the other one covers it with a film. So what actually happened was she cleansed her hair by rinsing it in water (it would be enough, provided your hair is not too dirty) and then used conditioner to smooth it out. The method would work.

So in a way shampoo is not necessary. You can get along with just water. But what if your hair is too dirty, say full of hairspray and other styling stuff? Can you still go without shampoo. Yes. Just use a little but of baking soda solution to cleanse the hair and a weak solution of vinegar instead of conditioner.

That said there are certain things you could do even for dandruff like wash your hair with borax solution. I’ve never tried that as I don’t have that problem. However if you have a flaky scalp you can try the following scrub:

Mix 2 tbsp. of honey (preferably raw and unpasteurized) and 1 tbsp. of sugar and gently rub into your hair. That will exfoliate you scalp. Finish with a hair mask or regular shampoo. Once again, it is for flaky scalp condition and not for real dandruff. Hope you will find that helpful.

This time a recipe from some old hair book. It’s easy to make though it does seem weird at first. Ah, well. Might as well try it.

So the egg shampoo:

Whisk together 2 eggs, 2 oz. of water and 1 tbsp. of apple cider vinegar (or lemon juice). Apply on hair and let it sit for a couple of minutes. Rinse with lukewarm water or the eggs will scramble. You can finish with a conditioning rinse which is like 1 tbsp of vinegar in 2 quarts of water. The hair won’t feel squeaky clean like with regular shampoo but it does not feel dirty either.

Frankly I like the hair mask (see my previous post) better as it feels better on the hair and I don’t think you need egg whites or vinegar in your “shampoo”. Vinegar is great for a rinse though.

Well, I came across an old hair book and it had some suggestions to try on their hair, they call it shampoo but I think it’s more of a hair mask as there are no detergents there. Anyway, I tried one on my own hair yesterday and I was pleased with the results. Here’s what you do.

Mix 2 egg yolks, 1 tsp. of honey and 1 tbsp. of beer or other alcoholic beverage (I used tequila). After you wash your hair with regular shampoo apply this mixture and let it sit on the hair for 3-5 minuted. Rinse. For a conditioning rinse I used a tbsp. of raw apple cider vinegar dissolved in a quart or so of water. The hair was nice and shiny.

Soapwort shampoo

Take about 10 leafy soapwort stems, cut them into short lengths, put them in enamel saucepan and lightly bruise with spoon. Add 1 pint of water, bring to the boil, cover and simmer for 15 minutes stirring a few times. Let the liquid cool, strain and bottle for future use. Before using add 3 tbsp. of strong herb infusion. For immediate use add 2 large handfuls of any herb (see below). Strain and use in 1 hairwash.

Dried soapwort root shampoo

You will need 1 oz. dried soapwort root (can be bought at herb suppliers). Pour 1 1/4 pint boiling water over broken up roots and leave to soak overnight. Bring to the boil (in enamel pan), cover and simmer for 15 min. Add 1 oz. dried herbs (but you can use fresh herbs as well, just use a couple of handfuls), stir, cover and leave to cool. Strain and use in 1 wash.

Nettle Rinse

Nettle makes an excellent conditioner since it’s acidic and thus promotes gloss. It also had a reputation of arresting a hair loss. You can use it for scalp massage as well.

Take a big handful of nettles (obviously wear gloves), wash thoroughly and put in enamel pan and pour enough cold water to cover it. Bring to boil, cover and simmer for 15 minutes. Strain the liquid  and use immediately or refrigerate for future use in small bottles.

Note: nettle is also an edible plant. Same preparation as above and you can eat the strained plant. It is good with mashed potatoes.

Horsetail rinse and tonic

Horsetail contains saponins, which create a lather, flavoneglycosides, which stimulate the tiny blood vessels on the scalp, and silica, which gives the hair body. Other conditioning herbs that you can use instead of horsetails are rosemary, southernwood and stinging nettle.

Take about 8 horsetail stems (or other herbs), cut them short, pound with a spoon and add boiling water to make an infusion. Cover and wait until lukewarm and strain off the liquid. Pour it over your hair and massage it into your scalp.  Blot excess moisture with a towel and wait for 10 minutes before styling. In other words, use as a leave-in conditioner.

Other herbs that have a lather effect and can be used to cleanse hair are elder flowers, chamomile and ceanothus.

Below is the chart of plants to use depending on your hair type.

Fair: chamomile, elder flowers, yarrow

Dark: rosemary, thyme, sage (to enhance colour)

Red: marigold flowers (to enhance colour)

Oily: lavender, peppermint, white nettle

Dry: marsh mallow (emollient)

Dull, lifeless: stinging nettle, fennel leaves, southernwood, parsley, rosemary

All types: rosemary, thyme, stinging nettle, marjoram, horsetail stems

Here is a quick summary of clippers maintenance:

Changing grease: twice a year.
Put a drop of oil in a silver button: once a month (or if clippers are too hot).
Keep the lent vent free of dust.
Replace carbon brushes: whenever the power gets om and off, it means these brushes are worn out.
Wash the blade in bladewash: once a week.
Oil the blades: every three times you use them. Put 3 drops on the blade and a drop on every rail.

When you foil with colour, formulate 1 level lighter than the target level, for example, if you want to end up with level 7 highlight, mix you formula as though you want level 8 highlights. The reason for this is since the color is processed in foils it’s not going to oxidize enough and your highlights are going to end up a little lighter.

In similar fashion, when doing lowlights I like to formulate a level darker to add some dimensions to the existing color. If the color of the lowlights matches the existing colour precisely, it will look too monochromatic.

Highlights and lowlights for that matter should be at least 2 levels apart from the background color in order to be visible.

When highlighting with colour, remix your formula every 20 minutes. The trick here is to put the tint and the developer together in the bowl but not to mix them. Mix them only when you are ready to apply.

You don’t need many fouls to create special effects. Remember that highlight are just that: highlights. 15-20 foils are enough for partial highlights, quite often the desired effect can be achieved with 10-12 foils. 30-35 foils should be plenty for a full head.

Concentrate on the visual area of the head: the top and the front. That’s what everyone sees.

Stay 1/4 inch away from the scalp to avoid bleeding. Remember that the thickness of a slice or a weave will influence the distance that you should stay away from the scalp.

There is a great technique called shadowing when you put highlights and lowlights in the same foil. The results are very impressive. Another way to do it is to weave highlight in one foil and then put the rest pieces of the same weave into a different packet. You will have 2 back to back foils.

Well, there are several things one can do. Let’s have a look at several methods.

1. Traditional. You can fill the hair with a missing pigment. The rule of thumb is this: previously lightened hair is usually porous and porous hair will always grab ash/cool tones. So the solution is to fill the hair with a warm color that matches the undertones of the color that is 2 levels lighter  because porous hair tend to turn darker and since it’s basically a double process, that also tends to turn hair darker after second application.

Another thing to keep in mind is to use natural or soft gold, orange or red colors. Do not use fashion bright colors but rather red-based but natural and soft looking. And you might still want to add some warm based target color to you target formula.

To sum it up:

If your target level 6 the fill color is yellow/orange {gold}
If your target level 5 the fill color is orange {copper}
If your target level 4 the fill color is orange/red
If your target levels 3-1 the fill color is red

Example. Your starting level is 8, the client wants to be level 6.

No filling is necessary in this case ,though you might add some gold-based color to the formula or add some gold additions.

You starting level 9 and the target level is 4.

Here we have some work to do. If level 4 is natural level we need to fill the hair with some red/orange based color of level 6 and then put the desired level 4 or even mixture of 4 and 5. For example use 3 parts of 4N ( neutral) and 1 part of 5CG (copper-gold) or something similar. You get the idea.  It is also a good idea to use demi color of level 4 rather than the oxidative color.

2. Method 2. “Cheating”. In this case you use specially formulated fillers like colorfast or Schwarzkopf fillers. I was not particularly impressed with them though I have to admit I haven’t used them a lot. Very messy and highlights were still visible. I know some people swear by them.

3. The best method that I found is to use Wella ColorCharm in bottles. Works like a charm on highlighted hair, though I haven’t tried to put it on bleached hair.