stop using shampoo

Washing my hair with baking soda really cleaned it up, but made it really flat. Maybe I scrubbed it in too much. Will keep experimenting with this…

I have a combination of sticky and dry hair going on right now at day12. going to try the baking soda wash and maybe apple cider vinegar.

So, after my last entry, I was getting this nasty greasy sebum-y spot on the back of my head. It smelled bad and felt gross. So I got this “natural” cone-free conditioner (http://www.natures-gate.com/shop/showitem.asp?ProductId=42102320&menuId=138&withLinks=1) which I think smells a little funny… but it did the job of getting the nasties from my hair. It made me good enough to not feel bad about going to a wedding ‘poo free. It didn’t make my curls just pop and my hair look wonderful, though… I think that’s an impossibility without a great many chemicals and lots of time and effort, so my hair stayed back for the wedding. Since then, I’ve used it once or twice when my hair starts feeling sebum-y… every few weeks. But then I think it smells funky (like the conditioner) for a few days after. I think, when the conditioner is all used up (which might take longer than I want), I may try one of the ‘shampoo’ bars.. I was looking at the JR Ligget bar (http://secure.jrliggett.com/) they had at my frou frou grocery here in Asheville, and the ingredients didn’t look all that different than a natural conditioner – no harsh detergents, that’s for sure. And a bar would be way better for travel/backpacking/peace corps than a conditioner bottle. So that’s definitely my next step, once I get done with this stinky conditioner.

started 10/18/09

I’ve already booted disposable menstrual products, face wash, facial moisturizer and other facial products out of my life. I’m healthier, I look better, and I’m saving money. I’m convinced that we’re being sold tons of stuff we don’t need…

So next I’m interested in getting rid of shampoo. I do have a bunch of shampoo at home to finish before I can totally stop using it, but CrunchyBread advised me to try this before I run out of shampoo in case I don’t like it, and that’s probably good advice. (Thanks Crunchy!) I will start by doing more research, and then I’ll give it a shot. I just got a really short hair cut – not sure if that makes this easier or harder to adapt to?

First I’m going to buy an organic shampoo instead of that tube of toxins I’m on now. I’m going to build it off slowly , maybe even dilute the organic shampoo with water before I use it so it’s more gentle than it already is.
Now I must wash my hair with shampoo once in 2 days.. I don’t like it.. my hair looses it’s shine.

ACV in my ACV rinse today – bad idea! My hair takes forever to dry in this humidity, but so far it still smells a bit like apple cider vinegar. On the upside, though, it definitely cleared up most of the sebum which had been accumulating on the top of my head. The question becomes – does clearing it up artificially like this invite the creation of more sebum, like the use of shampoo does? Or is it gentle enough that my glands won’t take note? I feel like between the little bit of bar soap that went on my hair last week and last week’s acv rinse that my hair was producing nasties at record levels… but maybe that’s just part of the switchover process?

It’s been 6 weeks since I used shampoo or conditioner on my hair! Wow! Up until week 5 I just brushed my hair, massaged my scalp, and rinsed with water. Sebum started to build up, though. I tried this once before while using baking soda and apple cider vinegar(acv), and I think I used too much because the results were disastrous. I’m still nervous about the baking soda, but I bought some acv for my hair. Last Sunday I put a few tablespoons in a big plastic cup, and then while I was in the shower I wet my hair, filled up the rest of the cup with water, and poured it on my scalp. It cut through a lot of the sebum, but not all of it. A few days later, I put some bar soap on my hands before massaging my scalp in the shower a few times, and that seemed to work well. I still feel like my hair could use a little improvement, but overall I’m quite happy being shampoo free. They say it takes up to three months for your hair to fully adjust, so I figure I’m halfway there.

I’ll probably use a little ACV in my hair tonight, see if a once weekly rinse doesn’t help things a bit. I’ve also read about tea rinses and essential oil rinses, as well as rubbing a little olive oil or coconut oil into hair to make it softer, so I’m playing with the idea of trying one or more of those.

This is fun! And no one has noticed. At least, no one has seemed repelled and/or told me I smell/look funny, so I’ll take that as a good sign :)

I stopped using shampoo almost four months ago. It took one month for the oilyness to improve drastically, but it is still reaching down almost 6 inches. I water wash only and I shampooed once at the two month point and twice earlier in the month because I really needed to look decent. I am a fairly oily person so this is proving to be a problem. It helps to use a natural bristle brush and brush my hair when it is wet after I have removed the tangles and that seems to pull the oils down my hair further. My hair looks great, but the first 6 inches look terrible. I’m not certain if this is going to work for me or not??

It’s been exactly one month since I stopped using shampoo, and my curls are so much softer and more manageable! Frizz is pretty much a non-issue for me now (I never thought I’d hear myself say that – especially in the summertime).