This graph represents the feedback from more than 500 people who tried this exercise a few months ago after it was suggested by Richard Glover on ABC radio in Sydney.
As you can see, the vast majority of them feel that their hair was as good or better than it was before they started.
The messageboard associated with this gives a lot of extra detail and helpful hints about avoiding smelly, itchy hair and more. There is also a section of the ABC website featuring a six week blog from a 21 years old woman who went through the whole thing and came out the other side with cleaner, shinier and fuller hair.
Here's how the site describe the process:
The theory is that shampoo actually destroys the balance of your hair's natural oils. The cycle might go this way: your hair produces natural oils, and after a few days, starts to feels greasy, oily and dirty. So, you wash your hair with detergent, which strips away the grease.
But, as the grease is natural, your hair and head start to fight back by producing more to compensate for the loss, so you wash your hair again. And so on.
But what happens if you don't shampoo your hair? Well, the theory says that your hair will get more oily, greasy and smelly, but after six weeks it will become sweeter smelling, bouncy, the natural balance will have been restored. It will even look more attractive, more sexy and wonderful than every before!
Evidently I still have the greasy looking stage to work through yet but from all accounts it passes pretty quickly and if you vigorously rinse your hair in the shower it won't smell either.
So far my hair feels ok, it's a little lifeless and lank, it feels slightly dry/dusty but I don't think it looks too bad.
Here's a short clip from today - I guess ideally I would have a clip from the start of the process for the purpose of comparison but you can't win 'em all.
My hair looks a little messy because this is the look (for want of a better term) that I'm trying for. (As for the beard, that's a whole other experiment :)
(I'd also like to thank the PC for humouring my participation in this and also for joining me)
