So I'm going to do this "not washing hair" thing. What's in store?! page

[YogaBare]

The not-washing-hair thread that was going a few weeks ago was a real eye opener for me. My hair reacts badly to certain shampoos - they make it static-y. I've tried natural treatments (like avocado, coconut oil, mayonnaise) but my hair shafts are too light and the oils just weigh it down. So I'm going to enter the next phase of "crazy Primal" and stop washing it In fact, I already haven't washed my hair since last year!

So, I've just been rinsing it well with water, and it's turning out okay, but not looking super. I have to do it every day to keep it looking fresh. Is this part of the process? Does it take a few weeks for the hair to adjust? Or do you never get that "clean hair" look again??

[BestBetter]

I tried this a year ago. I read about other people's great experience, and I gave myself 3 months to acclimate to it, using only baking soda and vinegar...those 3 months my hair looked terrible and I was never able to make it work (you know when someone with straight hair uses too much gel and their hair looks kind of wet and weird even when dry? That's how I looked for 3 months!). The baking soda gave me horrible dry scalp, so I had to stop using it. That left me rinsing just with vinegar or plain water.

So for me, it didn't work, but i've been thinking about attempting it again because I really love the idea of not using shampoo, even though I'm expecting I'll probably end up with the same results. As it is, I only shampoo about twice a week, so you'd think my hair would have taken to being shampoo-less relatively easy, but no such luck.

Hope it works out better for you!

[YogaBare]

What kind of hair do you have BB? And the times when you didn't use vinegar, how long did you rinse your hair for? I usually love that squeaky clean feeling you get from shampoo... So when I'm rinsing my hair now I'm literally spending about 15 minutes on it!

If I start to look like I want to be in a band I may have to abandon mission

[Zeera]

Unfortunately I haven't tried this myself so I can't offer any answers, but I am definitely curious to see other people's experiences. Personally my scalp is super oily (yet the rest of my skin is always dry, even with a high fat diet, minimal soap use, and barely warm showers), to the point where at the end of the day my hair is usually very noticeably oily, especially if I have left it down for the day. Certain days if I am not going anywhere I won't wash my hair and it gets kind of gross looking to be honest! I know it could potentially be healthier for me to get away from shampoo, but I don't know if my scalp would ever adjust and stop getting so darned oily!

[peril]

I have washed my hair only in water for about 5 years. In cold water only for nearly a year. There was a period of adjustment after which it has been silky smooth. A big benefit is that it stays styled all day after combing when wet

[valmason01]

http://www.crunchybetty.com/

THis website has a lot of info about the no 'poo thing. I have tried it. Can't do it. I have started washing it abt every 3 days but I am sure that will change come summer. In theory I think its a great idea. In practice, I struggle

[YogaBare]

Here's the thread from a few weeks back. The second last comment takes the lime light

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/forum/thread73525.html

http://www.crunchybetty.com/

THis website has a lot of info about the no 'poo thing. I have tried it. Can't do it. I have started washing it abt every 3 days but I am sure that will change come summer. In theory I think its a great idea. In practice, I struggle

Thanks for the link Valmason!

[zoebird]

I currently wash my hair about once a week.

Day one -- washing day -- is when it is nice and light with lots of fly-aways. Second, third, and Fourth day hair are the best --soft, good girl, very clean and bright, but not flying away. Fifth and sixth day hair is great for more difficult/sleek styles, as the oil helps to hold the hair in place, but it's not an "oil slick" or anything. Fifth is now starting to behave closer to 2/3/4 days.

I had to transition to this, though, because I was used to washing every-other day. First day hair was nice and clean, and second day hair was how 6th day hair now is. So, I simply pushed it out a day -- every third day. Did that for a few weeks. Then every 4th day, and then every 5th day, and so on until I got to once a week.

My washing day occurs on our pool day. Sometimes, we do this twice or three times a week, but on those days, I just avoid getting my hair wet. So, I need to get the chemicals and chlorine out! There are two ways to do this -- rinse or paste. Paste is simply baking soda with enough water to make it a paste, and then you massage your scalp with this. The rinse is baking soda in a lot more water to just rinse your hair with it.

I bring a pre-made rinse plus coconut oil in a small jar, plus another medium jar with just baking soda that I mix into a paste at the pool's shower. I rinse with water in the shower, then use the paste and massage into my scalp. I then use the rinse following to get everything down to the tips of the hair stripped nicely of chlorine/hard water stuff.

For my son and my husband, they just do the rinse.

I then follow up with a coconut oil condition -- which is a small amount of coconut oil put on the middle to ends of hair -- the older, drier parts. My own natural oils will take care of the part closest to my head. I basically put it in and then take a bit to rinse it out.

I'm learning to take cooler showers, too, to help the hair. It isn't easy for me. LOL

If I haven't gone to the pool, then I prefer a vinegar rinse. Vinegar gives me the same feeling as using shampoo, whereas baking soda definitely gets it clean/soft when dry, but when it's wet, i doesn't feel like I did anything at all.

I'm looking to add some cassia/neem mud to the regimen, which is something that I may do once I get home on Monday evenings. This is to better condition there hair as well as help with dander -- a problem that I have had life-long, but now that I am also going through another gut-flora die-off, it's increased again (naturopath said it would). The cassia should also brighten my blond a bit. But for people with darker hair color, it just conditions and provides no color.

I also use a boar bristle brush -- which draws the natural oils from your scalp down your hair -- on dry hair once or twice a day.

[Paleobird]

I tried the no poo thing back when i had really long hair and it was a big greasy fail. Now that I have short hair however, it works brilliantly. I agree with BB that baking soda is likely to be a bit harsh. I just wash with conditioner about once a week with warm water rinses in between.

[zoebird]

Baking soda can be very harsh, but if you have hard water, it works well. And you *must* condition.

I use baking soda paste because of the chlorine -- as nothing else will strip it out easily and quickly. But, again, I'm definitely doing a lot to support my hair otherwise after the fact.

There are lots of rinses that are great -- nettle, for example, is quite good. chamomile for blonds. etc. these are mostly for the scalp.