Clean Hair Chronicles

  

    I've been wanting to do without store bought shampoo for a long time, but I'm flat out rejecting the popular term "no poo" so don't expect to hear about me "no pooing." Ugh. Anyway, I've used natural shampoos without silicon and petroleum products my whole life, so my issue is mainly with reducing my plastic consumption and being more frugal. When you start researching going without shampoo, the first and most common cleanser that comes up is baking soda and apple cider vinegar, often just called BS and ACV. I tried that when I was pregnant with Little Red Chili. It worked for awhile and I was amazed. Suddenly, a few weeks before she was born it stopped working anymore. Spectacularly, I might add. My hair went from manageable to stringy, dry, crispy, and it felt nasty. That was what I couldn't take. I'm less (much less) about appearances than I am about feeling clean. Rather than try something else because I had more important things on my mind, like getting through an impending natural labor, I chose to just shampoo and forget about it.

    Until now, two years later. I've been thinking about how I'd like to try again. I kept hearing really good reviews of natural shampoo bars. I have always been skeptical of this, but I thought I'd give it a try. I could still use the soap even if it didn't work on my hair. So I ordered a few all natural bars and washed my hair. They suggest using a vinegar rinse, particularly if you've got hard water. I used diluted ACV and added some bergamot essential oil because I prefer to smell like an Italian citrus orchard, punctuated cunningly with vinegar. All the boys love it. It lathered satisfactorily, but when I rinsed it in plain water it felt tangly and waxy. After using the ACV and letting it sit a few minutes, it seemed smoother with the second rinsing, though not as smooth as with shampoo. After it dried I wasn't too impressed. My hair looked fine, and my scalp was really clean and the hair close to it was soft. The rest of my hair felt like it had a coating on it, though it was pretty shiny. I repeated this two more times over the course of 10 days and each time it felt worse, and more coated. The end was near when I repressed a scream after brushing out my hair and seeing the scummy coating  left on the brush. Basically, my hair was coated in soap scum. And that was the end of the shampoo bar. I might try a different kind another time, but for right now I'm done.

               
I debated shampooing, but by then I was nearly two weeks into it and I didn't want to give up. I tried applesauce. I read about it here and thought it sounded good. It was actually quite easy to use. I vigorously massaged it into my scalp, and let it sit for a few minutes, as recommended. I then combed it out; it seemed to just melt away in the shower, my hair was smooth when wet and felt clean. When it dried it still felt clean even though it wasn't magnificent or anything, and I also managed to go 5 days without it itching or looking disgusting until the last day. It continued to feel clean, but it never looked as glossy as with shampoo.

    Lastly, I tried banana. I mashed a banana with white vinegar and rubbed it into my head. It felt lumpy and disgusting. Plus, banana smelling hair says "preschool" or "mommy" and not "vixen" or in any way "hot." And you know, I'm not trying to be hot, but I wouldn't mind if me swishing my awesomely clean hair around made The Simple Man fall over once in awhile. 

     I had to spend a good 15 minutes just combing banana out of my hair. When I was done the bathtub looked like a legion of Oktoberfest attendees had barfed in there. I feel a bit gaggy even writing about it. If I ever wash my hair with banana again I will comb and rinse in a 5 gallon bucket and then pour on the garden. But that is a very big if because the banana made my hair very heavy - I think it's too much of a moisturizing humectant for fine, straight hair. I finished up with a black tea rinse. I ended up using water only (WO) the next day because it felt so revolting. I do think it might work well for curly dry hair, though.

    What am I going to try next? I'll be traveling around the world, figuratively of course. People have reported good success with some Ayurvedic herbs, amla and shikakai, and as soon as I can get to the local Indian store I will be trying them. I also have a book filled with traditional skin and hair care recipes from Japan. I will be on the lookout for funori seaweed (used also in bookbinding or something  - amazing - hair and books!) and rubbing down my hair with a rice bran bag. We'll see. I'm not holding my breath.

   Overall, the applesauce has definitely been the winner here. I'm not raving about how it's made my hair because it's not completely awesome, but I'm also trying to make allowances for the fact that my scalp could still be adjusting to everything. I'm a little more than three weeks into this experiment. I'll give it two months and if my hair either doesn't adjust or I can't find something that works for me, I'm going back to my Aubrey shampoo. I've been reading about people saying that their hair still hasn't adjusted after a year of no shampoo and I'm not that dedicated. It sounds like it typically takes around six weeks; I'm game for a little longer than that. I'll keep you all posted in the Clean Hair Chronicles.

Have you ever tried to go without shampoo?

   

All photos from www.sxc.hu

Comments

[Aminah]

Wow. If there's one word that describes you well, it's persistence!

As I mentioned to you last week at the playground, I only shampoo my hair once week (if not longer) and condition it maybe once every 3-4 days. Since my hair type is thicker and drier, the longer I go without washing it (or even getting it wet) it looks better. It takes days for any natural oils to appear on my scalp so keeping shampoo at bay allows me not to strip the oil before any appears.

With that being said, I have never found a particular shampoo that my hair loves. I did come across a conditioner that I really did like and I cannot remember the name. I know it was something like 'Eco-Hair Care' but a google search certainly didn't help narrow my findings. All I remember is that it was a local company in Portland, OR in a recyclable aluminum bottle and it was the consistence of mayonnaise!

[TheSimplePoppy]

Yeah, well, like I said, I'm not dedicated enough to be having a lank greasy head for more than a few months. And right now even that seems kind of too long. I'm definitely going to try and stick it out because it would be so great if it worked! I heave heard of people washing with CO - conditioner only - that might work for your kind of hair.

[Preeti @ Heart and Mind]

I have often thought of going without shampoo and soap with all that chemicals in it. In India, they have special natural thing that people wash their hair with, I forget what it is called now but they are hard to find in US.

I am with you in your goal and persistence to follow your own heart!

[TheSimplePoppy]

I would think there is probably a lot of things people around the world wash their hair with that is better than shampoo, but we just don't know about it! Still, giving up the convenience of shampoo is difficult, but I do hope it works. Thanks for commenting!

[Erin Kleider]

Yes, but for different reasons. I have dry curly hair to which I add oil after I wash it and I wash only every third or fourth time with shampoo, otherwise I use conditioner. I tend to go several days without "washing" and that works for me. I don't think any of your remedies would work for me with maybe the exception of the banana wash. They all sound far to drying and that would just lead to frizz. I have to agree with one of the other comment-givers that you are certainly dedicated. I love idea of natural herbal cosmetics and such but they'd have to work. Have you tried making your own shampoo and decanting it into a used bottle? I think there are some herbs that work kind of like soap. I would think that there are recipes for making shampoos and then you could eliminate the chemicals and the waste of packaging.

Erin :)

[Erin Kleider]

Oh...you could also see if anyone is selling natural shampoos on ETSY and see if they'd be willing to decant it into a reuseable bottle for you.

Erin :)

[TheSimplePoppy]

Etsy does actually have some natural shampoos - I'm keeping them in mind in case this whole thing fails! I know a lot of dry curly haired people do conditioner only washes, it makes sense. Of course, those of us with hair like mine are producing enough oil for an entire family :)

[Malika]

When I was reading about the soap bars I was smiling. Then by the applesauce it had turned into laughter, and by the time you were into bananas there were tears running down my face. I remember trying something similar when you were about three months old. It was the beginning of my "lets get back to nature" period. I washed my hair with some sort of egg and vinegar concoction, and stopped shaving my legs. Well my hair as I recalled seemed shiny but lifeless and it smelled of raw egg which made me gag and my legs pretty quickly looked like a gorilla's, so that was also discontinued. I am happy to say that I have managed to live a pretty natural lifestyle but the homemade shampoo has not been part of it. I too admire your tenacity in continuing on this quest. It is because of this admiration that I present you with shikakai which traditionally has been the choice for cleaning hair in India. Many now use shampoo because it is easier, but they never achieve the desired cleanliness, shine and beauty that supposedly happens when using shikakai. It is a powder made from the pods of a nut tree found in India. Dr. Bronner actually has a liquid soap made with this. If you google up shikakai you will get all sorts of wonderful information on this item. I am now intrigued enough to try this myself. Best of luck with your hair.

[Dawn Michelle @ Minimalist Beauty]

I love your writing and was definitely laughing throughout this post. I'm constantly on the search for simply DIY beauty products just for the mere fact of saving money and the joy that my simple creations are as successful if not better than expensive consumer beauty products. It truly is all trial and error. Figuring out what works best for you takes time. I wash my hair with rhassoul clay. I have yet to try shikakai or amla powders yet they are in Karishma henna which I use monthly as a deep conditioner and for the color. I premix the clay with water or aloe vera and use the same way I would shampoo. My hair is soft yet doesn't feel stripped of all moisture like some shampoos feel. My next goal is to find something simple to use as a creamy rinse out conditioner. I love knowing there are other women doing the same thing. :)

[TheSimplePoppy]

Hi Mom! I didn't know Dr. Bronner's had Shikakai in it! Well, I'm definitely going to try the shikakai and amla because it sounds so great. It would be good if you give it a try - you guys must go through massive amounts of shampoo in that house. Love you!

[TheSimplePoppy]

I used to make so many of my own beauty products, but along the way I got too busy. It's only just now that I'm trying to get back to it. I thought clay would be drying, I guess because I've always used it for its ability to draw out impurities - maybe the aloe vera combats the dry properties? I find I'm really enjoying the experimenting again! Thanks for visiting!

[Cortney]

I haven't tried going without shampoo but I have tried shampoo bars twice. The first time was my own handmade bar from my own recipe. I used undiluted(probably the problem) ACV with some EO as the rinse. Like yours my hair was scummy and worsened by the day. So I broke down and bought shampoo. Recently, tired of not finding good products, I bought a shampoo bar from an online handmade vendor. I also ordered the ACV that's infused with herbs. This stuff is WONDERFUL! My hair is clean, smells nice and it's without scum. I really think it depends on the bars ingredients. The oils in mine turned out to be too much for my hair, I also think the EO in the rinse made it worse. Sorry for the book :)

[TheSimplePoppy]

Hi Cortney, someone did mention that the shampoo bar might have been too superfatted for my kind of hair. Makes sense - though I believe that hard water also has something to do with it. I switched to rinsing with white vinegar since some people claimed it worked better for fine oily hair. Not sure I see a difference, but time might tell! Thanks for commenting, and I love long comments! Online community building and all that.

[Di]

Oh my goodness, your post was hilarious! I couldn't stop laughing. I would love to have you for a neighbor...you sound like so much fun!
I first heard about "no pooing" about two months ago. Since then I've been shampooing only once a week, mostly because I am too frugal to throw away the huge bottle of shampoo I have. On the other two days I wash my hair, I use just water and a very brisk massage and sometimes add a couple of drops of Dr. Bronners liquid soap or use a tea tree natural bar soap (both seem to work pretty well). As a conditioner I sometimes use a small squirt of Burt's Bees Avocado Hair Treatment or their Orange Facial Cleanser (same ingredients and texture as the hair treatment) rubbed in the palm of my hand and through my hair to tame it a bit. So far so good. After I'm done with the bottle of shampoo, which will probably last me through 2011 at this rate, I'd like to go completely shampoo free. I might add that I have thick short hair so that might make a difference.

[TheSimplePoppy]

I think having thin hair makes the oil show up - so even when your hair is "clean" it look oily. I have some shampoo left too, but The Simple Man refuses to go without shampoo even though he's bald...he uses it in his beard!