In the shower one day when my husband and I first started dating he told me he didn’t wash his hair “It’s not good to strip it of its natural oils” he told me over my sud covered tresses. I rolled my eyes and began washing the soap from my hair and in a rather condescending manor told him that he needed to start washing his hair more often, and that the only reason he was saying that was to cover up that he was a boy who lived with three other boys and didn’t like showering let alone using soap once in the shower.
A little over two years later I am eating every word…
I was inspired by Genevieve over at Uniquely Normal Mom and her post about her 2 Year Anniversary of not using shampoo, or No Poo-iversary as she so cleverly calls it.
Could it really be possible that someone could unconventionally wash there hair once a week and have softer, healthier, more volumized hair? Could that really be? Have the shampoo companies lied to me all these years telling me how wonderful their products are for my hair, and how I “need” them to have wonderful, shiny, beautiful hair?
Most Likely.
So as of today I am going No-Poo, which means this:
I will not shampoo or condition my hair.
Instead I will use baking soda, vinegar and a little lemon or lavender essential oils once a week and nothing else… except water of course!
So today I mixed 1 tablespoon of baking soda with about 1cup of water and worked it through my shower wet hair and rinsed. Then I mixed 1 tablespoon of vinegar with about a cup of water and a drop or two of essential oils and worked that through my hair, leaving it in while I lathered up my body and then rinsing my hair when I was done, and I must say…
My hair feels WONDERFUL! So soft and clean, I know that I have greasy days ahead of me as my hair and scalp work into their natural rhythm but my goodness, if you’re not going to go No-Poo at least try washing your hair with baking soda and vinegar* because it’s just Divine!
Plus as an added bonus it goes in the Environmentally Responsible category and rids my home of one more nature depleting chemical!
Thanks so much to Genevieve for turning me on to No-Poo!
*Using diluted vinegar will not cause your hair to smell like vinegar, but putting strait vinegar on your hair like I accidentally did the firs time will. Just a heads up.
Thanks so much for reading! Please feel free to comment
Lovely! We’ve all used a non-soap bar “soap” (Nature’s Plus Natural Beauty Cleansing Bar) for all hair and body washing for the past six years and it’s fantastic. I shower/wash hair twice a week but the kids do once a week and the man does every day. Baking soda wash and vinegar/water/essential oil rinse sounds really nice though, I think I’ll have to work that into the routine.
It’s really great. Who knew that vinegar could make your hair feel so soft and supple? I’ve also heard that if you’re feeling a little fried you can use coconut oil to do a deep conditioning, but it sounds like it take a bit to rinse it completely out.
Rhonda told me today that coconut oil is also very very good for mosquito bites. It takes away the itching, heals the bite and smells soooo good. I’m kind of interested to try the No-poo, maybe when I get home. It certainly would save money and the environment. Can you imagine how many plastic bottles we throw away from shampoo and conditioner? crazy!!
You should. By the time you get back I would know more about how it’s working out. So far so good. Today I just washed my hair with water when I took my shower and it’s still all soft and nice. Not greasy at all. I’m kind of excited about the prospect of this whole No-Poo thing. I’ve also heard that it makes your hair more manageable and better behaved after you’ve done it for a while. Something about the natural balance of the oils.
Wonderful! I love it! Thanks so much for sharing your experiences with me….I’m going to repost on my page, so people can journey with you through this!
I’m so happy you enjoyed this post, and thanks for reposting! You really inspired me with your No-Poo post and I was so happy to try it myself. It’s going pretty well so far. I’m planning an update sometime next week.
Your great grandmother always rinsed my hair with vinegar and it would come out silky. I was not happy about it but she was tough… We called her “Big Elsie”, She was about 5’1″… Hmmm, I hear a fox barking on the hill… might be her.
[…] For those of you that are just tuning in, No-Poo means to maintain your hair without shampoo. So instead of using conventional shampoos and conditioners I use baking soda and vinegar to wash my hair about once a week, allowing the natural oils from my skin to balance out and avoiding the overproduction of oils that occurs when you use shampoo to strip all the natural goodness from your hair. To learn more and catch up on my No-Poo journey click HERE. […]
[…] few weeks ago I decided to go No-Poo and after a daunting and greasy first week I have experience wonderful, luscious, happy hair that […]
I have done a vinegar rinse a few times, supposed to help with dry scalp, but it hasnt worked for me. I have considered doign no shampoo, but honestly I only wash my hair once a week because it is such a hassle… and the longer it gets the less I want to do something multi-step to it like doign a baking sod, vinegar mix all by myself.
All laziness aside, I think that this is a fantastic idea. I wonder, do you still do it, and how is your hair now? Do you see any difference in short vs longer hair?
Sorry hair is easier cause you don’t notice it when it’s dirty. I switched back to shampoo for the ritual of sudding up. I missed the bubbles