No shampoo experiment

A little while ago I found this article in the Ecologist about what cosmetics to avoid. I have been wary of the long list of chemicals for a while given that what you put on your skin may eventually end up as toxins in your body. At least that makes perfect sense to me. More so, after a holiday at the beach, swimming daily in the ocean I came to the conclusion that the long list of cosmetics for daily facial care may not actually be necessary. Although a colleague pointed out that just being relaxed and exercising was probably the reason for my healthy complexion, I liked the idea of not using half the cosmetics I had been told were necessary, but didn’t really help. Since then, I’ve been using as few products that are as natural as possible. In an effort to simplify, it had never occurred to me that I could do away with shampoo though. Thank you cosmo for enlightening me with an article about how shampoo is unnecessary (please, please don’t ask me why I was reading cosmo…yes, I am ashamed…)

Anyhow, they did an experiment of 5 women who stopped washing their hair for 6 weeks to test the theory that the natural oils on the scalp will self regulate once they stop being continually stripped. As I delved deeper, I found out that plenty of people out there don’t wash their hair and claim to have healthier hair for it. The women in the article had mixed reactions to the experiment and most were grateful for shampoo at the end of it. Except one, who found out that she had curls after a couple of weeks sans shampoo. Gorgeous curls. I was sold. I’ve always wanted curly hair and if the way to get it was to not wash it then I could do that! Yes, ‘normal’ people would probably get a perm or use curlers, by I am far to lazy and cheap ass for something like that – my definition of blow drying is to wind down the window in the car.

So I stopped washing my hair. One week went by and no curls appeared, just a fair bit of oil. Two weeks went by and still no curls but my hair seemed thicker and for the first time ever slicked back nicely in a ponytail without the usual stray bits sticking out all over the place. Granted I was lucky given this was my only hair style option as my hair was looking pretty gross out. By week three I gave up hopping curls would appear. Week four was fairly uneventful, except I figured that my hair was just not going to stabilise itself and would be greasy forever. I never made it to week 5. Halfway through the fourth week I got sick of grease on my comb and I washed it. I figured if there was no curls to be had, then it simply wasn’t worth putting up with the same slick hairstyle all the time. On the bright side, since that experiment it needs washing much less frequently which suggests that regularly stripping the scalp of oil isn’t such a great thing.

Last night on ‘What’s good for you’ they did the same experiment. Except in the case of the two volunteers they also did a microscopic scan of their scalps before and after the 6 weeks. Needless to say, the after images looked rather unappealing to the point where both of them were probably going to run straight for the shower, like I felt like doing.

On the same show, they were also trying to prove wether or not men can tolerate pain as much as women can by simulating labour on the host of the show. They had him hooked up to a device that sent electrical signals that contracted his stomach muscles. They accepted that this wasn’t the same but sufficient to test his ability to withstand the pain. After two hours of ‘contractions’ when they were spaced 2 minutes apart and lasting for 60 seconds he stopped the experiment. The midwife who was present indicated that it may have taken another 12 hours to deliver an actual baby. Ironically, as I sat comfortably on the couch watching, my friend was in the last hour of labour. She delivered a healthy baby girl last night and I can’t wait for the first introduction today!

So do you think that what you put on your skin is as important as what you put in your body? Do you or would you stop washing your hair? Do you agree that women's pain thresholds are higher then mens?

Getting ready for the weekend

It’s been a beautiful summer for those not affected by weather extremes. We’ve had lots of beach days, picnics in the park and bush walks. That’s a lot of time in the sun and although we should all be getting our fair share, too much is definitely not a good thing. Often when I look around on the beach, I see a lot of Australians who just don’t seem to be looking after their skin. Obviously the message of slip, slop, slap isn’t getting through, so now we have new graphic ads showing skin cancer development. But I don’t think it’s just Australians that aren’t sun smart – just look at all the tourists sun baking at noon on the beach. I noticed in Europe, the minute a ray of sunshine popped it’s head out between the clouds, everyone would rush to expose their ghostly winter skin.

I confess, I worry when I see people baking in the sun. I see dark spots on their bodies and I feel sad for them. I worry about my own pale skin and the number of moles that appear each year over the summer. I worry because a family member has been touched by skin cancer and is no longer with us to share love, happiness and tears. I worry, because it wasn’t the Australian sun that caused the cancer, but the European one.


On the Australian Bureau of Meteorology Website, they state the UV alert together with the days weather report. Shown is the predicted maximum on a scale of 1-20. Every day I have checked, it’s been in the extreme zone, which is 11+. They also state times between which your skin is at risk if no sun smart measures are used. I try to avoid being in the sun at these times, or completely cover up. It isn’t very cool, but then how cool is skin cancer? So wherever you are, have a great weekend, enjoy the outdoors and don’t forget the sunscreen.