no poo ? - occasional shampoo

[superfastreader]

I've been no pooing for about 8 weeks & I'm still experiencing some heavy oiliness. Am no pooing every 3 days w/a CO thrown in there from time to time.

I want to get a haircut & wonder if having my hair shampooed will send back to square one. I feel like I've invested so much & still have a ways to go so don't want to wreck it.

[Abarat]

I find that shampooing does make a difference, so I'd avoid it if you're really wanting this to work and are worried about backsliding much. You can always tell them not to shampoo your hair, might even knock a few bucks off your cut. They can always just use water and then work with your hair....I'd be weirded out if they have trouble with laying off the shampoo.


8 weeks sounds like a long time to still be experiencing heavy oiliness.

We recently moved and at our old place I tried and tried no-poo and it just wasn't working....oily at the top and super dry at the bottom. But after moving across town (doesn't seem like it should have mattered, maybe the chlorine in the community well at the old place even though we filtered, hmmm) I've been able to no-poo and it's been great. I don't use conditioner either and I have quite long hair. The water at your house makes a big difference. Hard water is going to make it difficult.

You can always use an apple cider vinegar rinse, it really helps me. I use 1 tbsp ACV (herbally infused) to about 1 litre of rainwater (or distilled if you have hard tap water). I make it my last rinse and don't let the shower water touch my hair again after that. After it dries you won't smell like vinegar, really.

Also, another help was using a wooden comb, it really helped move the natural oils down the length of the hair and keeps my ends from drying out and the oil from accumulating at the top of my head.

[superfastreader]

I'm doing an ACV rinse w/the BS every 3 days. I'm pretty sure we don't have hard water b/c I don't have diaper issues. DH thinks our water is pretty even.

Right now my hair is so oily it looks wet, and I just no poo'd on Tuesday night. I did use a tiny bit of CO last night b/c it was oily yesterday. I used Aubrey, no 'cone, no SLS.

Maybe it is just the humidity--it has been awful here.

Should I persevere?

[Abarat]

I think you should keep trying if you're up to it.

Do you have a good way worked out to work the natural oils down the length of your hair?

I used to be terrified of combing my hair too much for fear of ruining it, but now I spend quite a bit of time at least at the end of the day combing my hair out to move the natural oils to my length and it's made a world of difference. The natural combs and brushes work much better so it'd be worth trying one. Maybe a stiff boar bristle brush, a horn comb or wooden comb.

There's another place called longhaircommunity.com that has great info on all sorts of hair care, and I know lots of people no-poo there, might be worth checking out and they have a great section of articles and such to help you troubleshoot if you're not finding what you're wanting elsewhere.

[thixle]

Originally Posted by superfastreader

I'm doing an ACV rinse w/the BS every 3 days. I'm pretty sure we don't have hard water b/c I don't have diaper issues. DH thinks our water is pretty even.

Right now my hair is so oily it looks wet, and I just no poo'd on Tuesday night. I did use a tiny bit of CO last night b/c it was oily yesterday. I used Aubrey, no 'cone, no SLS.

Maybe it is just the humidity--it has been awful here.

Should I persevere?

CO? Coconut Oil? Conditioner? Castor Oil? It will just make your hair (suprise) more oily!
And the ACV rinse makes my hair an absolute oil slick!

Try JUST a BS wash-- Put 1 TBSP BS in 2 cups water. Pur it on, work it in. Let it set while you are showering, then rinse it. Do nothing else. See how that works.

[superfastreader]

Originally Posted by thixle

CO? Coconut Oil? Conditioner? Castor Oil? It will just make your hair (suprise) more oily!
And the ACV rinse makes my hair an absolute oil slick!

Try JUST a BS wash-- Put 1 TBSP BS in 2 cups water. Pur it on, work it in. Let it set while you are showering, then rinse it. Do nothing else. See how that works.

I will try that--hadn't thought of that as the culprit. Should I try another acid, like lemon juice?

[thixle]

Originally Posted by superfastreader

I will try that--hadn't thought of that as the culprit. Should I try another acid, like lemon juice?

It depends on your water, actually. I saw that you don't have a problem with the laundry-- I didn't either, until I tried homemade laundry detergent and after i had been using it a while, noticed a big bad build-up.
The acids (like ACV) make your hair cuticle lay down, but if your water is *less than soft* trying to figure out how to word that??? and you have healthy hair, your cuticle will lay down on it's own when you rinse with water. I've been going without any kind of acid rinse and my hair is uber healthy

What is your hair like? I have blonde, thin, slightly wavy hair. When I used shampoo, I had to wash everyday, or i would have stringy, dirty looking, oily hair. Now, I wash with BS once or twice a week, and it has never looked or felt better! You can do lemon juice, it will make your hair a lighter color. I wouldn't suggest it unless you are getting lots of frizzies or fly-aways, though. I think the acids just don't work with my water and hair type. Try a natural bristle brush to get the oil from your scalp down to your tips if the ends are dry.

Oh, and I noticed my hair gets oily faster when the pollen count is up. I think it's a pollen build-up. It's never looked better in the humidity, though!

[superfastreader]

Originally Posted by thixle

It depends on your water, actually. I saw that you don't have a problem with the laundry-- I didn't either, until I tried homemade laundry detergent and after i had been using it a while, noticed a big bad build-up.
The acids (like ACV) make your hair cuticle lay down, but if your water is *less than soft* trying to figure out how to word that??? and you have healthy hair, your cuticle will lay down on it's own when you rinse with water. I've been going without any kind of acid rinse and my hair is uber healthy

What is your hair like? I have blonde, thin, slightly wavy hair. When I used shampoo, I had to wash everyday, or i would have stringy, dirty looking, oily hair. Now, I wash with BS once or twice a week, and it has never looked or felt better! You can do lemon juice, it will make your hair a lighter color. I wouldn't suggest it unless you are getting lots of frizzies or fly-aways, though. I think the acids just don't work with my water and hair type. Try a natural bristle brush to get the oil from your scalp down to your tips if the ends are dry.

Oh, and I noticed my hair gets oily faster when the pollen count is up. I think it's a pollen build-up. It's never looked better in the humidity, though!

Your hair sounds like mine. I'll kill the ACV & see what happens. I have a boar bristle brush so I'll use it more.

[superfastreader]

Well, dropping the ACV solved the oiliness issue. Now the ends are dry so I think I'll add it back for the ends only. Thanks!

[rockportmama]

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[Layna]

Hmm.. I think I have the same problems you did. I'll have to try cutting out the acids and see what that does.

[mama_daba]

the first time i did no poo i gave up because of oilyness and the second time i went no poo i did it because i didn't feel like buying shampoo and that time i just kept adding water and diluting what i had and washing very rarly until i was out of shampoo and my hair never had oily problems. i did baking soda when my hair looked oily and vinegar only when i needed it to make brushing easier and very diliuted shampoo when the baking soda didn't work until i ran out of shampoo it worked really well for me and my hair looked and felt healthier than ever and i never had the greasy wet looking hair issue so i think you can do shampoo and it will work but it takes longer to be totaly no poo and it seemed important that the shampoo was very diluted