Alternative to No Poo: Weeks 1 and 2

This time, I've done things differently.  No baking soda, it's not the right pH for hair.

What am I doing this time?  Honey washes, apple cider vinegar rinses.  I try not to "wash" my hair too often- every 3-4 days.  My hair is already pretty much used to this anyway.

Before I shower, I brush with a boar bristle brush.  In the shower, I pour on a solution I've made with a little dollop of honey diluted in water, pour on and leave on.  I then scritch (gently!!), massage the scalp, finish whatever other showering things I'm doing, and rinse really well.  If things feel really slick (and whew, by the end of week 2 they were really feeling pretty heavy), I will gently wipe a washcloth down my hair from the scalp; I try to not just have the water on the top but block my ears and get the temples too.
Then I have a very dilute ACV rinse, which I rinse out right away.

In the two weeks since I started, the transition has been pretty interesting.  The first week I was getting oily, but I could still sort of get away with having my hair down if I blow dried and styled it (no product).  By the end of the day things would be pretty stringy.  Getting into week 2, I really felt like unless I was home alone I needed a ponytail.  Thankfully in my job right now I can wear a hat (it's winter and I'm outside) so I haven't needed to worry about the public too much.

Things look pretty interesting when I wake up!  Serious bedhead, heavy greasy hair, and my daily brushing with the BBB was more like slicking down than anything else.  I have been parting the hair into sections to get all of the hair brushed through.  It's seriously icky, and a true challenge.  Still, most accounts say 6 weeks so I'm all in.

These first two photos are week 1.   Although things are stringy, I notice that it's shinier (duh- sebum, right?)





 These next 2 photos are week 2, getting a little heavier in the oiliness.  Brushing is a little easier in the essence that the static flyaways are becoming less and less- oil to weigh it down.  It's winter right now and the house is very dry, as we heat with wood.

This was taken right after I showered, and blow dried the hair in hopes of leaving it down.  Too yucky- no such luck.

Why switch to all natural hair?

Listen- I'm a veterinarian.  My experience with animals shows that unless your dog is a total mud bucket, most of them do not require baths.  The ones that are bathed often need to be continuously bathed- because the natural oils on their coats are stripped off!  Sure, you have exceptions (who makes more grease than a Yorkie?) but mostly, I only bathed my dogs once or twice a year.  They were clean, healthy, and had lovely coats- and swam in the ocean on a regular basis.  I never stripped their coats.

Take cats, for example.  It's outright betrayal to them if you stick them in a tub, and soap them up.  I have never, ever bathed my cats.  I love the way their skin and fur smell.  I feed them good, grain free, high protein food to ensure they're in great health; they have the nicest coats I've come across.  What do cats to do keep clean?  They groom.  They never dunk in water, never need a bath.

What about people?  I believe we can do the same.  Do I mean never shower?  Of course not; we have sweat glands and all sorts of fun things located in our pits and crotches, and we lack the bendability to groom properly anywhere.  Honestly though, I use very little soap and my body is healthier for it.  What do I mean?

My face used to break out constantly.  I was a never ending pimple. I bought washes, creams, masks, and toners to try and "clean" up the problem.  Then I'd follow up with makeup- cover up, foundation, powder and so forth- to cover up the mess.  One day, I realized that I was making extra pimples near where I applied the cover up.  In a move of utter boldness (I was only 17 or 18) I thought, that's it.  I'm just not wearing this anymore.  I had a rough period of a couple of weeks as my face readjusted (oh the horror!) but I stuck with it, and lo and behold- a severe and notable reduction in pimples.   All this, after all that Retin-A and the works!  All it took was to stop touching my face!  These days, I rinse my face with water, exfoliate with a wash cloth, and I'm good to go.  I rarely wear makeup and my skin looks great.

Another lesson I learned was that I was developing yeasty beasties all the time, much to my embarrassment and discomfort.  I talked to my OB-GYN about that and she suggested to quit putting such harsh soaps in close contact with sensitive skin.  Viola- a dramatic reduction in problems.  These days, the soap does not touch my girl bits; just around it.  No more problems.

Well, that got me to thinking.  Are we stripping our bodies too much?  People who over bathe their dogs get dogs with skin problems.  I myself am healthier since I stick to using soap in just a few choice areas.  What have I been doing to my hair?

It's worth thinking about.  I am hopeful to switch to just rinsing my hair with water, eventually.  Just like cats, though, grooming is the key.  Our ancestors weren't showering all the time, and didn't have gross hair; trust me.  The key is to use a firm brush or your nails to massage your scalp, loosening skin cells and stimulating the follicles and sebum glands.  Those are the oil glands.  They're your friend.  Then, you want to help the oil get all the way down the shaft of the hair.  A boar bristle brush works great, as well as clean hands; a combination of the two is even better.  That's where the 100 strokes every night comes from.  Groom yourself, rinse with water, keep yourself clean- that's all you need to do.  No need to strip yourself with harsh cleansers all the time. Most of us barely get dirty anyway.

I'll be posting a photographic journey so you can see what it takes to transition.

Here's some links to helpful websites that have inspired me (some do recommend baking soda which I most strongly urge you to avoid):
Water wash only
Great blog on hair history
Photographic journey
Honey "shampoo"
Conditioner only method
Herbal rinses
Coconut milk pH balanced "shampoo"
Why baking soda damages hair

There are plenty more out there, enjoy the research!

Coming back to No Poo

It's been some years since I've written in this blog.  In the interim, I hennaed for a while, and then quit.  I stuck with the shampoo bars until I started realizing it was stripping my hair too much- it was hard to comb and manage as it grew out.  I also hated how dark my hair was getting when I no longer wanted the red of the henna… little by little the commercial products crept in, until voila- I was back where I was.  First, I dyed my hair again because I hated how dark it was.  Then, because it got all dried out by living close to the ocean and having stripped it of color (I go for light blonde in a box), I went for the shampoo and conditioner again.  I was buying the "natural" stuff, no SLS or silicones or parabens; but still.  Wow, that stuff is expensive!  Expensive and honestly not doing a whole lot for me.

After a few years of running on the beach and sailing, swimming in the ocean and intermittently coloring my hair, it was dry as straw.  It was long, down to mid back, but honestly looked not so great. I went to a salon and was sold shampoo, conditioner, leave in conditioner- all costing me around $100! Seems ludicrous, right?  Right!  I remembered my days of "no poo" and wondered how I could get my hair back to health.

First, I stopped dying, about a year ago.  My own natural blonde has been something I've hated for a long time, but I've grown to love the deep honey color it is.  Then, I just had my hair cut to my shoulders to get rid of the bulk of the damaged stuff.  It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't great; and it was much lighter than my natural color.  So off it went.  Right after, I thought- wouldn't this be a great time to try again?  I'm committed to no longer coloring my hair, and letting it just be vibrant and healthy whatever it looks like.  Why not ditch the shampoo?

When I started this experiment many years ago, I jumped on the BS and ACV bandwagon like everyone else.  Back then there wasn't as much info as there is now, the movement was much smaller.  I went on the 'net and saw that so many more people are giving it a try- including celebrities!- and saw that people are actually going towards completely natural hair, with no product or recipes at all (see: water washing).  There is some evidence now that baking soda is actually quite rough on the hair, causing dryness and breakage over time.  I absolutely believe that.

So last week, I gave my hair one final clarifying shampoo, and jumped.  I've been using honey to soften and clarify my hair, followed by a quick rinse with dilute cider vinegar.

I know the dreaded "transition period" is upon me.  I've been ok so far.  My hair is trained to only be washed every 3 days (yes, I shower more frequently than that) so I am not suffering from total greasies yet.  Plus, all the reading I did prepared me; I have a boar bristle brush, and brush each night to distribute my hair's natural oils.  So far so good!  I think that the people reporting the worst of the greasies are not using these brushes to bring the oils down the hair.  You have to groom every day!  It's a must.  It's helpful that my hair isn't so long, and no longer carrying damaged weight.  I'm looking forward to growing it out completely healthy and strong.

What will I do?  Well, I am going to transition for a while using honey and ACV.  My hope is that I will eventually be able to space that out to monthly, or as needed.  We shall see!

This photo is immediately post-haircut; I will shampoo once more to clarify, and that's that.

Update!

Well, as before, I've settled out into a routine just using handmade bar "shampoo" which seems to be working wonders for me.  It's getting longer, and is in great shape.  This photo, taken today, is almost a month after my last henna/cassia/amla mix.  I use mostly cassia with a tiny bit of henna; it's generally very red after application, more red than I think I want.  I do like being blonde; next time I may use either all cassia or the tiniest whif of henna.  A little goes a long way!  I love how silky it is right after application though.  Very amazing. 

Yummy shampoo bars!

This is what I've been cleaning my hair with.  I may play around with French Green Clay or Rhassoul clay in the future, but for now, I've got a bunch of little samples and I've been enjoying playing with them.  I still have some leftover Aveda conditioner I'm using up (it was $$$!) but when that is gone I'll switch back to jojoba and apple cider vinegar.  My man likes the soap bars too!

The descriptions on this website are great, and the way they help you figure out which soap would work best.  My hair is very soft and shiny, and never feels stripped or heavy.  I still only wash it every 4 days or so (5 when it's dry out) and I've been very pleased.

I make home made shaving cream for my guy, and when I order cocoa butter next I'll order some French Green and some Rhassoul and see if I like that as well.  A friend from Boston has been using the French Green to great success!

9 months out!

Wow! Well it's been 9 months since I stopped using commercial shampoos. I have to admit I've changed things a little bit, because I hated how baking soda was making my hair feel. I've been unable to get any French Green clay, but I did find some "shampoo" bars made locally that work amazing!
The website, chagrinvalleysoapandcraft.com, explains what they have better than I could. Basically they use old, old recipes for stuff to clean hair that in no way uses anything like silicones, parabens, and other yucky things. My hair feels amazing, very soft and I only wash once or twice a week, usually. I can feel the difference in the hair that's grown in over the last few months since I've been using it. They are made with all kinds of stuff that these folks grow (with a few things they ship in) and smell delicious! I bought a bunch of samples so I can figure out which one is my favorite. I have a tiny bit of Aveda conditioner left from my original purchase way back last summer, and I'm using it up a tiny bit at a time- it was expensive so I don't dare throw it out.

The other change is that I also hennaed my hair. I used a mix of cassia and henna since I didn't want to go too red, and some amla to tone it down. 200 g cassia with 25 g henna and 14 g amla in all. It was goopy, messy and so worth it- my hair is super glossy, very silky and it has helped the damage on the super blonde part at the bottom (which I think the baking soda did some damage to!) I like the way it looks, a lot. My natural color that grows in (before the sun bleaches it) is very dark blonde, dishwater/ mouse really, and this helped to even it out and darken everything. I don't particularly like to be bleach blonde!

It's grown, too. Despite some trims, it's definitely getting there.

Day 83

Well! I feel like the experiment is going well, though it has certainly taken a turn. I felt like the BS was really drying out my hair. I loved the body, but it seemed to me that there was some damage going on. I know that hairdressers use BS to strip color out of the hair, and it's used as a cleaning solvent... it's harsh! But I didn't want to go back to washing my hair every other day with harsh commercial chemicals. I was at an impasse.

I had a little sample bottle of Burt's Bees Herbal Remedy shampoo. It's basically oils and fats, with essential oils and teas in it. That's it. No SLS, no parabens, no silicones, nothing. Since I was getting really wary of BS, I decided to try it, last week. After all, it's in my house already, may as well use it. It worked well. It did not strip my hair completely of oils, and felt shiny and soft. I used my old Aveda conditioner as well, it seemed the most benign of the stuff I have left in the house. I was pleased, and had an unexpected bonus: I can go a full week now without needing to wash it. I still did a water only rinse every day or every other day, and resorted to a ponytail by day 4 or so... but still! My whole endeavor is based around not washing my hair as often, and consuming less.

But it left me in a quandry. What to do? I didn't want to go back to BS. I know some other folks have had trouble with BS as well, being too drying. I don't have enough knowledge on what really makes a shampoo to make one myself- I know that oil can remove oil, to a degree (that's the basis of castile soap), which is great if you don't want to strip your hair. So I went shopping, for something I can use until I come up with an alternative myself. (Maybe I'll give castile soap another try. Hmmm.) I scoured Whole Food's beauty aisles, and shockingly only found a few that really did not have SLS, parabens and silicone. I wanted the least ingredients. Burt's Bees is a good contender, as well as Kiss My Face. I went for Kiss My Face, it had nothing fishy in it, mostly essential oils and so forth.

I like the results so far. I can tell the oils are not stripped from my hair. Today (the photo above) is day 2 from a wash with it. So, yes, I am using shampoo, but I'm tired of ruining my hair. This will be what I use until I figure out what I can use that isn't damaging. Meanwhile I am working towards using the product less and less, I need to be brave and go beyond 7 days now. Inch by inch! If I do that, then this bottle will last me a long time anyway. I feel bad that I chickened out on the BS, and thus the experiment, but my hairdresser commented during my last haircut that I had to lay off the hair dye... and I haven't dyed my hair in months!!! I had to get a lot cut off just to get it back into health, and I'm trying to grow it out! Not worth it...