Failing no poo... help needed

#1

Hi everyone,
I feel like I am failing the WO… and to the point that I am really frustrated about my hair :-(.
Please if anyone has advice about my routine, I am all ears!!!

  • Started 1.5 years ago with BS + ACV --> to my knowledge this went good.
  • Brushed my hair with a BBB daily.
  • Started 6 months ago with ACV and egg wash once 1.5 weeks. --> this helped with cleaning my hair.
  • Switched to WO about 4 months ago, with distilled water(!) so no substances from the water can stick to my hair. And bought a bamboo brush as well.

Current routine:
Water wash my hair with cold distilled water, massage my scalp to clean it. 2 times a week.
Come out of the shower with greasy looking + sticky hair…
Tried washing it with ACV as well as it could clean my hair which resulted in no difference. X
Brush my hair 2 times a day with first bamboo and then with BBB.

My hair is not becoming less greasy over these past 3 months and I am really over it… but still hope to have someday some decent hair that I can be happy with without shampoo. Please please, someone what am I doing wrong? I do not like to go back to the use of substances every time I have to shower but maybe I have to??

#2

i produce way too much oils on my skin and on my scalp and leaving it on my hair and causing breakouts on my forehead and leaving flaky white stuff around my nose that makes it look like dryness but it is not. it’s over oil sebum.

The only solution I have found for me to bring back and neutralized my oil production is to go on a 8-10 days water fast.

going on an 8 days water fast, it cleared my skin and my scalp ceased from producing too much oils on my scalp and on my pores. my skins got clean.

read on water fasting. it’s healthy and good for you. it cleansed, reset my body to its default settings. it brought balance back.

you see, i consume a lot of fats on my diets. i hardly care for protein. i was consuming too much fried food and carbs so i had to go on a water fast. you deal with it from the inside.

i use suave conditioner once a month on my hair like a mask i let it sit on my head while i am showering and shaving and chilling in the tub.

i am water only and once a month i use conditioner to remove a bit of my oils.

i need to stop consuming too many fatty foods. i eat of a lot of wendy’s burgers, fries, coffee with sugar, cookies, bread, mayo, anything high in fat.

hope this helps. when my hair becomes greasy and my nose and my forehead breaks out, i go on a 8 day water fast. you won’t see any change in a one day fast, three day fast. my body cleared on day 8.

#3

Suggest you discontinue using baking soda, my understanding is it affects the Ph balance of your scalp…which may cause some of the oil. I have been no poo for 6 months…have thick wavy hair. I still have one oily section of hair on my forehead…I used an ACV shampoo just on the hair…none on the scalp…applied about an inch from the scalp. This made a big difference…still have one small strip that is a little oily, seems to be lessening.

#4

I used a dry shampoo (cornstarch and cocoa mix but I have dark hair) between water washings or a day after water washing. I swear it is the best thing I ever did since going no poo. At first I needed it every 1-2 times a week, then 0-1 times a week, now I am about once a monthish. I still use the odd AVC spraying too with a water wash. So basically I use either the dry shampoo and/or an AVC rinse once a month (or month+).

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#5

Thank you all, dear fellow No-pooers, for the time taken to make a response! It does make me think about my food intake since I probably still produce a lot of oil. The same dry shampoo mixture has been a life saver for me as well. But the thing for me feels weird, I washed my hair WO (distilled) or with diluted ACV and my hair comes out more greasy/sticky looking than before… that is was bothering me that I have to use dry shampoo after a shower… Maybe its just that I’m thinking of the old shampoo days where your hair would be squeaky clean once out of the shower. Thank you guys anyways!! Always good to read this.

#6

Said this once, say it a thousand times: Baking soda routines strip the hair bare, worse than shampoo and you encourage excess oil production and a flaky itchy dry scalp. When you strip the scalp, the scalp responds with a flurry of production to protect itself - You end up doing more harm than good. BS is a reset for hair, it should never be done more than once every few months as it can damage the hair and roots.

ACV may sound great, but it’s somewhat counter intuitive as a main ingredient in your new poo-free life.
It helps lock moisture in the hair, it doesn’t remove grease and it disrupts the bacteria (I’d recommend light ACV sprays to anyone having issues locking in moisture). So you end up with a sticky heavy mess that often develops a horrid musky odor… Which an awful lot of people tend to complain about. And whilst baking soda kills all the bacteria… It also removes all the hairs natural defences… It’s not a win-win situation for anyone for either of those.

I’ve been using the cornflour method for… Almost a year, time flies! I still swear by it, I can go weeks now without giving my hair any real attention and it still looks great. Also, I’d recommend against distilled water, it lacks minerals that your hairs ecosystem can still make use of.
I literally just have a tub of cornflour in the bathroom that every week or two now, I’ll dip my fingers in and massage into the scalp, a comb, and some tap water to comb in (give a good comb/brush for 5 mins) if it starts to feel dry or the scalp is itchy-dry, just before bed.
Note: I have dark hair too, but if you apply the cornflour before bed, especially with a damp comb and don’t overdo it, next morning, you won’t see it. You can skip cocoa using this method.
This method practically sees you never wash your hair, you eventually let your hairs natural oils take over and do the cleaning for you (Invest in a shower-cap) whilst feeling actually clean, cornflour is probably also in your dry shampoo, it gives hair a nice soft feel and takes excess oil with it when it falls out.

Keep it hydrated, not drenched.
Remove excess moisture with a hot hair dryer or straighteners.
Use something to remove the excess grease: cornflour for example, dust lightly, at the roots, comb through, or try spraying lemon juice (works very differently to apple vinegar. Lemons love to rip apart oils) mixed with water (again, damp, not drenched).
Ignore diet, I’ve changed my diet up down and all the way around, it appeared to have 0 effect on my head - But hey, healthy eating is good for other things.

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