The "No Poo" method

Apone said:
NO, that's gross.
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I concur, and no it's not because the industry told me so :rolleyes: it's because the look and feel of greasy hair told me so.


This is somewhat off topic, but I think the article is biased in its assessment of the harmfulness of the ingredients (doesn't present the references to the contrary, and they exist, you can find them here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parabens#Breast_cancer) and I was surprised when I saw the main ingredient of the shampoo, the surfactant (stuff that performs the cleaning) being referred to as an "additive"....

The topic of the harmfulness of the cosmetic ingredients is a pet peeve of mine because I think the concerns are over blown and the people don't realize that everything is a chemical, the preservatives are being put in the product to protect it, which reminds me the whole craze for paraben-free products is kinda ridiculous. I researched the claims and found out that the purported negative effects (cancer, estrogenic function) were never proven, it's all based on one single study that found paraben traces in samples of breast tumor, but they never established how parabens got there and most importantly they never proved that it was the parabens that caused the cancer. It was also found that the estrogenic function is so minor it's negligible. But hey, it's easy to get people in a tizzy, and why not serve them up some green washing (hint: organic and natural are buzzwords, check if your product is certified or better yet check out their ingredients) at a higher price? (Does the cost of producing "organic" products really justify the insanely high prices of organic cosmetics?, I for one am not paying 10+ euros for a 250 ml bottle of shampoo)


Anyway, there's no one size fits all. We've different hair,different skin, and what matters is finding what works for you. Shampoo as a whole is not bad. It's worthwhile to look at the ingredients of what you're buying. I avoid shampoos and conditioners with silicone, petroleum derivatives, excess conditioning ingredients because they are the main fault for greasing up your hair. They aren't water soluble and pile up on your scalp. There are shampoos with mild surfactants for sensitive skin, shampoos with plant derived surfactants, whatever fits your needs.
 
I use some sort of biodegradable bar soap deal for drain purposes. Works well enough for a bald scalp and beard.
 
i used an olive oil soap for six months. it was not so great.

i tried conditioner washing which kind of worked.

my hair is fussy.
 
Since detergent and my hair don't mix, I use an all natural/organic conditioning cleanser about every three days or so, and a clarifying shampoo once a week, to get all the gunk out.
 
Neverwhere said:
Why because the hair products industry told you so?
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No, because of what peppermint said.

I'm allergic to most brand name shampoo anyways... it seriously burns my scalp. I use tea tree soap for everything... I used to use pine tar soap. Going without is utterly nasty.
 
@Apone @Peppermint
I think the idea of "no poo" is that after roughly 2 months (give or take a few weeks) the scalp adjusts and ceases being gross and greasy.

The reason I started to think about this is because I met someone recently who admitted to not having used shampoo to wash her hair for several months now. You can imagine my shock. I know how greasy my hair can get after just two or three days without a wash, yet hers looked beautiful, soft and silky as though it had been washed earlier that day. And it was fairly long -- down to her chest, I think. It also looked relatively fair and thin. She herself is caucasian and somewhat fair-skinned. I don't know if that matters.

It is true that this may work better for some people than others, but I like the idea of experimenting to see what my hair (body) needs.
 
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Update: Although I did not keep count, I suspect it was approximately 3-5 days between my most recent washes. As someone who has nearly religiously washed her hair daily for the past number of years, I'd say I was pleasantly surprised by the relative lack of grease. I washed my hair yesterday, because I thought I'd be going out. I didn't end up going out, but I guess I will wash it again on Thursday and Friday and see how it goes. If it's unbearably gross, I plan to wash it sooner. I'm experimenting at this point.
 
[MENTION=751]Peppermint[/MENTION]...well, I honestly thought the thumbs down was a bit overkill. I was joking.

Also, shampoo is the reason we get greasy hair in the first place. I know a bunch of people who have done the no shampoo method and they have the most lovely hair. I think they said they rinse once in a while with water and apple cider vinegar, and it does the trick. They dont have greasy hair at all. The detergents in shampoo strip the hair of its natural oils and then the hair overproduces to try and make up for it...hence after a couple of days the mass amounts of oil.

I would like to try this when I have the time, but I just haven't got the patience. Also with my second bout of hair loss I don;t want to stop using my scalp stimulating products!
 
I try with natural products. Lush is nice, but expensive, so I like it as gift:D
Btw, you that like Lush: Do you find interesting way that their salesmen are trained. They are all so sparkly and bright. And they like to break my personal space for showing me how products smell or feel. Last time woman at cashier said me: You bought that for friend's birthday. Promise me that next time will be for yourself.
It is as if they are supposed to spread "feeling good" philosophy.
So, is it same at your stores or is it me and Lush salesmen only:D?
 
Jana said:
I try with natural products. Lush is nice, but expensive, so I like it as gift:D
Btw, you that like Lush: Do you find interesting way that their salesmen are trained. They are all so sparkly and bright. And they like to break my personal space for showing me how products smell or feel. Last time woman at cashier said me: You bought that for friend's birthday. Promise me that next time will be for yourself.
It is as if they are supposed to spread "feeling good" philosophy.
So, is it same at your stores or is it me and Lush salesmen only:D?
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Nope, they hire people specifically with personalities like that because they make great salesmen! You walk in looking for something specific and if you aren't firm they can somehow tell you "Oh! And this product and this product are also reat for what you need, and these two work very well together...." and somehow you walk out with three of four different products! (It's annoying, last time I was in there cute worker dude seemed to be checking me out, but I had to ignore him and assume he was just looking to sell things :( haha! )

In Ireland I find a lot of their pricing is quite decent...some of it's a little expensive, but for the essentials, it's doable. (Shampoo, cleanser, the odd hair treatment!) I did notice prices vary from country to country...the one in Amsterdam was muc more expensive than my local! Have you tried checking online? Sometimes its cheaper!
 
That link is hilarious. There's a picture of Jimmy Wales with the words No Poo under him. He even looks a bit constipated.
 
I used to experiment at some point and found some nice methods that didn't involve commercial products. Mostly herbs and what not. But it was too time consuming, so I gave up.
I think vinegar rinses can be great instead of the conditioner (better with citrus essential oils, so it won't stink :pound:). I have unruly hair too and never know how it ends up looking the next day.
I'm just on sulphates-free shampoo regime now. Lazy haha
 
No poo starting today, will update.

Bebeeestyla!
 
My personal experience

Note: I probably used not very gentle shampoos.

Used shampoo and conditioner every day until 5 years ago. My hair was dry, brittle and not very pleasant to touch right after a shower. If I didn't shampoo for a day, it would become overly greasy, which made it more easily dirty and resulted in the absolute necessity of shampoo to remove dirtiness because it was in the grease.

I went on to use shampoo once a week maximum while taking care to thoroughly rinse my hair with water when showering. My hair is thicker, never greasy (and thus more easily rinsed to satisfactory cleanliness with just water), it is never dry and it has a strong black where it once used to be more faded to the point of brownishness.

It might not be the same for everyone, but I'm a lot more satisfied with my hair these days. The fluctuation between super dry and greasy gross dirty and the general hair quality degradation previously suffered is something I'm glad is past me.
 
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