Ditching the shampoo

Care for these bodies we've given should be simple and uncomplicated. As a part of my belief in this, I've stopped shampooing my hair. Roll your eyes if you must, but once you've done that, read on.

I blame Trish at Little Eco Footprints for this one. She mentioned that she no longer shampoos or conditions her hair, along with a bunch of other cosmetic free practices that she has in a post called How to detox and simplify your personal care. It piqued my interest and I clicked around internet-land learning what I could about a shampoo free lifestyle.

Check these good links.

New Urban Habitat - Are you still using shampoo?

One Green Generation

ABC- Is shampoo a rip-off? 

So basically the idea with this one is that you don't need to use shampoo to have clean hair. I have very oily hair that looks like BP have busted an oil well by the end of the day and can smell a bit funky when it isn't washed. Funnily enough when I had dreads and didn't use commercial shampoo my scalp wasn't flaky or itchy or smelly, but with mainstream hair and commercial shampoo it is. I haven't been a shampoo fan for a long time so not using it sounds good for me.

There are a few 'no shampoo' methods, and the way I do it it this. Dump some dry bicarb soda on my hair and rub it in. Get in the shower and straight away quickly wet the hair. Massage the bicarb in and let it sit for a minute while you soap up your body or whatever you do. Rinse. Then I splash some diluted vinegar [1-2 tablespoons in a cup of water] from an old popper that Addie once drank out of, just on the ends of my hair. Leave for a minute and rinse for a couple of seconds, done!

At the end of the day & not even gross! 

I like that you don't need to try very hard to make sure all the product is washed out the hair because its nt sticky, it just comes right out. Doing this is really quick and easy and uses less time than needed for regular commercial products. I love that my fine straight hair is bouncy, shiny and soft [yes I have all three!!] and that my scalp feels fine. I am hooked by the fact that it is cheap, fast and that I'm not using added colours and fragrances where they are just not needed.

I've found that I only need to wash every couple of days - though depending on weather conditions it can sometimes get a little oily in between. If I don't have time to wash it [or want to give it another day] I can just pop a bit of bicarb on the roots under the top layer of my hair [so I don't look like I'm greying!] and it soaks up the oil slick and gives back some bounce to my hair until I get up to washing it next.

So, yep, I'm sold. I'm using this for the girl's hair too - why should they have shampoo dumped on their sensitive baby skin? Andrew isn't jumping at the idea, but he's a bit more conservative than me and doesn't think too hard about what goes on his hair at the best of times. Maybe we'll get him onside one of these days, especially if I stop buying shampoo! At the moment he thinks that I'm just a looney who has an addiction to bicarb and vinegar. I do, but thats because they are so awesome.

If you want to know more, google "no shampoo bi carb" or "no poo hair" and stuff like that. Tons of people have blogged about their shampoo-free experiences - both positive and negative.