I started going no-poo for the environment. Just kidding, it was mostly because I’m lazy, I had just had a baby, and one day I realized I had gone a full week without a shower. (So #1) lazy, #2) chemicals on my body, #3) chemicals and plastic in the environment, if I’m being totally honest.). Anyways, I remembered reading about how some people decided to forgo shampoo and it gave them the best hair ever. I figured it’s already been a week, I just had a baby so I’m not going anywhere fancy, and also it’s summer so it will be in a ponytail 90% of the time anyways. What better time to go no-poo?
I just had a baby so I’m not going anywhere fancy
After my first baking soda “wash” around 2 weeks
I started doing research and realized there were a whole lot of ways to go no-poo. All this research was not appealing to my lazy side at all… But I noticed the general consensus was varying amounts of baking soda mixed with water 1-2 times a month and an apple cider vinegar/water mixture as a conditioner? So I started. I waited 2 weeks before even trying the baking soda or apple cider vinegar and “washed” with only water while I gave my hair time to adjust and stop overproducing oils (this is supposedly what washing every day causes).
During that 2 weeks, my hair was pretty gross. Well, it reached peak grossness around day 4 or so and while it didn’t seem to be continuing to get oilier, the oil stayed during that time because the water wasn’t really rinsing it out.
During that 2 weeks, my hair was pretty gross.
I’m going to back up and add that I’ve always had super oily hair. Sometimes it’s already oily by the end of the day but otherwise it’s definitely oily in the morning. I had been washing daily with shampoo and conditioner for as long as I can remember.
My hair looked okay. Okay enough to wear it down.
Anyways, so I washed with the baking soda and water after 2 weeks. My hair looked okay. Okay enough to wear it down. But it otherwise didn’t look any different than it did when I was washing daily. That was another incentive for why I wanted to go no-poo. On a scale of 1-10, my hair is about a 5 on an average day. If I spend an hour doing it, it might be a 7. It’s never been worth it for me to spend an hour on something that still looks pretty meh, so I’ve just stuck to washing and brushing it and leaving it alone.
Where was my amazing hair?
But many of the no-poo blogs I had read said it made their hair amazing. Where was my amazing hair? In some blogs I read that it took 4-6 weeks for this great hair to appear, and in others I read it took as long as 4-6 months. So I’ve decided to wait.
Another problem I’ve encountered is that between baking soda “washes”, (because apparently too much baking soda isn’t good for your hair either), I was still getting a ton of oil just “washing” with water. Now for more research (this was really turning out to be more work than I initially expected.). I read that between baking soda “washes”, a lot of people were using rye flour mixed with water. So I went to the store and bought some and tried “washing” with that. They were right, the oil was gone, but still no amazing hair. Oh and also, the rye flour leaves husks in my hair that I end up brushing out the rest of the day. I have read I can sift first… but this seems like a lot of work too.
The oil was gone, but still no amazing hair.
Yet another problem I’ve had is dandruff, which I’ve never had. A little more research told me to add tea tree oil to my baking soda/water mixture. This seemed to help get rid of most of it, and also gave my hair a pleasant smell, which was nice. It’s smelled like hair for quite some time now (and straight up oil for the first 2 weeks which wasn’t that awesome.)
So here I am, on the 4th month. No-poo, a little dandruff, no oil, but still have hair that’s kinda meh.
So here I am, on the 4th month. No-poo, a little dandruff, no oil, but still have hair that’s kinda meh. (See image to the left.) But I’m going to stick it out for a couple more months because I’m stubborn, and also because I’m pretty much right back where I started but with less effort, less chemicals, and I’m helping the environment. Not too bad right?
I’m pretty much right back where I started but with less effort, less chemicals, and I’m helping the environment.
If you want to know about how toxic many of the chemicals in shampoo are for your body, you can read about it for yourself. I did not elaborate on it myself because they are many other, more qualified sources. And if you are a fellow no-pooer, I would love advice on how you made this work for you!
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