4 Months No-'Poo Question

[Vegarchist]

Okay, so I am 4 mo. no-'poo and loving it. My heair is shiney and beautiful the day I wash and maybe the next day. But I am still having to wash every 3 days or things get greasy. : Am I doing something wrong?

[Meiri]

No. I've been at this for a bit over a month and that's about how my hair works too. It looks good the day I wash and the day after. On that day after it sometimes starts to feel a bit heavy though. I wash it at least every other day. I've found that doing it several days in a row is fine too.

It's not a competition to see how infrequently we can wash our hair.

I find the concept: "the less I wash, the less I need to" to defy logic. We wash to get the dirt and sweat and germs, or enough of them anyway..., off our bodies so we don't end up with skin infections, smells, itchies, etc. There's a balance between overwashing and thus drying our skins out too much and neglect IMO.

[LittleOne03]

I've been doing no poo for a year now. I've found that how often I need to wash my hair depends a lot on my hormones. Early pregnancy and early pp my oil production really ramped up. There are times when I have to wash every day, but there are times when I can wash every 3 days and it looks just fine. I don't think I will ever be a once a weeker, but before i switched to using baking soda I had to wash every single day (lather, rinse, repeat) and I had the greasies again by evening. I have never had that since switching!

[care_a_boo]

I've been at it about 7 months or so. I was also unable to get beyond day 3. But hey, that was better than every day, right. But recently I've found I can get to day 4. 3 days is good. And you may find that over time you get even more mileage per wash.

I've been doing conditioner only washes since it got dry out this winter, so I don't know if the extra day I have now is related to that or not. I suspect not--I think my scalp is just mellowing out as the memory of shampoo continues to fade. I'll probably go back to bs/acv in the spring. Especially if I can get four days out of each wash, it won't be such a bother to do all the mixing. Plus, I'm putting rosemary and mint right in the vinegar now, instead of as a separate infusion, so that's one less step.

[memory maker]

I dont think I can go more than that either

[townmouse]

Well, I've only been at it for 3 weeks but already I'm happy with every 3rd day. With 'poo I had to wash my hair every day, and my hair was too coarse. I'm never going back.

[Vegarchist]

It's not a competition to see how infrequently we can wash our hair.

I thought that was the whole point! I shouldn't complain, 3 days is pretty dern good, but once a week would be pretty sweet. Oh well, there's always : .

[LoriG]

I must admit, this idea has always intrigued me. But, I love my hair to smell really nice .. if you don't wash it for 3 days at a time, does it just smell like, well, scalp? LOL
Dumb question, I guess .. but I just have dry hair and I usually wash it every day with Finesse cuz I love getting fresh whiffs of, well, niceness. ROFL!!!

[mommyto2]

I am curious what you use to wash if not shampoo? I am obviously out of the loop on this one. I wash my hair with Nature's Gate shampoo about 1-2 times per week... Love the idea of not using shampoo at all! Dd has had shampoo maybe 5 times in 3 years...
Thanks for your help (in advance)!

[Meiri]

I'm using a mixture of baking soda and honey, rinse out, then followed by a diluted vinegar rinse.

I'm confused about something, if you all don't mind...

I shouldn't complain, 3 days is pretty dern good, but once a week would be pretty sweet.

Why would only needing to wash your hair be sweet? Is it that inconvenient?
I shower almost every day and washing my hair is just part of that routine. If I tried to just shower 1/week, the family would kick me out of the house for smelling.

This isn't meant to be snarky in the least, or to pick on Vegarchist, but I don't don't get the concept. {and yours was the closest quote.}

[LittleOne03]

Well, I shower every day, but really appreciate only having to wash my hair ~3 times a week because it takes me 15 minutes to dry and curl it after I get out of the shower. On days that I don't have to wash it, it takes me less than 5 minutes to curl it. With two babies (2 months and 16 months) time is at a premium, and skipping washing it 4 days a week is an extra 40 minutes of time I get to spend with my babies. Unfortunately I have never found a "wash and wear" style for my hair. It's too thin to wear long, so no just pulling it back. It's too curly to just let it dry naturally, and also not curly enough to just let it dry naturally (if that makes any sense). If I don't dry it and use a large curling iron to smooth it, it ends up sticking out in all different directions and it looks like I just got out of bed and went. I'm not super picky about my looks, but I DO like to look neat at least. That's my reason why washing my hair once a week would be SWEET!!

[Meiri]

That makes sense LittleOne03. Thanks.

[bdavis337]

Originally Posted by Meiri

I'm using a mixture of baking soda and honey, rinse out, then followed by a diluted vinegar rinse.

What ratio of baking soda to honey do you use?

I'm very intrigued by the whole no shampoo thing! I just started using OCM for my face and it's AMAZING. I did a vinegar rinse on my hair this morning and can't believe how smooth and soft it is, so I'm really psyched to try "not washing" my hair, but I'm clueless on what to use, etc.

[rachdoll]

I am curious what you use to wash if not shampoo?

If you search "no poo" or "no-poo" several threads should pop up that go into great detail, but what I use is baking soda. Some people make a paste of it (with water - get it to whatever consistency feels right to you) but I just take straight powder and massage it into my wet hair/scalp. I do not spread it down past my roots intentionally. Then I rinse and sometimes I follow with an apple cider vinegar rinse (about 1 part vinegar to 10 parts water), then I rinse the rinse out. For me, it took about 2 weeks of no shampoo for my hair and scalp to balance out, and now I try to wash it every other day, but I have no problem going 3-4 days between washings.

[Saramomofmany]

Sorry to hijack the post...but when I read the title...

4 Months No-'Poo my first thought was, oh my gosh, how can that be, that poor lady must be really constipated. : Then I realized what you meant by poo!! Oh my word, well it gave me a laugh, so thanks!!

[Meiri]

What ratio of baking soda to honey do you use?

I put several cups of baking soda into a bowl, making sure I don't use more than my container that I keep in the bathroom can hold...so about 6 cups.

Then I pour in about a cup of honey and start mixing. I mix until it has a crumbled crumbly texture that reminds me of apple crisp topping, and it's lightly the color of the honey (yellow if clover, light brown if wildflower). If I need to I'll add a bit more to cover the whiteness of the baking soda. Sorry I can't get more precise than that, but I don't recall any precise recipes in the original threads either.

For use, scoop out about 1/2 cup (or more if it's been awhile since the last hair washing) and add just enough water for it to be a thin batter consistancy. You want it to be able to seep to the parts of your scalp you haven't quite exposed. I apply it section by section then twist my hair up on top of my head and leave it alone while I soap up and rinse, then I rinse my hair and do the vinegar rinsing. I usually follow up by turning the hot water way down for a cool, occasionally cold!, rinse.

[amcal]

I tried no poo for a while - straight BS with lemon juice rinse (couldn't stand the smell of acv) I wasn't overly pleased with the results. I see that you add honey to the BS and I'm wondering what the honey adds or does? I really want to try this again.

Also, does anyone use BS but use a conditioner instead of lemon juice or acv? My hair is so fly away and brittle on the ends with only BS and lemon juice.

[ShannonCC]

Amcal, I have been using coconut oil lately since the winter is drying out my hair. You take a TINY amount ( I cannot stress this enough since I learned the hard way, :LOL), rub it in your hands and then rub your hands over your hair. If you use a small enough amount you can use it as a leave-in. Concentrate on the ends if you need to, but my hair seems to dry all over in the winter.

I have not bothered with vinegar rinses in a long time. I just use a tbs or so of baking soda mixed in hot water maybe twice a week and just plain water the rest of the week. And, after being at this for a year, I've found you have to change with the seasons. I used baking soda a lot more in the humid NJ summer (like every other day?). Sometimes I add honey, sometimes (for a hair treat) I wash with an egg/honey mix. Most days I'm too lazy for anything fancy though

[mamawanabe]

I think the bs was stripping my hair - it was becoming too fine. So I cut down on it, rinsing my hair with water when I shower works nearly as well anyway. I hope to get down to washing with bs/acv just once a week.

Have to say, this is month two, and I'm not too crazy with the reults. Not better or worse than when I would poo every other day. Where is my shiny, full, balanced head of hair . . .

[Meiri]

I'm not sure what the honey does. Maybe adds a conditioning effect? moisturizes? protects from the baking soda being too drying?

I've still got split ends, so that hasn't changed. Just the rate at which my hair gets too oily for me to stand has changed. And it's looking thicker, could be the scalp massaging I'm doing just before and as I rinse out the wash? I don't know.