I’m surprised it has taken so long for someone to reply to your question, but I guess there are more users asking questions rather than answering them hahaha. Anyway, if you haven’t solved your problem yet, I’ll give you some tips that will hopefully point you in the right direction.
First off, having problems while going no poo are rather difficult to solve, because there are soooo many factors that can cause problems, but I’ll try to list some common problems and you can try them out to see if you have any changes.
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Baking soda+ACV washes aren’t for everyone. I was on the BS+ACV for about 5 months. In the beginning it was cleansing my hair, but then I started encountering a problem very similar to yours: my hair was looking more and more oily and greasy, like I hadn’t washed it in a long time despite the fact I was washing it regularly. I started increasing my washes from once a week to every 3 days then to every other day. Still the problem was present. I tried changing the amount of baking soda and apple cider vinegar, but still the problem remained. I almost threw in the towel, when another no-poo told me to find another wash and completely forget about BS+ACV. The BS+ACV is NOT for everyone, in fact, it’s only suitable/doable for a select group of people who have a particular hair type and water. More people have problems with BS+ACV than people having success with it. Look online for different washing methods. I found that honey and lemon washes works pretty good for me, however do research to find one that suits you.
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Hard water is a No Poo nightmare. Pretty much in every situation that involves no poo and hard water, it’s always no bueno. I suggest buying a water filter for your shower head, or if you have enough cash you can buy a water softener. Water filters are much cheaper, however people have more success with water softeners. You can buy water test strips (usually around $5-$10 at your local hardware store) to test the water hardness. Having any contact with hard water will be problematic for no pooers. You mentioned that you tried mixing BS+ACV with filtered water, however you didn’t mention that you rinsed with filtered water. You have to wash AND rinse with filtered water if you have hard water. If you mix it with hard water and rinse with filtered water, or mix with filtered water and rinse with hard water, it won’t help you any. Only filtered water should contact your hair. If you want, you can also try mixing and rinsing with filtered bottled waters to see if it helps.
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You might be washing to frequently. Since you didn’t mention how frequently you do your washes, I have to take this under consideration. At 6 weeks of no poo, you should be washing your hair approximately once a week or one week plus a few days. If you’re washing your hair too frequently, like everyday or once every 2 days, this could be the problem. Try to extend your washes out to see if it helps.
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Is this your first time trying the no-poo method? If so, welcome to the community! If you went from using store bought shampoos straight to the BS+ACV washes, this could be the adjustment period. Store bought shampoos contain chemicals that strip your hair of its oils, so when you switch from chemical shampoos to using no chemicals, there’s an adjustment period in which your hair will be looking and feeling less than great. This adjustment period happens because your hair is having to adjust its oil production, because up until this point, your hair and scalp were adjusted to having their oils stripped by the chemicals in the store shampoo, so now your hair and scalp have to readjust to having to having a natural oil production without the chemicals stripping it. This adjustment period differs from person to person. Some people have even reported not even going through an adjustment period, however most people do. The adjustment period could last from 1 week for some people to months for others. Everyone experiences it differently, however the complaints are usually: greasy and oily hair, very limp/no volume in hair, hair having a strange smell, scalp feeling itchy, hair loss, hair feeling dirty, etc. The adjustment period can be very difficult for some people and can cause people to throw in the towel, but try to stick with it if you can!
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Try avoiding using products on your hair. Some people switch to no poo but still keep using other hair products that contain chemicals that are just as bad as using store bought shampoo. Using things like mousse, hair spray, styling gel, etc will not be good for your no poo journey. These products have crazy chemicals in them and store bought shampoo normally washes them out, however when you switch to no poo these products will not wash out and will leave your hair in a mess. If you have to use styling products on your hair, try searching the internet for no poo alternatives. There’s normally recipes online so you can make your own styling products without the crazy chemicals in them.
I hope I helped you in someway, and if you have any more questions, please reply to this post and I’ll be happy to help!
