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Shampoo free?

Agent Jelly

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The no poo movement would make my hair smell like poo! I have been using sulfate free shampoo for the past 3 years and my hair is extremely healthy because of it. From what my hair dresser has said you can achieve the same result with sulfate free products, but you dont smell and you can wash your hair.
 

greenfairy

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Hair cleaning itself

Have you ever tried that thing where if you go for long enough without washing your hair it cleans itself? My friend did, and hers looks great. She says it takes a few weeks.

Benefits: saves time in the shower, saves money on shampoo, might be healthier, definitely better for the environment.
Costs: you have to look (and feel) filthy for a few weeks (with associated costs).

I hate being dirty, especially having dirty hair. It makes me feel like my brain is swimming in grease and I can't think properly. I feel like a different person after I take a shower if I was really dirty. So this would be hard for me, but I am intrigued by the naturalness of it and the fact that our prehistoric ancestors probably never washed their hair and it might have looked fine.

I started trying it, but after 3 or 4 days I have to relent. I thought I could cheat a little by putting powder in my hair (and wearing it up) to make it not look dirty, but it in fact does not resemble clean at all. (Probably because I have really thin, fine hair.) I have to go to work and school, and I don't want to go out in public looking dirty. I wonder when a person would have the time to do such a thing? When would someone have the opportunity to not go out in public for weeks? Someone without a job who doesn't go to school, I guess.

Have any of you tried it? If so, what was your experience, and how long did it take?

I'm sure this would vary a lot by hair texture as well.

Edit: Actually, I just took my hair down, and it does look almost clean. So I could probably go another day at least. But I don't want to right now.
 

Ivy

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I merged you with an earlier thread on the topic- lots of experiences in here about it. Seems to depend a lot on what kind of hair you have.
 

Randomnity

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I've heard (elsewhere) that it's shit for fine hair, so I've never tried it myself. It seems to be extremely variable, so it's worth a shot if you have a stretch of time where you don't mind your hair looking like crap, but if it doesn't start to look good after a while then it probably just doesn't work for you.

I have very fine hair (but a fair amount of it) and used to wash it every other day (sometimes even every 3), but switched to every day shampooing (normal drugstore brands) and it actually looks way better - those people who say you aren't supposed to wash every day apparently aren't right for everyone. It was way WAY too greasy on the non-wash days, I don't know how I did it for so long - my mom always said I'd destroy my hair with daily washes, but she was totally wrong.

/sort of off topic but vaguely related, really! :cheese:
 

sprinkles

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What does dirty hair look like anyway? :shrug: I never could figure it out.

Actually it's the super clean, bouncy, glowing hair that looks weird to me. That shit isn't normal. Everyone seems to love it but it looks wrong to me.
 
W

WALMART

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I cut my hair a half inch to the scalp all the way around and use bar soap.


I never have legit input, btw.
 

gromit

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I wash my hair, but not with shampoo. It is fine and curly and dries out easily from shampoo. I actually use conditioner, wash my scalp and hair with the conditioner, rinse it out, and then put more conditioner on the ends. Just have to make sure it doesn't have dimethicone or any of those silicon ingredients, bc they do not rinse out with just water.

I have used vinegar before too, it makes your hair really soft.

I am not interested in the no washing ever. I would not be able to get past the ick factor. Besides, when you exercise and sweat, you want to wash all that grossness away!



edit: I am pretty sure I have posted in this thread like 3x
 

Evo

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I used to be an every day hair washer. However, I have a very dry scalp and my curly hair also tends to be really dry, resulting in chopping a lot of hair off every time I see the hairdresser. I am down to washing my hair about three times a week, and while it's helped, winter here is extremely dry and despite using conditioning treatments etc, it hasn't fixed it. I've read stuff a number of curly haired people have written about the big improvement that not using shampoo has made. I decided (gingerly) to try it. I still use conditioner, as I wear hair gel and need something to clean off the residue. I even cheated and used a small bit of face cleanser that's more gentle than shampoo, but alas, my hair felt oily. I haven't tried vinegar at all. I don't really like the idea of baking soda. I might check out the stuff that Tallulah is talking about. Where do you get it?

I have curly hair and dry scalp as well. I did stop using regular shampoo and conditioner for about a year, then I chopped all my hair off and got lazy(didn't want to make my own anymore). So while I did this I just used bar soap(organic/no chemicals)mixed with other things and just rinsed afterwards with vinegar. Vinegar has become my new best friend, I use it for EVERYTHING. It really is great for the ph of your head, I think it really made a difference with the dry skin, I still can't find a very good recipe for a homemade shampoo though cause i don't want to you baking soda either. So that's another reason why I stopped, but I still use vinegar.

(1) What if you just used shampoo + conditioner on your hair, while hanging your head so your hair falls down toward the ground, and your scalp is the never contacted with the shampoo + conditioner? That seems to me the only way to prevent the scalp from getting unecessarily exposed to drying agents.

(2) This might be moot, but I'll mention it anyway. Whether you use shampoo/conditioner or not, its still a great idea to MASSAGE your scalp with your fingers and just water. That way you keep the bloodflow to your scalp in good shape. If you don't shajnpoo, and don't massage, then you are decreasing the amount of chemicals that might dry your scalp, BUT decreasing your circulation. Does that make sense? I massage the hell out of my scalp everyday, because I am thankful I have a full head of hair, and am doing all I can to keep it. I use shampoo + conditioner daily as I have oily skin, so I am lucky in that regard I guess.

both of these are very good advice :)
 
A

Anew Leaf

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i keep reading about this and cannot deal with the concept at all. my friend who went to cosmotology school is forever trying to convince me to get to the point where i wash my hair once a week, or "ideally" never.

i wash my hair on average 1.4x a day. when i wake up: shower. when i come back from a workout: shower. when i have fresh, clean sheets on my bed and i've done anything during the day not involving nothing: shower.

i have really fine hair and if i don't wash it, it gets disgusting.

which is why my idea of camping is to make a pillow fort in my living room and look out the window at nature.
 

violet_crown

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My hair is naturally thick, dry and fairly coarse. I did con-only washing for a while, and I mean the whole shebang. No SLS. No mineral oils. All of it. I recall it working out fairly well, and my hair growing like crazy. I can't remember why I stopped, actually...Probably cause I hate fooling with my hair too much, and am generally content to let it do its own thing. :shrug:
 

skylights

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I have very fine hair (but a fair amount of it) and used to wash it every other day (sometimes even every 3), but switched to every day shampooing (normal drugstore brands) and it actually looks way better - those people who say you aren't supposed to wash every day apparently aren't right for everyone.

i have really fine hair and if i don't wash it, it gets disgusting.

Ditto the above. I have very fine hair and a lot of it, and it's so naturally oiled that dying my hair makes it look fantastic.
 

SilkRoad

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I have very fine hair (but a fair amount of it) and used to wash it every other day (sometimes even every 3), but switched to every day shampooing (normal drugstore brands) and it actually looks way better - those people who say you aren't supposed to wash every day apparently aren't right for everyone. It was way WAY too greasy on the non-wash days, I don't know how I did it for so long - my mom always said I'd destroy my hair with daily washes, but she was totally wrong.

Almost exactly all of this for me, and yeah, every day really is better. It just gets too greasy, lank and nasty in between.

I am making up for most of my life not dyeing my hair at all, now for a few years having heavy-duty highlights so I'm basically a blonde instead of a brunette. I'm sure bleaching my hair is not the best for it but honestly, having highlights, spending a tiny bit more time blow-drying it (though really very little still) and using better-quality shampoo and conditioner has made it look the best it ever has.

I like thickening shampoos because my hair is so fine, but given that I live in a city with extremely hard water as well, and the bleach in the highlights, that is perhaps a little too harsh for all the time. Lately I've been using moisturizing shampoos more again but the thickening ones do give it good texture and body.
 

kyuuei

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If I wash my hair everyday, it frizzes, dries out, and looks awful. If I don't wash it at all, it looks oily and clumps together into strands. It looks best in between these two phases. Currently I wash it every 3-4 days. I'm going to experiment with a couple techniques at home and see what works for it. I'd like something cheaper and simpler than shampoo, but I've yet to find anything that makes the hair smell nearly as good.

A part of me wants to try no-shampoo because I know it's better for the hair, gets it just as clean, and is way way cheaper and more natural.
A part of me likes my hair smelling so good, and the convenience of (still quite cheap) shampoo and conditioner, and how readily available and easily accessed it is (as well as the traveling bonus) that shampoo/conditioner trumps it.

I'll probably give no shampoo a try in the future, no doubt. But currently, solid shampoos are the only rivals in terms of price and convenience with traditional stuff, and they still require vinegar rinses that are annoying and smell bad to use (although the smell does indeed go away entirely when dry.)
 
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