It had absolutely nothing to do with Lent, but I gave up brushing my oily hair for a week. Not brushing my hair for seven days forced me to get creative and to invent hair hacks. My hair is quick to look and feel greasy. Therefore, I usually wash (and brush) it daily. I also love the act of brushing my hair because the bristles feel good against the scalp, like a massage, and they distribute the natural oils and therefore shine. When I stopped brushing my follicles, I had to figure out ways to still look presentable and be comfortable. Needless to say, I was a bit nervous for this experiment.
I loved freeing myself from the daily tyranny of the usual wash, condition, blow-dry and styling routine for a few days. On some of the brush-free days, I skipped washing. On others, I washed and just improvised with product and relied on my hands to untangle my locks.
My brushless styles weren't too different than my usual look nor were they way out there. My hacks got the job done. Here's what I did on a week without brushing.
Day 1: No Wash & Go
For the first two days that I stopped brushing my hair, I also skipped washing it, leading to tons of texture. You know, that enviable bedhead x beachy waves look. It looked good, but felt awful.
Day one was messy and more carefree than my usual super straight look, without being drastic. That's why I was down with it, despite the fact that my scalp felt dirty. Looking back at these photos though, I think it was mostly in my head.
Day 2: Next Day Hair
The next day, I skipped the wash and the texture was even better. I used Kardashian Beauty Dry Shampoo to combat the matted feeling on my scalp and in my bangs. I loved the spicy floral smell.
Since I tossed, turned, and sweated, there was extra bend but there was also a lot of residue on my scalp. My hair stuck to it like latex. The dry shampoo did add more texture, which I liked.
Again, it was not drastic, but it had such a naturally wave look.
Day 3: Finger Style
#SorryNotSorry. On the third day, I washed my hair and blew it dry, replacing my brush with my fingers. I finger-styled this look. No, I'm not kidding. My hair is poker straight. Styling sans a brush allowed "just enough" of roughed up, unfinished texture to the ends.
At first, my instinct was to run a flat iron over the ends for added polish — but I resisted. My bangs cooperated and you could see my layers and angles. Later in the day, I used a few spritzes of dry shampoo and I had more of a mussed up, but no fuss texture.
Since my hair looked really good, I decided to use my fingers to style my hair a couple times during the week. My hands were the new hair hack.
Day 4: Braids
I decided to do braids as part of my "no brush" experiment, since I like them, they are easy, and I needed to Keep Up With the Kardashians. I also knew they would give me a nice, wavy texture when I shook them out. It was an easy technique that allowed me to go two days without brushing. So if you're busy or lazy, you may want to think about doing braids, since you get two days worth of styles.
Day 5: No Knots
I expected my hair to be all sorts of knotted and wrecked when I gave up hairbrushes. But it wasn't. That's where my oily texture came in, well, handy.
Overall, this experiment went far better than expected. I actually really liked the texture my hair got from using my fingers to style it every day. I might not do this all the time (sometimes I want that shine, you know?) but it's great for days when my schedule is pretty low-key. Plus, I can always get down with a time-saving hack.
Images: Amy Sciarretto (11)
