HAIR concerns on the playa? ;)

[SugarK]

ok so I feel a little *vain* posting this - I actually am the outdoorsy/granola type haha - love roughing it and Im not a high maintenance girly girl BUT...long story short I'm a 47 year old female whose hair has been through straight up HELL over the last couple years.. Stress from a VERY difficult and long drawn out divorce, along with hormonal changes etc... caused my hair to start thinning/weaken a couple years ago and well, I'm concerned about what 10 days of playa dust and wind will do to it now..

While my hair is stronger now and I no longer have fallout thanks to finding the right supplements and products, my hair is still baby -fine, tangles SUPER easy and the strands are pretty weak compared to most peoples' hair. My hair is longish (a few inches past shoulders) and darn it I'd like to keep it that way!...its taken a loong time to grow it back .

I have thought of braids but even those (if theyre tight or small) tend to be hard on my lame hair haha...hoping the veteran ladies or the dudes with long hair will chime in on whats worked for them in past burns? Wigs? Hats? good conditioners or leave in products? what styles work best on playa with the least damage to your hair post burn?

hoping to get some tips and tricks! Thanks in advance!

[gaminwench]

I would suggest that you plan to keep it braided, maybe a couple of french braids that you re-do mid week, or just bun it. Maybe get a fun wig?

You definitely don't want to wear it down; my first year I came home with a brillo pad on my head and my hairdresser had to take six inches off.

I now do braid extensions, but my hair is fairly robust and handles them well.

[goodleaf]

I did braids during the day and wigs at night with a wig cap - added bonus of being warm at night!

I used witch hazel to comb the dust out of my hair every couple of days and then added coconut oil before I slept, I didn’t have any breakage or hair loss, but your ymmv, of course.

[Savannah]

* Wigs are great (especially after sunset; they're a little hot in the daytime).

* Hats are awesome, chin straps in front or behind the head are helpful.

* One of my all-time favorites: a densely woven scarf or pashmina at least 5 feet long and 2 feet wide (or more). Wrap your head in it; put your goggles down on top of it (you may need to loosen the strap significantly). You can wrap 1 or more in such a way that it covers the top of your chest to help prevent too much sun. I bring no fewer than half a dozen scarves so I can swap them out when a good shake no longer gets the dust out.

[Lonesomebri]

Out at night under the flashing lazers and exploding propane poofs on the playa, I'd spot a hot woman looking at me from a distance, my hope would rise, then I'd realize, once more, it was my camp mate wearing yet another various color wig. One night a blond, the next a bruenett. "Alright!!! Who's that? Oh..." Every night.

[Papa Bear]

If you choose to wash it on playa, a couple of tips:

First, use a leave-in conditioner. Not rinsing means you'll use less water, and the conditioner will help somewhat.

Second, bring a scarf or similar and keep it covered until it dries. Exposed wet hair is not something you want when even a minor dust storm blows up.

[Skuzzy61]

My Wife got her hair cut a bit short for the event, then went with hats and scarves. Also made it to the Astral Head wash folks twice. Her hair was just fine when we got back.

[cranberries]

I have long, thick, curly hair. I did two pigtail braids for my first two years, then a full head of box braids with purple extensions, then back to two braids. For the two braids I combed out and braided up every morning, and undid them at night. Washed my hair ~3 times with leave in conditioner. It takes me 3-4 showers back in the real world for my hair to feel back to normal, but I don't suffer any ill effects. And my hair is thick enough that I can bobby pin a small strand of EL wire and weave it into my hair at night .

Definitely second the recommendation to go to Astral Headwash, it's absolutely worth the wait and it's a glorious feeling.

[Ratty]

I love astral headwash. While you're waiting, ask if they need any 'head washers'. You'll really love shampooing others. It also makes the time go by faster.

[SugarK]

thanks everyone! some really great suggestions

Hmm...witch hazel you say goodleaf? did that cut through the dust ok? was it drying at all to your hair? For those that did (esp. if you have fine hair) How hard was it to brush out your hair every day or two? I cant imagine going all week without brushing my Already-a -nightmare-in-the-regular-world hair... For those that did I think that was probably the best option for your particular hair but my hair is WEIRD...it tangles up several times a day at the slightest provocation and it is soo damn WEAK too...if I didnt get a brush through for a week I imagine it would get so irrevocably ratty that when I did try to brush it out 80% of my hair would just come right the f*ck out

Ive read elsewhere here that white vinegar is one of the few things that actually cuts through playa dust. Has anyone tried using it on your hair, on playa? Im thinking maybe pre rinsing with vinegar when I wash it, maybe 2-3 times that week? Or maybe give it a vinegar rinse and leave it on as I sleep then wash my hair the next morning? Anyone tried this? This is all assuming I have access to some sort of shower which Im still planning out...

I like the idea of leave in conditioner but my hair is sooo fine (I have lots of it but the strands are like cotton candy truly). leave in conditioners tend to weigh my hair down but maybe thats a good thing on the playa for me?...less tangling maybe?

Astral Headwash sounds like such a GREAT camp!! I'd love to volunteer actually...I'll def look into that!

I think wigs and scarves are probably the safest bet for me, so thanks for the tips everyone!! Wigs are such fun too!

[lucky420]

I go all week without brushing my hair. I have thick naturally curly shoulder length hair. It dreads on its own. I’m on playa for 14 days. I wash it or rinse it about 3 times. I am fortunate that it curls up nicely. I’m a wash and toss and I think it looks lovely...

[SugarK]

yeah lucky - I USED to be *lucky* like you and have super thick naturally curly gorgeousss hair Lol. Oh man how I MISS my awesome hair of yesteryears!! ...its incredible what traumatic stress and changing hormones can do!

I am DEFinitely not concerned with how I LOOK all week, I honestly could care less haha...I'm just concerned about maintaining the hair I have (like I said its been sooo hard to grow it back to now what is *somewhat* like it once was..). I just want to minimize breakage and hairfall during and especially AFTER my wonderful week on the playa

[Skuzzy61]

I love astral headwash. While you're waiting, ask if they need any 'head washers'. You'll really love shampooing others. It also makes the time go by faster.

Outstanding idea there Ratty!

[goodleaf]

SugarK, the witch hazel got all the playa dust out great. It was drying so that's why I do the coconut oil right after. I'm Indian and have thick curly hair, fwiw.

For logistical reasons, I also had to go back to work right after the burn. As in teardown, exodus, and then my husband dropped me off at the office when we got to our city 10 hours later. In order to be presentable at work, I just did the same thing (witch hazel, then coconut oil) on the drive, though I took extra care to really comb all the dust out.

Nobody at work could tell that I'd just come from the desert.

as an aside - it took me years to realize that I need to comb my hair from the bottom to get tangles out, not start from the roots and go down. Could have saved so much lost hair and breakage...

[Papa Bear]

I hate to say this, but Astral Headwash will not be an option this year.

The founder and his wife have a once-in-a-lifetime family event to attend, and can't do both that and Burning Man. Since he's not really comfortable sending a surrogate to run it (tried that once, it went badly), and none of the rest of us are quite crazy enough to take it on anyway, the camp is taking 2019 off. Considering he's been doing it since 1998, we think he's earned the break.

We do expect it to return in 2020, though.

[lucky420]

yeah lucky - I USED to be *lucky* like you and have super thick naturally curly gorgeousss hair Lol. Oh man how I MISS my awesome hair of yesteryears!! ...its incredible what traumatic stress and changing hormones can do!

I am DEFinitely not concerned with how I LOOK all week, I honestly could care less haha...I'm just concerned about maintaining the hair I have (like I said its been sooo hard to grow it back to now what is *somewhat* like it once was..). I just want to minimize breakage and hairfall during and especially AFTER my wonderful week on the playa

(((SugarK)))

[Ratty]

Papa Bear you are going to disappoint many hundreds of burners. I hope you're coming anyway. Come find us at Tiger Man camp. Everyone will be in the WWW book. I'll wash Abbas hair and she can wash mine.

[Papa Bear]

Papa Bear you are going to disappoint many hundreds of burners. I hope you're coming anyway. Come find us at Tiger Man camp.

We'll be in Kidsville again this year, so hopefully not far away. I'll definitely be over, assuming I don't completely break myself during build week yet again.

[Skuzzy61]

Papa Bear, the Wife got very sad when I told her Astral Headwash is not going to be there this year. Sounds like a well deserved break.

Time to do some radical self reliance building/engineering so she can wash her hair.

[AntiM]

There's a way to do it with trash bags and a sprayer, with a catch bucket ...

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[Papa Bear]

Time to do some radical self reliance building/engineering so she can wash her hair.

If it's any comfort, you can let her know we're in the same boat. Having access to that all week has left us more than a bit spoiled.

If you've got a cot or a lounge chair that you can lean back in and have your head stick out past the back, all you really need is a bucket or tub and a watering can. My understanding is that that's pretty much how Astral did it the first few years.

Removing the wand off of a pumped-pressure garden sprayer and replacing it with a kitchen sink thumb-lever sprayer would likely give you a very similar experience to what we currently do at Astral. I'm planning on hacking one up this summer to see if it'll work for us, I'll let you know how it goes.

[SugarK]

If you've got a cot or a lounge chair that you can lean back in and have your head stick out past the back, all you really need is a bucket or tub and a watering can. My understanding is that that's pretty much how Astral did it the first few years

mmm...this gives me fantasies of being Meryl Streep in Out of Africa, with Robert Redford lovingly washing my hair outside our safari tent....

[Skuzzy61]

Sounds good Papa Bear. Trying to think of a way to recirculate/filter the water so I do not need much water. Her hair is so thick, even though it is short, it is hard to wash and rinse.

[Papa Bear]

Sounds good Papa Bear. Trying to think of a way to recirculate/filter the water so I do not need much water. Her hair is so thick, even though it is short, it is hard to wash and rinse.

I get it - you should see some of the heads of hair that come through our camp. But one gallon should be more than enough; in fact, a couple of quarts is probably sufficient if you do it right. Having a spray nozzle that only allows water to run when you're actively pressing the trigger (like the kitchen sink sprayer, which is what we actually use) helps a great deal.

The technique we teach to our headwashers to minimize water use is to lay the person back and run a little clean water right at the hairline, so it flows down through the hair to the ends and gets the hair damp. Then, use a *small* amount of shampoo (the size of a quarter or less) and massage it in to lather it up. More shampoo than that isn't really necessary, and just increases the amount of water you'll use to rinse it all out. When you rinse it, just use the same technique of running the water at the hair line. Then, use a leave-in conditioner so you don't have to rinse anything else out. And like anything else playa-related, try it out at home first before trying it in the desert.

If you use the mist sprayer the way AntiM showed in her pictures, you can probably use even less water for the initial wetting of the hair. I'm not sure how best to rinse with that kind of tool, though.

Oh, if you really want to try to recreate the Astral experience, I can also get you the brands of shampoo/conditioner we use. Don't really want to put that info in a public post, though - it would feel too close to an advertisement (not that we have any relationship with them, we just like the products).

[Papa Bear]

mmm...this gives me fantasies of being Meryl Streep in Out of Africa, with Robert Redford lovingly washing my hair outside our safari tent....

Heh. Well, nobody is going to confuse me with Robert Redford, but we did have one participant inform us that getting a headwash from us was even better than oral sex.

Personally, I think that just means her partner is doing it wrong, but I'll take the compliment anyway.

[Skuzzy61]

Thanks for the tips Papa Bear!

[hug+kiss]

Hi SugarK. I have thin hair that is like cotton candy, tangles when dry and that stretches and snaps when trying to get through it when it’s wet. I don’t recommend trying to brush it on playa at all. The sound is awful. Do 2 braids and leave it that way all week. Cover with scarves to keep the dust off. Just wait to get back to a real bathroom. Use vinegar first then shampoo and then hit it with really good conditioner. I use the conditioner that comes in boxes of permanent hair dye, that stuff fixes everything!

Most important! Hair is moop! Don’t brush your hair out in the open. Your hair tumble weeds will just keep rolling down the street growning in size until it takes out small kids or drunk hippies.

[Savannah]

I go all week without brushing my hair. I have thick naturally curly shoulder length hair. It dreads on its own. I’m on playa for 14 days. I wash it or rinse it about 3 times. I am fortunate that it curls up nicely. I’m a wash and toss and I think it looks lovely...

It does. Always very Goddess-y.

[lucky420]

I go all week without brushing my hair. I have thick naturally curly shoulder length hair. It dreads on its own. I’m on playa for 14 days. I wash it or rinse it about 3 times. I am fortunate that it curls up nicely. I’m a wash and toss and I think it looks lovely...

It does. Always very Goddess-y.

Awwwww thank you love. Hope all is well with you Sav

[Magina]

Out at night under the flashing lazers and exploding propane poofs on the playa, I'd spot a hot woman looking at me from a distance, my hope would rise, then I'd realize, once more, it was my camp mate wearing yet another various color wig. One night a blond, the next a bruenett. "Alright!!! Who's that? Oh..." Every night.

"Who would do such a thing"