Build Blog

A couple of weeks ago, I decided to check out the website of the architecture company, Build LLC, that designed the building where I work. I saw that they had a blog and ever since then, I’ve been hooked.

I like that I don’t need to know anything about architecture to get something out of their posts. Their entries always capture my interest and have become a source of inspiration to me lately.

What speaks to me the most are their reflections on how the fundamental structure and design of their projects and of others in their industry, come together to create an outcome that is both functional and beautiful. Maybe this is what all architects think about, but I appreciate that this company takes the time to share their ideas and inspirations through their blog. So I say, good job, Build Blog.

On Not Shampooing

Intro to Shampoo & Conditioner:

• Shampoo is a detergent commonly used to remove oils, dirt, skin particles, dandruff, environmental pollutants and other contaminant particles that gradually build up on hair(1). It contains ingredients such as surfactants which aid the removal of oil that can be difficult to separate from the hair strand with just water (2.) When you use shampoo it removes the oil and dirt leaving a squeaky clean feeling on the individual strands. However, hair needs oil to remain strong and healthy and will become dry and brittle if left alone. This is where conditioner comes into play.

• Conditioner is a hair product commonly used after shampoo that alters the texture and appearance of human hair. It is mainly used to add moisture, detangle, soften and gloss the hair strands. It also contains mild detergents and surfactants (3).

Does the Use of Shampoo and Conditioner Make Sense?

They do if you don’t want to think about it, but if you do want to think about it then here’s why they make absolutely no sense:

You use soap or shampoo to rid the body of dirt and build up, however, warm water and vigorous scrubbing is really all you need to do this. Another reason would be to remove excess oil, however, healthy hair needs oil and the best oil for it is the natural oil (aka sebum) secreted from the sebaceous glands beneath our scalp.

Not only do these glands provide your scalp with a natural moisturizer that isn’t harmful to you and the environment but they are also capable of regulating the amount of oil they secrete and will not produce anymore sebum than is needed (4).

If your glands are working so hard to oil up your scalp with a natural and beneficial secretion why then would you work so hard to get rid of it? Why does it make more sense to use a detergent to strip the natural oils from your hair when you are just going to replace them with manufactured chemicals, mineral oils and perfumes?

On Quitting the Use of Shampoo:

Should you quit shampoo? It’s up to you. Maybe it’s not right for you, maybe it is, but if you are interested in giving it up you’ll need to know that it is not easy for everyone to quit.

If you are the type of person who could care a less about body odor and natural body secretions then you can quit shampoo cold turkey and need not read further. However, most of us have been conditioned early on to find body odor, sweat and oily skin to be repulsive and have a strong inclination to rid our bodies from these things. Shampoo can be a difficult habit to break so here are some tips to help you out during this process:

Cleaning the Hair Without Shampoo:

As mentioned before, you can clean your hair with just warm water and vigorous scrubbing at the scalp. Although this is enough to remove the dirt and particle build-up, you will find that this will not remove all the sebum build-up. Sebum is good, but not if it is concentrated at the scalp making you look like a total grease-ball. Here are some tips for dealing with excess sebum:

• Shampoo substitutes: There are different substitutes out there, this website offers some great tips on shampoo substitutes that cut the grease without overly stripping your hair.
• Brushing your hair: Maintaining a shampoo-free hair routine will require that you start treating your hair differently. Brushing should become just as important of a routine to you that shampooing once was (but be careful, over brushing will damage your hair). Different brushes do different things for your hair. The following are the most important brushes for the shampoo-free lifestyle:

1. Boar bristle brush: This website offers a great intro to the use of this type of brush. It’s really the best brush to use for distributing oils, breaking up product, smoothing hair and removing dirt and lint from the hair strands. Note: this brush is not for detangling hair.
2. Denman Brush: The rubber pad that holds its bristles is the most important aspect of this brush. Like the boar bristle brush, you can use this brush to pull sebum from the scalp and distribute it throughout the hair. Just make sure the rubber pad is gliding along the hair while you brush. If you have curly/wavy hair it can also be used to define your curls or wave.
3. Scalp Brush or Shampoo Brush: These are brushes specifically designed to massage and exfoliate the scalp. You can either use them before you rinse or during a rinsing to loosen up skin, sebum build-up and other contaminant particles.

My Personal Experience:

I haven’t shampooed in months and I don’t think I ever will again. My reasons in the beginning were to minimize the time spent on styling and to decrease the amount of damage shampooing and blow drying causes to my hair. After about a month and a half of not using shampoo, I decided to do some research just to make sure that I wasn’t going to cause any harm to my health by giving up this conventional hygiene ritual. To my surprise, I found several sources (scientific as well as personal experiences) that underscore the ridiculousness of shampoo use.

Not shampooing can be a challenge, but it is helpful to understand what shampoo is and why abstaining from it can be beneficial (to your hair, your wallet and the environment) or you probably won’t last beyond the first week. After two months of not shampooing, my hair has gotten past the greasy period (which lasted about 6 weeks) and looks and feels great.

For me, quitting is less about the reasons I have listed above and more about learning about my hair in its natural state and what it’s like to let it be the way it was meant to be. As a hairstylist, I will still encourage people to do what they want with their hair and I understand that not everyone thinks about their hair the way I do. This post was not created to convert anyone but mainly to outline an argument and to offer people another way to think about their hair.

More Reading on the Topic of Not Using Shampoo:

Of Course I Washed My Hair Last Year (I’m Almost Certain)

Why I’ve Given Up Washing My Hair

Shampoo Free!

How to Wash Your Hair Without Shampoo

I Really Want This Book

A new book about the hairstylist turned fashion photographer turned director, Ara Gallant, coming out in April. Click on the picture to learn more.

NY Times Article on Hair

It’s kind of an old article; I meant to post about this way back in August but never got around to it.

I always get excited when I read something about the cultural significance of hair. This is an interesting article about the current trends in extreme hairstyles that are growing popular among hipster men. Its main point is about how hairstyles are becoming less connected to individual political affiliations or musical tastes.

Click on the photo above to get to the article.

Hair-Portraits of First Ladies

Illustrations by Christina Christoforou, found on the NY Times website.

Peggy Moffitt

Peggy Moffitt was a fashion model in the sixties, she popularized Sassoon’s 5-point haircut (seen in most of these photos) and was also the model and muse of fashion designer Rudi Gernreich.

I am pretty fascinated with her modeling because although she is beautiful and sexy, her beauty and sex appeal are never the main points she’s conveying. Her poses are elaborate, expressive and bold. She’s a model in a true sense– a canvas that can be adorned to express many things, without relying heavily on beauty and sex appeal to sell something.

Here are several of her photos:

New Inspiration

In his  autobiography, Sorry I Kept You Waiting, Madam, Vidal Sassoon describes attending a Mary Quant fashion show where a light bulb went off when he saw the movement of her fabrics flowing on the models as they walked down the aisle. He began to imagine a hairstyle that would flow in a similar fashion.

Before Sassoon’s revolutionary cuts transformed hair forever, women would go to their beauty parlors every week to get their hair styled and sculpted into a motionless form that would stay in place for at least a week. Seeing the fabric flow on the models inspired him to create a hair design that would allow the hair to be worn naturally and move freely.

Sassoon looking for inspiration from other design forms, is one of the most important things that stuck with me after reading his book. I now look to all different types of design as something I can relate to hair design. Lately, I’ve been looking to photography, graphic design & typeface, mid-century modern architecture and fashion design.

This shift will most likely be reflected in the future posts of this blog. Like the last post about mid-century modernism, I will probably be posting more and more things that seem to have nothing to do with hair, but are still useful and inspirational to me as a stylist.

This Has Nothing To Do With Hair

I just read this pretty cool article on mid-century modern design. I found the explanation of its origin as post-war era mass-produced modern designs for the middle class to be interesting. Also interesting is the comparison made about IKEA being the contemporary version; great design for low prices, although (unlike its mid-century counterpart) sacrificing quality. Click on the photo to go to article:

dude is cutting hair blindfolded

found at this website.

isn’t that nuts?!?!?!

David Lynch Has Awesome Hair

clean or messy, i dig it.