3 Weeks With No Shampoo And …???

crunched by Crunchy Betty on November 2, 2010
filed under Hair

One of my favorite parts of going no 'poo.

Jeezopee. Can you believe it’sÂ been three entire weeks since the beginning of the no ‘poo experiment?

I cannot.

Time went by so quickly, and you know what? I only missed the shampoo twice: Once in the beginning when I had really dry ends (which I mentioned in the It Gets Better post) and once when I wanted my hair to smell like flowers or springtime or happiness.

Not that it ever smelled bad. The feedback was, it never smelled like anything.

Anyway, I’m getting ahead of myself. Here’s what we’re doing today:

I’m going to give you an update and my thoughts on this whole monumental change. Then, I’m going to show you my before and after picture.

After that, I’m going to open the floor for anyone to talk about their experience. But (more importantly) if anyone wants to send me a before and after picture, I’ll create a section in this post just for you.

Ready? Set. Go!

My Thoughts on No ‘Poo

This was so much harder than switching to homemade deodorant. I didn’t expect that.

I suppose having to look at or run your fingers through your hair is much different than sniffing your armpits. Much more tactile. Much more … alarming.

Through this entire three weeks, I stuck to the basic formula, which you can find here. I didn’t stray once.

I washed my hair every three to four days, depending on how oily it was. Occasionally, I would rinse it with plain water in the shower.

One of my favorite parts of going no ‘poo, surprisingly, was the rubber-flower shower cap I used. I picked that old thing (above) up at a thrift store last year and never, ever, ever thought I’d get use out of it.

Now, my head gets to look like an anemic daisy-covered light bulb or an extra from the Beauty School Dropout scene in Grease. It’s kind of awesome.

So, when I wasn’t washing my hair with baking soda and apple cider vinegar, I was using the shower cap. I wish I could send you one, but I’m pretty sure it’s the only one of its kind these days. The others all combusted on the heads of smokers in the 1950s.

This is what hair looks like when it isn't shampooed.

Check it out. That’s my “after” pic. (I’m feeling neither smiley nor photogenic tonight. Sorry about that.)

That’s what my hair looks like when it hasn’t been shampooed for three weeks.

The Detailed Run-Down on No ‘Poo Results

The first week was t-o-u-g-h. My hair was greasy and REALLY dry at the ends. Around day 9, it suddenly zapped into relative perfection. This further solidifies the idea that if you’re going to try this: You have to give it time to work.
Now that it’s been three weeks, my hair feels thicker – but I think it may just be the natural oils doing their job. Either way, the hair has substance, baby. I would no longer classify my hair as fine at this point. It’s better than fine.
Oddly, even though it’s thicker and less dry and FAR less “flyaway-ish,” it’s also more prone to static electricity. Huh. Haven’t heard anyone else say that.
Unlike other reports from people with straight hair, mine did not find some inherent wave. In fact, it became MUCH more straight. The times I’ve worn it down, I haven’t even needed to use a straightener.
I’ve noticed it does better if I don’t use the hair dryer and just let it do its own drying naturally – otherwise, it feels a little dry and brittle.
It’s incredibly shiny compared to before. And it’s a deep shine. A healthy shine. Yeah. That’s right. My hair is the bomb.
Lastly, it has darkened in color. There’s no more brassy ring to it (which I wasn’t even aware of before). It’s just a deep, rich, dark brown.

All pretty good stuff, yeah?

Before and After No ‘Poo Wrap-Up

Am I going to go back to shampoo?

VERY occasionally. If it weren’t for my affinity for homemade hair masks, I probably wouldn’t ever use shampoo again. But, this blog dictates that I do other fun stuff with my hair – so I think there might be a shampoo or two in my future. Especially given the no ‘poo/olive oil mask debacle here at Confessions of a Baltimore Housewife.

BUT! I will only shampoo once in a blue moon at this point. Only when I have no other alternative. And it will always and only be natural, organic shampoos (no real surprise in THAT revelation, huh?).

Suffice it to say, I’m a hardcore no ‘poo convert. It worked for me.

Wanna see?

(I know you do.)

Now, I know the lighting is a little different (I forgot to turn on my back light tonight), and my hair isn’t quite that much darker, but it is noticeably darker. So much so, I had someone ask me yesterday where I had gotten it colored. Ha.

Also? In both pictures, my hair had just been washed (“before” with shampoo and “after” with baking soda and apple cider vinegar) and left to air dry. Other than the lighting, the “control” was exactly the same.Â Three weeks on the nose – that’s the time span between those two pictures.

Which hair do you prefer?

What Kind of No ‘Poo Thoughts Do You Have?

Did you do this?

Did it work?

Do you love it/hate it/feel a little emo about it?

And if you DIDN’T do it and were waiting to see what my outcome is, do you think you’re brave enough to give no ‘poo a shot?

And don’t forget to send me before and after shots. If anyone does that, I’ll pop a brand-new section in right before this one with your pics and a link to your blog, iff’n you so choose. You can send before and afters to leslie@crunchybetty.com

Man. I’ll tell you what. There’s no better feeling than finding out how much better off you are with less.

No shampoo? No problem.

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Puterbum8

I’m 17 years old and I went no ‘poo with my mom 5 months ago! Woo! I love it! I have less acne and my hair curls and all that jazz way better!
Someone

I’m thinking of adding 1 egg, beaten, some molasses and warm olive oil to the baking sodawater mixture. What do you think?
Babs

I love your blog! I think you’re great, but I blame you (at least in part, there are other internet people who did this to me too) for how my hair looks right now!

Bah! I have been No ‘Poo for two (2!) months now and my hair is STILL greasy. I am starting to give up hope.

At first during this experiment I had high hopes that No ‘Poo would work, and I was only ‘washing’ my hair once a week with 1 tablespoon of baking soda dissolved into a cup of water, and then ‘conditioning’ it with a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar dissolved into another cup of water. I washed my hair so infrequently because I thought my scalp was ‘detoxing’ and would do so faster if I didn’t mess with it much.

After waiting a few weeks for my hair to detox, I eventually had to admit to myself that it was still alarmingly greasy, and so I began rubbing it with a washcloth while in the shower so as to redistribute my natural hair oils. This washcloth rubbing that I do is a legitimate No ‘Pool technique and is called, “The Mexican Rag Method.”

I have like, 5 boars hair brushes that I also brush my hair with, and then
have to wash right after using because the bristles are always all filled with
grease.

I brush my hair every day with these 5 brushes and see absolutely no
improvement in the amount of oil that remains puddled on my scalp.

After the end of the second month of this situation, I began to grow disillusioned and undertook an aggressive No ‘Poo cocktail of using baking soda, vinegar, the Mexican rag method and the brushing with a boars hair brush one after another in sequence. This did nothing to cut the grease.

My disillusionment soon turned to desperation, and in the past 2 days I have washed my hair with an egg, some green clay I bought at the health food store, baking soda and vinegar and baking soda and the juice of a fresh lemon. Then, after ‘washing’ I used the Mexican rag method and then brushed my hair with all of my 5 brushes. . . AND MY HAIR IS STILL GREASY.

The **** am I doing wrong?!?! I have very fine, straight, limp, brown crappy hair. I managed to break quite a lot of it while brushing it and rubbing it with rags in the shower, but most of my hair grows to about the middle of my back.

Does anybody know if No ‘Poo just doesn’t work for people with crappy hair like mine?

Please don’t feel bad for inspiring me to stop washing my hair and looking greasy and unkempt for two months, I did it to myself. I don’t REALLY blame you, the internet, or the No ‘Poo method for my situation. . . I blame my hair.

inez

Hey, I had the similar problem awhile back and we have the same kind of hair. I found that I was using too little baking soda and too much vinegar.
Try 1 1/2 tblspn baking soda in 1 1/2 cups of water. Use a plastic bottle, like the kind that comes from hair dye. The tip helped me get it into my scalp better and distribute it more evenly. Saturate your hair with water first though, before applying. Massage your hair from root to shaft like you would normally with any shampoo and rinse. Then, use 1 tblspn of apple cider vinegar in 3 cups of water. Try not to use too much on your scalp; as this is the mistake I was making and it was coming out greasy. Its hard to not use too much of the rinse on your scalp, but i used the bottle the distribute that evenly, also. I use just barely enough on my scalp then the rest on my hair shaft (I saved two bottles from my root dyeing.) After you use the acv rinse, rinse your hair again with warm water. I sandwich my hair between my hands and rub downwards as Im rinsing my hair out. I always feel the oils in my hair shaft as Im doing this and worry that I used too much of either one, but it seems to work. I rinse my hair 2 days later. Sometimes I have to do this twice a week, if rinsing my hair out with water doesnt get it clean. (I work in an auto parts store, very, very dusty, so I have to do all of this twice a week sometimes)
I hope this helps. If it doesnt, try an organic shampoo and conditioner from Natural Grocers Vitamin Cottage, if you have one where you live, (theyre cheaper than whole foods).
Silverempiress

Do you have hard water? I am on the third week of no poo and everything went great the first week but the second week my hair felt greasy even with way more baking soda. I found a blog that said if you have hard water the minerals will build up on your hair. It said to boil water, let it cool and then use your cooled boiled water with the baking soda and acv. I did this and it worked. You can rinse your hair with regular shower water but mix the bs and acv with the boiled water. My roots are now squecky clean but I think I am still using too much acv on my ends they are a little sticky. Boiling my water and using that to make up my bs/water and acv/water mix helped so much.
Try that before giving up.
http://profiles.google.com/allybeth4 Ally Beth

Maybe you are brushing it too much? That always makes my hair feel more greasy and takes the oil to the ends of my hair. What happens if you just used a regular brush, instead of a boar bristle brush? Just curious

Kate

I have been poo-free for over a year now, and I don’t think I’ll ever go back. I use 1/2 T of baking soda in 12 oz of water for the wash and 3-4 T of ACV in 16 oz. of water for the rinse. My hair is on the curly side- it will straighten if I blow it out and be wavy if I leave it alone. I found that even after a few months my ends were still pretty dry. So, I finish with a little bit of commercial conditioner (organic, of course!) which I leave in. Then, to enhance the curl I “plop” my hair. I press the curls to my head using a t-shirt and leave it there as long as possible. Overnight is great. Then, I end up with nice, well-defined curls with no frizz.

So advantages are much less frizz, need to wash every 2-3 days, (I was an everyday washer before,) less split ends, and it’s toxin-free!
Lark

Ciao from Italy– I really love your blog! Bit of a challenge for you: I was wondering if anyone can offer advice about hair care for swimmers? I’m currently swimming about 5 times a week and am becoming increasingly uncool about the amount of chemicals my hair is being exposed to on a weekly basis. Obviously I’d rather have chlorine in the pool than Legionaire’s disease, but if there exists in the crunchy collective any natural way of combatting the effects I’d love to hear it!

Gigglemei

hey I swim too and club soda actually neutralizes the effects of chlorine in your hair. After swimming just pour this through your hair and continue with whatever you would usually do such as shampoo and condition.
Darling12you

I’ve heard that powdered ascorbic acid (aka vitamin C) neutralizes chlorine. I put about a tablespoon of it in my bath, to offset all the chlorine they put in the water supply to kill bacteria.

Plus, ascorbic acid powder, or buffered vitamin C powder (which just adds some calcium & magnesium to make it less acidic & more gentle) actually nourishes your skin, it’s like food for your skin. You might want to try making a mix of ascorbic acid & water to rinse your hair with. Be sure to wash your hair afterwards. When I don’t wash it out, it acts sort of like a hairspray–I look like I have bed head or my hair stays in sort of a towel-dried mess until the next time I wash it. Luck!

Heather

I’ve been no poo for a little over a month now and love it. I did have the breaking-in phase, but much of that, I think, was that I wasn’t getting the BS scrubbed in very well. I don’t tell many people that I’ve made this switch; I get too much judgment and end up explaining myself too much. So I just keep it to myself. Note: My dandruff has significantly decreased with no poo. That, and the environmental benefits, why would people NOT switch?
hazeleyedshorty77

Hey! I have been doing No ‘Poo for 9 days now. I was wondering…Will brushing my hair speed up the “transition phase”? Obviously I wouldn’t brush it a zillion times, but probably 50-100 strokes a day…?
My hair is similar to yours. Thin. I also have quite long hair (reaches to my belly button). I am blonde too. So will it take longer in the transition phase because the oil has to go throughout my whole head?

I have also noticed that my hair doesn’t look that gross, it just feels gross…really gross. So far I am good though. And I am pretty sure my transition period won’t last that much longer (because I have similiar hair to yours). Thanks for you post! Much appreciated.
Hazeleyedshorty77

Oh My Lanta! I love my hair now. I have been No ‘Poo for 13 days and today was the day my “transition phase” ended. My hair is sooo soft. I can’t stop touching it. It is definatly worth it.

The only thing that I disliked, was the fact that my hair darkened a little. I have blonde hair and I would like to keep it as blonde as possible, not dirty blonde. :/

Don’t think that No’ Poo permanently darkens your hair! The reason your hair darkens is because your hair took in your natural moisture (oil) and locked it in. When your hair is oily, its darker, right? But what happens when your hair locks in that moisture on the inside? It darkens!
Just letting you know.

Also, if you are considering going No ‘Poo, one suggestion: Brush your hair! (not too much)
Brushing your hair will make your transition phase (gross oily stage where your hair is changing its PH levels) go faster. Your transition phase won’t end until the oil has fully reached the ends of your hair. When this happens your body realizes it doesn’t have to produce soo much oil. Thus, ending the transition phase and beginning the beautiful stage.

Hope this was helpful!
Jessie

It took my hair a little longer to adjust. I’ve been No ‘Poo for a couple of months and I love it. I’d say it took me about 6 weeks or so to adjust. If you’re just trying this, stick with it!
April Breland

I just started this yesterday and I’m already loving it. Granted, I only washed my hair with shampoo about once a week anyway, but I’m enjoying the fact that I was able to sleep on wet hair and not wake up a yeti the next morning. I’ll let you know how it goes! I even have a before picture(again, it hadn’t been washed in like a week so I don’t get the nice control that you have). Anyway, thanks for turning me on to being a crunchy!
Brandyantor

2 and a half years of no ‘poo, hippy-dippy nutjob living! I was just going to try it and see, but I’m a convert. Surprises the heck out of the salon ladies who cut my hair, as a) I don’t smell like a salad dressing and b) I don’t have split ends. It’s fun to tell people, as I’ve witnessed people actually physically step backward and away from me.
Sarahliann

Just found your blog, and never heard of going no ‘poo, however I am a perfect candidate for no ‘poo bc I only wash my hair once or twice a week (really dry hair), but now that I am a 30-something I have noticed I can’t go as long as I once did (getting oily almost next day, very perplexing, messing with my system). I did my first no ‘poo the other day and am really excited about it, I did not get oily the next day! Thanks! I am looking forward to what will happen next. In the last few months I have replaced all skin care items with edible things, never thought this possible for my hair…like I said super excited!!!
Rachel

I’ve been no ‘poo for about 6 weeks now and my hair looks great! But I have really bad dandruff and my head is SOOOO itchy!! I really don’t want to go back to using shampoo, so any suggestions would be wonderful! Thanks
Ireland-4-ever

How does this work for color-treated hair? Does the BS/ACV have any ill effects on the color?
Hime

I started my no ‘poo journey today! I was wondering if it were okay to use commercial conditioner on your shaft/ends, or does it strictly have to be the ACV wash?
Regina

I am in the beginning stages of No Poo (Day 11 of a BS wash and lemon juice/water rinse), and I too am experiencing extra static. Did you ever figure out anything that fixed this problem? Or will it go away as I continue to adjust? Thanks!
Jwells

You should try Wen by Chaz Dean. I am having the same results you are having, with a more pleasant smell and feel and a more gentle transition…
Laneashley9

What can you use to make your hair smell good?