No Poo!

I decided a few days into June of 2012 I was going to try going “no poo.” What is no poo? No poo is the colloquialism given to not using shampoo in your hair. At first I thought it would be gross. If you’re not using shampoo, how does it get clean? Won’t it get super greasy and really nasty? Then I started doing some searches and reading up on it some more.

There are varying schools of thought on this, ranging from water rinses only to using baking soda followed by apple cider vinegar. Okay, but really? My hair gets really gross really fast! Do I honestly want to try this just to save a few dollars on shampoo and conditioner? My last bit of searching confirmed it for me- several people have reported that their scalp psoriasis has dramatically improved in the time following going no poo. I don’t know for a fact what I have is psoriasis, but everything I’ve researched says it is. In summer, its nearly unbearable.

Anyway, I’m going to take periodic photos of my hair as this goes on and you can see how its working for me.

Here’s some notes on the process so far.

Day	Photo	Notes
1 (6/1)		I shampooed it as normal and conditioned it, as I hadn’t yet decided to go no poo. My hair dried with its natural curl and was pretty smooth, and squeaky clean. It smelled like my conditioner.
5 (6/5)		I really started thinking about going no poo. At this point it was getting pretty greasy and starting to get flat. Yuck! I gave it a good rinse with plain water at this point but it didn’t really do anything. It didn’t smell dirty after the rinse, but it didn’t smell great either.
11 (6/11)		My hair was super gross. Oily, and just icky. I massaged a paste of baking soda and water into my roots and scalp and then rinsed it out during my bath. Afterwards it was much cleaner and even fluffy, but the baking soda has removed so much of the oils from my hair it was staticky and full of fly-aways and frizz. I think for at least a few weeks I will do the baking soda thing once a week. It did seem to make my scalp feel better, which had been unbearably itchy before I did the baking soda treatment.
13 (6/13)		Some of the natural oils have returned to my hair. It is smooth and soft, the brush went through it easily, and it looks normal. By normal I mean it looks like I shampooed and conditioned as normal. It is however missing some of its usual curl. My scalp is a little itchy, but its not too bad. For some reason it seems to smell nicer today.
18 (6/18)		While its been rinsed several times since the 11th, when I did the baking soda treatment the first time, it hasn’t had anything else done to it. I can already see my scalp isn’t producing as much oil as before- This photo was taken immediately before my bath tonight (my hair was still damp in this pic), a full week since anything has really been done to it. It looks about like it normally would after 4 days without a shampoo, and this is almost twice that amount of time. I also noted that since the 13th, my scalp has had no itching at all until halfway through the 17th, and then it was still pretty mild. Its usually a constant thing when the weather is hot.The dramatic color difference is due to the previous photo being taken in natural light and this one inside in the bathroom with light from behind. I did the baking soda thing again in tonight’s bath.
25 (6/25)		Last night when I took my bath I did the baking soda thing again. I think I didn’t rinse it all the way out as I thought. Its not super fluffy and full of static like the first time I did the baking soda thing, and it pretty manageable. I’ve also still had very little itching on my scalp except for one small area on the lower right side of my head that was itchy yesterday. So far this no poo experiment seems to be successful. Yes, the texture of my hair feels differently, and yes, I miss the sweet perfumy smell from the shampoo a little, but my scalp feels worlds better and I’ve also seen an improvement in my dandruff, which wasn’t something I had even thought about.
41 (7/11)		No picture today, but wanted to check in. Its been 41 days since my last shampoo, and about 11 days since the last time I did the baking soda wash. Its a little oily right now, but each week that passes, I can go a little longer before my hair reaches the same state. I think I read somewhere that eventually you’ll be able to get away with doing the baking soda thing once a month, but not sure.I’d also like to report that my hair has started regaining some of its curl, and its actually getting easier to brush out now after a rinse, unlike when I first started this and I could barely detangle it. I’m definitely seeing improvements in my scalp as well- I’ve had almost no itching or weeks! :D