I Gave Up Shampoo for 30 Days: Washing the Wen Way

I was asked to try Wen and see if I liked it. If you haven't noticed, I am super picky (read: anal) about my hair. Some may even deem me obsessed with my hair and Bethany would probably agree with them.



So what does trying Wen mean? It means giving up most of my other hair products and surrendering to the Wen way of life. According to the materials that came with my products, it also means being a really hot chick in the shower and being draped in puppies when I'm not in the shower. Since that sums up my life in general, how can I not give Wen a chance? (I'm snickering at myself. Please don't think I referred to myself as a "hot chick in the shower" and meant it.)

If you aren't familiar with Wen, it is a conditioner created by Chaz Dean. Made from primarily nice sounding ingredients like aloe and bits of flower and yummy smelling oils, Wen isn't a shampoo, but a different way to cleanse your hair. In a nutshell, the Wen way involves using a lot of the conditioner in your hair and rinsing your hair really clean. No shampoo or traditional cleansers are used. In return for submitting your hair to the san-suds way, Wen promises softer, shinier, more manageable hair than you thought possible.

So here is my 30 day account of using only Wen products. I used the Sweet Almond Mint series, including the Texture Stick and the Styling Cream.

Day 1: Washed with Wen. Not sure I did it right. I checked with my QVC chat board pals and they told me I did ok. My hair is really soft and seriously shiny. The Texture stick also did a nice job of giving my hair some, for lack of a better word, texture.

Day 2: Washed hair for fun because I could. It felt amazing afterwards. There might be something to this Wen thing. And my hair is shining like glass.

Day 3: Didn't wash hair this am. It still has crazy amounts of body. I added more Texture Stick and it didn't get weighed down and is still super shiny. Also, Loxy was delighted at how soft my hair was to the touch.

Day 4: I washed my hair with Wen today and don't think my cheapskate-self used enough product. Once thing the ladies on the chat board have (repeatedly) told me is that if it isn't cleaning your hair well enough, you aren't using the right amount of product (ie: use more). In related news, I used the Texture Stick on Loxy's facackta hair cowlick and it helped quite a bit. He had handsome hair. This has previously been impossible to tame, so yeah for me...um, I mean, yeah for him! (What would also help is not returning to the woman who screwed it up, but that is another story entirely.)

Day 6: I washed it again, this time, using 10 pumps per quadrant for my short hair and NOT using the leave in style cream. My hair was starting to feel a little oily from the styling cream, probably because my hair is so short. But without it, it's perfection! The website says to use 16-24 pumps for short hair. I wonder if my pump is pumping less than normal? I am using closer to 40 pumps.

Day 15: I just washed my hair for the first time since coloring it and am happy to report there was no color loss on the towel. When I was a redhead, there was ALWAYS color on the towel. As a brunette, that isn't the case. However, my hair is now close to black, so it could have gone either way.

Day 30: My hair looks very shiny, feels thick, clean and soft. I am surprised to see that I have gone through more than half of the large bottle. However, you do need to use quite a bit to get it to work. But do you use more than you would with a regular shampoo?

Here is what my forty pumps of Wen looks like:



Here is what two shampoos and a conditioner look like:



They aren't that different when I think about it like that. So overall, did Wen change my world? I'm kind of on the fence. I do know that my color loss has all but stopped, which hasn't happened when I used a traditional cleanser.

After I got the hang of Wen, it didn't really take any longer to use than any other product. My hair is gleaming without the aid of any other product. I will warn you that you have to use the leave-in conditioner sparingly and if you have short hair like mine, you may want to forgo it all together. I also used the Texture Stick and found the same to be true; a little goes a long way.

All in all, I am impressed with how well Wen performed. This is one of those times where I wish I had more hair so I could really take it out for a test drive. Wen is available for purchase from QVC and the Wen website. Do you use Wen? What do you think? Tell me in the comments!

This product was sent to me for the purposes of review.


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