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Happymama

Right Girls - Hair washing and not doing it with shampoo

By Happymama, in The Nesting Box

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Happymama Frequent Layer

Happymama

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As there's so much interest, lets open a new thread, shall we?

 

I've been doing it for over a year now. I've got very thick, curly hair. The very first time I dropped shampoo, it took weeks to settle down, during which time I had to change the pillow slip every 5 days or so, and was totally settled by the time 3 months was up.

 

Now, don't be frightened. Those three months are not a time when people will have to ask you if you've taken to washing your hair in chip fat. And there are things you can do to alleviate heavy oiliness.

 

Before I go further, let's discuss why to stop?

 

Cheaper

Easier when you go away - not as much to carry

 

Good so far?

 

OK, so what about your head? It's designed to look after itself, is it not? Did we evolve with a shampoo bottle attached to our elbow? No. So when you use shampoo you strip all the natural oil from your head and hair shaft, and your scalp panics and produces more, and so you go on, a negative feedback loop ... if you've got excessively greasy hair, you've just read why.

 

Your scalp will naturally take a while to calm down. I used white vinegar to wash my hair, just 200 mls in a one litre jug before rinsing well. And you can use dry oatmeal - put the plug in a dry sink, lean over and rub it into the roots. Sweep it up and bin it.

 

Now I don't use anything. Just water, once a week after a Step class, and it's in lovely condition, very shiny, and I've noticed a few things, too.

 

When I wring it over the bath, not much water comes out. This is because all the 'scales' on the hair shaft are flat and can't take up water. So my hair drys quicker.

 

When it rains, my ironed naturally curly hair stays ironed. No frizz. Ditto the 'scales being flat' ...

 

When exposed to smoky atmospheres like pubs, I go home stinking of smoke like everyone else does, and rinse my hair the next morning. Now, I remember doing this when I did use shampoo, and noticing that it never quite got the smell out - I still had to wait for it to fade over the next day.

Now, my hair only smells faintly of smoke, and by the time it's dry, the smell has GONE.

 

Tempted?

 

I strongly recommend you give it the full 3 months before you give it up. Some people will settle down much before this - now my scalp's well adjusted it takes one week to remoisturise my stripped hair after highlights, and that's that. The worst will have to wait around three months, but you should see improvement before that. It might get a bit smelly, so you wash in a vinegar rinse. Mine did, weeks 8-12. All downhill from then on.

 

It's well worth the bother. I started because I bought some new shampoo to go on Holiday and HATED the fact that the smell was so strong! I didn't use it all holiday, and the rest is history!

 

Oh, and the products I use tend to be water soluble ones, for obvious reasons! No hard waxes, or not many. My hair does recover from them very quickly but the bedlinen suffers!

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chocchick Effusive Egg Layer

chocchick

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Me too Mel, that's why I have discovered the chignon for the 2nd-3rd day :oops:

I was thinking yesterday, is there a homemade shampoo recipe maybe as I'm not convinced about those 3 months at the beginning. Also if I go to the hairdresser's I would have to do it again :? Vain CC that I am :roll:

 

I know someone at uni that started washing his face in just water and found his skin improved.

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Happymama Frequent Layer

Happymama

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I am sorely tempted - but am about to take up swimming more often. I presume the chlorine will strip some of the chemicals out, and so reduce the changes of the hair looking after itself :?

Once your hair is self-protected, and your scalp primed to do what it's supposed to do, which is to switch on relube when it's necessary, I think it'll be ok.

 

I am tempted but will I really not look like I wash my hair in chip fat - I have a job where I have to meet members of the public and need to look smart (my hair is baby fine and dead straight and I find it looks greasy at the end of a second day of not washing it)

 

If you have straight hair, the panic-sebum will run straight down to the ends (curly haired peeps tend to have dry ends, for the opposite reason) to compensate every time you strip the scalp of oil. It will balance out in time, and because yours is fine and straight, faster than my curly sheepskin rug did!

Me too Mel, that's why I have discovered the chignon for the 2nd-3rd day Embarassed

I was thinking yesterday, is there a homemade shampoo recipe maybe as I'm not convinced about those 3 months at the beginning. Also if I go to the hairdresser's I would have to do it again Confused Vain CC that I am Rolling Eyes

 

But of course a chignon for the 2-3 day! slightly dirty hair is always easier to put up, as all of us long-haired temptresses have found. As I said, dry oatmeal rubbed into the hair over a dry sink, then washed out, soaks up a heck of a lot of the oiliness without drying your scalp out further. And a vinegar rinse works really well too, esp. for those luckies who can rinse their hair every day. I couldn't, I don't have an hour a day to straighten it again, and if I dry it with a hairdryer it just goes frizzy, and if I don't it takes a good three hours (used to be five before shampoo freedom!). You can use egg yolks - a good source of essential sulphur - avo, honey, lemon juice (in moderation - it's a bleach when all's said and done), vinegar, tea tree, geranium oil, jojoba oil, and defo oatmeal. Experiment! I didn't bother, just put up with hair that needed washing every two days for a month or so.

 

And you can ask your hairdresser to cut your hair without shampooing it first, just rinsing it. I mystery shopped one the other month who told me she wouldn't be able to cut it nicely or neatly unless it was shampood - WHAT RUBBISH! I know loads of hairdressers who don't 'wash' their hair! And my regular hairdresser is quite happy not to use shampoo!

 

Anything else? :D

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Cinnamon Cocka-doodle-loopy

Cinnamon

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I mystery shopped one the other month who told me she wouldn't be able to cut it nicely or neatly unless it was shampood - WHAT RUBBISH! I know loads of hairdressers who don't 'wash' their hair! And my regular hairdresser is quite happy not to use shampoo!

 

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Ooooo - are you a mystery shopper?

I would LOVE to do that :P

Sorry to go off topic :?

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Lesley Eggsistentialist

Lesley

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What about short hair though? We can't put it up after a couple of days when it is looking its' worst :?

 

Do the highlights 'take' on your hair? I had highlights when my hair was on day 2 since last wash and they didn't take properly.

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AnnieP Feathery Fanatic

AnnieP

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SO tempted.... Easter holidays coming up in 2 weeks: Could start then. Worries? My hair is quite blonde. Don't want it to look dirty. If I only wash it with water, how will all the grit/dust and general dirt get out.... wouldn't it be like washing clothes without detergent?

Also , I do like to have highlights every now and then, would this be a problem?

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SarahJo Chicken Addict

SarahJo

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Thanks Happymamma, you've explained it really well. I nearly tried to start off this week & then bottled ( ) out.
... Sheila .. I was waiting for your "trial" as you have long hair like mine :wink: .

 

I too hate going any longer than 3 days ( at an absolute push) without a soapy lather and condition. :oops::wink:

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Cate in NZ Feathery Fanatic

Cate in NZ

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I'd love to do it, and all the explanations make such a lot of sense Helen that I'm entirely convinced that it would work for me. But, I'm simply not brave enough.... yet :roll: I've got short, straight and very fine hair that goes greasy very quickly, and I actually end up washing it almost daily. I'll sometimes leave it for 2 days if I'm only going to be at home, and don't expect to be seeing anyone, but it looks terrible, and I mean really, really terrible, by the end of the 2nd day :shock: I can't put it up, there's just not enough of it, and I need to look smart for work. Also, I'm quite vain, no oil painting I have to say, but I do like to look as good as I can and would be mortified if anyone more important than the cats and hens saw my hair in it's 2nd day unwashed state. Yep, I do wash it even if hubby's the only one who'll see me :wink:

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I've often thought about doing this, since I was a teenager and met a lady who said she washed her hair with soap and vinegar once a year. I'm sure it would be healthier for our hair.

 

What about dry hair? Do you think my scalp would manage the dry ends of long hair? I have long, thick, co"Ooops, word censored!" dark hair which I don't have cut often enough. :oops: Incidentally I always have a dry cut at the hairdressers - it costs half the price and I would rather wash my hair myself.

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What about all the shampoo in the cupboard? :?

 

I suppose if we start now it should all be settled down by the time the hot weather arrives. That might be better than trying to do it when it's really hot! (If it ever is!)

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