no_poo

Hello everyone, newbie reporting :)

As of my last shower, I'm washing my hair water-only (yep, cold turkey), hoping I won't be swimming in grease as I only shampooed my hair once or twice a week anyway. My hair is "bra strap length" and very thick. I'm buying new brushes and combs from Denman, and have a question. They have a BBB-only brush, and one with nylon quills as well, to better penetrate thick hair. As I said, my hair is thick. But I understand that the point of a brush like that isn't to detangle (am getting a comb for that), so it doesn't really need to penetrate the hair, yes? So, which brush do you think is best for me? Should I go for the one with the quills, or not? If anyone knows another place to buy brushes, feel free to recommend. I'm a student so I can't afford something wildly expensive, and I prefer someone shipping from Europe as I don't have the patience to wait a month ;) Getting one offline, so to speak, will be difficult where I live.

Hi, everyone! My name is Tea; I'm 30 years old and I am a comics editor from New York.

I went Shampoo-Free for the first time about three weeks ago and my friends were asking me lots of questions and voicing concerns about the process. So! I made a comic about it! I thought I would share it here!

Shampoo-Free Tea

I hope you all enjoy it!

I've been no-poo since the end of April and really love it.  I've also stopped using any kind of product in my hair, and only blow dry when really really necessary.  The one problem I'm having is that my hair is ridiculously straight and fine -- like follows the contours of my skull and spine straight and fine.  It has a slight curl to it when I first get out of the shower, but even with flaxseed gel and plopping, once my hair air dries it's completely straight again.  The way it hugs my head looks so terrible when it's straight, I can't stand it.

The last month or so, I've been putting my hair in rag curls after showering (which is about twice a week currently).  This gives me fantastic curls until the next time my hair gets wet, and lots of body and volume in general.  Even if I brush my hair, it'll still be full and wavy and will take curl again very easily.  I love it, but putting it in rag curls and then letting it dry after every shower is a bit more of a time commitment than I like.  I went no-poo to get away from as many unnatural chemicals as possible, because of a complicated health situation.  If it weren't for that, I would consider getting a good old spiral perm and being low maintenance for at least a couple of months.

So does anyone know of a more permanent curl solution than rag curls, that doesn't involve lots of nasty chemicals?  I have bra-strap length, straight, fine hair, washing twice a week, currently using hibiscus tea every wash and BS every third or fourth wash.  Thanks in advance!

I stopped using traditional hair products before Thanksgiving, last year. So, I'm at about 8 months. I feel like it's been longer, though, and I feel like a dummy for spending so much money and exposing myself to so much chemical crap for so long without even questioning it. I was ignorant. But now, I've been educated. (I was blind but now I see?)

My hair is: brown, super thick, med coarse, wavy, usually between shoulder and bra strap length. When it's healthy, my hair is really pretty, all bed-head waves and shiny. When my hair is unhappy, it poofs, harcore. Also, my scalp is finicky. It can be oily, dry, itchy and/or flaky. It's easily affected by stress, the weather and what I put on it. Which I didn't realize until that fateful day when I ditched the commercial cleansers. Here's the story:

I have developed a sensitivity to smell over the past two years, due to chronic migraines. I am a compulsive googler, and while searching for ways to make my head feel better, I ran across babyslime and then this community. I read old posts and googled outside information for HOURS. This was all so fascinating. I had been using Pantene ultra-hydrating something or other with extra 'cones for your frizzing pleasure, then the 'cony conditioner and THEN a 'cony leave-in and sometimes a wax/mousse/gel to keep my hair from poofing too much. I had no clue that I was making it worse. I decided to try going without. I could do without the smells and chemicals, and if so many other people had found success, well, then I would too. Then I told a few friends and family what I was doing and they expressed doubt that it could be done without icky-girl ramifications. It then became a challenge. And I never back down from a challenge.

I started off with baking soda and apple cider vinegar. It worked once. After the first time, the acv started building up in my hair and made it impossible to comb through, sticky and a little stinky. I switched to white vinegar, same ratio. It worked better, but my hair was still a little waxy. I was washing it about twice a week, braiding and ponytailing it constantly. I figured the waxiness was part of the detox stage and I just had to deal with it. I started using cornstarch about a month in, and that really helped extend my presentable days. But, it also seriously contributed to the waxy buildup I was experiencing and about a month later, I started having a breakdown. My hair felt disgusting at all times. It actually looked okay, but when I touched it, my hands came away coated in a resin. It was awful. I'm pretty fastidious when it comes to hygiene, so after a few weeks of feeling like I had the grossest head on the planet, I had to have clean hair and I would have done anything to get it. I tried an egg yolk wash and applesauce mask, both left chunks in my hair and didn't do enough to make picking bits off of my scalp for an hour worth it. I tried a tea rinse, which left my hair feeling producty, and a beer rinse which left me producty and REEKING of heineken, even after multiple thorough rinses. One day, out of desperation, I dumped several tablespoons of baking soda into a small water bottle with a little warm water and started spraying my scalp. I sprayed and sprayed. I have a lot of hair. Once my scalp was saturated, I started to scrub. It got slippery. Real slippery. I mean, I had heard about the sopanification of baking soda and head grease (or sebum, or oil, or whatever you call it) and had experienced it before, but not like this. It lathered. I had so much built up oil and cornstarch and beer and tea and whatever else was in there that when I started to feel it get clean, and I felt my actual hair, instead of a waxy coating on my hair, I started to cry.

So, there I am, standing in my bathroom. It's morning and it's cold. I'm wearing my pajamas and my big, fluffy, bright blue robe. The first few inches of my hair are saturated while the rest is dry, sticking out in a thousand directions. I'm holding a spray bottle in my hand, and I'm crying. My boyfriend walks in and asks, "Are you...okay?" I nod and sniffle and breathe and smile. "I think it's working," I tell him. He laughs and congratulates me.

Since then, I've had very little problems. Every 7-10 days, I spray my scalp down with a baking soda/water mixture of varying strength, depending on how dirty my hair is. I scrub it 'round, then hop in the shower and rinse. Then, I rinse with the white vinegar or citrus/water mixture and rinse again with water. This has been working so well for me, that I've had a bit of a lifestyle overhaul and have drastically cut my usage of commercial products otherwise. I've been keeping myself, my man, my dog and my house as clean as they ever were with about 1/10 of the toxic stuff we used to use.

Forget ambrosia, baking soda and vinegar are stuff of the gods. :)

Just wanted to thank this community again - my hair is doing great.  I can just feel my scalp sigh with relief - my lifelong dandruff problem has gone away, and my lifelong shedding problem has been reduced by at least 50%.  I used to have hair come out in handfuls when I ran my hands through my hair.  I could not grow my hair long because of the shedding.  I don't shed like that anymore.   I never thought that simple baking soda and vinegar could fix all that.  As for the hair itself, it still looks good - or at least, it would if I had a decent haircut.  I asked a friend to conduct a "sniff test" and she informed me, with a great deal of perplexity, that my hair smells like fabric softener.  Must be the towels I dry it with.  In any case, fabric softener smell is something I can live with.

I've been trying to stretch out my washes to once every 3 days, and I don't think my hair is quite ready for that.  But every other day seems to work quite well. 

Now I just need to figure out how to travel with strange white powders in my luggage... I've got a lot of traveling coming up.  Any ideas?

hey! just found out about the no poo movement about an hour ago.

id like to go no poo however im having apprehensions.

to start i have shoulder length  wavy hair on my topmost layer also called canopy but at the bottom layer i have straight slightly wavy hair. to emphasize when i put my hair up in a half pony it looks like i have straight hair. i also have dandruff.

whats a good store bought product to use that is available in the philippines? some products locally ac=vailable are sunsilk pantene clear head and shoulders and palmolive.

i would prefer a sulfate free shampoo please. thanks

So I just joined and I've been reading posts for the last half hour or so, one question, what the heck is WO? I get all of the other abbreviations but I can't figure that one...

And I don't use hairspray but I do use this spray on (dry hair) volumizer, will the no-poo method still work if I'm putting that stuff in my hair? I don't use it all of the time, I only "do" my hair MAYBE once a week. I usually wash it once or twice a week with 'real' shampoo anyway. I'm all for the no-poo considering how little I wash my hair anyway.

ANYWAY - ok to use volumizer and do no-poo?

I'm sure this has been asked/answered before, and I'm sorry if it has, but I noticed something yesterday: I'm developing highlights. I haven't done anything different with the BS/ACV or anything, but I'm seeing some pieces of my hair [specifically in the front by my cowlick] that are ever so slightly blonder. I tried to work it out and nothing really made sense. Could the BS be doing this? I'm not complaining by any means, in fact I like it, I'm just wondering what's causing it. Is it possible it's just natural and maybe I always had these highlights but they never showed themselves?

Thanks!

Alright, time for another newbie question (isn't there an explanatory no 'poo website I could visit?). I've been doing no poo for 7 days and so far my hair seems ok. It's not overly oily but it's not great either. It seems like I've lost my "bounce". My hair just lays flat and is kinda smushed down, when normally I never have any issues with volume. Is it because the oils in my hair are still overproducing thus making my hair flat?
It also feels crunch and dry, so I did CO last night but it only seemed to help slightly.

Help???

Well, as far as I can tell, so far so good. I've been washing it with BS/ACV once a week or so, and then just dealing with it however the rest of the time, which means ponytail and a thick headband. I don't have to impress anyone and like I said in one of my previous posts, I wear a hat and ponytail to work so it doesn't matter there. This past Friday [the 3rd], even though my hair didn't need washing, I just felt like I needed to do something with it, so I had my first baby powder adventure. That didn't go badly. I only put it on a little bit at a time, at brushed it out thoroughly with my BBB. It made my part ghost white, which was slightly amusing but it also made my hair not so stringy-looking which was the point. So that was a success. I bought a bottle of Rosemary essential oil to try in my ACV rinse. I don't mind the smell of ACV, in fact I kind of like it, but I want to try something different and figured why not. And I had asked about Rosemary in my last post, too.

All in all, as I said, so far so good. I'm loving this, my hair is loving it although it's still adjusting. My hair feels a little dry today but I think that's because I left the BS on my head way longer than usual when I washed today. Not on purpose, but that's just how it happened.

So I went WO a few months ago. It worked great the first 6-7 weeks. And then I went to the beach. The first day the salt water cleansed my hair a little, which was fine with me. On the second day when I got in the water, there was clear/white stuff floating everywhere. It looked like ground up jellyfish - clear, sticky, and gelatinous. It decided it would attach itself to my hair and make my life hell. No matter how many times I rinsed my hair in the shower it just wouldn't come out! I even used Bronners to no avail. I figured I'd just let it dry and use a fine-tooth comb and a lice comb to get it out. BIG mistake! My hair resembled a large rats nest. It was like having gum all over my hair. I freaked and had to shampoo my hair about 8 times for this crap to come out. I went back to WO from there on, but now I just can't seem to get rid of this waxy build-up. I do a hot water wash on the highest setting my shower head will go, follow with massaging my scalp with a wash cloth, then I comb it with a wide-tooth comb and a finer tooth comb, and finally I do a cold wash on the highest setting. I did this before the beach and it always worked.

I'm afraid I might have reset my hair back to when I used shampoo, and now I'm going through detox again.

Has anything like this happened to anyone else? And how can I deal with all this wax?

Also, I was thinking about getting my hair cut to better manage it. It is now almost to mid-back. I'd like to hack off about 9-10 inches. Is short hair easier to manage than long hair with no-poo?

I'd really appreciate any help because this is driving me INSANE!

I started my no-poo experiment a week ago.  I am an on-again, off-again environmentalist, prone to strange obsessions about things environmental, especially when stressed out about the various other things in my life.  This is a time of great stress for me; so - what does my ADHD brain do?  Yup - sends me to Google for instructions on how to eliminate SLS from my life.  (the last such experiment resulted in the acquisition of a DivaCup; the one before that, in learning to make homemade toothpaste... yes, there appears to be a definite grooming-related theme there...) 

Well, I've done the baking-soda-and-ACV thing three times now (every other day), and I honestly have to say that my hair looks great.  Not greasy, not "well, it's acceptable enough" - great.  Moderately curly, shiny, and just very nice.  Shampoo-commercial nice (yes, yes, the irony...)  I have very coarse, moderately curly dark hair that I keep in a short bob-type hairstyle.  For the month prior to starting this experiment, I used a Lush shampoo bar, which resulted in messy hair and a dandruff problem. 

I don't know if this is just the honeymoon period and I'm heading for detox - perhaps (and I do notice just a tiny bit of incipient oiliness at the top/back of my head...)  I may also be overcompensating for the perceived lack of grooming by brushing my hair a lot more than I normally do.  I'm normally a low-maintenance sort of person (read: slob), and normally, my hair sticks out every which way.  Now, I find myself actually brushing my hair frequently and making sure it looks presentable so that no one notices that I've stopped shampooing it. 

But overcompensation or not, my dandruff problem has nearly gone away.  I've tried so many things to deal with dandruff, and none of them worked - and this did.  I still have a bit of dandruff, but nowhere near what I usually get.  I do have very sensitive skin that breaks out at the slightest provocation, so I am not surprised that putting SLS and other irritants on it would cause it to freak out.   

So - maybe a month from now, I'll be posting things along the lines of "Help, my hair has all turned green and fallen out!", but for now things are going very well. 

I've been doing no 'poo for about a week now and am feeling pretty good about it. My routine is 1 Tbl BS in 1 cup water, massage into scalp, rinse. Then a couple capfuls of apple cider vinegar in about 1 cup water, massage into scalp, rinse.

The past couple of showers I've noticed lots of shedding and I'm starting to wonder if my hair is going through a transition period and whether this is normal or not. I do shed a lot more in the summer and it has been getting increasingly hot here (in Seattle) but still, it's a lot of hair. Nothing has changed with my diet, stress, or sleep so I'm not too concerned but I though I would ask the opinion of the community.

Also, should I be brushing my hair more regularly to promote oil production and distribution?

Thanks!

When my hair is dry, it feels extremely dry and even crunchy but when it's wet, I feel like I've dipped my head in cooking oil. It's been hard resisting hair driers because I just can't stand how it feels wet now. I bought a boar bristle brush today and noticed my hair didn't feel as crunchy after a good brush but it still feels pretty dry.

hey all, I'm 19 and live in Canada. this is my first attempt at going no-poo...

I have ridiculously thick straight black hair that gets really freakin' greasy. see attached picture for details!

tonight I'm planning on trying baking soda and an acv rinse. wish me luck! :)

Hello, I'm new here. My name is Flick, I'm 21 and I've been toying with the idea of no poo for a little while now but I'm taking the plunge. Before, I would wash my hair everyday sometimes twice with all sorts of evil products. Now, I am going cold turkey. Yeah, I realize that I'm probably going to face a hard detox period but the good news... my boyfriend is out of town for two months so hopefully the worse of it will be over by the time he gets back. Although, I did inform him of what I was doing so he wouldn't be surprised to come home to a grease ball with legs. :P

I've made the switch and have given myself a month of no-pooing. Last night was my first shower without shampoo and I used 1 tablespoon of baking soda dissolved in about 1 cup of water. I tried to spread it througout my scalp while masaging with my free hand and felt the "slippery" feeling that is often described. I let it soak for a couple of minutes, rinsed, then rinsed the bottom half of my hair with a mixture of 1 capful apple cider vinegar in maybe 1 1/2 cups of water.

So far everything is going well, but this is only day 2. Do you think this is a good way to start out on my first no-poo experience? My hair is relatively thick so the full cup of baking soda mix was just enough for me, plus it's wavy so no-poo will hopefully help it gain a healthy shine. I'm also going to buy some squirt bottles for my mixes since a glass jar doesn't work so well and is definitely not safe in the shower.

Any other tips for a newbie like me? I've done some reading around the community and on the internet, and will probably decrease the amount of bs I use in the future. Also, should I wait a couple of days before washing with bs again?

Thanks!

Hi. I am attempting to go no poo...and I feel really good about it. So, if I chronicle my "events" of the past few weeks, can I get some advice?

I started no pooing three weeks ago tomorrow. My hair is fine, but there's a lot, and it definitely has plenty of body. I started out with BS/ACV. The ACV made my scalp and hair oily and super stinky. I tried BS/WV and my hair still stank and my scalp was still oily while my hair got super crunchy. I was almost to the point of gagging because of the smell. Don't get me wrong, I love vinegar but the constant smell was too much and it made me paranoid to be around people. Then I purchased Burt's Bees Conditioner and tried to do a CO wash, thinking that it would clean my hair and condition it....like the other CO'ers said it does. My hair became a waxy mess. I tried brushing, doing warm water, cool water, anything. Then I read that WV works so I tried that. The wax went away, but my scalp was still so oily and my hair crunchy. One day last week(Thursday) I broke down and decided that I HAD to wash, so I bought a shampoo bar from the local co-op, but I live with hard water so I figured I would applesauce it up and see if that helped break down the wax that builds up in the hair that was mentioned on the box about using bars in hard water areas. It worked fairly well, but I strained the sauce and still didn't get the bits out enough to not have some in my hair afterwards....is cheescloth best for this? I used a sifter, but I was definitely an apple-y person that day. I'd still like to get away from shampoo bars, though. So, I had a job interview Friday and I washed my hair with the bar and didn't use any rinse after. My hair was kinda crunchy at first, but I've been brushing my hair like mad. It's gotten oily, but seriously, I've been brushing like 5x a day. So, I wake up this morning, Monday, and see that my hair just doesn't look as oily as it did. I still feels it a little(not as much as even yesterday), but it looks better.

I never did get that slippery feeling from the BS that everyone talks about. I was afraid to go too high with the ratio because of gunky build up and the fact that it was already getting pretty crunchy. So, I'd like to steer clear of BS. I don't want to buy distilled water to go no poo because think of all the plastic jugs.....ew, bad. I want to try tea rinses, but I'm allergic to caffeine and I don't know which herbal teas to try...I've read about chamomile and hibiscus, but are there any other options? I think I'll try flaxseed because I just happen to have some. I'm just getting antsy because I was trying to go no poo while my man was out of town (he comes in tomorrow and leaves in a week again for another month and a half) and he wouldn't have to deal with detox too much. I know I can't rush this and can't find all the answers instantly......just need to give it more time.

Thanks so much in advance for any suggestions!

Hello,

I've been following this page for quite a while and have used the numerous advice in my no poo method. My hair is fine (but I have a lot of it), slightly wavy, and a little past my shoulders.  I first switched to an organic shampoo for about a month, but then decided to go no poo.  I stopped using shampoo about 8 weeks ago and started first with the Baking Soda and ACV every 3 days. 

At first it was difficult, but I could see a tremendous improvement in my hair and the lack of slickness I would typically get 12 hours after I usually shampooed my hair.  I decided to switch from BS/ACV b/c I felt it started doing funky things to my hair. My hair just never looked good or healthy, my ends would get crunchy, and my hair would be pretty limp. I used the standard amounts of BS (1 tsp of BS to 1/2 cup of water) and for ACV (1 tbs ACV to 6-8 parts water).

I bought shikakai powder and have been using it for about 2 weeks.  I put 1.5 Tablespoon shikakai with water to make a paste, rub it on my scalp, leave for a few minutes, and rinse it out. My hair definitely feels softer now and it has more shine, but it's still pretty limp and now has developed a lot of frizz.  I am staying away from blow drying my hair, but it's difficult to wear my hair down especially when my ends are very frizzy and all over the place.

Can someone offer any advice on what I'm doing wrong/what I should do next?

Thank you so much!

Today was day 7 of no poo...

Things really look OK but my hair feels...clumpy? As if it's a bit matted together. If you were to just LOOK at me it seems line, but I can't really run my fingers through my hair. It feels a bit greasy and pieces together a bit.

So, I figure I'll try to limit myself to making adjustments once per week to see what works unless something really causes a strange reaction. I'm thinking I should maybe increase my BS and decrease the acid a bit.

Any suggestions?

Hi again. I have a few questions about using tea rinses, including one about rosemary. I've read the a handful of posts in the tea tag, but didn't find what I was looking for.

( I'll cut it because why not )


It's been four days since I've washed my hair with shampoo. I've actually been taking pictures of my hair everyday to see the progress. So far, it's not really getting greasier, it's just a little itchy, feels a little waxy, and in general I look a little bleh. On monday, I'm gonna go to the store and pick up what I still need to get this show on the road! I've also noticed that this whole no 'poo thing is one of those little decisions I make that I get really really excited about, in the sense that I've let all my friends know multiple times just how itchy and greasy my head is and how I feel like I'm doing the best thing ever. xD

Also, I noticed all the username tags, and I thought I could make myself one, but I just tried to tag this as ~sugarbob46, and apparently I can't? Am I not allowed to do that? :(

I've been trying different things to see what works just right for my hair. I got a shampoo bar from Mehandi.com and love how it cleans my hair. Unfortunately, the days inbetween the shampooing, my hair is oily. The bar has only suponified (sp?) oils and alma powder. I've also noticed my scalps is a bit dry. Any suggestions? I do have hard water so I'm wondering if I have to use the bar everyday....

Hi everyone, I'm a new convert to No Poo. I'd spent weeks reading into it before ditching the shampoo bottle for good and I'm glad I did.

I used to have very healthy and shiny hair free of split ends. Then I moved interstate and everything changed - hair became very dry, coarse and frizzy and my skin flaked. I heard about the No Poo method around this time, but was quite dubious as I used to wash my hair everyday to keep the excess sebum at bay.

One day I woke up and found my split ends had taken over my hair and decided to do something drastic about it. I lopped a few inches off the ends and scrubbed my scalp vigorously in the shower, but without shampoo. Then I used intensive, deep-conditioning hair mask. I'd expected very greasy and itchy scalp for at least 6 weeks, but to my surprise, my scalp and roots felt exactly the same!

It's only been 3 weeks since I ditched the shampoo and my hair feels sleeker and the frizz has gone away. I still haven't experienced itching or lankiness and my partner couldn't detect any unpleasant odour from my scalp.

Is there any reason why I've had it so easy? Is it a sign that my hair was so damaged to the point the excess sebum was a blessing rather than something to weigh down my roots?

Also, I haven't used my hair straightener since. If I decide to use it again, will it re-damage my hair and make it frizz up all over again, or is it safe?

Thanks heaps, guys! Looking forward to your answers!

So I've tried this before, with baking soda and lemon juice, a couple months ago and I was enjoying it, but about a week and a half in I stopped for no other reason than I got super lazy one morning and didn't feel like mixing up the baking soda/lemon juice solutions so I just used as little shampoo and conditioner as I could manage, and that's what I've been doing since. But I wanna try again, because I don't like not knowing what's going on my scalp and the back of my Pert Plus bottle is very unhelpful since I can't pronounce any of it!

Thing is, my mom doesn't want me taking cups into the shower for whatever reason, and I'm not gonna argue with her over it. I'm looking into buying plastic squeezy/squirt/spray bottles to keep BS and ACV solutions in. And I'm stumped as to what exactly to get. I imagine a bottle with too narrow an opening would gunk up real fast with the baking soda and get annoying. What do you use if you use bottles, and where did you get them? I figure a place like The Container Store might have what I'm looking for, but I don't know what I'm looking for, really.

Also, I'm not starting the BS/ACV thing this week, since I have noooo money to even buy bottles. Literally. I have to wait for my next paycheck, which won't be in the bank and cleared until Wednesday or so. As it is, I haven't washed my hair since Tuesday, but I'm planning on not using shampoo/conditioner anymore, at all if I can help it. So my plan for now is to just go water-only until I can get a couple good bottles to keep solutions in. This is probably a really dumb question, but will this mess me up at all? Make my detox period longer, something ridiculous like that?

Mostly, I just wanted to say hi, ask a couple questions, yada yada yada. I'm looking forward to trying this again. I have fine pin-straight hair, and a good amount of it. I know my detox/transition period is probably going to be long and hard. But I'm not worried about it. I can't see my hair being greasy being a giant problem at work because I work at Dunkin Donuts so my hair is tied back and under a hat all the time anyway. And I bought thick fabric headbands to keep my hair out of my face, so nobody's going to see it. My goal [hope, rather] is that my hair settles down completely, or atleast partway, by the time I move back to college for the fall. I don't know who I'm gonna be living with, and I don't wanna be known as the girl who doesn't wash her hair and is all greasy and gross.

Hi everyone. Things seem to be going well so far on day 4 here in no-poo-ville. My hair feels and looks a tad bit greasier than normal (near the roots) and feels a bit dryer (near the ends) but is otherwise looking healthier than ever before. I went and bought some ketchup/mustard bottles from the dollar store so my rinses should get a bit closer to my scalp and I'm hoping that will help keep the sebum at bay. I've also brushed some baby powder (now I have the cornstarch kind) through my hair in the afternoons before I leave for work.

I have been reading tons of tags. Seriously. There's a lot of information and a ton of different opinions so I apologize if anything I ask seems like a duplicate of something else but today I have a different question.

I'm thinking about two different hair spritzes.

One I'd like to have with me during the day. I'm thinking mostly rosewater, a bit of witch hazel, and some peppermint EO (maybe a few drops of TTO as well). The idea is a bit of a cooling spritz for the scalp to help when the itchies arrive (and I think it would smell nice to spritz it while combing to refresh the hair or touch up).

The second question is about dandruff and fungal stuff. I noticed these things mentioned in some of the tags. Are these problems common as you begin to adjust to the routine? Would it benefit me to make some sort of conditioning spray with tea tree oil, or whatever else would help keep the wee beasties at bay to spray my hair with before bed at night, maybe?

Forgive me if I'm overthinking the process. I'm learning...

Hello! I'm so glad I found this community!

I have a question!

Using ACV in the shower makes me want to gag. Must be something about the warm water and breathing it in.

I'm really really intrigued with the idea of using lemon juice but am concerned because I have dirty blond hair with natural, light highlights and know that sometimes lemon juice is used to lighten hair.

If I'm diluting 1-2 tsp or tbsp in a cup of water, will it have that sort of effect? (is that the right proportion?)

OR can I add essential oils (to any of the mixtures) to make it smell better and to ensure my hair smells a bit nicer, I guess?

That's it for now!

Thanks!!

I've been no 'poo since the beginning of April, and I've been loving what BS and ACV with honey do for my hair, and for the fact that when I decided to start this, I had to wash my hair about every one and a half days. I'm up to doing BS/ACV w/honey every 3-4 days now, and I really do adore it.

I have a question, though.

Recently, we bought a grill and some hickory chips to smoke our grilled food. Makes for INCREDIBLY yummy food... and incredibly SMELLY hair. We did this last Sunday, and today, after my second attempt at BS/ACV, I still smell just a touch of the campfire smell.

I can't use soap on my hair because that leaves it feeling awful, and I don't really WANT to shampoo it... but I'm at a loss as to how to remove the scent...

Any ideas?

I'm about two months into the whole no 'poo thing; I've been using BS, ACV mixture with honey, and a rosemary tea rinse once a week, and a good brush out and rinse with warm water on other days. I switched to WO on workdays, mostly because my job doesn't require me to look "presentable" (hooray for dirty outdoor labour jobs!) and I have my hair up and under a bandanna all day anyway. Also, my hair tends to be a bit dry, especially at the ends, and I didn't want to use BS on it more often than I really had to.

Now, last week I was out of honey AND rosemary, and my hair didn't look greasy at all, so I skipped my washing routine. I noticed that my hair wanted more brushing, and it also felt like I had some kind of texturizing product in it. It otherwise looked pretty okay, so I decided to see how it looked the next week. That Saturday is fast approaching, and, uh, my hair doesn't seem greasy at all. It's pretty much exactly the same as it was five days ago. It's certainly not what I expected from not washing my hair for almost two weeks.

If I no 'poo when my hair still looks and feels "clean enough" rather than just a bit oily, will I dry out my hair unnecessarily? Should I oil it up before I wash so that the BS has something to react with?

Edit: The main reason I'm asking this question is that I have to get a bunch of I.D. pictures taken this weekend and I'd kind of like to have clean hair for them, just on principle.