No-poo or going without shampooing? - Page 5

qwerty · September 28th, 2009, 01:52 PM

It's been almost 3 weeks with water only washing and things are good. Hair's not 100% but I continue to go in public without concern. Hair looks almost normal to me - to others it seems to look fine. It's got some decent natural shine to it too.

I got my hair cut the other day and my hairdresser didn't say anything about the texture of my hair which feels different than shampooed hair to me. Interesting because the last time I saw her she suggested I use a clarifying shampoo to get rid of buildup.

I think I'll do a baking soda wash (not scrub) within the week just because.

LynnieD · September 28th, 2009, 06:23 PM

Ok, didn't read this whole thread, but I wash my hair either every other day, or lately, every 3 days. Been doing the every other day thing for almost 6 yrs. And at first it was kinda weird, but your hair adjusts. I use baby powder on my scalp on the non shampoo days. Tends to help w/the greasy feel/smell. I started very recently going every 3 days as I have seen a dramatic loss in hair and I am afraid to wash my hair....and I color it, so I am hoping it will last longer.

The 2 pages I read of this thread gave some great advice.

qwerty · October 7th, 2009, 03:21 PM

28 days in and my hair has taken a turn for the worse in the past week. It's greasier than it's been in weeks and it must be washed and blown dry everyday to look decent. Even with that my hair's not how it was pre-"no poo". If I wash and let it air dry, it never really dries and it lays limp like wet hair. My boar bristle brush needs to be washed often. I tried scrubbing my hair with baking soda - left my hair dry and lackluster.

This is all not as gross as it sounds. I can still make myself presentable to the public without wearing a hat.

I've been doing more reading on the subject of no poo and it seems to work best for curly girls because curly hair is drier and absorbs a lot of the grease. Straight haired people like myself seem to have inconsistent results and battle on and off with the greasies.

I'll give my hair a couple of more weeks of water only washing. I've gone this far, I might as well soldier on for a bit longer. If things don't improve markedly by then, I think I'll see if I can find a paraben and sulfate free shampoo to use 1-2x a week. I think Burt's Bees makes a good one.

Grimmlok · October 7th, 2009, 03:28 PM

wash your hair with beer. seriously. it's great for hair, isn't shampoo, and guys will love you.

qwerty · October 7th, 2009, 03:30 PM

I have rinsed my hair with flat beer before but I don't remember it doing anything special. That was following a shampoo though. I should see how beer works now. Thanks for the tip.

Grimmlok · October 7th, 2009, 03:39 PM

yeah, it will probably help with the grease but not strip the hair like shampoos do

burnt_toast · October 7th, 2009, 04:22 PM

They say it's best (and by they I mean the chemistry buff hippies that tend to do this no-poo stuffs) to use an alkaline wash (like baking soda or castile soap) and follow it up with an acidic rinse (like vinegar, tea or beer).

I am also a straight haired girl and recently fell off the no-poo bandwagon due to dying of curiosity about castile soap. I bought some dr. bronners unscented and used that on my hair, following up with a black tea rinse.

It's interesting. My hair feels very thick and shiny. It doesn't seem to actually strip the sebum from my hair, so it doesn't feel squeaky clean but it has HUGE amounts of body and since there's no corn in it - i'm not suffering hives anymore.

We've all been tricked into thinking that our hair has to be shiny and light for it to be clean or pretty. My hair is much thicker and not as shiny, but it's gorgeous and I'm (literally) using about $.05 worth of hair care products a day! I'm pleased.

qwerty · October 7th, 2009, 04:57 PM

^I think I mentioned in an earlier post here how Dr. Bronner's was a no go with my hair but that was while I was in the consumer trap of shampooing my hair everyday. Now that my hair has been weaned off of sulfate shampoo, maybe Dr. Bronner's will work. I'll think about it. I brush my teeth with Dr. Bronner's (far superior to fluoride toothpaste) so I've got plenty on hand should I decide to go that route.

scooter · October 7th, 2009, 08:59 PM

I wash mine 1 or 2 x a week. Especially these days with the broken elbow. Needless to say...I am an air dry girl unless there is somewhere fancy to go.

burnt_toast · October 23rd, 2009, 11:41 AM

qwerty - how's it going with the no-poo?

I used the Dr. Bronners for a bit with a black tea rinse and then I got lazy and just started washing with water only. It's been a week and my hair is fantastic! I think I ended up doing a very slow transition by experimenting with so many different methods (BS/ACV, Tea rinses, Bronner's etc...).

Just wanted to check in to see if you were having as much success. I'm astonished at how light and 'clean' my hair feels and looks. There is absolutely no smell and not an ounce of itchiness ... I always thought I had dandruff, now I'm convinced it was hives from my allergy all along!

qwerty · October 26th, 2009, 11:21 PM

Okay. I had to give up on the idea of going water only because I have very hard water where I live. I just couldn't get rid of the "tackiness" from the hair oils no matter how much I scritched my scalp and rinsed my hair.

This experiment hasn't really been a failure though. About 10 days ago, I started washing my hair 1x a week with Burts Bee's Soy and Pomegranate shampoo. My hair is light, fluffy, shiny, bodytastic and best of all, not greasy at all between washings. So I am no longer a slave to sulfate shampoo.

The Burt's Bees is not entirely natural but it doesn't have sulfates, parabens and phthalates so I'm good with it.

The only issue I have is when I do my water washes between shampoos. While my hair remains clean and full of body, it quickly loses its shine. I'm going to experiment with an apple cider vinegar rinse to see if that helps. Otherwise, I'm not sure what to do to maintain the shampoo shine. My hair color is a light ash brown (with natural reddish gold highlights) so it doesn't have a lot of natural shine.

Nightdragon · October 27th, 2009, 09:02 AM

^ I might have to give the Burt's Bees stuff a try, I can't stand the regular shampoo stuff, but I have a ton of hair and it gets messed up when I don't wash it.

burnt_toast · October 27th, 2009, 09:15 AM

I've been told that if you add salt to a gallon of water and wash with that it can really help with the hard water tackiness.

I went a week doing nothing to my hair and it was fine. Then on a whim I washed it with the Dr. Bronner's and followed up with a tea rinse, my hair looked awful! Dry and frizzy. It seems that shampoo is no friend of mine - it didn't need washed, I just felt compelled to do it .. *sigh* ... I'm gonna try for two weeks next time and see what it does. May have to try the salt water wash as my water is a bit hard as well.