I Tried Going No-Poo for 18 Days

As the title suggests: I tried to do no-poo for 18 days. That’s no shampooing my hair at all, and if possible not washing for as long as my hair will permit, starting 1st June.

Yep, perhaps I have gone crazy, or perhaps I’ve been newly inspired? Or perhaps I’m just next level lazy. But now that lockdown is easing and I have had my COVID vaccine, what better way to celebrate re-engaging in social life but to… not wash my hair for almost 3 weeks. Lol. (To clarify, I am still showering during this period, just not shampooing my hair. Hygiene is important.)

To be fair, it’s something I have attempted and failed a couple of times in the past, so I don’t have high hopes that it’ll somehow come to fruition this time. In fact, this attempt comes hot off the tail of another failed attempt. I lasted about 4 days before my scalp got so itchy and gross that I had to wash it with water, and a week before I gave up and had to shampoo my hair. Same thing happened at the start of quarantine when I first saw videos about it cropping up on YouTube.

But COVID restrictions are being lifted, I have a much-needed haircut scheduled for 18th June, so figured I may as well try once more as a last hurrah, and will make sure to tip my hairdresser well when the time comes haha.

When I was younger, I only washed my hair every 3-5 days and it was always fine, but at some point in my life it was stigmatised and I was told that I should be washing my hair daily. That never came naturally to me because my hair just… never got that greasy or gross in a day? I did start washing my hair more frequently, and now that I think about it, all it did was make my hair greasier if I didn’t shampoo & condition it every day or two.

Fast forward to these days, there’s a huge No-Poo movement where many, many people claim to have not shampooed their hair for months or years and their hair looks great. All of a sudden I don’t feel bad for not washing my hair as frequently, and if there’s a chance I could wash it even less frequently and have it still be fine, perfect haha.

Naturally, if you’re reading this post, it means that… well, something has happened. Either I gave up, or I succeeded. Either way, there will be photos of potentially very gross-looking hair and scalp so if you’re morbidly curious and not easily disgusted, read on. If you don’t want to read about my full experience and would just like to skip to my key takeaways from this, click here.

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Fitness: Chloe Ting’s 2021 Get Fit Challenge – Pre-Release

Image screenshot: Chloe Ting 2021 Get Fit Challenge

This post will contain my workout summary for the Chloe Ting 2021 Get Fit Challenge pre-release schedule.

Well, well, well, what do we have here? Why, if it isn’t the lazy-as-all-things, hasn’t-worked-out-in-way-too-long Bob. I mean, I have exercised here and there, but it has been way too long since I’ve tried a challenge. I was sooo close to finishing week 2 of the Hourglass Challenge but this is the point where I admit defeat. I failed. Miserably. Which… is kind of disappointing given that the last challenge was only 3 weeks to begin with. What?

Then past two challenges she released were very HIIT-heavy and honestly I was disappointed that I wasn’t able to do them. But, living on the 3rd floor with sensitive downstairs neighbours with passive-aggressive tendencies, plus given how hectic life had been lately, I wasn’t really willing to stress myself out more by fighting that battle. We’re moving soon and I’m really looking forward to having no one bang on the ceiling downstairs when we’re only vacuuming.

The Get Fit Challenge is primarily weights-based, and so far I am digging the music. That intro tune gets me so pumped to exercise! Plus, one of my favourite full body workout videos is included in the lineup so I think it’s a sign for me to give it a go. The pre-release just launched today and is 5 days long, so this post will be dedicated to my attempt at the pre-release schedule.

The actual challenge officially begins on Monday 21st, and I’ll upload a new post for that week’s workout progress if I commit to the challenge.

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Wellness: An R&R Type Of Weekend

On Saturday Jacky and I went for a hike with Jacky’s colleagues, followed by lunch and boba and some grocery shopping, then on Sunday after church we went over to another friend’s house to help with redecorating, followed by boba and takeout as we had our weekly call with Jacky’s parents. Putting it this way sounds like a rather hectic and busy weekend, but in reality it was rejuvenating and restoring for my soul.

Now that we’re both fully vaccinated and many of our friends are also vaccinated, we’re able to more confidently go outside and hang out with friends. Being out in nature and being in the company of others again felt liberating. I’m an introvert and can typically just stay home alone easily, but after very limited human interaction for such a long period of time, even I was reaching my introversion limit. I can’t imagine how my extroverted friends would have felt during this extended quarantine.

The hike we went on was by a large lake and it was beautiful. I also appreciated that it wasn’t too long and the elevation on the route we took was manageable. I loved being outside to breathe in some fresh air; we were able to take our masks off once we were away from the more heavily trafficked entrance, and taking in some beautiful scenery while getting in some fitness steps was something I appreciated so much. It also helped that the weather was perfect.

The hike path was mostly shaded and there was a gentle breeze the accompanied us throughout. We stopped by a sunny vantage point and enjoyed some warmth as we chatted. I have really missed human interaction!

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Bullet Journal: June Setup

How come we skipped from March to June? Simple: because I’ve been a lazy git.

Okay, that’s not necessarily true. March – May was kind of a blur. Not enough was happening and then too much was happening and it was all a little wild. I tacked on some April notes onto my March spread, despite April being my birthday it was the quietest month for me socially because we were knee-deep in house hunting and I was finishing up my green card application. I already had a few spreads that I was referring to for my green card app and house-hunting did not require me to use a bullet journal, so that was that.

I did actually do a spread for May, but it was such a busy period that I didn’t take a photo of the spread. I really liked the style of it though, so I have mimicked the style in the above June spread :) I realised that I only really use this journal as a to-do list, and I don’t even finish all of those in a full week period, so instead of having a new page per week, I’ve just put the w/c on the left-hand side column whenever a new week begins.

I’ve moved the calendar to the left hand side, because I realised it was unnecessary to write out the ‘MTWTFSS’ twice on the same page. It’s much easier to just have my tasks list under the calendar, where the days of the week are already written at the top.

The only difference between this spread and May’s is that I’ve done a more decorative ‘June’. May’s title was just written at the top right-hand corner, and I had some key calendar dates highlighted with notes next to them. It looked a bit busy but it was helpful for me. I don’t really have any monthly deadlines this month so I’ve forgone that for clean space.

Sometimes, that empty space should just be filled with peace instead of scribbles.

Muchos love,

Bobbie

Health: Vaccination Complete!

Phew. On Sunday Jacky and I got our final Moderna shots for our COVID-19 vaccination. Within 2 weeks we should reach 95% immunity, yay! We will remain cautious regardless but it feels great to know we’ve completed our jabs.

But… ohhh boy that second jab was rough. For me, at least. It was really, really rough. I was basically cycling through every single side effect: pain and swelling at the injection site (arm), feeling unwell, tired, headache, muscle pain, joint pain, chills, fever, nausea and swollen lymph nodes. Yep, every. single. one.

I felt fine after the first injection, just mild pain and some numbness on my arm while Jacky had it rough, but when I was explaining my symptoms to him after this injection he said that’s exactly how he felt the first time round. Poor guy! He had to take a day off work that time and I was able to take care of him, bring him food and water and medicine etc.

This time though, he was pretty much fine. He took some acetaminophen shortly after we got home, but I didn’t and ended up developing a mild fever the evening, so I took NyQuil and slept early. I already had the next day off but Jacky informed me the following morning that he’d also taken the day off work to take care of me. Best husband ever.

We did our morning Bible reading together then I was basically bed-ridden lol. I’d slept really well but my entire body still felt weak and numb and everything hurt. I was trying to go back to sleep all morning but my body wasn’t having it, despite feeling absolutely exhausted. So after lunch I took DayQuil and… ended up falling asleep for 3hrs hahaha. I felt so much better after I woke up though. Oh, I also drank a ton of water.

Jacky started feeling a bit rough in the evening so I got him some NyQuil as well and then he fell fast asleep. I didn’t sleep as well as I had the night before, but Jacky said he slept really well. So, after all that rambling what have we learned?

  1. Get vaccinated!!
  2. Take some over-the-counter medicine as recommended by your doctor sooner rather than later…?
  3. NyQuil contains some magical substance to help with sleep :o

Yep. That’s it. I’m excited for things to start going back to ‘normal’ because I’m beginning to feel very drained from quarantine, but I also want to make sure I’m protecting myself and those around me by being as careful as I can.

Muchos love,

Bobbie