Soap? Who needs it?

[mousme]

I have decided, more or less on a whim, to use fewer chemical products in my life. I am starting with myself. So starting today I stopped using shampoo or any other kind of hair product. I plan on weaning myself off chemical products entirely, one at a time, and today was (hopefully) my last day of shampoo.

I had already noticed in the past that the more often I washed my hair, the oilier my scalp got, essentially because chemical shampoos actually dry out the natural oils in the scalp, so the scalp overcompensates by producing even more oil, resulting in a "greasy hair" look after two days or even less. So I'd been making a point of no longer washing my hair every two days, but rather every four to five days, and I'd already noticed a difference. While my hair was still kind of greasy, it was nowhere near the levels of ick that I had previously attained.

I found a "no shampoo" method that involves making a baking soda paste in lieu of shampoo, and then using ~1 tbsp apple cider vinegar/1 cup water as a conditioner. The idea is to use that for a couple of weeks, and then switch to water only to help the hair and scalp return to their normal balance.

I'd already waited about a week to wash my hair at all, and I've been brushing it a lot more than I usually do, since research and common sense tells me that this used to be the preferred method for keeping one's hair presentable. Brushing allows the sebum your scalp is producing to be spread more evenly along the hair (which is what conditioners do artificially for you anyway), and it's how women did things before the advent of modern shampoo. I haven't quite been doing the "100 strokes" thing, because honestly the brushing sort of makes my head sore, but lots more brushing than usual. I did notice that my hair was already softer by the end of the week.

So I hopped in the shower, "washed" my hair with the baking soda goop and "conditioned" with the apple cider vinegar solution, and expected my hair to be clean but maybe lacking in the texture department. As it turns out, I am super pleased. My hair shiny and soft and perfectly manageable, and I keep creepily petting my own hair. Yes, I'm strange, but it's very very soft.

I can't say that this will work for everyone, of course. No idea what it would do for people with very curly hair, or afro-textured hair, or anything else. I have straight (well, moderately wavy) auburn hair that's about medium in terms of thickness and quantity.

Anyway, so far so good. If I'm able to get this down to a no-shampoo-forever routine, I'll then tackle the issue of soap and cleansers. My skin hasn't been completely clear since high school, so even if it doesn't help I'm sure having no chemicals on my face won't hurt, either. There's good anecdotal evidence for no soap to result in skin that's much less dry, so I'm optimistic on that front. We shall see.

Comments

[elanya.livejournal.com]

yeah, I was washing mine with just water, and cidering it about once every week or two. I do know people who do find with no products at all though!

I have tried cleaning my brushes but I can't figure out what to use, so I'd totally take suggestion on that if you've got any! My hair is so thick/long that it collects a lot of dust on top of everything, so it all sort of mats together. I clean the hair out and such regularly, but it is the other gross head stuff that won't come off -_- I got a boar bristle brush, since they are supposed to be better at distributing the natural oils as well as for smoothing, and it is the worse because the bristles are so dense :/ That and my fine toothed comb -_-

[mousme.livejournal.com]

Oh, dear. It sounds like you clean your brushes about the same way I clean mine, so I have no helpful suggestions. I've never had problems with sebum/what have you clinging to my brush. It just comes off with hot water and scrubbing.

Sorry!