No-Poo Part I

         

 So after much skepticism I decided to take the plunge and go full-on no-poo.  No, I am not withholding bowel movements, although, admittedly that's what got me to read the very first blog post I saw about this method.  No-poo refers to a method for caring for your hair that does not use shampoo or conditioner in the traditional sense.  No Pantene or Herbal Essences for me. I was inspired by this post on Pinterest.  To summarize this is the deal, shampoo is a detergent.  Detergent is BAD for your hair.  It strips your hair of all the natural, healthy, oils your scalp produces, so, to compensate, your scalp goes crazy and produces way more oil than it needs to, leaving you feeling like you need to shampoo again.  Rinse, repeat, literally.  Nevermind all the chemicals and other nonsense that shampoo and conditioner are full of that are bad for your body and mama nature.  AND the cost of shampoo, not a huge expense necessarily, but it adds up!  The No-Poo method replaces your shampoo with a baking soda and water mixture and your conditioner with a vinegar/water rinse.  Your hair/scalp will have to get used to this radical change, but it will be far better for both in the long run, or so the story goes.  I started this method last week, these are the diaries of this adventure...

Week 1:

I am using the standard 1 Tbsp baking soda and 1 cup of water mixture for the "shampoo", and the 1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar, and 1 cup of water mixture for "conditioner" .

Day 1:  Using the baking soda mixture was weird.  To be more descriptive I felt like I was pouring cold water on my head and expecting my hair to be clean.  There was no lather, (obviously), and my hair felt really oily and un-clean in the shower.  The vinegar solution, however, made my hair feel GREAT, sooo soft even in the shower, I felt it right away.  No issues with tangles after the shower either, the comb slid right through.  I used a hair dryer without product of any sort.  The result, my hair felt the same as normal, maybe a little softer.

Day 2:  My hair felt a little greasier than normal by the end of the day, but I'm prepared for this, "they" say it could take weeks for the hair to stop feeling greasy, good thing I can put it up and throw on a hat.  Did the same routine with the washing, this time I used heat-protector when blow-drying.  Dealt with a lot of "frizzies" after that, probably existing damage to my hair.

Day 3:  My hair felt even greasier today, I decided to let it air dry after washing.  Maybe I'm not supposed to wash every day?  But I get craz-ay sweaty when I work out, so not an option to skip the shower.  Air drying left my hair with lots of body on the bottom/ends, but greasy near the crown, I threw it in a pony tail.

Day 4:  A little greasier still.  After my shower, I blow dry again with heat protector.  One thing I'm noticing for sure is I can really tell where my hair has breakage from all the damage.  Ends up in a pony tail again today.

Day 5:  This time I get great results, perhaps my scalp is normalizing already?  I blow dry it 1/2 way, so it's not soaking wet and use some velcro rollers at the crown for body there to balance the bottom.  I end up with no grease to speak of and a soft wave.

Day 6:  Since I liked the results so much last time I decide to do the same thing again today.  Blow dry 1/2 way with heat tamer, rollers for the crown.  Lots of body and soft wave, I LOVE my hair today.  It actually feels a touch dry, I may need to cut back on the baking soda.

Day 7:  Repeated the same steps as yesterday and got the same results, this is awesome, I put it in a pony tail and have enough body on the crown for a super cute look.

So far I'm sticking with it, the greasy period hasn't lasted as long as I thought it would and I am really loving the results.  Stay tuned for more of the No-Poo Diaries...