anyone "no shampoo" care their hair?

[NoTiGG]

Just curious what you guys do for caring for your hair? I have heard some people don't use shampoo or conditioners at all... but ocassionally an apple cider vinegar rinse once a weak or something. I was just wondering what you guys had experience with.. I think I am going to try the no shampoo thing

Does anyone use egg whites in their hair? I heard egg whites are good and so are the yolks but does that violate the no shampooing thing i guess? since it will mess with the natural oils already in your hair?

do you use a boar thistle brush to coat the sebum and give your hair shine? rinse with cold water? what do you do?

[PreggieUBA2C]

I do an acv or sea salt rinse, but to be fair, I put my hair in dreadies this past June, so it's not the same sort of issue as it was with shiny hair.

My friend is in India currently, and just wrote that a woman massaged natural coconut oil into my friend's shiny, very thick, black hair and told her to do this every day and to never shampoo, which is the method behind why traditional Indian women have such lush hair into their old age. I'll ask her how that's going for her.

[crunchy_mama]

I just went back to no-pooing and it seems my hair is having a hard time adjusting this time. I did this in between my two pregnancies-until the youngest was born 19 mo ago and had no issue. However, my hair texture totally changed after my second pregnancy and it is having a tendency to get oily now.

[crunchy_mama]

oh, by no-poo I mean a bs scrub and vinegar rinse.

[Koalamom]

I have tried the no-poo method, and your hair is supposed to get really nasty before getting better, and I never could get past the nasty stage.

Instead, I do wash my hair with eggs (yolks and whites together). My hair feels amazing, and isn't greasy afterwards either. I then pour ACV on and then rinse as a conditioner. Just remember not to rinse the egg off with HOT WATER!!!! Trust me. I rinsed my hair in a hurry on my way out the door to work, and threw my hair in a towel. I removed the towel in the parking lot, and was shocked to see cooked egg throughout my hair. Warm water works fine, and your hair will look amazing. I didn't get my hair cut for almost a year once, and I hardly had any split ends. The salonist, was amazed at how healthy my hair looked.

[oneKnight]

I have gone over a year without anything except hot water and a boar bristle brush. They call it "water only" instesad of just "no poo". I also found a great comb that has boar bristles on both sides with a wide-ish toothed comb in-between them.

My hair recovers from the nasty phase pretty quickly. Heck I get into the nasty phase in about 3 days, then it's just a memory in about a week.

In my experience (so take with a grain of salt) "water only method" works better for long hair, because it naturally takes longer for the oils to spread to the length. It takes NO time at all for the oils to get to the ends of short hair so it seems to build up more. (Mine is short now and I shampoo about 2x/week with Jason naturals)

I really like "conditioner only" in the wintertime, because my hair and skin tend to dry out with the heater on. I use cheap mainstream conditioner, like Suave and VO5, so it isn't very natural. I have used natural conditioner in the past, it works but costs an arm and leg.

[cristeen]

I do a BS wash with an ACV rinse, but honestly I don't know that the ACV does anything for me. I never went through a "nasty" phase, I went straight to I can go 5 days between washes, and usually I'll go a full 7 with my hair in a ponytail for the last 2. I do need to get a boar bristle hairbrush though, that may help.

[Belletheacd]

Where would one go about getting a boar bristle brush?

I was no-pooing for a while, and really wasn't liking the outcome. I will try the eggs though, as it sounds like good fats aren't only for eating. I am always tempted to massage CO in my hair, but then wouldn't it be big oily mess? I guess the do-rag would come into handy then.

[Ruthla]

I've been doing "no-poo" for years- I wash my hair with baking soda then rinse with dilute apple cider vinegar. I never really went through a "nasty stage"- although I did go through time when I needed to wash my hair daily and now I can go a few days in between with my hair still looking good.

[Bella Catalina]

My hair is too oily for the no-poo (BS and ACV) to work. I tried it for weeks and never left the nasty stage. Very curious to hear about the CO though...

[Mama_Meme]

i've done no poo for almost 8yrs now. Sometimes I wash with dr bronner's. most of the time I just wash my hair and rinse it super well with hot water. that seems to do the trick. No one comments or seems to notice that I don't wash my hair. i'm not greasy or anything. I also play with my hair A LOT, whcih contributes to its general grease factor. even so, a good hot water wash every day works wonders.

[Maeve]

Originally Posted by Belletheacd

Where would one go about getting a boar bristle brush?

I was no-pooing for a while, and really wasn't liking the outcome. I will try the eggs though, as it sounds like good fats aren't only for eating. I am always tempted to massage CO in my hair, but then wouldn't it be big oily mess? I guess the do-rag would come into handy then.

You can get them most places, I think. I got one at Target for a few dollars.

[kriket]

I'm dready and just use water or vinegar if I have been especially nasty that day. I shampoo (with homemade bar soap) about once a week. It helps them lock up.

[flowers]

thinking about going no-poo

[rhiandmoi]

I did no-poo for a while, and I found that while my hair was fine my scalp itched like crazy. My skin doesn't release when it sheds so I kind of have to scrub it off and the baking soda scrub didn't loosen the skin enough I guess. I switched back to regular shampoo and haven't had a problem.

[kmeyrick]

My grandma and great grandma used dry oatmeal to absorb the oils in their hair. For a good wash, cooked oatmeal. May I ask the rationale for going no-poo?

I only just started reading NT.

[pixiepunk]

you should check out the Natural Body Care subforum under Mindful Home Management. there are loads of threads about no pooing there.

i did no poo with BS and ACV for a long time and it worked great. then the BS started drying my hair out quite a lot, so i stopped using it and mostly just did water only, and occasionally when my scalp felt dirty i'd wash my scalp with Dr. Bronner's. I put coconut oil on my hair as a leave-in daily, and did a deep condition with coconut oil about once a month - leaving it in over night and then washing it out the next morning. but when i got pg my hair was just horribly dry and nasty all of a sudden no matter what i did, so i started using Oyin products for my hair, and my hair is very very happy. they don't use any nasty stuff like commercial products, good quality natural ingredients, and are made by hand by a work at home family (the mama is a MDC mama), so for me it was a great middle-ground option. i still regularly do a deep condition with coconut oil and it's awesome, i should do it more often but life tends to get in the way of my hair care plans

i'm interested in the egg thing, but am thinking it would take a ton of eggs to make my hair clean - i've got very long very thick hair. i just got two dozen eggs from my friend's farm, maybe i'll have a go of it later today.

[Koalamom]

Originally Posted by pixiepunk

I'm interested in the egg thing, but am thinking it would take a ton of eggs to make my hair clean - i've got very long very thick hair. i just got two dozen eggs from my friend's farm, maybe i'll have a go of it later today.

I have think long hair, about 3/4 down my back. I only had to use one egg, and it was enough. I put most of the egg on my scalp that was greasy or dirty, and then worked it down the strands to the tips. It was always enough.

[Taedareth]

Just curious how this is TF-related?

My hair is knee-length. For almost 3 years now (longer than I've been TF) I've been using the no-poo method. I use a Tbsp baking soda completely dissolved in warm water (pour over head, then gently massage scalp with fingertips for a couple minutes) then rinse hair, then use diluted ACV (1 part ACV, 9 parts warm water) for a final rinse. I dip the length of my hair in the solution first, then pour the rest over my head.

Works great. I don't think there has to be a "nasty phase" and I wonder if that's some kind of urban legend to discourage people from trying more natural methods of hair care. Although it's true that your scalp gets very dried out by shampoo, and natural hair care doesn't strip all the oil the way shampoo does, so the scalp goes through a recalibration period where it ramps down oil production to a normal level. During that time you can just wash your hair as often as necessary to avoid greasiness.

[Maeve]

I don't think it's an urban legend. I've tried it a few times now and each time my hair got really gross, so I just went back to a natural soap bar and my hair went back to being soft and healthy feeling. I don't use hair conditioner or regular shampoo, just a soap like Tami's or something.
Some people do great w/bs and for some people it just doesn't work. I think it's great to try though!