Warm boot recommendations please

[Merryn]

Just 'listened again' to Jeremy Vine and it was quite interesting: Matthew Paris from the Times was championing only washing with water and a top hairdresser was saying he had done it in the past but thought, on the whole, that it doesn't suit everyone and that long hair could be more of a problem, especially with pollutants in the air.

There were then a few people ringing in saying that they only wash their hair in water with no problem, except one who thinks unshampooed hair smells and one who says all the dirt gets on the pillow case!

 

So there are quite a few out there - we are not alone

[Lesley]

Andrew Marr is also not using shampoo - he wrote an article about it for the Daily Mail earlier this week (or last week?)

[Sheilaz]

I'm really pleased now. I've only used water this week and it's OK. It's not greasy in the old unwashed way, just a smoother texture, with the natural oil acting as a conditioner.

I'd agree that pillowcases needed washing more frequently to begin with, but even that has settled now.

Part of me misses the "just washed " look, but now I know that my hair was far too dry & splitting like that.

So, new hair & I'm pleased. It really isn't dirty or smelly, as I use fairly hot water for rinsing and brush regularly. If I had a concern about pollutants, I'd use the bicarb or vinegar, but I reckon water does it now.

Hey, Ginette, we made it to 3 months then ?! I'm hoping to do this forever now.

I have 2 targets now. I really want to gradually trim hair until all the length is my new unshampooed hair, about 3 years I reckon!

More immediately. I hope it gets even better as I haven't told anyone yet! I'd like some really good days, so that the reaction is good. I may use oatmeal for a treat sometimes, but I haven't for a while now.

Merryn, I'd go as long as poss with water if you can, but you have the vinegar or bicarb if it's too bad.

[Merryn]

Andrew Marr is also not using shampoo - he wrote an article about it for the Daily Mail earlier this week (or last week?)

 

Here is the link for that article: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=389635&in_page_id=1770

 

I think we should all leave a comment to show them that there's a body of us. Someone has left a comment to say that her daughter had head lice and she stopped shampooing and the lice went away.

[Louise]

Where I live has very little pollution as it is so rural and although I say I work in Edinburgh it is actually just outside so even at work it is not too bad I am going into the city on Monday so I will see if that makes a difference

 

I tried to use conditioner a couple of days ago as I was worried I am rinsing too much at the mo and it wouldn't stay on it was hillarious it slid right off so I guess I don't need it anymore

 

I would asdvise take the plunge and tollerate 2-3 weeks of horrible hair to get to where it is looking and feeling fine

[The Dogmother]

While Rosie has benefitted from it, and hasn't used shampoo since we started (yes, she hasn't had head lice since we started either). I found that my hair doesn't suit just rinsing all the time, and I use shampoo every coupl eof weeks -the natural oils are still there and it isn't nearly so dry when I have used shampoo and conditioner as it used to be. I am alarmed at the coulour of the water when I shampoo though - even having rinsed and scrubbed thoroughly with water, the rinse after shampooing is really filthy .

 

Still, I am shampooing less,a nd seem to have found a 'happy state' for me.

[Guest]

 

Me too, Clare. I just cannot go without shampoo, but our shampoo consumption has plunged dramatically since this thread started - the boys and Caity are shampooing their hair about once a fortnight, and I'm down to 2 washes a week, from all of us washing our hair every day. Chookiehubbie has given up on shampoo all together, but as his is about 2mm long at the moment, I don't think that counts!

[Chicken on a mission]

Sorry to post and run.

 

I thought the Jeremy Vine show was ok, the usual comments from reactionists with little thought given to what they were actually saying but ok for all that.

 

I now wash my hair once a week, same with my daughter's. My hubby never uses shampoo but given that his 'winter' haircut is a grade 2 all over and his 'summer' haircut is a grade one, I won't be breaking open the champagne on this achievement!

 

If I didn't have such a self image problem at the time of the experiement (and now) then I would have persevered. It's something to think about in the future. Maybe I should shave my head for charity and go from there?

[Guest]

I still haven't washed my hair since last Saturday. I rinsed in water on Thursday and it made my hair really greasy. I am wondering about the pH balance of our local water. My hair is getting less greasy since Thursday and I am going to see if I can nurse it back to full health without vinegar or egg. I might use oatmeal though.

[Louise]

I did have greasy days Ginnette but what I did was wash in fairly hot water for a bit then reduce the temperature and kind of live with it and after about 3 weeks it stopped being greasy at all

[Guest]

3 weeks? Yep, I'm going for it. It might not take so long because I haven't used products for 3 months.

Saturday Louise? Are you at work?

[Louise]

Yup just about to go and finish off so I should be on my way home in an hour but I have to be in at 8 again tomorrow morning

 

Then I am off for two weeks - bliss sitting in the garden with the cats and the chickens sounds like heaven to me

 

Might catch you later but I might just go straight home

[Guest]

Sunday as well! How miserable. But I think you have chosen a good two weeks to be off. It's scorching down here, too hot.

[Louise]

Bit dull here Ginette but to be honest I don't care I just need a rest

 

It is meant to brighten up tomorrow

[myles]

Well...i'm still in and to be honest quite i'm dissapointed with the whole thing. How many weeks are we all now idon't know it must be 14/15 weeks and my hair just seems stuck. It's not good it's not bad, it seems to be quite dirty feeling most of the time. It's nearly three weeks since i last bi-carbed and it feels really ready for a rinse with something more than just vinegar. I was trying to give up the bi-carb but my hair feels greasy/dirty, i don't know what to do with it, a few weeks ago I thought we'd all cracked it

 

And my scalp has gone flacky again

[Sheilaz]

Anne, your hair looks so amazing, I'd be really happy if mine looked like that, but then it's all relative to how we like our own hair to be, isn't it.

I've realised now that mine at this state never looks just washed which is a shame. But, when I worry that it's too greasy, it's not exactly. It looks overconditioned & styled (stuck! ) maybe, but the texture (as someone else described before) is more that lanolin feel of sheep's wool, it's not as bad as unwashed greasy hair, if you see what I mean.

I have to compare with before, when I loved the just washed look, but hated the fact that it was always split & dry. That's why I want to keep going so I can gradually cut off all old hair, & see what the new hair is really like.

I'm lucky that the scalp has never been a problem, and still isn't. So, I'm accentuating the postives, it really is the 1st time in my life that I haven't had awful tangles. Also, I really don't feel (or smell ) dirty. It doesn't look great, but I'm OK for a bit. I'd love it to be so good that I could tell people about this. It still seems way off being a good advertisement for the project, I'd love to show it off & say see, you don't need shampoo. The answer right now would be Oh yes you do!

Yours looked loads better than mine Anne, but I share your frustration about never feeling that it has a wonderful day, all just mediochre.

[Guest]

Thank you for posting Anne and Sheila. It's really good to hear other people saying the same things that I feel. I'm so glad I'm not a failure here and that there are others feeling the same. I really echo the disappointment of not having glorious hair (I think it's 14 weeks now) and not being able to share the good news with others.

 

Although, when I look at my hair, I think the length of it is glorious and much nicer than it used to be. It's just the top that is disappointing or awful, depending which day it is! And it is growing really quickly, so it must be healthy!

 

Louise seems to be pleased with hers now - Louise are you tempted to brag yet? I checked the pH of our local water and it is about 7.9, which I think is slightly alkaline. Might this have something to do with it? (Louise has natural spring water! )

 

I have only used oatmeal since last Saturday (8 days now). Water makes it really yuk, but I will be doing it again quite hot (Louise's advice) to remove some of the dirt. I'm hoping for some improvement as time goes by!

 

So, what to do? Were there any well-known people in the Radio 2 programme or the Times article (which I can't find online). It would be good to see some pictures of hair without products, preferably stunning ones!

[Aylana]

Nice to know I am not alone! My hair has been looking awful for the past couple of weeks and it is really starting to get me down. I have tried not to use anything but water since the early weeks when I used oatmeal, but last week I caved in and used bicarb. I had to use it for 3 days in a row before I saw any improvement in my hair and it still looked and felt horrible.

 

I am going to observe a puppy training class on Wednesday and I'm really dreading having to go along and meet new people looking like this. I'm going to have to bicarb and oatmeal like mad over the next couple of days!!

[Guest]

How many weeks are you now Aylana?

 

We have found that bicarb works best with at least 2 weeks in between, and be careful because it dries your hair out. I found that 200ml vinegar and 300ml water mixed together cleansed my hair. I followed it with a beaten egg massaged in and rinsed off. The result was lovely - really clean and conditioned hair. I was doing this twice a week. If this doesn't work out for us, I think that method will become my new shampoo and conditioner. I'm not going back to synthetic shampoos.

[Lesley-Jean]

I've never added to this thread as I'm a dedicated shampooer but a relative of mine has said for years that everyone today washes too much. She insists that we should not wash more than one a week as this removes the skins natural protective oils. She has beautiful soft fresh unblemished skin (and always smells fresh and clean from her plain water rinse every day.

 

I would be very interested if any of the non shampooers have taken this logical next step

[Guest]

I would be very interested if any of the non shampooers have taken this logical next step

 

Logical next step? Are you suggesting we should return to shampooing, but less often?

 

I don't think I will ever go back, but I may settle for more natural versions (like vinegar and water instead of shampoo and egg instead of conditioner). I am trying very hard to get to using just water, but I don't know if I can hold out. 10 days now and my hair feels really heavy and greasy (the bottom 3 inches are all right but the rest is grease!). I rinsed today in hot water and have to say it looks all right, but doesn't feel it.

 

What did you mean Lesley-Jean?

[Guest]

Re-read your post now Lesley-Jean and I understand!

 

Right early on, my husband said to me 'and I suppose we're going to stop using shower gel next?' Now I ponder his question every time I shower!

 

I like the Roman principle of massaging with oil and then s"Ooops, word censored!"ing off the dead cells, but I'm not going to do that. I would get into natural soaps though, but haven't yet!

[Lesley]

I was wondering about this after pondering (great word Ginette) on the fact that I use a lot of body moisuriser. How come my back doesn't need moisturising? - because it doesn't get scrubbed as much as every other part of my body and doesn't get moisturised!!

 

I know the logical next step - but it's a big step isn't it? I do shampoo less often so perhaps it's time now for a complete 'water only' day?

[Guest]

Are there any social historians here? I want to know what people used to use on their bodies and their hair. What did ironage man use for example? Presumably they had natural soaps of some kind, but what?

 

If some knows, please tell . . . then I can ponder some more!

[myles]

Ginette, I know that you can use several plants as natural soap. Probably the most handy is the Yucca, you can use the root or the leaves. I have never done it my self. but one leaf is said to yield plenty. I don't have any yucca plants so i can't give it go, maybe someone else . A good thing about trying natural cleaners are that you are unlikely to do yourself any harm . Just be called crazy by your family, but that would be nothing new to me

 

Anne

 

p.s you can wash your self by body brushing, thats said to be very good for you.