Ayla,
It will lighten it, but not like "white" like heavy chemical peroxides. A lot of people will use hennas, and then do a monthly honey-lightening treatment, and it just takes it down from dark red to a more "coppery color" -- dark copper, though. :)
So, it would probably take yours to a nice brown.
I might point out that eggs are more expensive options. It's $.82 to wash my hair with two eggs, whereas the coconut oil and honey is probably less than $.03 per wash. I can't quite remember the numbers. . . but yeah. :D
ZB would you do that rinse once a week?
I also have henna waiting for me to use it, but am too scared ill mess it up.
I have very long fine, straight, oily hair. I have used conditioner only on it for almost 10 years. It needs to be washed every 3 days, but I usually let it go for a week, by which time there is about 6" of greasy, stringy, stuck-together locks.
When I wash it, I massage the scalp well to release oily skin build-up. I get a lot of that. I've always been a skin shedder.
Water only wouldn't work for me. I need to be able to style my hair, and if it's even just a little bit greasy, I couldn't. I know some people find it easier to put up their hair a day or more after it is washed. For me it is the opposite. Unless it is quite clean, it clings to itself in a most unattractive way.
My husband has been water-only for four years and styles his hair every day. He realized after the first couple months that he could stop using gel and could style his hair with just a bit of coconut oil instead.
My water-only hair styles much more easily now, because of its natural volume. It no longer hangs limply. If I neglect my brief daily preening, it will get overly greasy on top and eventually get quite nappy, though. It takes just a minute or two per day, far less than a shower and drying.
And no, the CO-BS mix I use for deo doesn't stain at all. I just get a little bit out, let it soften in my hand or on my underarm skin, then rub it in well. Never enough that it would rub off on clothes, but it always works.
I think I am going to officially call myself no-poo now - last night I tried the egg yolk conditioner, swirled with a splash of Braggs acv for dandruff, and am stunned at how it works. I have been using baking soda for the wash.
Now I will give one of my kids a hair wash today using baking soda - I try stuff on myself before I experiment with the kiddos.
You know how sometimes you ask yourself "I wonder how we ever got along without (fill in the blank)?!" when you cannot imagine life without x modern convenience/product? Well, in this case, now I know!!
The tides are starting to turn!
I've been using a lot of the great advice on this thread in my second and last attempt to go shampoo-free. The first time I tried, even 2 months later my hair was a greasy gross mess.
What I'm doing differently this time that seems to be working:
-Instead of going shampoo-free cold turkey like the first time, this time I gradually reduced the number of times per week I was shampooing, until it was about once per week.
-not using any baking soda at all - since it made my scalp so dry last time I tried it, it started to make me think that it was stripping all my scalp oils (which makes it just as bad as shampoo in my opinion) and was probably contributing to the excess oil.
-using a boar bristle brush everyday (except the one I got is too soft and not very practical)
-VERY IMPORTANT- using MamaGrok's 'preening' strategy. Several times a day I run my fingers through my hair and give myself a quick scalp massage. This seems to have been making a huge difference.
Now, after about 2 months, my hair is looking as good as it used to after a shampoo (which isn't very good, so I'm hoping it continues to improve so that I end up looking better). My very thin hair is feeling slightly thicker but the texture isn't any better than when I was shampooing; it's still too early for an official judgement but even if this is as good as it gets, I'm happy to at least not need shampoo anymore.
Anyhow, I'm really glad I was inspired to try the shampoo-free thing again after reading this thread. Thanks to everyone for the advice!
You can do the lightening weekly -- it shouldn't cause a problem -- or you could do it once a month (or less). The lightening usually lasts a month (grow out), so most people do it monthly.
[QUOTE=BestBetter;1106142]-using a boar bristle brush everyday (except the one I got is too soft and not very practical0[/quote]
Interesting. I was going to buy boar bristle based on comments here and on Badger and Blade. I was looking at the soft one because I don't like the idea of tearing my hair out with a stiff brush. But the Amazon reviews for the soft one aren't good. And it sounds like you don't like it either. Should I go to the medium?