This has its pros and cons. It killed the grease factor, which was awesome, but it also killed the softness and texture of my hair, which obviously sucks.
I haven't been able to find baking soda in Xiamen, even at the western grocery stores, and it took me six months to find a place to buy apple cider vinegar, so I've converted back into a regular hair washer. I just use apple cider vinegar to "set" my color the first wash after I get it done now. I still don't need to wash as often though (except my bangs) and use much less product than I used to, so I'm happy about that.
I've had some other interesting hair experiences since moving to Xiamen. I dyed my hair purple in November, as in Crayola purple, and it was absolutely fabulous. Unfortunately, two weeks after that, I gave the digital-torture-perm-machine a try and they completely washed out all my color. I always see Chinese girls with straight hair and gorgeous, perfectly curled spirals at the ends. I discovered that they all have digital perms that just begin about halfway, or lower, down their hair; I decided to give it a shot.
It's been quite a while since I had a regular perm (probably almost ten years), but if memory serves, I think digital didn't smell as bad for nearly as long. They put some chemicals on your hair, rinse after a while and then roll it with a little tissue paper in each curl, plug the curlers into the torture machine and then let you sit for about 30 to 45 minutes and voila. Seems simple, but somehow that simple process still took me about five hours.
My problem, aside from them washing out my beautiful purple color, is that I asked for the biggest sized rollers because I wanted big spiral curls at the ends. Also, that way, it would be easier to wear my hair straight. When the guy finished my perm though, he was kind of upset and tried to tell me that it didn't take very well so my hair wouldn't be very curly and he wanted to redo it. I didn't want it very curly, so I told him it was fine, I'd come back if I had a problem. He didn't speak English and my Chinese is still crap, so communicating wasn't exactly easy. He texted me later that night though and said he talked to some other people, he had an idea and he wanted me to come back in. I did the next day and he went right to work without even talking to me. He redid my perm with the smaller curlers and naturally I don't like it. That's my fault for not stopping him though.
The same guy did my color and my perm. He was at a salon down the street from my apartment that looks nice enough, but I didn't know anyone that had been there before or anything.
The next time I wanted color done, I told a Chinese friend of mine I'd go somewhere near her apartment if she'd take me and talk to them for me. She had planned to take me to a salon she'd been to once, but it closed, so she ended up taking me to one her boyfriend had gotten a haircut at, once. Not exactly the most promising beginning to a hair experience.
It was TINY, four chairs, all full, with four people waiting in other chairs and rotating in. It wasn't nearly as nice or clean, but it cost half as much as the one by my apartment and I was much happier with the result.
I asked for orange, bright orange, and ended up with an ombre orange to pink effect, due to whatever old dye was still in my hair, and it's pretty awesome (the lady offered to even it out but I said no).
That salon was also the first I've gotten my hair dyed at in China that didn't offer me different brands of dyes at different price points. That part I'm ambivalent about, but I'm definitely going back to the smaller, not as nice but significantly more awesome place next time.
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