A little background on this experiment here: One of my roommates and I were talking and somehow our conversation got on the topic of hair and having to take the time to tame the mane, so we decided to find out what would happen if we didn’t brush our hair and try to keep it under control. I know a few people who don’t ever brush their hair and it looks completely fine, and others can`t go three hours without access to their beloved brush. Nikki and I wanted to see which end of the spectrum we fell on.

Day 1: “Oh my gosh my hair actually scrunched so well, look at these curls”

Nikki decided to get her hair ready for the day and make sure it would look decent and not slept on, so she scrunched it with gel, attaining very nice curl for her Saturday excursions. I was not as smart as my good friend, and decided to sleep on my hair rather than braid it to ensure I wouldn’t have weird curls here and waves there, amidst the kinks from where it got too bunched up. Let’s just say I’m glad I didn’t have to go anywhere important and could just throw it up in a bun.

Day 2: “Bun.”

By this time Nikki was already regretting her decision to join me on this journey. She took the bun approach and ran with it. Not being able to brush your hair meant you had to really hope for the best, and she was not satisfied with what her locks gave her to work with. I had to go to work and chose a ponytail. The night before however, I remembered to try and give my hair direction for the shape I wanted and it held a little curl in the bottom half.

Day 3: “Attempts to scrunch. Looks like grease-ball.”

Nikki was not pleased with her results, and when Monday hit, I really just wanted to call it quits, but I didn’t. I pushed through, and embraced the fact that it definitely looked like I had just gotten out of bed ten minutes before class. (when it was actually 45 minutes but who`s counting)

Day 4: “Wow I should have thought to try to use my fingers to comb my hair before.”

Finally she had a realization that It would be a great idea to attempt to utilize the “comb” that is her hand, so I walked out to see her trying to tug her fingers through her hair and decided to attempt it myself, giving up when it just created more knots.

Day 5: “Wait, why is it so much harder and painful to use my fingers to untangle my hair? I think I’m getting dreadlocks under here.”

She got to know her hair pretty well over those past few days, and came to realize how much she appreciated a real comb. I felt like I was yanking more hair out of my head than I was through my fingers. For some reason, those knots are more impossible when they have less bristles tugging at them, go figure.

Day 6: “I forgot and I brushed my hair.”

While writing about this experience and questioning Nikki, I discovered that we must have had a misunderstanding on the length of this trial. “Friday`s” sounds a lot like “Five days” so her journey ended a little sooner than mine, but she still had the same experience, even if it did end a couple days sooner. By this time I had already accepted the mane and stopped caring as much. I threw it up if it bothered me too much and left it down if I was satisfied with the curls at the moment.

Day 7: It`s the homestretch and I can`t wait to pull a brush through these locks.

By this time I was thinking about how I had previously assumed it would be difficult to get my hair to cooperate and be in a ponytail for practice, but it turns out it worked just fine. I couldn’t braid it unless I wanted to make my eyes water while trying to separate it into sections, so I didn`t finish attempting that. I was almost glad that I could put so little into it and have my hair look good enough to go out.

Day 8: The aftermath/reflection.

So all in all, this experience wasn’t horrible. I realized that upkeep of the beast that is my hair takes time and I personally think that extra five to ten minutes is worth it, but now I know that if I do forget a brush to take with me on my trip I won`t need to worry much. Nikki said she wouldn’t mind doing something like this again, she found by not brushing her hair, she had more volume. The main thing she struggled with “besides the dreadlocks was just trying to get a straight part” and with this statement, I agree wholeheartedly. I thought when I finally did brush my hair that I`d pull out half of it, but it was just like any other day as I tugged the bristles through my mane. All in all, this experience wasn’t bad, in fact it was kind of reassuring to know that even if I did forget every once in a while, people really wouldn`t be able to notice. (according to one of my other roommates, Autumn)

I would encourage others to give this a try and to use lots of conditioner when they do!