Sorry the site was off for a while... technical issues. And sorry, lost all the comments too... :(
Here is the archive of my no shampoo experiment. I was very curious about it, and my hair was such in a bad state that I had nothing to lose. I must say that since then, its condition has improved beyond my expectations. I started it in april 2007, and I still haven’t used shampoo since then. I modified my routine and adapted it for my hair type though... Everyone is different and it might not work for some people. It is only a matter of finding what works for you!
The theory behind stopping using shampoo is this: shampoo can be too harsh for your hair, because it makes it squeaky clean and strips all the natural oils from it. Your scalp then produces more oils to replace the ones that have been stripped away. Thus, you get greasy hair really fast. It’s a vicious circle: you wash every day because your hair is greasy, and your hair is greasy at the end of the day because you wash every day.
When you stop using shampoo, you start breaking that cycle, and stop stripping your hair from your natural oils so much. But your scalp needs time to adjust and in the beginning, it’ll keep producing the same amount of sebum as before, so you’ll get greasy and icky hair for a while. But after 6 to 12 weeks, it’ll regulate itself, and you’ll be able to “wash” a lot less. For example, I used to wash every day, I now wash only twice a week. It really is a time saver when you have long hair!
It’s not all magic and sparkles though. It can get rough sometimes, and I got pretty bad waxy icky periods around weeks 7 and 9 if I recall correctly. Hang in there, it does pass by itself. You also have to adjust to hair that feels like hair, and it takes longer to dry too. You need to love experimenting in order to find what works for you. For example, honey works as a wonderful moisturiser for most people, but for me, it makes my hair frizzy.
Also, for me, water pressure is a big issue. If I go somewhere that doesn’t have good water pressure, I get a shower head (see the Seinfeld episode) automatically.
I still have bad hair days, but a lot less than before. My hair is soft, much more maneagable, its condition has improved drastically.
Here are some useful links.
Since a couple of my friends are on board with this now, here are some useful threads, following the progress of different people with different hair and different methods. Also, lots of troubleshooting:
Saturday, January 12, 2008
No Poo, month 9
After 9 months, (and no hair cut!) here is my routine (it’s approximative, I don’t always have time or energy to follow it precisely)
-Cassia obovata treatment every 3 weeks. I get it out with CO (conditioner only wash). Follow with a mild vinegar rinse, then oil lengths with jojoba/coconut
Thursday, October 18, 2007
no poo, day 194
This is my hair after two cassia obovata applications.
I’m doing one every two weeks, and so far, I like it. :)
I need to oil pretty heavily afterwards though. I use a mix of jojoba and coconut oil.
I use the cassia obovata as a “wash”, since it’s pretty drying overall. And so far, I need
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
No Poo, day 167
Current regimen:
sea salt wash once a month
50/50 White vinegar/water twice a month
Rinse with water and chamomile rinse twice a week.
Oiling ends every time I wet my hair with jojoba/coconut oil.
Ordered some cassia obovata online (which is “neutral henna”, but in reality isn’t henna) . I’ll
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
no poo, day 139
I rinsed my hair this morning with chamomile/citrus tea. Then I just combed it with my wooden comb, and twisted it with my fingers. That’s it.
Last 50/50 WV/W “wash” was last saturday. I didn’t wet it before today. I think I’m going to do the salt wash only once a month now. I certainly don’t
Friday, August 3, 2007
No poo, day 120
I haven’t posted in a while, as I wasn’t aware that some people were following my experiments! But I’ve had a few request from folks wanting to know how I was doing and I’m glad to annonce that....
I’m still poo-free!
Actually, these days, I’m even more hardcore as I haven’t “washed” it with
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
No poo, day 75
Not completely dry yet... things are pretty good, I’m very satisfied with the state of my hair, much more healthier than when I started... I find it tends to be greasy at the back of my head, but I don’t know why, it’s been doing that for around 5 days... We moved, so it might be because of our
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
No Poo, day 62
Things are great, hair feels completely normal now, it’s light and behaves completely naturally. I love it!
I rinsed it yesterday morning and did a mild white vinegar rinse (1tbsp in 1 cup of water), then I put jojoba/coconut oil on my ends, scrunched my hair with my fingers, and let it air-dry.
Monday, June 4, 2007
No Poo, day 60
Oh gosh! What a bad week last week has been! The only reason why I didn’t give up no poo was that shampoo was even a worst alternative for me... I have no merit at all.
I had a major skin breakout last week, that I thought was due to me stopping washing my hair.... but I finally realise it wasn’t
Friday, June 1, 2007
No Poo, day 56
I am having a rough patch these days... I think the winter is getting me, no sunlight, and my skin seems to act up... I’ve had a migraine all week too. Maybe I got a boost of hormones too, I don’t know. Pretty crappy week overall. Nevertheless, things seems to be a little bit better for my hair.
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
No Poo, day 53
Things still good today. Yesterday morning, I rinsed it and did a mild vinegar rinse (I used warm water) and final rinse with cold water. Still had a hard time detangling, added jojoba oils to my ends, they seemed to like it and sucked in all of it.
Today, I brushed my hair, still get a gray-
