I'm done with shampoo. Forever.
I have tried the all natural No 'Poo approach in the past but could never get my hair to participate. So, I went back to regular shampoo always wondering if there was a better option.
Well, I'm here to tell you ... THERE IS! Purely Perfect Cleansing Creme, which I discovered in of all places - Wired Magazine! I was totally intrigued by the idea that Michael Gordon, founder of Bumble & Bumble and hair guru, noticed hairdressers and beauty editors weren't using detergent-based shampoo.
“I thought that was odd. Why would the best hairdresser in the world not use Redken, or Paul Mitchell?” the British-born, New York-based Gordon says. “They’d use a lot of grease, French hair care stuff, face creams, they’d use sugar, they’d use soap, a lot of things—but not normal hair products.”
Still, the $40 a bottle price intimidated me and I said as much in one of my weekly emails. Luckily, my best friend Annie wasn't so intimidated and we decided to try Purely Perfect together.
Side note: Don't let the price intimidate you like it did me. I got my bottle in mid-October and have used a little less than a third. That's $40 every nine months, which I assure you is worth it!
Apparently, we weren't the only ones who decided to jump on the creme cleansing bandwagon because the product was out of stock for TWO months! (Meanwhile, I kept reading about how awesome going shampoo-free is in Real Simple and the New York Times.)
Once, I got my bottle I couldn't wait to try it out - only to discover there is a bit of a learning curve. As in I spent A WHOLE MONTH RELEARNING HOW TO WASH MY HAIR! Y'all know I'm not a beauty blogger. This is not my thing but I was obsessed with getting it right. I tried every different approach. Refined the process at each step. Even grilled my hairdresser - who also uses cleansing creme!
But after LOTS of experimentation I've got it down and I'm here to save you the trouble!
How to use Purely Perfect (or any other) Cleansing Creme:
- Divide your hair into sections. How many sections will depend on how thick your hair is. I basically divide my hair in half and use one full pump per section.
- Fluff your hair. Take your fingers and fluff your hair up a bit so you can get in there with the cleansing creme and it doesn't all get distributed on the outside of your hair.
- Apply cleansing creme. REALLY work it through your hair and distribute as evenly as possible.
- Emulsify. This tip came from my hairdresser Carrie. Dip your hair back into the water for just a second. It helps emulsify the creme and distribute it more evenly.
- SCRUB! Now, this is the part that took me so long to figure out. You have to scrub cleansing creme into your hair and you CAN NOT just use your fingers. If you do, it will just be distributed around your scalp and your hair will feel oily. You have to use YOUR WHOLE HAND on your head and scrub the hair back and forth. Literally, use the entire surface of your hand all over your head to scrub it in. Then, you leave it in for a couple of minutes.
- Rinse. Now, it's time to rinse it out and you divide your hair again if you want to make sure the water is evenly distributed.
- SCRUB! Again, cannot emphasize this enough. USE YOUR WHOLE HAND TO COVER THE ENTIRE SURFACE OF YOUR HAND AND SCRUB OUT THE CLEANSING CREME. If you just scrub with your fingertips, you will not get it all out. Keep on scrubbing and rinsing until you feel like the cleansing creme is out. It usually takes me a minute or two.
Now, I know this seems like a process and it definitely takes longer than using detergent-based shampoo but here's the thing.
It's worth it!
My hair is shinier and healthier AND I don't have to wash it as much! I went from having to wash my hair every other day (at minimum!) to only having to wash it once or twice A WEEK! And here's the crazy part - this even applies to my bangs. My bangs were always greasy and I had to wash them every morning, even if I'd taken a shower the night before but not anymore. Now, I can even wash my bangs once or twice a week.
This is a dang product is dang miracle, people!
Have any of you tried cleansing creme?
