A few no-poo questions that you've probably answered a million times!

[KaylaBeanie]

I am reading about no-poo, and it's really making sense to me! I would love to start now, but I nanny and go to the pool most days, so I'm thinking it would be better to use up the all-natural shampoo and conditioner I just bought and start no-pooing in the fall. However, I want to be prepared!

-I get my hair colored, and that's not going to change. Will no-pooing mess with the color?

-I see that most people use baking soda (or is it baking powder?) and apple cider vinegar. How? Do you mix them together?

-Can I still use heat stylers on occasion? I'll straighten or curl my hair maybe once or twice a month. I blow dry at least 2-3 days a week, but could probably change that and just shower at night.

-I have normalish/slightly thick hair that is a little wavy, with frizzy ends and roots that get greasy (probably because I shampoo so much). Realistically, how would my hair look after I get through the adjustment period? Would it be flat?

I'm sure I'll think of more, but thanks a lot

[Ann-Marita]

I'll try to answer the questions I can.

Baking SODA. I make a solution of about 2 tbls (a coffee measure) or more in a quart of warm water. Mix well and pour over your head, working it into the roots. Rinse well. (Do NOT put the vinegar solution directly onto the baking soda solution - think exploding volcano school science project and you'll get the idea. You have to rinse between them.)

I personally would never use baking soda dry, or even in a paste. When dry, it's an abrasive, which is why it cleans the bathtub so well. But abrasion on hair would lead to damage. The pH of the baking soda solution is what does a lot of the cleaning - you don't need abrasion.

But if you need more than baking soda to get the roots clean, a good quality dish soap is surprisingly good. Don't use too much, and don't expect as much lather as shampoo. I used a good dish soap that I bought at a natural foods store as my shampoo for many years.

Vinegar rinse. I've been using a dilute vinegar solution as the final rinse on my hair for probably about 30 years. It's a really good, time-honored (my grandmother did this back in the 20's and 30's), all-natural very lightweight leave-in conditioner. Even if you use commercial hair products for now, you can add this to your routine as the final rinse, to ease into the whole no-poo thing.

First, make it DILUTE. Full-strength vinegar is pretty close to battery acid in terms of strength.

For oily hair, use 1:7 to 1:9 (one part vinegar to seven to nine parts water). At this strength, it will help to seal the hair's imbrications (the little scales on the outside) against each other (which seals in moisture, helps prevent split ends, and helps scalp oil travel more easily down the hair shaft, which makes the roots less oily), but it is strong enough to gently remove excess oil. If you make it stronger, you can strip the hair, which can lead to bounce-back oiliness as the scalp tries to restore what was stripped away.

Note, 1:7 is really easy. Get a squeeze bottle that holds 16 oz. Measure 2 ounces (1/4 cup) vinegar and pour it in. Mark where the vinegar is on the bottle for ease of use later. Then fill the bottle with cool water.

For normal hair, 1:10 is recommended. And for dry hair, 1:12. With colored hair, I would go more dilute to start, and then gradually increase the strength until you find the right balance.

A note on what kind of vinegar to use. Apple cider vinegar is good all-round. However, it's not that great for hair that tends toward oily, or hair that is very light in color (blond, silver). The "solids" in ACV can leave oily hair looking over-conditioned. And the brown tone can gradually build up and leave a slight stain on light hair.

I recommend white vinegar for light colored hair or oily hair, brown for darker or dry hair, and red wine vinegar for red-heads.

A lot of my information comes from "Totally Natural Beauty", a classic first printed in the 70's I think. By Nona Aguilar. You can still find it used, and I treasure my copy.

[Ann-Marita]

One more hint.

If your hair tends to be flat, you might try beer as the final rinse. Yes, beer! The pH is right to seal the imbrications and leave the hair and scalp close to their natural pH. And it adds body! Makes thin hair look thicker.

It can be left-over, flat beer. Fizz not required. And you only need a small amount. I use about 1/4 to 1/2 cup.

(I also add a couple drops of rosemary oil, both for its conditioning qualities, and to modify the smell of the beer.)

[justmama]

I have wavy hair that is massively frizz-prone. I don't recommend doing a bs rinse per se. That would strip my frizz-prone dry hair. I use the baking soda mixed with a silicone-free conditioner(anything ending in -cone is not great for curly hair) and scrub my scalp with it and rinse like mad and then rinse everywhere with the acv. I didn't have any adjustment period at all and I've been at this 8 weeks now. It's been great. Regarding coloring your hair, I have heard a few times that bs/acv does strip your color. I don't know from personal experience but this is what I've read. You may need to try it yourself to find out for certain.
Oh I do straighten my bangs and I've had no issues whatsoever. I use a -cone-free gel all over to control my waves and keep frizz at bay but honestly, since starting to no-poo, I have much much nicer hair. It's way less frizzy than it was.


here's my hair at 7weeks into no-poo:
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e2...bugs/002-1.jpg

and my youngest daughter's hair which has only been shampoo'd a handful of times in her life:
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e2...rybugs/009.jpg