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Well it's official. I have been washing my hair 'No-Poo' style
for a year now. Has it been worth it? Yes. Here are some things I have learned,
dealt with, experienced, etc...
1. The water you use makes a huge difference.
After moving to another country my hair went all crazy gross but I
wasn't changing anything to my regular technique. Finally I started using
boiled water to rinse my hair which helped A LOT but that got so annoying
having to wait FOREVER for it to cool down enough for it not to be scolding my
head…it turned out that my vinegar could help control that issue.
2. What other women experience is definitely not the same for
all.
While after two or three months many women were able to go
massively long times without washing their hair or only needing to rinse it
with vinegar ever so often, I was not that woman. Only until about two or three
months ago have I even been able to go with only washing my hair twice a week
and even then I have to plan it just right and wear it up and slightly hidden
on the last day or at least use dry shampoo on it.
3. The vinegar you use also makes a huge difference.
Vinegar is more expensive where we are unless we use the cheap
native kind that has added junk in it....which made my hair so sticky and
gross. I had to buckle down and just get the one that was more
expensive...which was worth it. I did try using limes and even lemons...but
that didn't please my hair too well. Pure vinegar split evenly with water is
what works best at keeping my locks soft and manageable.
4. My hair really does grow faster with this technique!
5. For the first six months of this my hair darkened.
As time passed and I figured out more and more what would work
best for my hair, my original color started coming back...but there for awhile
it was truly missed. So far though I seem to be the only person that has happened too...
What do I do now?
I seem to have finally found what works best for me...I have
EXTREMELY thick hair and I just was not getting all the baking soda and water
paste onto my entire scalp no matter what I did. I went through so many
variations, changed my routine so much, changed the consistency to the mixture,
everything...but nothing was doing the job because I was still finding unclean
sections in my hair. So now, I just mix no more than a tablespoon of shampoo
with a half cup of baking soda and then add a bit of water and I mix it all up. That washes my hair
perfectly and still gives me the health benefits of going 'No-Poo'. To rinse, I
just pour a glass half full of vinegar and the other half of water onto my hair
and let it sit while I wash or shave and then rinse it all out.
*I realize that adding a tad of 'poo' to my wash isn't the greatest, but it's what I am able to get my hands on here for now. When we get back to the states it will be an organic shampoo of some kind that I will add a tad of instead of the one I'm using now...really, it's just to help me spread the bs and water mix.
In the future...
When we get back to the states I plan on using the aloe and honey
mixture for awhile and switching that every other wash with my baking soda
style. This I have used before and it worked just fine...I just can't find aloe
where we are and the honey is very expensive.
Do I think you should try it?
I can't answer that without knowing your hair and such. In my
opinion, there are a lot of factors that go into knowing what to do for your
hair. For me, the number one thing that drove me to do this was my desperation
to relieve my itchy scalp....which is no longer out of control. YAY!!!
But I will say this, if your hair is constantly fighting to stay oily and
is limp and life-less...I would try it. If your hair is dry and course...I
would try it but with many restrictions such as getting rid of most all hair
products for at least a while, don't over heat your hair, and use white vinegar
the way I do it....half with water and leave it on for awhile. My hair was
greasy at the roots but dry and dead towards the ends...even after a fresh
trim. And yes, now my hair
is evenly healthy from root to tip.
What about the worry of the ph balancing issue in the baking soda
and vinegar routine ruining your hair?
First of all, I think that for some women that really may be an
issue that they need to consider and then find another alternative way to
no-poo. But for me, it's fine.
Second, nothing is perfect. There is always going to be someone
out there that will find that one little thing that may be harmful...you know,
the people who say not to eat peanut butter because it causes cancer...yet they
use harmful chemicals on everything they touch. It's these kinds of things that
send people into a frenzy and running back to what makes them comfortable and
using what they've always known...Shampoo. But even if the imbalance of ph
numbers in the soda vs vinegar is harmful, in my mind that is still nothing to
worry about compared to the junk they put into so many of the shampoos,
conditioners, and hair products we could be using instead.
BUT if this really is something that you can't get your mind to
stop worrying about, then using the aloe and honey mixture to wash your hair
instead does have better ph balancing...it just isn't as cheap as the bs and
vinegar and doesn't have quite the same effects....plus one bad jar of honey
will make your hair so nasty that you will have to re-wash it like 5 times to
get it back to normal...believe me...I did that.
P.S. There are some amazing homemade shampoo recipes out there that you can try if you feel uncomfortable with the baking soda and vinegar, this site had some great recipes that I personally know of family and friends have tried and love.
I would appreciate your comments! Thank you and have a blessed day.
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| My hair - 1 Year After No-Poo |
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