Calling all no 'poo Mammas! - No 'Poo Support Thread? - Page 3

[nstewart]

Hey pickle, I am still no-pooing it.  I found the b/s and acv to be too drying for me so I now use just water and a scalp massage to wash, usually about 2 times per week (sometimes just once).  I use a boar bristle brush in between and this keeps my hair clean.  I did find that I had to start using a conditioner again though.  Even though I was only using water, my hair was just getting too dry and damaged (I am a "dry" person generally, and it is insanely dry where I live in the winter!).

If you can stick out the waxy stage for a good week, then do the BS/ACV thing that will get you over the worst of your hair adjusting.  Just brush, brush, brush and wash the brush with shampoo or soap as needed.

Good luck!

[pickle18]

Thank you, nstewart!  On your advice, I'm trying to stay strong (I did notice on this thread, the people that jumped to BS/ACV the fastest tended to have a longer adjustment), but my hair is starting to get a little piecey/stringy for me.   It's day 4 of no 'poo - skipped washing with water yesterday (looked about the same as day 2), but did water wash today.  May try cocoa today, but should be able to pull it back regardless. 

We nearly do no 'poo with DS - he really only gets a proper bath (with olive oil soap and a bit of Burt's Bees shampoo) once every week or two.  Plays in the water during my shower a couple times a week.  I'd like to transition him as well, so I'm trying to be mindful of stretching out time between his shampoos, and using less and less of the Burt's Bees each time - brushing his hair lots with boar's bristle brush, etc.  Is there anything else I should do for him? (his hair is like his dad's - fine, light colored hair)

Thanks again!

[Greenlea]

Today is day 2 of no 'poo. My hair is usually very dry the day I wash it and then quite oily the next day.  I washed my hair with the BS & water and then rinsed with ACV & water. First day it was soft, clean, and looked good. Day 2 the only complaint I have is it has a little static.

I kind of want to see how long I can go before it gets oily. When that happens do I do the BS & ACV again, or just water?

[nstewart]

Originally Posted by pickle18 

Thank you, nstewart!  On your advice, I'm trying to stay strong (I did notice on this thread, the people that jumped to BS/ACV the fastest tended to have a longer adjustment), but my hair is starting to get a little piecey/stringy for me.   It's day 4 of no 'poo - skipped washing with water yesterday (looked about the same as day 2), but did water wash today.  May try cocoa today, but should be able to pull it back regardless. 

We nearly do no 'poo with DS - he really only gets a proper bath (with olive oil soap and a bit of Burt's Bees shampoo) once every week or two.  Plays in the water during my shower a couple times a week.  I'd like to transition him as well, so I'm trying to be mindful of stretching out time between his shampoos, and using less and less of the Burt's Bees each time - brushing his hair lots with boar's bristle brush, etc.  Is there anything else I should do for him? (his hair is like his dad's - fine, light colored hair)

Thanks again!

My DS is 'poo free too.  (He's actually never had his hair shampood because he had so little for so long it just wasn't necessary!)  He has hair like your DSs.  I would just keep stretching it out, or you can go cold turkey.  Little kids don't really get greasy like we adults do.

[incorrigible]

Our family used to be totally poo free for years. Then life was really crazy and hard for a few years and we went into total survival mode. There wasn't even enough time to sleep or clean up after ourselves, let alone make food from scratch or spend even a few extra minutes each day making health care products for the household. Things are down to a normal level of crazy again, though. =D We've been slowly getting back to our old lifestyle the past year or so, and the last month or so I've gotten back into making household products. 

Today is a work day. I have been trying to remember the ratios we started off using with no poo. It's pretty much back to basics for us. Once a week, I would make up "no-poo balls" for the family. That was baking soda, a little honey, and just a drop of water to moisten it enough that I can roll it into a ball without it falling apart. I would make them small though, so the amount of baking soda was correct for the smallest head in the house. Those of use with larger heads would use multiple balls when we washed. Eventually we only needed the little ones, though. I would make the balls, and let them dry overnight. Then, pile them in a cute little dish on the bathroom counter. When we bathed, we'd put a ball (or 2 or 3) in the palm of our hand and add a little water. The ball would melt and we'd rub the result into our scalps. It seemed like we were always adjusting the amount of apple cider vinegar we needed. So, we each had our own squirt bottle of the current personalized dilution. Sometimes I'd add essential oils to the balls and/or rinse, too. Oh, also, instead of diluting the cider with straight water I'd use infusions or rosewater or something. Toward the end I was using mostly honey in my hair and just water or infusions to rinse. We also just wash with honey instead of soap for the most part. We all had inhumanly soft and healthy skin and hair until we went to normal products, and were converting people to no-poo and honey "soap" all the time because they were so impressed. lol Until we went back to normal products...=( Today that ends, though. =D

[pickle18]

I love your take on it, incorrigible!  That's a really neat idea, and might save time in the long run (mixing each time).  I'm also glad to know that about the honey - our olive oil soap is not really cutting it for me anymore.  And thanks for the tips, nstewart (so common sense, but I need to hear it!).  

So, AFM, I was getting kinda discouraged with waiting a full week and the whole oil-slick transition phase, until...

 I TRIED THE COCOA POWDER!!!! 

It's a wonder!  Did a water wash yesterday (on day 4) and once it dried, worked some in at the roots, let it sit a few minutes, then brushed it out.  My almost-too-skeezy to slick back hair turned into you'd-never-guess-I-didn't-wash-it hair immediately.  It worked so well, I skipped the water wash today (day 5).  Waiting a full week to BS/ACV is looking alot better now! 

Plus, I smell like chocolate...

[pickle18]

Originally Posted by Greenlea 

Today is day 2 of no 'poo. My hair is usually very dry the day I wash it and then quite oily the next day.  I washed my hair with the BS & water and then rinsed with ACV & water. First day it was soft, clean, and looked good. Day 2 the only complaint I have is it has a little static.

I kind of want to see how long I can go before it gets oily. When that happens do I do the BS & ACV again, or just water?

It seems to me (and on the advice of others on this thread) that the longer you can wait to BS/ACV again, the better.  It will help your hair adjust more quickly - at least a week in between.  And meanwhile, you can wash with water whenever you feel necessary (make sure to really massage your scalp), or touch up the roots with cocoa powder or cornstarch (depending on your hair color, one or the other would probably work better).  This is what I'm trying to roll with, at least.  

I haven't found the water washes to do much about oiliness yet.  I just do it so I feel a lil cleaner (alternately, I've heard some say you can wash with water and just do an ACV rinse, between BS/ACV washings).  And also just brush alot, with a boar's bristle brush, if you have one.  HTH!

[incorrigible]

For what it's worth, I never bothered with any special time frames or brushes, as cool as the brushes sound. I just wash my hair whenever it or my scalp feel grimy and in need of washing. That's all I have ever done. With no poo, it took longer and longer for my hair (and my family's hair) to feel grimy and I needed less and less other than water when I did clean it over time. 

I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that method....but if it's too much strain or intimidating enough to keep someone from trying this method....I just wanted to put out there that you do have other options. ;)

[pickle18]

Haha good to know!   

[Greenlea]

Well day 4 (yesterday) I did a water wash and my hair is still not greasy and has a ton of volume today. I'm quite impressed :)  I wonder if its also because I tried to use natural/organic shampoo anyways, so maybe I didn't have as much build up as others? But organic shampoo is expensive so I"m really looking forward to saving some money. ACV is a staple in our house anyways, so I'm not going out of my way to bring a new product into our home. I'm looking forward to trying the coco powder - it should be unsweetened right?  

When I first told my DH I was going to try it, he said to say goodbye to my friends because I was going to smell. Haha...he meant smell like vinegar though. I used one drop of lavender oil in the ACV mixture and he never even noticed a vinegar smell.  

I am very interested in the honey soap someone posted about. Do you have a recipe to make it? My skin looks & feels horrible, and is very dry. I use only organic coconut oil for a "lotion" though, so its most probably the Bath n Body Works soap I'm using. 

[pickle18]

Originally Posted by Greenlea 

Well day 4 (yesterday) I did a water wash and my hair is still not greasy and has a ton of volume today. I'm quite impressed :)  I wonder if its also because I tried to use natural/organic shampoo anyways, so maybe I didn't have as much build up as others? But organic shampoo is expensive so I"m really looking forward to saving some money. ACV is a staple in our house anyways, so I'm not going out of my way to bring a new product into our home. I'm looking forward to trying the coco powder - it should be unsweetened right?  

Yup, unsweetened - today is day 6 and I skipped washing again because the cocoa powder is still working its magic.  Yaaay! :-) Your post is so encouraging - I hope after I do the BS/ACV tomorrow, I'll be in the same boat.  I'm also eager to kiss the cost of natural/organic shampoo goodbye, and like you, I love my ACV for everything, so it's always around. 

I never thought shampooing took that much time, but this has been really liberating! (and helpful, with aforementioned toddler)

[swd12422]

Cocoa powder??? Is there an equally effective alternative for light brown/blond hair??? (I'm guessing the cocoa is only for brunettes... right?)

[pickle18]

Originally Posted by swd12422 

Cocoa powder??? Is there an equally effective alternative for light brown/blond hair??? (I'm guessing the cocoa is only for brunettes... right?)

Cornstarch may work better for you - that was also mentioned upthread. 

[incorrigible]

Heh...yes, the recipe for honey soap is easy. You use honey like you would soap. I like it better liquidy, so I will heat up some raw honey and keep it in a container in the bathroom. It never turns solid again once you melt it once. Ds likes to use the thick, raw honey for his face. When his acne is acting up, he leaves it on for a minute before washing it off. The pimples are usually gone within a day of that. Honey turns slick when it's wet, so you don't have something sticky that's hard to get off. It washes right off your skin or out of your hair easily and leaves everything soft and kind of glowy....and dh insists it makes my skin taste sweet. ;)

[swd12422]

Originally Posted by pickle18 

Cornstarch may work better for you - that was also mentioned upthread. 

Missed it the first time around. Thanks!

I am still looking for a good rinse-out (not shampoo-out) conditioner recipe. Any recommendations? I'm having great luck with using a leave-in conditioner to "shampoo" my hair and then rinsing it out so there's not buildup, but I'd rather be able to make my own and stop buying it.... Unfortunately the only recipes I've found are things like coconut oil or mashed avocado or mayo (or some combination) that you use as a deep conditioning treatment and then have to shampoo out. Well, I don't HAVE any shampoo! And don't want to use BS/ACV b/c that really just didn't work well for my hair.....

[nstewart]

Originally Posted by incorrigible 

Heh...yes, the recipe for honey soap is easy. You use honey like you would soap. I like it better liquidy, so I will heat up some raw honey and keep it in a container in the bathroom. It never turns solid again once you melt it once. Ds likes to use the thick, raw honey for his face. When his acne is acting up, he leaves it on for a minute before washing it off. The pimples are usually gone within a day of that. Honey turns slick when it's wet, so you don't have something sticky that's hard to get off. It washes right off your skin or out of your hair easily and leaves everything soft and kind of glowy....and dh insists it makes my skin taste sweet. ;)

Oh yes, there are some great threads on here on using honey for washing your face!  I did that for a while but found that the honey didn't do a very good job with make-up removal.  It is a very gentle exfoliant, and very good for sensitive skin or acne prone skin, and evens out skin tone.  I still use it as a mask from time to time.  If you do the honey mask and then use some lemon juice it is awesome for getting rid of blackheads.  It's best to use raw honey, and at least unpasturized.

[CoBabyMaker]

I think I am ready to try this now and I'm excited to see what happens.  I think I'll do it with the kids too, I hardly ever wash them anyway!  I usually only wash every 3 or 4 days, mostly 4 days lately.  I am hoping the fact that I don't shampoo often anyway will ease the transition.  I did one baking soda wash with vinegar rinse the other day and my hair feels good. I really like the idea of making the balls of baking soda with honey-what a great idea!  I use natural soap and make most of our other body products so shampoo was kind of my last thing-hopefully this goes well!  I am hoping it will encourage a little more wave too.

[nstewart]

Co, I think it will make transition easier for you.  I was on the 3-4 days between shampoo program too, before I went no 'poo.  My hair more or less transitioned within 2 weeks (ie: 2 sessions of BS/ACV routine, each one week apart).

Good luck!

[pickle18]

Originally Posted by nstewart 

Co, I think it will make transition easier for you.  I was on the 3-4 days between shampoo program too, before I went no 'poo.  My hair more or less transitioned within 2 weeks (ie: 2 sessions of BS/ACV routine, each one week apart).

Good luck!

trying to stick with this ^ but wish it could go faster! :-) did BS/ACV on saturday and so far, this week is very similar to last week, in terms of greasiness. going to do it again on saturday, and see how the next week goes - fingers crossed!

[luckiest]

Okay, so I'm a week into going water only (our hard water makes BS impossible)...I am a waxy grease pit. Not sure if I'm gonna make it.

Actually, just today I noticed that my bangs were more waxy than greasy, and I didn't have to use dry shampoo. They look normal, they just feel like I have product in them. The rest of my head is awful...waxy roots and dry ends. Thank goodness high messy ponytails are in! I hope it normalizes soon...I resent personal grooming across the board (the obligation, the time involved), and the idea of not ever having to wash my hair...heaven!!