Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Weird Bubbling

For the past few months, I've been washing my hair separate from showering. I discovered while using a detachable shower head to rinse my hair that I was probably leaving shampoo behind.

It was just the weirdest thing. I washed, then conditioned and it took me about twenty minutes to rinse all the suds from my hair. The more I rinsed, the more bubbles formed in the tub. I rinsed until there were no more bubbles and my hair was so bouncy and shiny that I knew I must not have been getting it really cleaned.

Then, last time I washed, I noticed something even weirder...it only bubbles like that after I condition. I shampooed, then rinsed, and it stopped bubbling. I applied the conditioner, then rinsed, and it suds like crazy for about twenty minutes until I (presumably) got all the (shampoo?) conditioner out of my hair.

I have no idea what's going on here and I'm going to continue to experiment with it until I figure it out. Has anyone else experienced this? What the heck is going on?

In style news, I wore my hair in this awesome equilibrium bun with a Grahtoe fork to a meeting today and got so many compliments. I even heard a woman whisper to her neighbor "Is that all her hair?" I'm going to have my husband take a picture when he gets home because it's just such an awesome style. I seldom get that excited about my daily hair styles, but it really does look impressive if I do say so myself.

7 comments:

  1. Just a guess. Does your new home have much "softer" water than you were used to in Hawaii?
    The softness/hardness of the water makes a big difference relative to "sudsing".

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  2. I was thinking the same thing, different water reacts differently even with the same shampoos and condish...
    I can't wait to see this awesome do you wore today! how fun to hear a whispered adoration of your hair! will we have to get shirts made up that say, "yes its all mine, no you can't touch it", printed up high so when our hair is down it is not seen but when its up TA-DA! LOL

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  3. Water hardness could definitely be an issue. Also, what conditioner are you using? If the conditioner contains sulfates (or other surfactants), they could be encouraging the shampoo that's left in your hair to lather and show itself, whereas plain water wouldn't encourage lather, allowing the residual shampoo to hide.

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  4. Kimi, I'd worry that people would think I was talking about my boobs. ;-)

    Maybe the water is different here than in Hawaii. I first noticed the excessive bubbling at my friend's house in Pennsylvania, but it's happening at my house, too.

    I can't complain too much. The extra rinsing seems to be making my hair really happy.

    Maryam, my conditioner does have sulfates in it. I use Herbal Essences Long Term Commitment.

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  5. I once heard a hair stylist say that the biggest problem with hair care routines was that people fail to rinse out all their conditioner. I heard it ten years ago, but it has stuck with me. Apparently it takes a lot more rinsing than common sense tells us.

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  6. "Is that all her hair?"

    Actually no, I store the burrito I'm going to have for lunch in my bun.

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