Becoming A Cone Free Longhair

Did you know there is an online community for folks with long hair? I recently discovered 'The Long Hair Community'. It is partly where I learned how to go CO (washing with conditioner only). Here is a photo of where my hair length is at, as of this morning.

My hair is now 24" in length. My current goal is waist length, or 30". My hair grows about 5" per year so I am hoping to achieve my goal by fall of 2012. To aid me in this quest I am going to really focus on caring for my tresses. Commercial shampoos were drying out my hair and irritating my scalp. I am now attempting to be CO and cone free (see previous post). Yesterday, before work, I set out on a mission. My shopping list included cone free "cheap" conditioners:

Hair sticks, headbands and a new pick:

 a BBB (boar bristle brush):

and some coconut oil:

This morning I made sure to strip any cone build up from my hair by washing it with 2 tsp. of baking soda dissolved in 16 ounces of water. After massaging that in well, and rinsing, I then conditioned with 2 TBS. apple cider vinegar in 16 ounces of water. After clarifying my hair in this way I was ready to wash CO as I normally would. I applied a good amount of the conditioner and scrubbed it around my scalp with the pads of my fingers, then I worked it out through the length of my hair. I placed a shower cap over my hair and resumed showering as usual, allowing the conditioner to stay on for at least 3-5 minutes. I then removed the shower cap and rinsed the conditioner from my hair. Then I reapplied some conditioner and rinsed it out, as you would after shampooing.

The second key part to caring for my long hair is air drying. This is the hardest part, for me, as I am impatient and my hair seems to take forever to dry. Once it was dry I applied a teensy, tiny bit of coconut oil to the ends, then brushed it all really well with a boar bristle brush. It has to be a BBB in order to evenly distribute the sebum (I always mess up and call it sedum, even though I do NOT have succulents in my hair).

I think the coconut oil may have to go, though. I'm afraid my bees may not like the smell of it. I got stung on the forehead tonight while replacing their sugar syrup. They had never acted aggressive in the past. I know enough not to eat bananas before tending my bees, as bananas smell like their alarm pheromone. I suspect coconut may have the same effect but am not 100% sure that was what got the bees' panties in a bunch.

That aside, this new hair care regimen seems to be working. So far, so good. My scalp is not feeling overly itchy, the way it did the last time I tried to go 'poo-less.