This is the first time I’ve shown myself on my blog. Here I am, unshampooed hair and all.
When I first heard about people not shampoo-ing their hair, I immediately thought of the worst…that somewhere out there was a group of yucky greasy haired folks walking around. This was about three years ago when I first discovered the Mothering forums. There was a post link with hundreds of replies to this whole ‘No Poo’ thing. Gross, I thought.
Then last summer I started noticing a trend in bloggers who also decided to stop using shampoo. Amy of Angry Chicken is someone whom I admire so when she gave up using shampoo I became curious. Then I noticed that Meg of Sew Liberated converted too. If these beautiful, crafty woman were doing it, maybe I should try it too?
I first started noticing that maybe you didn’t need shampoo when I had my first son. He was born with very little hair and what precious hair he did have all fell out and he was lacking in the hair department until he was about 18 months old. So I never bothered shampooing his hair because he barely had any. And it never looked bad at all, actually it looked great. In fact I only started shampooing his hair when we was just over two years old only out of peer pressure…everyone else was doing it.
Why Would You Ever Give up Shampoo?
Supposedly most shampoo is laden with terrible chemicals, which is truthfully not hard to believe. Plus going through bottle after bottle creates a lot of unneeded waste and expense. And if you were like me, if you go a day or (gasp) two without shampooing your hair does look like a big greasy mess. Am I right? The real reason I wanted to give up shampoo wasn’t so much for the chemicals or the landfill situation, but because isn’t it always nice to give up being dependent on something that we don’t even really need? Especially something that corporate culture insists we need everyday? It’s kind of a liberating feeling.
The way that shampoo works is that it strips your hair of it’s natural oils. So your body reacts from it’s oil shortage by making more. Then you wash it the next day and strip the oils again, which means that once again your body produces more oil, you see how the cycle works. But by not using shampoo you let the hair oil factory regulate it’s oil production levels to create a healthy balance.
Using baking soda instead of shampoo is a good way to cleanse your hair without stripping it of it’s oils. In fact some people claim that they don’t even use baking soda, they just rinse their hair!
My Entry into Being Shampoo Liberated
I first stopped shampooing last August and it was a total disaster. Maybe it’s because my hair was really long or maybe I didn’t wait long enough through the transition period (it can take a while for your oil glands to slow down their production). I went back to shampoo using. Then in October I cut my hair up to my shoulders and decided to give it a try again. This time I was successful. I started out by combining a tablespoon of baking soda with a cup of water in a little ramekin every two or three days and bringing that into the shower with me, but soon I got lazy and just combined the two in the same proportion into a large empty plastic bottle (an old Dr. Bronners bottle). I squirt out about half a cup onto the top of my head and give my hair/head a good massage with my fingertips. Then I flip my head over and repeat with the underside of my hair. Then I thoroughly rinse it all out. Some people follow that up with a rinse of diluted vinegar, but I haven’t really found a benefit to doing that with my hair. My hair afterwards is tangle free.
It did take about a week of transition where I had my hair in a pony tail everyday, but after that my hair actually gained more volume. Scott mentioned that he’s never seen my hair look so healthy.
But Then I Went Back to Shampoo for a Bit
But because there is a bit of ‘girly’ in me, I started to miss the nice shampoo smells and big soapy lather. So over the winter I started to shampoo every two week or so. Then I went for another haircut and loved the way my hair felt after her shampooing that I went caved and brought out the shampoo bottles again. At first I hoped that I could shampoo just once a week, maybe every four days if need be. But I soon realized with shampoo it’s an everyday or nothing commitment. My hair got dependent on shampoo all over again.
So now I’m back to baking soda. And I really don’t think I’d ever switch back. And for those ladies who highlight or color their hair, using baking soda on colored hair is just fine. I highlight my hair (hey, I never said I was completely natural! I do have my vanities.) and the color hasn’t faded a bit. I do the baking soda routine about every four days now. Which means that those days in between I take shorter showers which helps with the whole drought situation. And the fact that I don’t have to keep buying shampoo helps with the whole financial/economy situation. And of course, Scott is back to complimenting my hair again, which is always incentive to keep going. See, it’s a win-win-win situation.
Are you also one of the crazy no shampoo-ers? Tell me your story.
I’ve always wanted to try the whole no-poo thing, but I was afraid that I would feel dirty all the time. I guess I always thought that the transition period was a lot longer than a week. I think that I read somewhere that it took six weeks? Maybe I misread it. A week, I can handle. I’ve also always wondered how my bangs would react to it. They look absolutely horrible if I don’t shampoo them every day. It would be so nice not to have to deal with greasy bangs in the morning! Maybe I should give it a try before we get into the heat of summer…
Do you use anything besides the baking soda? Some sort of conditioner or hair mask or anything?
Hi Megan, I think the whole transition period depends on the person. When I tried it in August it seemed to last forever so that’s why I gave up. But in October it was more than a week. I don’t know what went differently. No I don’t use anything other than baking soda. Not that I haven’t wanted to try a honey rinse or something else fancy…I just never find time to make one and use it! Maybe when the kids are older and I get more than 2 seconds in the shower.
In case you were wondering, doing a vinegar rinse doesn’t do anything but close back the cuticles. You can actually do the same thing with a little bit of lemon juice mixed with cold water. Baking soda can be a bit abrasive on the hair shaft. Also, those who have colored hair probably shouldn’t try it, because although it may not MAKE your color fade, it sure doesn’t do anything to protect it from UV or heat damage. Color is an investment at relatively ANY hair salon and you do need to protect it.
Okay — firstly, you look fantastic! Secondly, I had no idea this could be done!!! Great idea!
Aw, shucks, thanks Maryann.
I started using baking soda, water and vinegar mix on my hair Whilst I had my locks. When I brushed them out, which was a horrible, time consuming experience (we used several bottles of conditioner) I started with the shampoo again. If I spend any length of time in the bush I only use water but I’m not happy about it.
I think I might try to go back to the baking soda mix.
Your hair looks great!
I do a sort of variation on this- since I put in the purple highlights I can’t wash my hair very often or the color quickly fades to orange ( since apaprently no one sells permanent bold colors, all the bright purples are only semi-permanent).
So instead I wash my hair with very mild baby shampoo once a week ( or two, I don’t keep track) and in between I just use plain ole water to rinse in the shower quickly and I use a bit of baby powder every other day or when I’m looking greasy to absorb excess oil and it gives my very short hair a nice bit of volume too.
My crazy dandruff problem has almost completly disappeared too, I guess all the medicated shampoos were only making things worse. go figure!
I’d love purple highlights. I was “this” close to getting them once. I had no idea that they could fade to orange though!
I use a baby wash / shampoo combo which doubles as my shower gel. It’s very gentle and doesn’t strip the oils much. I wash my hair about once every 2-3 days. Then I use neutrogena triple moisture conditioner.
I just don’t think I could get over the transitional period where my hair would look like an oil slick, but I admire those who have done this.
I also need shampoo to remove 1. dirt 2. sweat and 3. the occasional hair product.
I’ve been shampoo-free since June of 2006 – so I’m going on my THIRD YEAR! WOOHOO! My hair has never been healthier. I keep trying to get people I know to convert, but they don’t believe that it works. I get the old, “Well … it might work for you, but it would NEVER work for me.” Which, of course, is what I originally thought.
I have curly hair and wondered why it used to look so much better when I was younger, than it has in the last few years. I read the book Curly Girl and fully embraced the idea of not washing my hair. Now I just rinse it every morning and apply EO (local company) conditioner that smells great. The first week or two was rough, but now I love it! The curls look better than ever.
I keep reading about this but haven’t worked up the nerve to try it. I will. It’s just got to be one of those things where I dig my heels in and just go for it! One thing tho…I think the name is what bothers me more than the thought of my hair being greasy…no-poo? How gross is that?! YOUR hair looks great…even your bangs. Do you typically have oily hair? I imagine myself trying this and having my bangs stuck to my forehead with grease! Thanks for sharing this…I’m even more intrigued than I was before!
Yes, I hate the ‘no-poo’ name too. I do have oily hair. And you know, even through the transition period my hair was never very oily. I don’t know how to describe it. It didn’t feel ‘normal’ but it wasn’t greasy either. It was just a little yucky. But give it a try! What could it hurt? If you hate it too much you could always go back to shampoo.
I’ve been doing the ‘baking soda as shampoo’ routine for 2 months now and I LOVE it! I didn’t go thru much of a transition tho, not sure why ’cause my hair can get pretty greasy. I do use vinegar as a rinse and I comb it out under a spray of water or else the tangles get pretty bad.
I do sorta miss the suds (that’s my ‘girlie’ coming out) and at first I doubted that it would actually work, but I’ll never go back to the expense and packaging of ‘real’ shampoo.
I also used to have my hair highlighted, but with budget cuts necessary in our home have had to stop getting it done. Now on ‘hair days’ I pour lemon juice on my scalp, comb it in, and go work in the garden for a few hours (obviously I try to do this on sunny days). It’s not as dramatic a lightener as the salon, but I definitely see a difference…yea!
Your hair looks great!
I tried baking soda/castile soap/vinegar last summer. I liked that I didn’t have to wash my hair nearly as much. I suffer from psoriasis and needless to say my scalp went from bad to worse to terrible. I ended up going back to shampoo (after going to the Environmental Working Group Safe Cosmetic Database and finding the least toxic over the counter shampoo/conditioner) and although I miss the days I didn’t have to wash the hair nearly as often, my scalp is healthier. Results may vary, and I am so excited it works for you!
I think I could manage to avoid shampooing, but conditioning is a must. I have long, thick, curly hair that requires ridiculous amounts of conditioner to keep sane. Maybe coconut oil?
Love the blog by the way.
Hi there,
I’m a reporter for msnbc.com, and I stumbled across your blog while researching for a story I’m doing — about, you guessed it, people who’ve quit shampoo.
Would you be interested in chatting with me about your experience over the phone? I’d love to hear from some people who’ve ditched shampoo. (By the way — your hair looks unbelievably good in that picture! Did you think it could look that good without the use of shampoo?)
Please e-mail me at melissa.dahl@msnbc.com, and we can arrange a time to chat. Looking forward to it
Melissa Dahl
Health reporter/editor, msnbc.com
Coincidentally I recently tried the no-sham thing. I have rather dry wavy hair so I typically shampoo every 3-4 days. I went about 10 days w/out shampoo and my hair didn’t look to bad but my itchy scalp drove me crazy so I shampooed the other day with the mild Giovanni shampoo I normally use and my itchiy scalp is gone.
I would really love to try living without shampoo, but I’ve just hit the age where I need to start coloring my hair. Those greys can no longer be hidden! Is there something special I need to know when coloring?
Hi Heather. I highlight my hair and I don’t see any negative effects to using baking soda over shampoo. I’ll ask my stylist next time I see her…which should be soon.
Anyone have any experience going shampoo-less while swimming in a pool once a week? I color my hair, and swim in chlorinated water. I only shampoo after the pool swim…too scared to not rinse that stuff out with soap. Any comments?
Hi Amy, I wish I had experience with chlorine/hair color and going shampoo less. Maybe right before you go in for your next color you can try going without shampoo for a week or so to see how it reacts. If it’s not a good combo then at least you will be getting it recolored in a few days, right?
I wet my hair completely before I get in the pool. I typically just rinse it when I get out, and I have found that it doesn’t suck up any of the chlorine water and I don’t have any trouble.
I saw you on MSNBC website and haven’t used shampoo since. Your hair looks wonderful. Love the color too.
Thanks Becky, very sweet of you!
I’ve recently tried this just to experiment (I have fairly short easily damaged hair that I want to get in better condition so I can grow it out), except right before I get in the shower I clip up my bangs and shampoo them only. I’ve been doing it for about a week and my hair hasn’t looked or felt dirty, it actually looks great and the natural curl that I thought was gone is back. I’m still a little chicken to skip out on shampooing my bangs though, but the rest of my hair is great, I’ll probably eventually wean myself off of shampooing my bangs sooner or later, but I have a feeling they will probably look pretty greasy for the “detox” period, ha ha.
On a side note, I tried using baking soda and it makes my hair feel grimy and gritty, I just like rinsing well with warm water and using conditioner.
So you’re sure that you can just quit cold turkey with shampooing? I’m on about day 4 and my hair looks like a greasy mess. I found your blog while looking for info on others who have stopped using shampoo. I have been “water washing” and it helps a little but my hair still looks pretty greasy. I will try the baking soda idea. I am excited at the prospect of ditching shampoo and all the added cost and time that goes with it! Thanks for posting this!
Hi Lauren, Yes, do use the baking soda! My hair would be a big greasy mess with out it. Some can do without it, but I can’t. Get thee to a shower (with a tablespoon of baking soda & 1 cup of water) pronto!
I love it, I just went “no poo” and Im really excited about it!
I haven’t gone no-poo, but a few months ago I started only washing my hair once or twice a week. I have very long hair (down to my waist in the back) and I always feel like it is a shame to have to have to wash it all when it just might be my scalp area that is greasy — the rest of it always looks just fine.
Anyway, I might take the plunge and try no-poo soon, just to see how long I can make it. I think if I didn’t have to go to the office for work, I would have no worries at all!
Thanks for this great post!
I also went no-poo after having my first son! Definitely for children, shampoo is an unnecessary evil. I am convinced by the fact that even though I’ve never ever used anything on my son’s hair (except baking soda/vinegar for cradle cap, and even then only twice ever), it is lovely – soft, silky and fair.
Myself, I only use baking soda maybe every few months. When I do, I ‘condition’ afterwards with a vinegar and water mix. Otherwise my hair gets very tangly! (I have below-shoulder quite fine hair).
The only thing I miss about shampooing (I hate the idea of suds, now!) is that I feel the colour of my hair has darkened quite a lot, from quite blonde to pretty mousy-brown with strands of grey (although of course this might be just age – I’m 35). So like Maureen, I highlight it when I can with lemon and the sun; it’s the best natural way I know.
I also endorse coconut oil, which one reader asked about. Since I rarely use anything at all, just water, the tangles at the ends of the hair can get quite bad. So I often just rub coconut oil into the ends of the hair, after a good scrub under water. Then I comb it. It doesn’t make it feel oily at all, and actually feels lovely and soft.
Which reminds me, some readers expressed doubt that a mere rinse under water could clean your hair. But you don’t just passively rinse. You get in there with your fingertips and really scrub every centimetre of your scalp. And if you can bear it, cooler water rather than really hot water is better – not as stimulating to the oil glands.
Hope this helps.
Thanks for such great comments Debbie. You know my hair went from very blond to mousy too, but that was before I went no-poo. I’m pretty sure that it happened as a result of having my two boys. When my hair fell out three months after giving birth it grew in darker. Which is why I get it highlighted from time to time, I just can’t accept that I’m mousy brown now!
I started going without shampoo about four weeks ago – just using water in the shower. The first couple of weeks were pretty good, but I am now struggling with dull looking, oily hair. Running my fingers through it feels like stroking an old labrador! Good news is that I haven’t had to use moisturiser on my hands since I started the experiment.
Will grit my teeth and try another couple of weeks – might give the baking soda a go and see if that helps.
Ha ha, yes, golden hair is a really hard thing to let go of, isn’t it. I recently did a yoga teacher training course and all the much older lecturers looked from the back of the room to be decades younger. I took it to be a proof of the benefits of yoga (I believe it is that, too), but when you got up close you realised the main visual trick was their artificially blonded-hair!
If even yoga lecturers blond their hair (and these weren’t Bikram-types, but rather serious, old-fashioned types), it makes you think.
I think that in this matter naturally dark-haired women start to have the advantage after about the thirty-year-old mark
. They can really age with dignity (I bet that journalist who wrote the book about being proud to be grey was originally dark).
I love this blog, and got some great tips from it. We don’t have much of a garden, being temporary rentors of our house, but I have a book coming out next month here in Australia, about raising children ’sustainably’, and I’ve also got some hints in it there about how to get to eat as much as possible of your own produce, in a tiny garden… FWIW
Hi Kim – yes one really needs to scrub one’s head well with fingertips (good for circulation in your arms too:)) and perhaps like our blog hostess you do have to use baking soda often.
I found it took the first 8 weeks during a humid Sydney summer to be happy enough with my hair to stop wearing a scarf over it!!!
On the positive side, it was a great opportunity to wear all the fancy Parisian silk scarves my grandmother left me – you could make one yourself from an old patterned silk shirt if you can find one in an op shop? Or a nice clean cotton bandanna would be fresh-looking. I tied it kind-of fifties-style, hiding most of my hair. I bet everyone thought I was having chemo.
I know you were making a joke, but your comment about not using hand cream is actually true – I find I need less moisturiser in general after being no-poo. That’s because shampoo, no matter how carefully you apply it, always runs a bit down your face, and mostly down your body. Without it (and I also don’t use lathering bodywashes), your skin doesn’t dry out nearly as much. I found I also stopped getting rough dry skin on my feet (which previously would be standing in shampoo-lather on the floor of the shower!)
I also have curly hair and it always looks far better when I just give it a quick rinse of plain water, maybe a tiny bit of conditioner and then put a bit of cream or gel on it. I never had oily hair even as a teenager so I can get away with weekly washing, never knew there was a movement away from shampoo!
I have a revelation to share. I thought my hair was better not using anything at all, as I commented above. Based on the fact that when I used baking soda before it seemed to get really dry.
However, when I recently followed Sonomagarden’s instructions, and mixed just a tiny bit of soda with a cup of water, it worked out fine.
I did that weekly for a couple of weeks.
Then yesterday, a friend, leaning over me as I kneeled on the floor, commented, “Oh, your hair looks much better now. I used to think it looked greasy.” It seems no one is game to tell you your hair is too greasy, until after it stops being so greasy!
The other thing is, as I half suspected, the colour of my hair improved on its baking soda diet. I ‘condition’, by the way, afterwards with some lemon squeezed into a cup of water. My hair is now a lot lighter. It does feel however quite a bit drier also, and as we are now in winter, it gets a bit of static when I brush – normal? I wonder about the long term drying effects of baking powder/lemon.
I do leave the lemon solution in.
Just thought I would update on that! Cheers
Great to hear Debbie! Is your hair lighter in color with the lemon or lighter in weight? If it’s lighter in color I’m off to buy an entire case of lemons!
Good question! Actually both. It’s fluffier and a bit more flyaway (not in a bad way though) and it is blonder.
The lightening in colour is surely from the lemon, but also in part from simply being less greasy!
Disolving the baking soda in a fair amount of water really seemed to be key, rather than just massaging a bit of the powder in (as I was doing before).
I recently thought to myself, “before shampoo was invented..how did we take care of our hair?” I began to think that hair shouldn’t really need shampoo in the first place and it should be able to take care itself (mostly). So, I went researching and found a bunch of blogs on the subject. I have long hair for a guy and am always looking to make it look good (It’s very difficult if you’re a guy and I’m never above taking a woman’s advice for hair care). Shampoo always seems to kill the ends of my hair. Definitely have to try this out.
Gotta go buy baking soda because, for some reason, we don’t have any.
Hi Aaron, I hope this works out for you! Good to hear from a guy!
I tried this when i was pregnant, i just didn’t wnat to take a bunch of time to do anything! haha but my hair when form sparkling bouncy and fresh to dirty brown shiny stingly chunks ugh i did it for like months! hoping for that transition preiod, but i just boar bristle brushed my hair and water rinsed it and put it in buns and pony tails using my grease like styling product:( I couldn’t take it anymore so i washed it with egg and went to the salon and got it cut a little bit and started shampooing again(with all natural shampoo of course)
I’ve been using the baking soda and vinegar for over a year. I never had a transition time. It just worked. I’ll never go back to shampoo. I used to use a ton of conditioner all the time. Now, my hair is softer and doesn’t tangle near as much as it used to with all the conditioners.
Just found you via downtoearth. I’ll be back!
So I remembered reading something on the “no-poo” movement a month or so ago, and decided when I finished up the shampoo and conditioner I had, I’d give it a try. I’m on day 4 or 5, and I kind of feel like a greasy mess… not as bad as I expected, but I am Italian and prone to being quite greasy =) Anyway, I picked up some good ideas from your blog – I was only rinsing my hair, and not really working my fingers into my scalp to try and rinse it out, so I will definitely try that tomorrow. Also, this helped clear up just how to use baking soda properly to clean hair, so if my transition period seems to go on longer than I’d hoped, I’ll give that a try. I’m just to the point where I feel that less is more, and the less time spent in the bathroom primping is more time spent elsewhere, so if I can cut out shampooing, I’ll be thrilled. I was about to cave and start shampooing again tomorrow, but I’ve picked up some good tips here and I’m going to keep plugging along and putting my hair up =) Hoping for the best and I’ll try to keep you posted as to how it turns out for the extreme “grease-ball” types like myself =) Thanks!
I surrender!
I have now been shampoo free for over three months and my hair, whilst looking thick and being very easy to style, has never stopped feeling like an olderly dog. I’m badly in need of a hair cut, but don’t want my hairdresser to have to handle my hair so yesterday I relented and used just a little bit of Simple shampoo.
I didn’t realise how heavy my head had been with all the extra oil! I think I will try just shampooing once every couple of weeks and see how that works, but just using baking powder and water wasn’t right for me.
Those of you for whom the no-poo system works are really lucky, but I don’t think I will go totally poo-less again.
I stopped using shampoo about 4-5 weeks ago, and I’m beginning to feel the same. My hair is getting heavier by the day! When I style it, it does stay nicely in the style, but only because it is more like a helmet than hair. When I shake my head it moves as a single piece, instead of individual strands! There is definitely a huge amount of oily build-up in my hair, which the baking soda doesn’t seem to be able to shift. I really want to give this a chance before giving up, but I don’t know what else to try. My hair feels yucky and is a couple of shades darker than normal. Any ideas?
So I decided, at the start of the the month, that I was going to go completely no-poo. I had just realized how much people depend on shampoos, when all it’s doing is stripping the natural oils from your hair, and then your hair produces more oils to make up for it, and all of a sudden your stuck in a vicious shampooing cycle!! So, I figured the summer was a good time to try a new regime. It’s been almost 3 weeks now, and I’m not completely satisfied. My hair looks quite nice at the front, but it’s all stringy and greasy at the back (I am prone to greasiness)! I couldn’t decide of my hair was still in its transition period, or if this was the way it was going to look from now on. I was considering maybe just giving in and using shampoo….until I found this website! It sounds like I’ve been doing a couple things wrong, like not giving my hair a really scrubbing my hair under the water, or using colder water. I think next time I’m going to try using baking soda in a few washes, and see if that makes a difference.
I’m happy without my dependence on shampoos and conditioners…so my no-poo adventure shall continue!
HAVE JUST FOUND THIS SITE WHILE LOOKING FOR HOW TO MAKE FRUIT ROLL UPS. WILL TRY THIS BAKING SODA THING AND SEE HOW IT GOSE.
Hey! Great post, wonderful advice! My hair is naturally big and curly, and I’m hoping to make it healthier and fluffier. I’m planning on starting a no-shampoo routine, but I have a few questions first…first off, my hair is dyed blonde, and I really really REALLY don’t want it to fade! Will the baking soda ruin my color? Secondly, is a vinegar rinse necessary? I’m a little scared of the ‘transition phase’ but hopefully it will pass by fast. Thanks so much for the great info!!!
Hi Al, I have blond highlights and I haven’t noticed any fading, so hopefully it won’t happen with you either. And I don’t do a vinegar rinse either. I know some people swear by it, and maybe it will help your hair, but I haven’t found it to be a key step at all.
I love this site! I’m allergic to corn, which is in anything processed, and almost all shampoo and soaps. After being a girly-girl for years, it’s an interesting transition to not be able to wash my hair. I can use Dr. Bronners as body soap and laundry soap, but that’s about it. I’m going to go no-poo!!
Anyway, this is my first week with no shampoo, and it’s not too bad. I use a natural brush to cleanse and distribute the oils, which works well. The time savings, and avoidance of an allergic reaction is a definite plus.
I’ll try baking soda over the next week, and maybe a rinse of vinegar and mint. I’m worried about whether my hair will start to smell. Any suggestions?
Here’s a new issue…I have night sweats. When I wake up in the morning I have “bed head smell”. I hate that smell so much! Has anyone else experienced this? How do you get rid of that if you don’t shampoo it away. Perfume?