It’s a new month. What new thing are you trying? I’ve got several up my sleeve, but for now I’ll just share one.
I am (gasp) trying the no-shampoo craze:. I’m not quite doing it for the typical reasons. My hair has always been extremely oily and (glancing about furtively) prone to (dare I say it?) dandruff. I’ve been shampooing daily since I was about 10yo. In fact, I always shampoo in the morning, not at night, because it really only looks and feel clean for about 18 hours. If I do it at night, it’s feeling a little gross by the next afternoon.
All that is to tell you that I just think there’s something basically wrong with needing to shampoo so often. I’m hoping that replacing shampoo with baking soda and a vinegar rinse will shock the chemical factory in my scalp into working properly. I don’t expect it to be fun and I just might give up 30 minutes before my next trip into town, but that’s the plan for now.
I would love to hear from anyone else that has tried this bit of craziness. A few questions, if you don’t mind:
- How much of each do you use?
- Does the vinegar have to be apple cider vinegar, or will the cheap white stuff work?
- How long does it take for your scalp to adjust?
Are you trying something new this month? Hop over to Frugal Hacks and tell about it. Or just go see what others are doing.
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I use about 2 Tbs for my fairly long hair. I also use conditioner on the lower half of my hair to detangle. It’s been working fine and I don’t really notice a difference other than the savings so far. I’m afraid to use the vinegar tho’, I fear smelling like a pickle!!
Hi! Just discovered you from the Favelo’s site and I CAN’T WAIT to see how this works out for you. You WILL let us know, right?! (Are you daring enough for photos? I wouldn’t be! lol)
Drop on by anytime. I just posted about graduating my oldest after 13 years of homeschooling. I LOVE your opening page photo. Really captures the whole experience!
Blessings to you and your clan!
I’ve been no-shampooing for 7 months now, it does take a few adjustments along the way. I have VERY hard well water, so I have had more challenges than my city-water friends who have tried this at the same time.
1. I use 2 Tbs of baking soda and a dash of salt in about 1.5 cups of water. (the size of my emptied-agave nectar bottle). The salt seems to help with the hardness. I was using about 7 Tbs of vinegar in 1.5 c of water for a long time, but only on the ends of my hair, and the KEY to success was to do a final rinse with cold water. I found apple cider vinegar to be too “greasy” for me, and prefer white vinegar. I found I was getting a bit of breakage due to not quite enough moisturization, so now I’m using cheap conditioner on just the ends of my hair. The scalp area doesn’t need it.
2. I use the white vinegar. For people with dandruff problems, it does seem to work well if you do a prerinse in white vinegar – why, I don’t know. But just put a tbs or so in a half cup of water, squirt it over your scalp, then rinse out well and continue with the wash routine.
3. Transition took about 5 weeks for me. You have to be really patient! but now things have really settled out, and I’m happy about it. Its really nice to go from a morning only washer like you, (same greasy by afternoon issues as you have), to an every other day – every third day in a pinch – washer.
Cindee – I never have smelled like a pickle after my hair dries! The vinegar smell is only noticeable when my hair is still wet from washing.
Soooo sorry to be so wordy… I totally forgot to mention…
I found that a tiny bit (about 4 cc) of Dr. Bronner’s Peppermint soap in a couple tablespoons of water washed on my scalp helps some with any extra grease buildup I might get.
I have been wanting no shampoo, but for the curly affect. Let us know your results!
If you are tempted to resort to industrial solvents because you are overwhelmed by the oil and have a party to attend, or whatever, try dusting a little baking soda (dry) on your dry hair and brushing it through. You can mix the baking soda with some cornstarch first if you like, you can even add some essential oil for fragrance. The oil would be absorbed and brushed out leaving you fit for a trip to town.
Deanna, great info!
We’d love to have you as a commenter at Frugal Hacks.com!
I use about 1.5 Tablespoons of baking soda in 2 cups of water. I wash my hair usually every other day in the evening, though sometimes I let it go a third day if life is too crazy. I haven’t tried the vinegar rinse, I use lots of conditioner. I have quite long hair, which tends to be dry and tangly, especially towards the ends, so I don’t think I could do without the conditioner. Switching to baking soda has definitely helped my hair to be more manageable!
Your hair and scalp will probably start to adjust in a week or so, but it may take a while longer to be fully adjusted. Even with shampoo you can make your scalp adjust its oil production by simply shampooing less frequently. Your hair will be very oily for a while, but then it will adjust to the new schedule. Part of the reason your hair gets oily so quickly is precisely because you’ve been shampooing daily for so long – your scalp expects to be washed daily and therefore produces extra oil in order to stay moist. Whether you choose to go without shampoo, or simply wash more frequently, you’ll have to put up with a week or two of yucky hair first but it will be worth it in the long run!
I can’t wait to hear how it goes. I am cursed with oily hair and I too wash it in the morning otherwise I have that oily look first thing in the morning.
I’m excited to see how it goes!!!
I just started looking into this too! How funny. I would love to start. Let us know how it goes.
I tried this for two months last summer. It just didn’t work for me, but I wear my hair down a lot. The texture seemed all off, but I do know that it works for a lot of people. Give it at least 6 weeks before you give up. I’m glad I tried it though.
I used 2 Tbsp. baking soda diluted just a tiny bit and massaged around my scalp and let it sit for a minute. Then I rinsed with apple cider vinegar diluted in a glass of water.
My daughter has used the soda/vinegar for her last three showers. I started on her because she had itchy scalp. She likes it, and I haven’t noticed a visible difference. She does seem to be scratching less now.
The only one in my family with greasy hair is my hubby. I thought about trying Jenny’s soap and olive oil concoction on him, but haven’t yet.
God bless you in your experiments.
Hi Kim,
I haven’t used shampoo for over 2 years. I do the “Curly Girl” method and blogged about it here: http://www.smockityfrocks.blogspot.com/search?q=curly+girl You’ll see a photo of my hair. It never looks or smells dirty.
It took about a month for my scalp to adjust and stop producing so much oil.
I sprtz it every day with lavender water and I only use conditioner and scrub w/ that about once a week. Maybe once every other month, I use a brown sugar scrub. Occasionally, (once a year?) I use a vinegar rinse.
I used raw eggs. Crack ‘em, mix ‘em, and rub into my hair and scalp. Works great! Then I add some shampoo. I’ve done vinegar before, but usually forget!
Shalom,
Miss Jocelyn
This is something I have really wanted to try but have not found the guts to do it yet. I only wash every 2 days as it is but would love to get away from it all together. Looking forward to learning more.
I might try this… I have “trained” my hair to only be washed and conditioned twice, maybe three times a week. I work out every day so I just rinse real quick (hair included) with baby shampoo and call it good between real hair washings… I never have greasy hair. Just thought I would throw that little tidbit in:-)
My hair is to my waist (when I stretch out the wave
) and I don’t have any bangs. I have a set of those red and yellow ketchup and mustard squeezers (with the white pointed tops- just like Grandma used to use) and I use 1 tsp baking soda in the yellow one and fill it almost to the top with warm water (in the shower) and I made a mark on the red one about 1/5 of the way up which is where I pour the cheap apple cider vinegar to. Then I fill that the rest of the way with water. I think it’s about a 4-1 ratio of water to vinegar. I use this set up twice or thrice a week and it’s been going great! I never smell like a pickle. I have used white vinegar and it was ok but I really prefer the acv (again, not the fancy organic bragg’s stuff, just the gallon for $3 from WM- I do use the fancy stuff for consumption though)
Be sure to fill the bottles just before you use them or they get cold and it feels AWFUL running down your back. Just a word to the wise
Unlike some, I went from not having used any shampoo on my hair for about 6 months, to using the BS and ACV and I didn’t have any transition period. I was not terribly happy with the no-poo at all routine so the new one was a step up. My hair tends to oiliness at the scalp and dry ends (if I don’t get it trimmed regularly) so I like using something on it a few times a week but I am too afraid of all the chemicals in everything on the shelf nowadays. Oh, I haven’t used anything on any of my 4 kids’ hair for months and I see no difference whatsoever from when we used baby shampoo on everyone twice a week. FYI
Hi Kim from PW,
I have not shampooed since Christmas and niether have my 19 and 16 year old daughters. We are not using anything else either, just water. We look great, well, at least our hair does! My wavey haired girl is now a true curly and my curly hair is much less frizzy! I do a condition once a week.
We are saving lots of $$!
I am looking forward to hear how this goes for you. I, too, have very oily hair, and I get very tired of having to wash it every morning. Actually, all of my skin is oily, so perhaps that has something to do with me diet?
I haven’t used shampoo or conditioner for 3 months now, and I really like it. My hair used to be thin, limp, and lifeless. Now it has much more body. I’ve saved a ton of money, too!
I use about 1 1/2 tsp of baking soda in a cup of water. (I used to use lots more baking soda, but it left my hair feeling really dry and static-y.) I have to massage it around to make sure it gets all the way to the root. Leave it in for a couple minutes, and rinse really well.
For the rinse, I have about 1/2 cup of apple cider vinegar in a conditioner container. You really don’t need much, but even a little bit makes a big difference in how tangly my hair is. I only put it on the ends, and my hair never smells like vinegar.
Hope that helps.
Another thing I’ve been trying for a couple months is ground-up oats for face-wash. I LOVE it! Fewer chemicals, and way cheaper. Plus, my skin isn’t all dried out like it used to be.
Sophie,
Ground up oats…I like the sound of that! I think that one is going on my list of New Things To Try. I love finding new uses for what I already keep on hand, and eliminating another product from my shopping list.
Thanks for the input on soda and vinegar as well.
Hi
I’ve been doing the no shampoo thing for quite a while now. I also have greasy hair and it has helped alot.
One thing I found that helps greasy hair is 1 T. lemon juice and 1 T. aloe vera juice in about 1 cup of water.
I use about 2 teaspoons of baking soda in 1/2 cup of water, put it on my hair and let it sit for a few minutes. Then I just slowly pour the lemon juice, aloe vera, and water over my hair. It works kinda like a conditioner and makes my hair soft and smooth.
Gah! Just wrote it all out and the computer ate it when I hit ‘submit’. I have been doing baking soda and vinegar for years now (I say ‘years’ because my memory is shocking and I don’t recall if it is two or three or four years).
*Before, my hair was oily at the roots and the top, dry at the ends, tangly everywhere, and flat. I could wash every second day, but only just.
*Immediate difference, my hair looked cleaner, it had a bit more body, and it wasn’t tangling.
*Later difference, the back of my hair started feeling kind of gunky even though it looked clean. I tried concentrating on that patch when I washed, I tried increasing the baking soda, nothing changed it. Eventually I read something that made me try washing LESS, lo and behold, for the first time ever I could space the washes out. I experimented with how long the roots could last without going oily, and with less washing the gunky feeling went away.
*Now, I wash every 5-7 days, and just rinse with water in between if my scalp has been sweaty. My hair still has better body and doesn’t tangle, and it looks CLEAN.
I have tried transitioning to ‘water only’ two different times (once from shampoo, once from baking soda) but baking soda and vinegar works best for me.
I don’t even use a tablespoon of baking soda, though my hair is crazy fine. I put it in my palm and mix a little shower water with it, then work it through the roots and very top of my hair. For vinegar I am not very exact at all. I splosh a little in a container, then run the shower in it so it is at least 4 waters to 1 vinegar. I tip it over my head so it runs down the length of my hair. Sometimes I work it in to the scalp, sometimes not. Sometimes I rinse it straight away, sometimes I leave it a couple of minutes.
I use white vinegar, cheapy is fine, but you will want to make sure it is real vinegar not just ‘vinegar flavoured’ or whatever clever name the manufacturer thinks of.
Hi! I’m not new to your site, just new to leaving comments.
I do love your blog…It’s so encouraging to this mom of 7 (age 10 and under; the oldest and youngest are boys)…not to mention I think you’re hilarious!
Anyway, I’ve got some questions for those who do this no shampoo thing: Does this mean you shouldn’t use hairspray, gel, pomeade, wax, or any other goopy hair stuff? If you do, will the baking soda mix get rid of the residue? Does it work best just on straight styles? –What about layered?
Thanks!
Tiffany R. -
I have very long, wavy-ish hair, and getting rid of shampoo has been great for me. I originally heard of this idea from a website that specifically recommended no-shampoo for people with curly hair. I’ve seen lots of testimonies on a variety of websites that indicate it works quite well for a wide variety of hair types and styles.
I’m not sure about other hair products, as I haven’t used any since I stopped using shampoo.
Oh Tiffany this is great for curly hair! The residue shampoo leaves on your hair weights the curls down and causes frizz.. Not using shampoo has tightened my curls and made them less wild. You are not supposed to use colored gels, but I don’t know why!
Garnier Fructese makes a spray on clear gel I use when I want to stay extra tidy all day. Many folks who think they have straight hair will find they actually have waves after a month or 2 of no shampoo..my girls did!
I see many comments about the amount to use, but none about how often. If you want to have less greasy hair, you have to stop stripping it of natural oils, henceforth, stop washing it so much. The baking soda will still strip it. SO, stop washing it everyday. It may take you a couple months , but your scalp will stop reacting so strongly and slow down the oil production. It doesn’t make so much oil just because of commercial shampoo, it makes it to replace what is taken away. The transition can be, odd, but eventually worth it. I can’t say how often you should do the rinse, but not everyday. Try every other. After a time try every third day with the baking soda…See what works best for you. Make sure to brush your natural oils to distribute throughout your hair with a natural bristle brush (That’s what I have been told works best). A dry dusting might absorb in between, but I don’t know if it stripes it away, thus creating the same problem. That’s all I know.
Like Smockity Frocks, I’m a Curly Girl devotee, too. I stopped regular shampooing 2 years ago and now have my daughters use only conditioner as well.
Oddly, the only time my hair starts to feel greasy is when I straighten it.
I am seeing everyone state that their hair looks clean, but what I am really wondering is if it still smells clean after three day or four days of not washing it (maybe I missed that somewhere in the comments?).
It depends what you are actually asking….
Does it smell like shampoo? No.
Does it smell like hair? Yes.
Does it smell grimy? No.