So there's really no 'no poo' people here? There used to be. This is where I first heard of it. I guess I should find another board where there's more people.

Seriously, based on my experiences since I quit using soap a couple of years ago, and now quitting shampoo, I've come to the conclusion that almost everything in the skin & hair care aisles are there to solve a problem caused or worsened by the other products in those aisles. And we are wasting our money and polluting the planet with this crap we never needed!

I still haven't figured out a routine that works for my hair, though. My goal is to rinse with water once a week or whenever there are odors or something that needs to be removed. Like the last time I 'cleansed' my hair was after a day spent around a fire so my hair was smoky. Or at least I figured it was and a good day to rinse it.

I've only 'cleansed' my hair twice since I decided to quit the baking soda method which I did for a couple of months. So I went through greasy/waxy stage and then just about a week my hair just magically became wonderful. It didn't need any conditioning to manage. And it didn't frizz at all. I think I spent two weeks like that, then it was time to color my hair. Which is all I did. I didn't shampoo. But the result was squeaky clean hair. What I used to think was wonderful. Hair that just falls. But No body. Blows around like mad in the slightest breeze, etc. Then it began to get oily/waxier again as the week passed and after a week, became wonderful again. Then came the smoky hair. I decided to try the cheap silicone-free conditioner method as my transition, but still ended up with the oily waxy stage before my hair became wonderful again.

I think since I seem to get this stage no matter what right now, I will just do water only. Although I have a whole bottle conditioner to do use. I suspect the problem is the super hot water I use. But my bathroom is chilly and I can't help turning it up.

I've been washing my dog with water only as he also has skin problems. It works pretty well with him. washes away the doggy smell while leaving his fur soft and clean feeling. Plus its faster and I don't have the fear of leaving soap on him to irritate his sensitive skin. Getting the shampoo out of a labrador is a chore.

I added selfies of me & my unwashed hair to my blog post. http://dietforclearskin.blogspot.com/2013/12/brad-pitt-has-stopped-using-soap.html

I am. "No-pooer!" Have been for years. I have thick curly dry locks. I use conditioner but that's all, I also only wash my hair maybe once or twice a week. My curls lock up a little and aren't so frizzy

It's definitely something I want to try! My hair is so brittle, but at the same time gets oily (just like my skin) in as little as 24 hours. I do wash it significantly less since college. I used to wash my hair each morning and by dinner, it was awfully greasy.

I've read the most common method is using baking soda and water as shampoo and diluted ACV as a conditioner. In the past baking soda has caused me to breakout when I used a fluoride-free toothpaste. Never know, could have been another ingredient in there, but it's happened with two brands both containing baking soda.

I think if I were to try it, I'd just stop washing it completely using no hair-styling products on it and just persevere through the oily stage.

P.S - Your selfies would be perfect, if you smiled! You look so sad I hate having my photograph taken though, so I can sympathise. My smiles look terribly unnatural.

I was washing my hair with African black soap for a few years. I don't think it gave me any "real" benefit truth be told.

The baking soda method was fine at first, but after a few weeks made my hair dry at the ends, yet waxy. I'm still experimenting with methods but now go for over two weeks at a time without washing in any way. However, I don't think my hair looks as good as it did when I took the pictures. But it doesn't look like you'd think hair would look after not washing for weeks.

And still no conditioning has been needed. And I used to use tons just to be able to to comb thru the tangles.

Alternativista, what do you use to wash your body with? Just water? I think most traditional soaps are irritating to my body, but I can't imagine just using water. I'm considering using ACV or something.

Yes. I use just water.

Why is that so hard to imagine? What does everyone think soap does that its so essential? How dirty is everyone. I mean if you are a diesel mechanic covered in grease, or maybe some kind of hospital job in which you might somehow get covered in infectious microbes, then sure, you need some soap. i spend days in the dirt at an organic farm and still, I'm just not that dirty.

And the obsession with germs & disinfecting is one of the many reasons this has become a culture of sickly people with no immune system & riddled with allergies & auto immune disorders.

So like I said earlier, with my various experiments, my hair has not reached the wonderful stage like it did when I first stopped shampooing. Then the waxy oiliness just went away, or got distributed throughout my hair by my boarshair brush, which is important in this.

I tried washing with silicone free cheap conditioner yesterday, but it did not remove the waxiness at all. Strange when before I spent months using that method instead of shampoo, back when I washed my hair every three days. So this morning I washed it again with a small amount of shampoo diluted in water. This might be my method. I used some dessert Essence coconut shampoo I'd bought ages ago. When it runs out, I may try a little bit of pure glycerine soap.

This morning, since I didn't want to wash my scalp again since I'd done it yesterday, I tried a goofy method in which I rubbed straight shampoo on my hands & then applied directly to the hair on the back of my head where this waxy, stiff problem is. Like you would with many hair products. Then added water & rinsed.

I think one thing I need to do is remember to wash my boars head brush tonight before bed so it dries before in need it in the morning.

It's hard for me to imagine because part of my upper body (neck, upper back, and chest) seem to get a little oily between showers, and just using oil doesn't make it go away.

Yes. I use just water.

Why is that so hard to imagine? What does everyone think soap does that its so essential? How dirty is everyone. I mean if you are a diesel mechanic covered in grease, or maybe some kind of hospital job in which you might somehow get covered in infectious microbes, then sure, you need some soap. i spend days I the dirt at an organic farm and still, I'm just not that dirty.

And the obsession with germs & disinfecting is one of the many reasons this has become a culture of sickly people with no immune system & riddled with allergies & auto immune disorders.

So like I said earlier, with my various experiments, my hair has not reached the wonderful stage like it did when I first stopped shampooing. Then the waxy oiliness just went away, or got distributed throughout my hair by my boarshair brush, which is important in this.

I tried washing with silicone free cheap conditioner yesterday, but it did nt remove the waxiness at all. Strange when before I spent months using that method instead of shampoo, back when I washed my hair every three days. So this morning I washed it again with a small amount of shampoo diluted in water. This might be my method. I used some dessert Essence coconut shampoo I'd bought ages ago. When it runs out, I may try a little bit of pure glycerine soap.

This morning, since I didn't want to wash my scalp again since I'd done it yesterday, I tried a goofy method in which I rubbed straight shampoo on my hands & then applied directly to the hair on the back of my head where this waxy, stiff problem is. Like you would with many hair products. Then added water & rinsed.

I think one thing I need to do is remember to wash my boars head brush tonight before bed so it dries before in need it in the morning.

It would be nice if you could post pictures of what your hair looks like now?

Also you might want to try organic African black soap as a cleanser and body wash, it also take away B.O (when I was bathing with it I never had to wear deodorant).

It's hard for me to imagine because part of my upper body (neck, upper back, and chest) seem to get a little oily between showers, and just using oil doesn't make it go away.

So is mine. Enough so that I can't sleep without showering before bed. Soap & cleansers are not only not required, they are bad for skin function which then leads to people lathering on all kinds of unnecessary topicals. Most of the products in the skin & hair care aisles are were invented to solve problems caused by the other items in the skin care aisles.

http://www.acne.org/messageboard/topic/313174-reducing-exposure-to-chemicals-recipes-alternatives-etc/

Yes. I use just water.

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It would be nice if you could post pictures of what your hair looks like now?

Also you might want to try organic African black soap as a cleanser and body wash, it also take away B.O (when I was bathing with it I never had to wear deodorant).

There's links to pictures taken a month or so after I quit shampooing regularly in prior posts. There's no point in pictures now since I used some shampoo on the 20th. Sparingly though & it was kind of a spot treatment. And no conditioner.

And i don't want to try that soap or any other. Water washes away BO. I haven't used deodorant in decades and I live in a hot, humid climate. Sop strips away your protective acid mantle and essential lipids from your skin impairing skin function.

I did remember to wash my brush though, so won't be distributing excessive amounts of oil onto my hair. Well see if that helps.

Any tips on how to tame frizz? I use serums and yet my hair still frizzes up on top

Any tips on how to tame frizz? I use serums and yet my hair still frizzes up on top

Only that I've found since I quit washing my hair, it doesn't friz. I walked many blocks in the warm muggy, drizzly rain to return my Redbox & it didn't frizz.

On another note, it occurs to me that one of the reasons my hair isnt seeming as wonderful as it was in the first few months is that I haven't colored it since the first of December when I ran out of my color & its been removed from drugstore shelves. I'm planning to switch to natural henna but the site I would order from is confusing & I always quit trying to figure it out.

I have wavy waist length hair and I currently shampoo once every 7-9 days with a non SLS shampoo and conditioner. I can't bring myself to just use water. 5 days after washing I will refresh the roots of my hair and get rid of product build up by distributing water in just the roots, by morning the roots are fairly waxy, which I like because they make styling so much easier and my hair always looks better.

Before I switched to non SLS shampoo I couldn't go a day without washing, now I'm finding that the period I can go between washing is becoming longer, I'm still experimenting with my routine but I've been doing this for 8 months now and my hair is the nicest it's ever been, and you're saving so much time and money too.

I have wavy waist length hair and I currently shampoo once every 7-9 days with a non SLS shampoo and conditioner. I can't bring myself to just use water. 5 days after washing I will refresh the roots of my hair and get rid of product build up by distributing water in just the roots, by morning the roots are fairly waxy, which I like because they make styling so much easier and my hair always looks better.

Before I switched to non SLS shampoo I couldn't go a day without washing, now I'm finding that the period I can go between washing is becoming longer, I'm still experimenting with my routine but I've been doing this for 8 months now and my hair is the nicest it's ever been, and you're saving so much time and money too.

Yes, I'm thinking that might be the way for me too. Have you ever tried plain glycerine soap?

Also wondering if it was taking some time to get rid of residue from the silicone rich conditioner that came with my hair dye. Maybe some of the waxiness is it breaking own? I don't know. My hair is really nice right now. I did wash sort of on Friday by applying a little shampoo to my dry hair in problem spots away from my scalp and then adding water.

I read somewhere that when you start using non-SLS shampoos you also need to cut out silicone in your hair products and conditioner because the non SLS shampoo struggles to wash out the silicone effectively and you can get a build up. Water soluble (eg PEG 12 dimethicone, any peg before the cone) silicones of course are not a problem

This is my 9th day hair after washing with shampoo, my roots are generally quite good but I use cornflour as dry shampoo when I need it. Also as I'm not introducing water to my hair every day I use coconut oil on the ends to keep them from getting dry.

I haven't needed any conditioner since I began this in November I think, other than the conditioner used after coloring the first of december. And I've nearly never used any other hair product other than dye.

I was going to post another picture of my hair today but I lost my iPhone and replaced with something cheap and the camera sucks. The color is terrible. Too bad because I cut it (myself) when I last "washed" it 10 days ago and the length is perfect for my natural waves and it just falls into place & looks really nice.

But I still have this waxy phase several days after washing that then magically goes away. Its Not as bad as before, but my hair didn't look good yesterday and I debated washing it, but didn't. and it Looks great today.

I have to order henna now. I'll need it in a couple of weeks.

Just used henna for the first time. The color turned out great. And you don't need nearly as much as many vendors say you do. Which is crazy because the reason I didn't try before now was the expense of the amount one site claimed I needed. Which is 300-500 grams for long hair. And I bought a much cheaper brand on Amazon anyway. . http://www.amazon.com/Godrej-Nupur-Natural-Mehndi-Goodness/dp/B005ZLCIU4/ref=sr_1_3?s=hpc&ie=UTF8&qid=1397693178&sr=1-3&keywords=henna. $10 for 500 grams. And I didn't measure in grams, but I mixed 1 1/2 cups. less than a third of the bag and it was still way, way more than I needed. One $10 bag is going to be enough for many months.

I left it on for 4 hours. Next time, I plan to do the roots only and try 3 hours. It is a little drying even though I applied a little coconut oil to the ends. So I applied more afterwards.

Also, I've decided to wash once a week with the spot application of a small amount of shampoo to needed areas as described above. See how that goes. Right now, while less extreme than at first, I still go through that oily waxy stage, but it starts about the 8th day, so this will prevent the bad hair days.

I know in the US people obsess about squeaky clean hair.

In India, I have seen women with long lustrous black thick hair and wash just once a week.

I for one, growing up had very thick hair, it is curly though, and had never used shampoo till I was about 15. Once a week my mom would give me a coconut oil massage , I would leave the oil on my hair for about1-2 hours and wash off with a paste of gram flour.

But then I went to college and was swimming competitively, so I started shampooing regularly to get the chlorine off, I lost a ton of hair.

I have gone back to oiling my hair with coconut oil once a week and using a silicon free shampoo and for 5 days out of 7 my hair looks good.

I do not use soaps to take a shower, I sometimes use it on my feet and underarms as I tend to get sweaty there, but this is rare.

Thanks for your input. Gram flour = garbanzo bean flour?

I've also found a reference about a lady famous for her lovely long hair, not sure which century as women didn't tend to wear their hair long in the past several. Anyway, she advised not washing hair at all, just brushing. But the brushes needed to be washed between each use. That's the part I keep forgetting to do, although I am washing them often.

And I've been meaning to mention a couple of things.

1) my scalp isn't getting oily. At all. And 2) this will work great for anyone that styles their hair by just fluffing it up. When its a bit 'waxy' , it kind of flattens to my head when I brush and feels stiff, but then I fluff with my fingers and its great again.

Yes Garbanzo bean flour. It works really well.

My brother still does and he says nothing works better. It is taking me time but I ultimately want to make the switch back. And my Mom is in her late 50s and has ditch black hair, no greys and she does not color. Her hair id soft and straight. She says its because of never using chemicals on her hair.

coconut oil on the hair is wonderful, I have never used any conditioner which does the job better.

Thanks for your input. Gram flour = garbanzo bean flour?

 

I've also found a reference about a lady famous for her lovely long hair not sure which century as women didn't tend to wear their hair long in that past several. Anyway, she advised not washing hair at all, just brushing. But the brushes needed to be washed between each use. That's the part I keep forgetting to do, although I am washing them often.

 

And I've been meaning to mention a couple of things.

 

1) my scalp isn't getting oily. At all. And 2) this will work great for anyone that styles their hair by just fluffing it up. When its a bit 'waxy' when I brush, it kind of flattens to joy head and feels stiff, but then I fluff with my fingers and its great again.

I'm going to try making this spray for my ends. Except with my safflower oil and either with an essential oil I have on hand or infuse rosemary from my garden in the water. I'll have to look into what Rosemary does for hair or if it's just for fragrance. And I will probably reduce the oil in the mix. I want to be able to use the same spray on my face.

http://manespeak.com/the-benefits-of-vegetable-glycerin-for-natural-hair/

My ends are kind if dry. Still manageable, but my hair doesn't 'stay brushed' looking. It's kind of beachy, rather than polished and professional. So I was going to condition when I washed it today. It's day 8 since I last washed water only. But I looked in the mirror this morning and it looked squeaky clean. I somehow even managed to keep my bangs from getting oil from my face.

So I didn't wash it. I think I'll take a picture later. And keep trying to find the right way to use oil to keep the ends from drying.

Edit: Correction. I didn't wash water only last week. I used henna on my roots. Which is a bit drying.

All the girls I know who don't wash their hair complain of smelly scalp. I shampoo still, I also bleach, wear it half shaved and extensions on the other side. Does the smell ever go away?

All the girls I know who don't wash their hair complain of smelly scalp. I shampoo still, I also bleach, wear it half shaved and extensions on the other side. Does the smell ever go away?

I don't know. My hair doesn't smell.

Are they not washing in any way? Perhaps they can add a rinse scented with an essential oil.