Hi! I’m pretty new to his movement to, and I have very straight, medium length hair that can be oily (especially with my bangs!) believe it or not I actually washed my hair everyday, which was creating a vicious cycle and really damaging my hair. I have the “wash and go” type hair, I just let it air dry and have taken heat to it maybe twice in my life, so I considered my hair pretty healthy. And I just didn’t feel clean without shampoo, and the idea of not washing my hair seemed impossible, but as I did research on how harmful the chemicals in shampoo are and the benefits from going wihout it, I got really interested and actually excited, and it has been really great and worth it so far. Here’s my advice for getting started.
But before I start, FIRST THINGS FIRST: BOAR BRISTLE BRUSH. This is vital. Cheap, and can be found at any grocery or drug store. Distributes oils from your scalp to the tips, leaving your tresses smooth and shiny.
Ok, so moving on. The baking soda/apple cider vinegar thing just didn’t work for me, tbh. I new I could not feel clean with just water. I was feeling frustrated and like I was just not cut out for this, UNTIL I made my own shampoo and conditioner!
It sounds hard but I promise it is not and is so worth it, because you can really taylor it to what your hair needs, and you know exactly what is in it!
For shampoo, I used Castile soap (you can find his at any grocery or drug store, it is all natural with very few ingredients, free of all chemicals and sulfates and has tons of different uses, very handy to have) and diluted it with filtered water (filled a recyclable squeeze bottle with about 2 cups water and 1 and 1/2 cup Castile). I then added a dash of witch hazel (optional, but it’s a great mild cleanser) and 15 or so drops of lavender oil, which is supposed to help with greasiness without stripping moisture, and smells great. And thats its!
since Castile soap is high in ph(like baking soda) it is important that you neutralize after with either citrus or apple cider vinegar.
My conditioner: 3 freshly squeezed lemons (this will also brighten and shine) coconut oil (mine was a cream kind not a liquid kind so the mixture was more creamy and thick, but if you prefer thinner mixture than go with the liquid) a dash of honey, and some tea tree oil. And that’s it!
I’m telling you this is all you need to cleanse and nourish your scalp and hair, even though it will feel less “clean” than normal shampoo it is doing its job by decreasing very gently without stripping your natural oils HOWEVER, I am on the journey to complete “no-poo” (washing with just water) so I can truly let my hair be in its natural form, letting my scalp regulate completely and self-condition with its natural oils, reduce waste, and take quicker showers. But it is a journey, and I can’t just take that plunge straightaway (maybe some can, but personally I can’t). So right now I’m really happy with my homemade stuff, which I use every three days. Baby steps, I know, but from someone who used to wash her hair daily this is some major improvements. My hair feels a bit greasy at times, not gonna lie, since that really “clean” feeling you get from normal shampoo just isnt there anymore. BUT, combined with my brush, my hair feels very soft and healthy already. I plan to increase the length between washes, washing and exfoliating scalp with just water every other day with a short term goal of using my concoctions only once a week. From there, I guess I will just keep increasing the length, maybe experimenting with what I put in my stuff, but ultimately relying on it less and less. I think the initial “gross” feeling is very worth the reward of fast-growing, shiny, natural, happy hair, not to mention keeping chemicals off your body and dramatically reducing price. When I feel discouraged I just remind myself that I am still in the transition phase, but as this comes to pass my hair will be the best it’s ever been. People didn’t wash their hair for centuries on top of centuries; is is actually a fairly new concept and something that I believe we as humans can live comfortably without (along with tons of things, like makeup) I’m not saying we need to deny all modern luxuries, and we absolutely should not. We should just do whatever is comfortable for us as individuals:) sorry I’m off topic haha and sorry this response was so extremely long, I hope I helped in some way lol
ive been using an organic shampoo 2-3 times a week(it contains less chemicals than regular one) in order to transition slowly to the no poo method.i want to completely stop using this shampoo now but im not sure i understood how does this work.so heres a few questions
what do i do? sorry for the long questions im the type of annoying people who has to make sure they know exactly what to do before they try something like this.i hope someone will reply.xoxo