Okay so I just stumbled upon this blog. And now I’m really curious and a little confused!Amber, who blogs over at Fulfilled Homemaking has been shampoo free for over a year.
Amber then did a little experiment. She tried it and took photos of the results.
Week one
Week two
Week three
Week four
Week five
Week six
Six months
Go read her entire story here to see what her baking soda and tea tree oil routine is. I’m flabbergasted. HA that’s a funny but very appropriate word! So what do you guys think? I seriously want to try it. I don’t think I could handle my hair looking that greasy though for six weeks. I mean that is some sick patience right there!!! Maybe we should all try it together… 🙂
Would you be able to hack it? Would your husband/boyfriend allow it?!
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Hey Abby! Did you ever do a follow up on this? Did you try it? I’m thinking of doing it for a blog post in the near future and I’d love to get your input. :0)
Poo free here now for 18 months or more. My hair was feral beryl for 6 months but I was pregnant at the time. I bicarb it with a apple cider vinegar rinse every month or 2 when it gets grotty but otherwise it gets wet every week or so and that’s it. I use coconut oil on my face in place of moisturiser and rub my hands through the ends of my hair afterwards and that’s it.
I do get a little dandruff now though so it probably is time for some tea tree. Otherwise, I LOVE it! No SLS or SLES crap, no supporting big companies and a lot less money to spend on unnecessary garbage. :oD
I have been ‘poo free for 6 months now. In the last month, I have found that I needed to reduce the amount of baking soda I was using. I also cut back on the amount of vinegar I was using to condition AND added honey.
I have truly oily skin/scalp, but even so, it only took me two weeks to get my scalp straightened out and non greasy. During that time, I just washed every other day. Now I can go every 3 or 4.
I rarely use product on my hair, but sometimes I will use a little Paul Mitchell Super Skinny Serum. I have very fine hair, but a LOT of it! It is also SUPER straight.
You have to play with the ratios. For the first few months I would make a paste with the baking soda and scrub it into my scalp. I still do this every few “washes” and I have never had flaky scalp. Actually, I don’t know if this is why, because I have never in my life had a dry scalp. However, I have a few friends who jumped on the band wagon with me and at the 4 month point, they started getting flaky scalps . . . I didn’t.
I am gonna look more into the tea tree oil aspect.
No poo is absolutely the way to go! I stopped “washing” my hair several months ago and it has never been happier. If you can’t stomach it, at least try switching to a sulfate-free shampoo (I sometimes use the Kirkland brand from Costco) and use it once a week or so.
Your hair definitely feels different when you don’t use regular shampoo. It “feels” more “oily,” but it doesn’t necessarily LOOK that way once your hair adjusts. My hair has more body, requires less product, holds curl better, and is so much healthier now!
I tried the no shampoo thing before & I just couldn’t do it. I have naturally curly thick hair that I flat iron or curl with a flat iron. I already only wash my hair maybe once every 3 days (the 3rd day is definitely a ponytail with a headband type day though!) I tried the baking soda & apple cider vinegar thing & I just couldn’t do it. After a week my scalp just felt gross. I think maybe if you have hair that needs to be washed every day this might work for you, but if you’re the type who already skips a few days between washing, this is not going to get enough of that oil & product out of your hair! I so wish it did work for me, but I just don’t have the right hair for it!
I also have naturally thick curly hair. I’m telling you, after the first wash, I knew I was never going back to shampoo. I’m letting my hair grow out again from a short pixie cut, and I find this is an optimal time for going so natural. I love that my hair is “curling” again. After forcing it straight for close to 8 years, (I had a pixie cut that long), I managed to train my hair to un-curl. (It never went straight, per se, but clearly lost it’s ability to form actual ringlets, like it once had years ago.) I’m sorry this didn’t work for you too. In fact, rather than baking soda and ACV rinse, you might try lemon and cucumber. I also add a bit of honey to the mixture. It’s kind of “smoothy-like,” but it really has left my hair feeling healthier than it has in absolute years! I don’t see why this mixture would have to take the place of shampoo, if you are bent on using shampoo and conditioner. Also, since I previously bleached my red hair to produce a strawberry blond color, I have debated using henna once a month. Henna not only dies things red, but it also works as a natural conditioner. I hope this helps any other readers. 🙂
Nooo thank youuuu.
I teach a Zumba class every day. And I’m telling you – my hair is sopping wet with sweat when I am finished. It looks like it’s just been washed, it’s that wet. And I tried just rinsing it, but oh my heck – it was still salty and gross. TMI, probably 😉 , but there you have it. There is NO way I could do this – my hair would be disgusting. If you can do it, more power to you. But it kinda grosses me out. 🙂
I actually just went a couple weeks without washing my hair…not for any particular reason…just cause my hair didn’t feel like it needed it. I’d been swimming a lot the past few days, so that’s the reason why I washed it. I think I could do this. I usually wash my hair about once a week as it is. I find that it helps my hair/scalp to not be dry. I always get compliments on how healthy it looks when I go to the salon…so I guess I’ve been doing something good and didn’t even know it!
so, i’m curious as to the ages of the ladies who have done the no poo?? i used to go once a week between washings with no problem, but after turning 30, my hair has gotten oilier. i’m wondering if i can retrain it again (thinking some other hormone imbalances are the culprit). also, are you ladies putting styling products in your hair or going with nothing with the no poo method? thanks for any answers as i’m intrigued!
I’m 34 and have been “no poo” for three years. Your body definitely goes through a little hormonal change in the early 30s! I tried the no poo method because I was having to wash my hair every day as it would be greasy after just one day. It was sick. About the only product I use is hairspray, most of which rinses out with water. I have long, wavy hair {to my mid-back} and love how healthy it is.
thanks for the reply! that gives me hope! i’m almost 33 now. going on day 6 with 1 rinse. 🙂
I’m 43, and have been no poo for about 2 years or so. Everyone in my family (except my husband) is no poo. I have a 9 year old, a 14 year old and a 20 year old. My son (the 20 year old) uses pomade in his hair.
To avoid any greasiness for the first two weeks, on each Monday I ‘shampooed’ with baking soda and rinsed with vinegar. Just take a quarter size amount and add just enough water to form a paste; rub between fingers and scrub scalp. Then rinse with no more than 1/4 apple cider vinegar to bring the pH balance back to normal. Now I do this on the first of each month to remove any hairspray residue that may build up. I’ve never had any problems with greasiness.
https://www.hdofblog.com/2012/05/no-poo/, after reading this I just don’t think I could do it. I mean I go a week without washing, and I don’t color my hair that often, but when she mentioned the smell of head, and oils running into the sink after washing..kinda seems gross. Not sure I could do it.
I think you are on your own for this one. ahahaaha Do you think it is really bad for your hair if you wash it??? I am really interested in all this stuff however greasy hair is one of my pet peeves. Tell me how it goes for you! 🙂
My husband probably wouldn’t care but there is no way I could go that greasy for that long, even if I wore it up all day b/c I would know how gross it was. I usually go 4ish days without shampooing and I am happy with that.
I think it would be an easier transition for us less-than-twice-a-week shampooers than it did for her. When you wash your hair every day it is SOOOO greasy! Lately, I’ve been going 5 or 6 days before I realize how long it’s been…my hair still isn’t greasy, but I wash it just because it seems gross to go so long! Mostly just to get the hairspray and stuff out of it. So if you just rinse it with water more often and use the baking soda when it’s really nasty…I’d think it’d be ok! I’m willing to try it out! I just need to find a no-heat styling method and I’d be good-to-go (cause if you’re rinsing it more often, you’d have to curl it more).
I’ve been “poo free” for several years now. I think almost 8? I have curly hair, and the no-poo train for curly hair has been running for a long long time. But I will never ever go back. For curly hair, the greasiness doesn’t last nearly as long, maybe a week or two? I don’t do the baking soda & tea tree oil thing. I use organic shampoo if I need it & organic conditioner every time I “wash” my hair. I’d recommend planning on braiding your hair a lot while you transition to no poo.
Luckily for me my hair was only greasy for about one or two weeks. My boyfriend didn’t care…in fact he didn’t even know what I was doing at the time! I used lots of buns and braids to keep my hair from looking too gross, and started it when I didn’t have to go to school every day. Now I use baking soda and apple cider vinegar for conditioner, and my fine hair is in so much better condition than it used to be. I say go for it! 🙂
Here’s my post on the subject:
https://brownsugarbrunette.blogspot.com/2012/04/makeover-monday_09.html
It’s very intriguing! Would you have to give up hair products, too? This could do wonders for your checkbook. 🙂
I tried something really similar a while back. At first I liked it, my hair was more “controllable” after a cleaning. It didn’t ever feel clean like when you use shampoo. But it looked fine. Then after using it for about 5 or 6 weeks my head got really dandruffy and I couldn’t figure out how to tame that. So I went back to shampooing 1x a week and resolved that problem. I have to use more product which stinks, but I don’t have the nasty flakes like I did without. I don’t know why that happened but I hated it.
She’s right, you don’t have to go that drastic though, to avoid the supper greasy problem in the beginning you can use a product called WEN, which I love, whenever it starts to feel too greasy but you need to go as long as you can stand it because your scalp can’t readjust if you still wash it as often. WEN doesn’t have any detergents in it to strip your hair but it will rinse away any excess oils while still conditioning your ends.
I only “wash” my hair once a week and now I can even go ten days without washing and the worst my hair will look is maybe like the pic for week three.
I started washing my hair (with conventional shampoo/conditioner) every other day to maintain healthier hair and scalp (we do not need to wash our hair everyday), and then heard about the “no poo” method. I tried it and loved it! I’ve been “no poo” for about 4 months. I did not have an adjustment period because I had already started to wash every other day. Many people say there is a short adjustment period, but then their hair and scalp are better than ever; I have to agree. I’ll never go back to regular shampoo and conditioner again!
Ok you got my interested, but I don’t know if I can handle greasy hair either!
I sooo couldn’t do it!! looking forward to your pics though!
I have curly hair and have been NooPoo-ing for over a year now. My hair has never looked better! In fact, if you want to see before and after pics , you can email me at [email protected]
I never use shampoo…..okay every 4-5 weeks I do,cause my scalp gets gross,but I have naturally curly hair,so this is one of the musts if you have curly hair. I’ve heard of baking soda and apple cider vinger is used as a shampoo,and t seems to work nicely for my mom (I tried to get her not to use shampoo cause of the way her hair frizz’s) but she has to use shampoo,so she does that instead. Her hair isn’t curly,but it is thick and wavy.
I love the feel of clean shampooed hair,but def. not the look of it. 😉
Hmmm…detox for your scalp, looks intriguing! I could maybe pull it off with a lot of braids…I’m all for the group experiment – at least then when you explain what you are doing to other people you can explain you are not the only crazy person!
I’ve been No Poo for three years now. It only took my hair three weeks to not be greasy. I rinsed it with just warm water on the days it looked greasy so no one else could tell.
After about six months my hair dresser commented on how beautiful, clean, and soft my hair was, that it was in healthiest hair she had ever seen on any of her clients. I finally broke down and told her I didn’t wash it with shampoo. She was flabbergasted too! In a house full of seven daughters it really saves on the shampoo conditioner cost!
My routine now is to rinse with baking soda twice a week (Sundays and Wednesdays) and with apple cider vinegar on Sundays as a natural conditioner. I also have sweet almond oil that I will rub into my hair in the harsher summer heat and winter cold.