My No-Pooing Adventure

Do you.... no poo?

Because I do. Or don't?

However you want to phrase it, I've started to no-poo my hair. Which means, for me, I only wash my hair with conventional shampoo once a week.

There are many different ways to no poo, and different spans of time and lengths between washings (if you do) and that's what I'll be sharing with everyone today.

My introduction to the idea of no pooing was my cousin Britney. We were at this awesome annual hippie fest that goes on every summer near us, and were visiting a cute booth set up by a very nice and talkative older couple. They made their own hair and body products, and were talking to us about the damages of shampoo on our hair. The husband had worked for an automotive factory and informed us that shampoo companies used some of the same ingredients he used once upon a time to strip oil and fuel and crud off car parts (that's apparently what makes shampoo sudsy). I am fairly certain this is what got my cousin on board. (I could be wrong and am open to correction from the source!)

This link here, at naturemoms.com goes into greater deal and offers some great input and suggestions, as well as some of the ingredients used in shampoo if you'd like to read more into that. My way of no pooing is similar to hers, and as I have pretty oily, moist (moist, eww what a word, not dry? Let's go with that) hair the baking soda works great with my hair. I've known people to say no pooing dried out and/or damaged their hair, so if you have more dry, stiff hair I would suggest going easy with the baking soda. I will be adding some homemade shampoo recipes (including what I do with my hair) so you can play around and find out what works best for you if you decide to try to no poo!

Now what my cousin does is straight up nothing on her hair. She went a few weeks without any shampoo or products whatsoever to break her hair's oil cycle. See, as the link above explains, shampoo strips away our hair's natural oils. We need those oils! And since we strip them away, our hair overproduces them to make up for what was taken. Are you one of those folks who has to wash their hair everyday (maybe twice a day) because of how oily your hair is? Shampoo is not helping you. I was like that, trust me!

So after Britney broke her cycle, she bought some crunchy granola hippie all natural super expensive shampoo from Earth Fare, and I think the last time I talked to her about she said she washes every 14 days. She does not use any baking soda or anything on her hair. And that works splendidly for her!

Not so well for me. After a week I couldn't take it and washed.

Now, she still showered and wet her hair, she would just scrub with her fingers and water. But I couldn't take that personally and looked for some suggestions. The first I found and tried and liked and I played around with it. I use 2 parts cornstarch to 1 part baking soda and mix this thoroughly, I keep it in an open jar on my shower sill (we have a wonderful, privacy killing window in our shower). I then have an old peri squeeze bottle I use apple cider vinegar mixed with a bit of water and a few drops of essential oils in next to my powder jar, this is my "conditioner." Other people use baking soda dissolved in water and put that in a squirt bottle, same with the ACV (apple cider vinegar), so read a few links and try a few different routes to decide what works for you!

Now I first off brush my hair thoroughly (dry) before I get in the shower. I wet my hair and part it down the middle. I use my fingers to grab some of my mixed powder and put it down my part on my scalp and massage it in. I then do this around the frame of my face and then do a few other parts on both sides of the middle, rubbing in my powdery mixture, and then finally a bit at the base of my neck. I then go back all over with my fingers to massage my whole scalp (no added powder this time.)

After this, I rinse well, massaging with my fingers. I then take my ACV peri  bottle and squirt some on my scalp and work it in, massaging and then rubbing down the strands of my hair. I leave this in while I wash and everything so it sits on my hair a while, just like what I did with my conventional conditioner in the past.

After I'm all clean, I rinse the ACV  from my hair. Lots of massaging haha. Rinse and scrub well, elsewise the smell of the vinegar likes to linger. Mmmm! This is also why I use essential oils to add some light scent. On my wash day, I do not personally use conditioner. But if you want, go for it! See what works right?

This works well for me. I usually wash my hair with conventional shampoo on Saturdays or Sundays. I probably will not add length to my cycle, I like where I'm at. Some people, like my cousin, go different lengths or different/no products. Gotta play around for your personal hair.

Now about seven or eight weeks ago I regrettably chopped my hair off. It was soooo long, past my chest, entangling me and getting caught in my arm pits while I slept, and I loved it. But it was really damaged from a lot of dye and bleach and a short amount of time, and I couldn't take the split ends; no matter how often I got a trim they sprung back with in a few days.

So I cut off about three to four inches and added some very blunt layers. Which I loved at the time but hated myself for two weeks later. I missed my length! I missed the wavy hair I had before the chemicals stripped the life from my strands...

(Dye is my drug of choice. Its so unhealthy and damaging for me, because I changed hair colors as frequently as Ramona Flowers. I love it. So much. It's a constant battle to not buy some when I go shopping. Anyway...)

I happened to start no pooing that week. And in the past five or six weeks, look how much my hair has grown...

Top photo courtesy of Instagram, bottom photo courtesy of my webcam.

One of the more shorter layers I put in, about mid-cheek, is now at my chin! The layers at my chin are now at my shoulders. WHAT?! Yeah. Pretty fast. I'm taking better care of my hair (who knew brushing wet hair was damaging) and get this... no.split.ends. None!

No pooing has also brought back a lot of life and volume to my hair, I believe the cornstarch is helping with that. And it's been bringing back my waves!

Mid way through the cut, my no pooing, and today.

If I wash with my powder/ACV concoction, and hair dry I have some waves again! I am thinking with some more time and growth they may get even better.

So that's been my adventure with the no poo system! If you want to try it, play around, I'm giving you some links to read. Would I ever let you down by not providing links?!

Keep in mind the first few days and even weeks may not be pleasant if you're breaking your oil cycle from the nasty crud in shampoo. Push through! No pain no gain right?

(P.S. I still love shampoo on my wash days because it smells soooo heavenly. Why are evil things so lovely. WHY?!)

Oh hey, also, that static winter likes to bestow upon our hair? Only an issue on my shampoo days.

As always, these links and more on my Pinterest! Check out my hair and my style boards.

Click here for my Pinterest page.
http://livinginanotherlanguage.com/blog/2013/03/17/i-dont-use-shampoo/
http://coderedhat.com/no-poo-method/
http://simplemom.net/how-to-clean-your-hair-without-shampoo/
http://thehairpin.com/2011/04/how-to-quit-shampoo-without-becoming-disgusting
http://healthymamainfo.com/2013/02/shampoo-no-poo/
http://www.sustainablebabysteps.com/shampoo-recipes.html
http://almostexactlyblog.wordpress.com/2013/06/11/no-poo-troubleshooting-and-common-questions/ - best link ever. It has alllllll the answer for troubleshooting and issues you may have, and has suggestions for different types/styles of hair and reactions etc
http://gnowfglins.com/2013/09/26/a-slow-gentle-transition-to-no-poo/
http://empoweredsustenance.com/no-poo-method-damages-hair/ {This post makes some good points, and though I disagree with the negative remarks on baking soda, it has some valid suggestions if it's something you can't/don't want to use. Also search through Pinterest for some homemade shampoo ideas if that's something you'd rather do!}