Wednesday, July 1, 2009

No-poo!

Two days ago will have been the last time I shampoo'd my hair. That is if all goes well with this experiment. There's a no-poo train coming and I'm jumping aboard.

No I'm not trying to grow dreads or become a hippie. Shampoo is bad bad bad for your hair. The sulfates in it strip your hair of natural, healthy oils. Then comes the conditioner with harsh, fake ingredients such as dimethicone. Those ingredients that end in "cone" are there to replace the moisture stripped from your hair because of the shampoo BUT cones don't absorb. They coat your hair strands basically suffocating your hair. Your poor strands are dying of thirst so your body sends signals to your oil glands in your head to produce more oil. The only way to remove the "cones" from you hair is to shampoo. See the vicious cycle? So a lot of people think they can't possibly go more than a day without shampooing because of the oil in their hair. It's BECAUSE of the shampoo that your hair is so oily. The less you shampoo, the less oil your glands will produce and eventually your body will regulate the amount of oil used to moisturize your hair.

Sooo what's a girl to do when they've got nasty, sweaty hair? Co-wash! Co is short for conditioner. There are a lot of cheap, cone-free conditioners you can use to "shampoo" your hair and then follow up with a heavier, cone free conditioner to condition. Simple as that.

Once a week to "reset" your hair you can wash with baking soda and vinegar. Yummy right? 1 tbsp baking soda in one cup of water to scrub your scalp and then follow up with same amounts of vinegar and water to rinse.

This process will wonders for someone like me who has naturally wavy/curly hair. Going 3-4 days without shampooing is already the norm for my hair so I doubt this will be much of a change. I'm hoping that it will revitalize my curls!

15 comments:

Jennifer said...

Let me know how this goes--my hair gets dried and damaged so easily even with the lightest shampoo. I just might have to try this if it goes well!!

Amber + Jonathan said...

Wow Car! You have gone hippie!

Manda said...

I've been doing just the bs/vinegar thing for a week and a half now, and I like it so far. But I think I might need to add some conditioner too since my hair is pretty dry. What kind are you using?

Emili said...

you definiely need to do a follow up post in a few weeks and let us know your observations.

Hayley said...

as of right now i wash twice a week and have little grease...i see what you are onto.

Carly said...

Jenni-my hair is the same! It's SO dry and feels so damaged after shampooing. That says me something.

Nathaly said...

I wash about twice a week, and I feel like just that has cut down on oiliness.

What cone free shampoos are you using?

Very very interesting!

Bree said...

I am really curious how this goes. Keep us posted. What kind of conditioners are you using? Where did you find them? I think we need some before and after model shots. I hear Glamour Shots by Deb does some nice ones.

Bob_C said...

I go a couple of weeks without taking a shower.

Lindsay said...

Hmm, interesting. Can't wait to see your dreds.

Seriously, though, I'm interested to hear how this goes. I have used baking soda on my hair before and it makes it nice and soft.

Aly said...

Just a tid bit of info for anyone/everyone...one of the reasons why hair gets that dried feeling from shampooing is because what happens when you shampoo is you open up the cuticle layer of your hair so it can go in and clean out all the gunk and the cuticle is remained open until you bring in your conditioner. Then the conditioner comes in and will snap shut the cuticle back down and intact the moisture. What most people don't know is that shampoo should be about a 9 on the PH scale. But most store bought shampoos (non professional) land at about a 4 or a 5 causing a lot of damage to the hair. The conditioner is used to balance out the alkalized shampoo by being more on the acid side of the scale. If you're not using a professional brand what ends up happening is the acidity from the shampoo doesn't balance out with the conditioner b/c the conditioner is acidic as well thus causing a lot more damaging to your hair. But if you can find a good organic shampoo it shouldn't damage your hair as much as other chemically made shampoos and conditioners. Sorry if that made no sense. I just learned all about this stuff last week in school :) Just thought I would share.
But like everyone else said...let me know how this goes!

TheKeilShpeel said...

I had no idea. Let me know how it goes.

Diana Bingham said...

I think you should listen to Aly, she is the Pro. I just think you should try my shampoo, it is sulfate free and know the damage I cause my hair every 8 weeks. Good luck. I just am wondering.... do you have a really cool shower cap?????

Bree said...

I knew Aly would turn into a shampoo snob.

Aly said...

Haha I'm not a shampoo snob! I just learned all about shampoo and conditioner and the purpose of them. I just wanted to sound smart okay! It doesn't happen all that often :) And at least I'm not pushing Paul Mitchell products on you.

LW

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