I feel I need to preface this post with a statement: I have strange hair.
This is my hair on shampoo...
It’s the kind of hair that is course like a horse’s, and it can’t always decide if it’s going to be curly or wavy. It’s thick, but not because I have lots of hairs – because each individual hair is thick and kinky and twisted. Sometimes it’s fuzzy, sometimes it’s not.
It’s heavy hair, and I have quite a bit of it streaming down to my lower-mid back. It’s not even an easy color to describe. Not blond, not brown, not red… I have individual hairs in each color, including some so dark they could be called black, and some so light well… they’re outright grey. I understand that my hair is unique and I have never met anyone else with similar hair except for one of my teenage riding students, who now dyes her hair purple. Hehe. Because my hair tends to be dry rather than oily, I have always gotten away with shampooing once a week (sometimes less).
My adventure into shampooless hair care came about during Plastic Free February Challenge that Rodale publicized. I had to find a way to minimize plastic in the bathroom and I decided to do so by going shampoo free. Completely. Cold Turkey. Obviously going without traditional shampoo may not be for everybody, it certainly works for my hair and I encourage everybody to try it, as long as you’re willing to go through… dun dun dunnn… the transitional period.
Have you ever tried to grow dreadlocks? I did in high school (it was kind of a disaster!) and this is the closest I can come to as an example of what the first few times washing my hair without shampoo was like. Your scalp is used to producing quite a bit of oil (even on dry scalps/hair) to compensate for the awful degreasing power of your shampoo. Even the all natural shampoos strip your hair of protective oils, causing the itty bitty oil glands in your hair follicles to produce lots of oil. When you go without shampoo and switch to home recipes it takes a few washes for your oil glands to chill-the-heck-out. In the mean time you are left with oily hair that picks up dirt very quickly, especially if you work in a dusty horseback riding arena! Ew.
If you stick with it though, your scalp adjusts and you are left with hair that is softer, healthier and easier on the planet than it was before. Your hair won’t have harmful chemical residues and it won’t smell like … whatever it used to smell like. It’ll just be hair. Since switching off of shampoo, my hair is consistently less frizzy and “burnt out” feeling. It’s much more manageable and I find that if I style it it stays instead of flying all over the place.
The way I wash my hair now is I take two tablespoons of baking soda and mix it in two cups of hot water (often from the shower head). If you don’t have crazy Neanderthal hair like I do, you can use one tablespoon soda and one cup water. I let the baking soda sit on my hair, worked into my scalp, for about a minute (maybe two) and then I rinse it in the water. The next part is important.
This is my hair sans shampoo. Excuse the weird expression 
When you use baking soda, you have to use a rinse or else your hair will be atrociously sticky afterward. I use a glug of apple cider vinegar mixed with a tablespoon of honey in 1-2 cups of hot water. This works as a fantastic detangler though I have to wonder how it’ll effect my rapport with the honey bees in the garden this summer. Eek.
There are so many recipes out there that one is sure to work for your hair. I have used this web site as a starting point and it’s got plenty of information. I urge you to try going shampoo free for at least a month to really get the balance correct. When I first started I wasn’t using enough rinse and my hair was quick to dirty. Now my hair is shinier and softer than ever before. I have less split ends and I love the way it smells, or doesn’t smell, after it dries. I will warn anybody who detests the smell of vinegar that your hair will smell as it dries. After it dries, it’ll be all scent-free, but I have gotten some strange looks when going to the store with went apple-cider-vinegary hair.
Another thing to try is rinsing with beer. A close friend of mine has suggested this and I have yet to try it because I’ve gotten balanced out with the recipe I use now, but if you want to avoid smelling like vinegar it would be a good place to start. One thing my friend pointed out though is make sure you either open the beer before getting in the shower, or take a bottle opener with you. Running across the house sopping wet in a towel (or not!) while trying to find a bottle opener sounds like a nightmare!
Do you use any alternatives (or natural supplements) to shampoo?
Want to read more from Tanglewood Farm? Check out Emily’s blog over at A Pinch of Something Nice where she writes about her experiences with her gardens, her livestock and her leased historical home in SE Michigan.
I took the step of only washing my hair once a week, and of switching to a bar shampoo (also because of the plastic challenge!) but this sounds really doable. If I can make my own baking powder, I can make my own “shampoo.” Hmm, I wonder how this will work with the pink streaks (not kidding).
I am going to try this for both my daughter and I. We both have very fine hair, but a LOT of it. Her’s stays straight while mine can’t decide if it’s curly (mostly underneath) or wavy. I’m tired of trying to coerce it into behaving. Looking at your results it doesn’t seem like I’ll have to do much of anything once I get past that transitional phase!
I’ve been using Dr. Bronner’s liquid soap for 6 months now. I was tempted with the idea of the baking soda/vinegar method, but I work in a kitchen and get all sorts of grease and sweet built up. The use of “soap” was appealing to get all that nasty out.
I have oily hair but used moisturizing shampoos because “normal” over compensated. During my transition time (about 1 month) I started using olive oil to insure I wasn’t getting split ends. The oil also kept my grease/dead skin from building up on the comb. Now I use a bit of tea tree oil and mint oil added to the olive oil for sent and to treat scalp zits. The same oil mix works great for face and body lotion.
Doesn’t adding oils make your scalp more greasy and zit-prone? That’s always been my problem is the greasy build-up and itchy scalp from all that extra oil my hair produces if I stop showering.
But I digress. My real question is about this mint and tea tree oil idea, does it really help with your scalp zits?
I started using the oil blend on my face – always had troubles with breakouts, but not scar causing acne. Since using the blend, my hat line no longer develops zits. The tea tree oil and the mint both have antiviral properties and are recommended for acne sufferers.
On my scalp, I had the notion of using the oil for a leave in humectant to moisturize my hair. As such, only a small amount makes it to the scalp – just the right amount ’cause I use one an ounce or less for my hair and scalp. Checkout the oil cleansing method for some details on how oil dissolves body oil (http://www.theoilcleansingmethod.com/).
I really have to detail all this at my blog.
Tried the baking soda and vinegar this morning. Hair is soft and shiny so far. Am I supposed to leave the vinegar on my hair or rinse it out? I have fine, thin hair so I’ve never conditioned it. In my younger days, it used to be oily but as I’m aging, it doesn’t seem as oily so I only wash it every other day. Also interested to see if it helps with my sweating scalp (weird, huh?) which itches intensely after sweating. Summer is brutal for this unless I take antihistamines for the itch.
I wash the vinegar out, yes. If you leave it in, it might make your hair too acidic.
By nature, our protein-based hairs love things that are slightly acidic, though, so vinegar as a rinse works very well at leaving your hair smooth and silky after it’s rinsed out.
I have been thinking about doing this again. I for a brief time did it last year, but then stopped. My hair without lots of product is something like “Roseanne Roseannadanna” from Saturday Night Live. If any of you remember the character that Gilda Radner played. Yes I’m sure I just dated myself…. Anyway it’s REALLY BAD! I have heard it gets better after the first couple weeks. Maybe I’ll start on vacation… Anyone have any ideas for taming crazy wild hair, I literally use 2 different very heavy products a gel and a cream to keep it from looking like a poodle on a bad hair day?
I have had good luck using a small amount of virgin coconut oil to tame the crazies in my hair – which can get pretty out of control it hot humid weather.
I have found that washing less often also helps.
My hair seems to look a lot like yours, although more brown. I have used the baking soda method for a little bit, although I have to admit, I mix a tiny bit of my favorite organic shampoo in for smell & a bit of lather. Seems to work beautifully for me. Maybe someday I’ll go full baking soda.
Yay! I’m going poo free too! I make my own shampoo bar soap. It works to some extent, but my scalp isn’t loving it as much as i’d like. I need more herbs to infuse into it to treat my yucky scalp. I also alternate with baking soda. Man oh man the baking soda days are great, and i usually don’t have to wash my hair again for about 5 days, or until my next step aerobics workout. I rinse with an herbal rinse (rosemary and sage boiled and steeped) mixed with apple cider vinegar. Works great! I don’t even mix the baking soda ahead of time, i just grab a handful and dump it on my head.
This is so intriguing. I’m going to try it!
Hmmm, in the interest of keeping my life super simple I use a bit of the Ivory bar soap on my head! My hair is fine, straight and very short so it’s pretty easy!
Kris
I’ve been no-poo for about two years (using similar wash/rince recipes) and I’ll never go back. I have similar hair, and it’s longer with no split ends and more managable now than it’s ever been. I also use homemade flax seed hair gel, which doubles as a gel and a detangler.
To make: 1 tbsp flax seeds + 1 cup water (rain water works best, but you can use tap). Put in a small saucepan on the stove on very low for 2 or 3 hours, stirring about once an hour. (I usually set a timer and go about my day at home). Strain the seeds out (and feed to your chickens if you have them), and add to the strained gel: 1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar (to balance the pH), and 1 or 2 drops of essential oil (or your favourite perfume, but you can skip the scent completely if you like). In the summer, I also add 1/2 tsp of plain epsom salts to help with frizz.
I make shampoo bar soap for my hubby, but haven’t switched myself (thick thick hair). I’ve not been happy with my shampoo lately, though, so maybe I’ll give the baking soda a try.