Seidrkin

I’ve been fascinated by (my) hair for years (probably my whole life tbh). I’ve always had very fine hair, I remember having a haircut when I lived in Bulgaria and being told “you have hair like a baby”.

Yes, well, I was bald for the first 3 years of my life so I’ve got some catching up to do…

HAIR: Keeping it on my head, styling it when it’s so fine and delicate, dealing with split ends and frizz, Hair has kind of been an ongoing big deal for me.

My hair has changed over time too. In the 3 years I was a raw vegan it became curly and I had ringlets for the first time in my life. I was delighted to say the least. However I’ve also had on and off hair loss; at times so significant that I was gathering fistfuls of my own hair after each shower.

In 2020 I discovered the world of Bioenergetics, the metabolism and the thyroid through Danny Roddy. I read his book “Hair Like A Fox” and it put words to my health and hair struggles in such a practical simplified way that I finally had some hope of being able to nourish my hair in a useful and transformative way.

Maybe I could have a mane? Could I?

Then in 2022 I discovered German New Medicine and understood my hair loss through another lens. Separation conflicts. The desire to get away from someone… And my hair journey made even more sense!

As I explored nourishing myself better metabolically, and began to clear up the relationships in my life that were causing me stress (including the one with myself that allowed for all the inauthentic relationships in the first place) I began to grow out my hair.

Yes it was still really fine and frizzy most days, yes I dealt with on and off hair loss though it was improving. I was hopeful and I had direction.

My hair care experiments…

For years I had experimented with all sorts of hair care things as I sought for the perfect holy grail of a natural substance that would cleanse my all too often “greased weasel” head of hair and give it shine and tame it and make it silky and happy and lush….. You know, all of the bougie things, but without needing silicones and alcohols for it.
I tried the “no poo” method rather radically over a decade ago when I lived in Australia and was often in the ocean. The sea salt dried my hair out, making it brittle and prone to breaking but it did help me brush out some of the grease. I eventually gave it up because I got sick of being a dirty hippie (no it didn’t improve after over 6 months of no washing).

Then I tried things like eggs. The emulsification of the egg yolk seemed to remove the oil somewhat but I would have bits of egg stuck through my hair and my hair would smell like raw eggs.
Not a vibe.
I continued to swing between high end products like Khiels fancy shampoos and ayrevedic shampoo powders, aloe vera, eggs, and one of the worst experiments which was the very simple Baking Soda followed by Apple Cider Vinegar rinse…
That one dried my hair out to snapping point SO quickly..

The happy ending

Yes this story ends happily I type after just smoothing my fingers through my soft much thicker hair as it lays in its waves across my shoulders.

A friend who’s hair I was very envious of started talking about this luxurious shampoo she’d been using…
I listened very skeptically because it was a direct marketing brand and I had some serious scars when it comes to marketing nonsense like that. For some reason I like being shmoozled by complete strangers into buying things that they get a cut out of but for some reason I don’t want my friends to be getting that cut? Weird right? Anyway I quelled my horror and kept watching her parade her gorgeous locks around, sharing about what she was doing and eventually I felt clear enough in my emotional wave to go, |YES I want this and I still want it after months of consideration.”

I reached out and began using the products. And I finally felt like an adult woman who could “do her hair” for the first time in my life. My friend was a 1st line (human design nerd speak for a very good investigator who gets the foundational details of a topic) and she’d looked into the products themselves and how gentle yet powerfully they worked on the scalp and hair strands. She became my hair expert and suggested begin with a range targeted for hard growth. The company has done their own researchninto the growth phases of the hair follicles and formulated products that shift stressed out follicles from dormant to growing…. My nerdy side LOVES how intentional and targeted the various ranges are. They’re actually like medicinal hair products.

As I continued to use the products my hair began to feel like an actual mane. I watched it thicken, I shared the serum with two shiny balding scalps and watched them begin to regrow full thick hair follicles as well. It kind of felt like magic even though I knew it was just a clever use of biological knowledge.

3rd Line Regression

Being a 3rd line, (more human design nerd speak for a mad scientist who learns via trial and error, usually discovering what doesn’t work before discovering what does #askmehowIknowthis) when I moved back to New Zealand from the UK I couldn’t’ be bothered to change my account over at first so I decided to use this time to find that elusive one ingredient haircare regime (how the hell did thew girls off Pride and Prejudice have nice hair without shampoo??!? What do they know that we don’t?) Any way this was possibly my least favourite experience because it was such a contrast from the lush hair I’d seriously started taking for granted.
I went the Baking Soda/ACV route, and the Ayerveda hair powder route, and the aloe vera and hair oil route and my hair turned to straw and started breaking off at a very sad pace.

After an embarrassing amount of months of this self flagellation I decided to resign up and take my hair care seriously because lets be honest every girl deserves to feel like her hair is a reflection of who she is, not some straw tufts sticking out of her head unceremoniously.

after a matter of weeks back on my bougie hair care (I’d taken before photos this time) my hair looked and felt like completely different hair. Soft, hydrated and lush. I even began to see my natural curls coming back into my hair. I’ve been doing my best too save the couple of inches at the ends from needing snipping but they became so damaged that they may have to go to allow my natural curls to unfold.

Hair Philosophy

Why are so many women and men mildly (or not so mildly) obsessed with their hair?

My favourite story that illustrates how integral our hair is to our person and even spirit is about the Indian trackers used in the civil war in the USA. The native men naturally kept their hair long but when brought in to the military their heads were shaved…. And they proceeded to lose all their intuitive capacity. People could sneak up on them and they had no clue. Their instinctual natural appeared heavily intertwined with the hair on their heads.
WILD

Hair not only serves as an expressive medium with which to show how we are to the world, it is also an extension of our nervous system.

It is also, as I learned from my time studying the metabolic world, an expression of how nourished you are as a man or woman.
Animals don’t go bald, unless they’re domesticated, under stress, and unable to change their circumstances.
How shiny, thick, long and lush our hair is tells a LOT about the state we’re in without more than a glance.

I would argue that in this stressful ever changing world, yeah, it probably is a bit of a challenge to experience our hair at its best #askmehowIknowthis but it isn’t unattainable. And I believe this is why it can be useful to make the most of haircare that has been formulated with an understanding of the biology of the scalp and hair follicle and hair shaft etc, a respect for the modern stressors we face, and an high degree of excellence with the outcome of the haircare regime. (Meaning your hair isn’t just nourished and healthy, but it also is smoothed, soft, shiny and protected and supported in your desired styling of it.)

I used to believe “just never using chemicals” or “just nourishing the metabolism” would be enough, or that “just resolving my conflicts” would be enough, and throughout my experiments I’ve discovered that the best bang for buck is respecting localised biology (hair and scalp) in the form of really nerdy hair care ALONG with taking good care of yourself is exactly what my hair needed.

Have you struggled with your hair?
Tell me your hair story in the comments I’d love to hear from you.