SteppingSoftly.com

So, my most recent adventure has been no poo-ing.  I must say that I love the no poo do.  No, I’m not talking about poo poo, I’m talking about not using shampoo.  Or conditioner for that matter.  When people don’t use shampoo, it is often called “No Poo.”  I started this some time ago and have noticed little difference, except for the better.  I have naturally wavy hair that has to have conditioner, so I was a little concerned about that in the beginning.  But . . . I’m willing to try anything!  Using this method has actually made my curls more defined and less frizzy.  Wow.  Amazing.  Incredible.

The method that I am using is pretty universal, I guess.  I take a few teaspoons of baking soda in a jar and mix it with warm water from the shower.  Just enough to dissolve the baking soda.  Then I pour it over my scalp and scrub it in.  Really, the only part of your hair that really needs washing is the scalp anyway.  Then I have my squirt bottle pre-filled 1/4 with apple cidar vinegar.  I fill it all the way up with warm water and squirt it on, making sure to get it all the way to the ends of my hair where it needs the most conditioning.  Then, I rinse well.  When I get out, sure, I can still smell the vinegar, but by the morning when my hair is mostly dry–I don’t smell it at all.  In fact, my husband doesn’t even know that I am doing this.  He has never mentioned that he smells vinegar in the hair, or that it smells funny.  Some people add a drop of two of lavender essential oil, or some other favorite oil.  It is supposed to mask the vinegar smell completely, but since I sort of like (or should I say don’t mind) the vinegar smell, I’ve never done that.

The oil in hair, known as sebum, is a protective sheath of esters and fatty acids that give your hair shine and bounce and protect it against damage.  When we wash our hair everyday we are washing that sebum right down the drain.  Then our hair follicles go into “hyper-drive” trying to produce more.  This brings on the “But I have oily hair.  This will never work for me.”  So, when you stop washing your sebum down the drain every morning, your hair follicle begin to produce less. Incidentally, sebum contains antimicrobial properties that ward off scalp infections as well. Eventually, I hope to be able to stop using baking soda at all.

The hair product industry has done an excellent job of making us think that in order to have fresh, clean hair you have to have a lather of soapy suds.  So silly!  That’s nonsense.  I heard somewhere that shampoo is marketed more towards your fingers than your hair!  A long time ago, people used to use regular soap and before that they probably rinsed their hair a few times a year.  This beauty routine is just my style– simple, cheap and fast!

Eventually, after your hair has been devoid of all it’s sebum, it begins to be dry and frizzy.  So, what’s a girl to do?  Reach for the bottle of conditioner.  Conditioner is much newer than shampoo.  It coats your hair with esters and gives it back SOME shine.  Of course, conditioner isn’t meant for your hair either, so it begins to build up until you hair is flat–again.    So, then what?  It’s time to shampoo!  I used to use Neutrogena to get the “build-up out.”  I always called it “my shampoo has stopped working again, need to get the build up out.”  It’s just a vicious cycle!

So, you ask, why would you want to do this?

• shampoo is expensive AND it comes in plastic containers
• shampoo contains chemicals that can irritate and dry out your scalp and hair
• the chemicals in shampoo can be hazardous to your health.  Your skin is the largest organ in your body.  Whatever gets put on your skin gets absorbed into your body, into your bloodstream and into your organs, as has been proven by many studies. Essentially, whatever is toxic to put in your mouth is toxic on your skin as well.
• why would you need shampoo/conditioner when your own body produces oil to naturally condition your hair and keep it healthy? Using shampoo daily upsets the natural balance and causes you to produce more oil than necessary to compensate.

So, are you ready to try “no poo?”

Filed under: Bath and Body, Green Living on September 18th, 2009