Mothering Forum banner

But my hair is SO oily. Can I really no-poo?

964 Views 9 Replies 9 Participants Last post by  rareimer
Seriously, if I don't wash my hair every day, it turns into a giant brown river of grease. Stringy grease. You can actually see the grease. I actually get pimples in my scalp from (I think) my hair being greasy. Sorry tmi.

The idea of no-poo is really intriguing, but I'm concerned about the grease. Will it make my hair more greasy? Can any other grease-heads tell me that no-poo de-greased them? Thanks.
1 - 10 of 10 Posts
I'd just give it a try! Try no-poo one moring, and see how long it takes for your hair to get greasy again. As soon as it does, do no-poo again. Repeat.
If you are worried about how it will work, you might give it a try on a weekend or ablock of days when you know you won't be out of the house much. It would be very interesting to see if your scalp oils regulate themselves since you'd be not longer stripping them with shampoo detergents. You might be pleasnatly surprised.

My hair is not overly greasy, but I am guilty of running out of time for my shower. Sometimes I go five days between hair washings. By day five my hair will be pretty oily. My no-poo method takes out all the grease completely.
Along with the baking soda, you can use Lavender essential oil, Tea Tree, Cedarwood, Bergamot, Rosemary or other essential oils that regulate sebum production and work as an astringent in hair. You may want to even add a little witch hazel to your baking soda mix - maybe that would help with the oil.

I'm not sure if witch hazel can be used on hair - I don't see why not. I'll research it tonight.

I have a greasy scalp, and what helps is using oat flour (finely ground uncooked oatmeal - you can make some in a food processor or buy a bag at Whole Foods or other grocery stores) mixed in with baking soda to scrub my scalp and get rid of the dirt, oil, and sebum plugs (TMI, I know).
Everyone's hair is different but my hair was getting pretty greasy and my scalp itchy with shampoo so that is the reason I wanted to try the no poo. My hair was getting greasier and greasier with the shampoos I was using (all mainstream brands) and I was fed up with it. My hair is actually less greasy since I started maybe four weeks ago. And it looks pretty good too. I was surprised.

I agree with pp's. You can only but try it. My main concern was that it would make my hair fall out or do some serious damage and it didnt so that is not a worry. Give it a go and let us know how it goes. ttfn!
I think that it regulates itself after a while. I remember when I first started no poo I would wash like every 3 days and it would be SO oily, then after a while it kinda got used to to it. Now I can go like 4-5 days before it gets oily and even then it is nowhere near as bad as it was.
I have a greasy head here too. I shampoo everyday. I'm glad I read this thread. Are you saying don't poo(shampoo?) everyday and it will become less greasy?

Also do you mix a little baking soda w/ tea tree oil and rub on scalp? Thanks
No poo did not work for me because of my greasy scalp. Doula - my hair/scalp sounds exactly like yours - super greasy, must wash every day, breakouts on the scalp etc... I tried no poo, shampoo bars etc.. and nothing worked. I've finally settled on Giovanni golden wheat shampoo and conditioner and my hair has never been better. Greasiness is under control - now I can go 24 hours between shampooing!!!
My hair is normally not oily, I could go 3-4 days without washing no problem. Now that I started no pooing it is, I guess there is an adjustment time. I can't wait for it to be over because my hair looks like I havn't washed it in a week even though I just washed it last night.
the main thing--give it time. mine was so greasy for the first few weeks that i nearly gave up a million times. after almost a month, the transition period ended, and now the grease is gone. for awhile, your scalp isn't used to it and it just overproduces...but once you get in the groove, it works great. i've found using a bit more baking soda when i'm especially oily dries it up nicely.

and i'm still giving it time too. right now i have to wash every 2 days, sometimes i can stretch it to 3, but by then it's pretty oily. but i've been told that after awhile you can go longer and longer in between, so i'm just going with it for now. give it a try, and don't give up too soon, and you might just love the results! i'm really happy i gave it a chance.
1 - 10 of 10 Posts
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top