My hair feels dirty!! (no-poo)

I've found that the cheap and lightweight (no heavy conditioners) conditioner and tablespoon of baking soda work better to clean my hair than water and baking soda. You're also probably making a bs paste, which doesn't clean well. The more the BS dissolves into something, the better it cleans.

I also use a squirt bottle with 1/2 ACV and 1/2 water and spray my hair, mostly the ends. Then I rinse it out and use my fingers to get some of it out. If you don't use conditioner or ACV (on most hair types), the baking soda by itself will make your hair feel like a rat's nest. But it feels worse if you don't get your hair clean with baking soda and it's just cleaning certain parts and not others. Fully dissolved baking soda in water or baking soda in conditioner is better for cleaning.

It took about 3 months for my hair to get used to no-poo, most of that time it was experimenting on what works for my hair. I do have Avalon shampoo for every few months as backup.

I have really bad anemia lately so I'm thinking of using my Avalon for a while. My hair is catching up to the anemia and it's falling out like crazy.

Anyway, there are some links where I posted advice. I'll find them and post them for you later.

Gina to the rescue!! :

I'm going to pick up some Suave or VO5 conditioner and try that w/my bs. I've been dissolving the bs in my hand, but it still seems to stay pretty much where I slap it on my head!! Since Gina had recommended starting at my crown that's where most of the bs ends up.

i use a spray bottle and spray it all over my hair, let it sit for a few minutes, and then rinse thoroughly.

i made baking soda balls yesterday (baking soda, honey, water, EO--molded into little balls, dried), and i made it into a loose paste today in the shower. worked well--and it's fun to make the little balls (thanks to someone on here!).

my hair adapted to no-poo right away. seriously, after one wash, it was awesome and it's been awesome ever since.

the conditioner is simple. if i'm using camomile tea, i simply make tea and then put that in a spray bottle. i then add a squirt of aloe gel (get it in bulk from mountain rose herbs) and a tablespoon of coconut oil (from the asian/indian market). shake it up and spray it on (i use an 8 oz bottle, but tend to condition using only 3-4 oz--and i'll fridge it and use the rest 3-4 days later.)

i have dreadlocks, so no combing allowed! LOL i do massage my scalp before washing, though.

i use a loose paste and i find it doesn't 'slap' anywhere. once it's a loose paste on my hands, i rub it all over my hands and then finger it thruogh my hair and across my scalp. I then massage my scalp and rinse the hair thoroughly.

but, i'm not saying that a spray bottle with better dilution wouldn't work. I think is probably does work. just that the loose paste isn't that much of a problem once you get used to working with it.

And, i'll try it. I have a lot of spray bottles around for washing hair: shampoo spray bottle, conditioning spray bottle, leave in spray bottle, travel spray bottle. i've only been using two of them (conditioning converted to ACV) and leave-in spray bottle. So, now i can use no-poo spray bottle too.

I broke down last night and used some cheap Suave shampoo that my dh had. My hair didn't necessarily look dirty, but it felt incredibly disgusting.

Now w/these new ideas though I've got some more to go on. I think tonight I won't use anything, but tomorrow night I'll try the REALLY diluted baking soda. Thanks to all of you!

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Well, as I mentioned it felt like I'd been on the back of a motorcycle for hundreds of miles Maybe it was detoxing. I don't know. It didn't look dirty, it only felt gross when I'd touch it.

Okay, now I have to ask...why do people do the whole no-poo thing? I guess I decided to b/c the "natural" shampoos and conditioners I'd been using are expensive. And I'm buying them at wholesale prices through Frontier. But anyway, so it was a cost issue. Plus I just thought it would be the most natural thing to do.

But now when I read about adding conditioners or even shampoos to the mix I'm left wondering why others do it? Just to lessen the amount of harmful crud that are in shampoos?

People no-poo for the following reasons:

- Some people don't like sodium lauryl or laureth sulfates
- Don't like parabens
- Don't like perfumes or are allergic to perfumes or some chemicals
- Have psoriasis, eczema, dandruff, or sebhorreic dermatitis
- Have curly hair and shampoo ruins their curls
- Have totally greasy hair from shampooing (which aggravates oil production)
- Have bad skin, which no-poo can correct
- Would like a natural remedy but most natural shampoos on the market are too expensive
- Don't want to overstrip hair
- Want to mend overprocessed, split, or damaged hair

Also, the conditioner/bs mixture completely depends on the conditioner. You can't use premium conditioners, moisturizing conditioners, mending/repairing conditioners, or heavy conditioners. You can't use conditioners that have silicones in them.

You must use a lightweight conditioner primarily used for detangling and does little else. Even clarifying conditioners will work. It can't coat the hair too much like heavy or moisturizing conditioners do. That leads to greasiness.

The cheapo conditioners are less likely to have silicones (the non-soluble silicones coat your hair and eventually block moisture out, which leads to drying, splitting, and breakage - and cause build up) and they don't weigh your hair down.

You can also low-poo with shampoos that have other surfactants, like coco-betaine or no-poo with the baking soda/ACV combo, or my favorite lightweight conditioner and baking soda, conditioner/BS/brown sugar, or conditioner/brown sugar. It's lovely. My boyfriend LOVES my hair now. It's even better now that my hair is actually growing and keeping length rather than just breaking off and looking scraggly at the ends.

If you want information on no-poo, the types of conditioners to use, the method, and other stuff, go here, I posted a ton of links. I can't keep typing everything out each time!

http://mothering.com/discussions/sho...=1#post5358746