I found love in a soapless place.

I'm sure some people may know this but I'm sure there are a good amount of people who have no idea. I have been dealing with hair issues for the past 5ish years or so. I would get out of the shower and immediately my hair would be oily [almost greasy feeling]. At first I thought I just wasn't getting all of the conditioner out of my hair. But after weeks of scrubbing and trying different remedies, I realized it was something completely different. Sometimes my hair would cooperate, sometimes I wanted to just rip it all out. I have tried almost every shampoo & conditioner on the market ranging from cheap Suave products you can get at Wal Mart for $1.99 to expensive products that cost $60-75 dollars a bottle. I know it sounds crazy and a little extreme; but isn't it if you are having a bad hair day, your whole day is thrown off?

I would go to different salons to try to see if anyone had the answer and most of the time they would. "Try this $35 shampoo, it will change your whole world!" "You have to try this at home treatment, my sister-in-law had the same issue and it cleared it right up." "Oh, you just need to use apple cider vinegar and all of your hair issues will be solved." This was all very simple advice that I would spend $40-100 dollars on when they would just give me a simple haircut/color. I tried everything. Nothing seemed to help my scalp. I even went to the dermatologist for it and she said she had never seen anything like this before. So I started praying, "God, what is going on with my hair? I see all of these girls in the magazines with long, beautiful hair and here I am stuck with this oily, greasy looking hair that just does not grow." There were days that I would cry and cry because I just didn't know what to do. I know that seems silly as well, but I hate wearing my hair in a ponytail and I didn't want people to think I didn't shower because my hair looked so oily. After years of trying different shampoos, I realized maybe I just need a water softener. The family I nanny for in Des Moines have the top of the line water softener so I decided to try it. HOLY MOLY. It worked!! Now I just had to shower at their house everyday. (Which was hard on the weekends because I didn't want to bother them.) So I would shower everyday at their house and on the weekends, I would shower with a shower cap on. I could usually go a day or two without washing my hair, but sometimes it was just a pain in the butt. I HATE wearing my hair up in a ponytail so I would avoid it at all costs.

I finally decided to take the leap and get a water softener of my own. (with the help of Jen.) I was SO excited to try it out and get the same results I was getting at the Liss house. The first time I used it, IT WORKED! Hooray! No more issues. But after a few times, it didn't seem to work anymore. So that evening I had an emotional breakdown. Why couldn't I figure out what was wrong with my hair? What was I doing wrong? Everyone was giving me tips on what to do and I had tried them all. Now what? Do I just shave my head and get a wig? WHAT IS THE ANSWER?!

Well... one day I was looking at random beauty blogs (for some much needed inspiration) and I found that someone kind of had the same hair issues and they tried a bar of shampoo from Lush. I didn't understand bar shampoos but I was willing to try anything. I went into Lush and asked for advice and the gal working was so wonderful to help me out. I left with a shampoo bar and a bottle of conditioner. I went back to my apartment eager to try it out. My hopes were really high and Zach told me not to get them up because he didn't want to see my get upset. But it was too late for that. So I used both products..and...THEY WORKED!!!!!!! I was over the moon excited that I FINALLY found something. But then I knew things have worked before but after a few times, they slowly stop working. But guess what folks? It's been 2-3ish weeks and both work WONDERFUL!!! The shampoo kind of dries my hair out a bit but the conditioner helps to get the moisture back in there. I will recommend Lush and ANY of their products to anyone. Anytime. I want to buy stock in the company so they never close because I'm afraid to start over if anything bad ever happens to their company.

So if you have any of the same hair issues as me, definitely go to Lush and they will help you out. (They had a store in Jordan Creek mall and they have a website where they can ship you the products you need every month-6 months.) Everyone there is so wonderful!!

Moral of the story is: no matter how hard the trials are that are placed in your life, you can find the answers if you keep trying and trying!!

Enjoy your Sunday, everyone. [and sorry for such a long post!]