I declared success a few weeks ago and had to issue a retraction several days later. This time, I’ve definitely discovered a key to life without shampoo. It’s all about the water.
You know how some people say that their hair is soft and clean after using baking soda and vinegar, while others of us struggle with excessive oil for weeks? It’s not just about how oily your hair was to begin with. After a weekend at a hotel, I am absolutely convinced that the effectiveness of baking soda hinges heavily upon whether you have hard or soft water. In the hotel, the baking soda dissolved into the water, giving me super-soft, almost slimy water that left my hair clean and soft, and my scalp feeling wonderfully refreshed.
Back home, I was still struggling to keep the gritty baking soda suspended long enough to distribute it through my hair, and I was dependent upon egg shampoo to keep the oil under control.
On a hunch, I finally decided to try take a reader’s advice to add the soda to boiling water first. It fizzed like another science experiment (what’s in our water?!) and I waited a few minutes for it to cool. Perfect! The soda was dissolved, the water was slippery, and my hair was clean, soft and silky again, just like in the high-dollar hotel water!
HOW TO WASH YOUR HAIR WITH BAKING SODA IF YOU HAVE HARD WATER:
The boiling seems like a lot of trouble, but it’s really not. It only takes about 1 cup to do my hair, and I can make it ahead in larger batches. I use it about 3 times/week, so it’s not hard to make a whole week’s worth at once:
- Heat one quart of water to a boil in a large pan.
- Turn it off and add about 1/2 cup of baking soda.
- Stand back and wait for the fizz to go down, then let it cool.
- Pour into a squirt bottle and keep in the shower.
- Use a bit like conditioner: just work it into wet hair, gently massaging scalp, then rinse thoroughly.
- Follow with apple cider vinegar, as usual.
So now, after 11 weeks, I finally really like my hair without shampoo. It’s soft and shiny, and my scalp feels clean and healthy. Styling is different too. I don’t do much with my hair, but I do wear it in a clip most of the time. When I was shampooing daily, my hair was too limp and slippery to stay in the clip unless I put it up wet and left it in place all day. Now, I can change it as much as I want and it obeys happily.
My hair stays nice and clean for 2 days, but I’m trying to adjust toward 3 days. 3 days now are far different from how 3 days used to be. My hair used to disgust me after more than 24 hours. I didn’t want to touch it, and I certainly didn’t want to see it down. Now on the third day, even when my hair is getting oily, it still looks shiny and healthy, feels soft and my scalp is still clean. It’s a subtle difference, but it feels like a huge change to me.
i love no pooooooooooo
Just kidding. I still hate the term. I just like not using shampoo.
Is that a take off on Po’s line in Kung Fu Panda? “I love kung fuuuuuuuuuuuuu!”
lol. You got it!
that great that it is working out for you now!
Its always great to find out what the real problem is behind something.
Did you get the no poo idea from longhaircommunity.com? I LOVE their site!
PS first visit here. It looks fun.
Has it helped with the dandruff? I have trouble with that and have to use head and shoulders all the time. I would love to get off of it….but we have really really hard water also and I am not sure if no poo would work well for us….
Appreciate your updates!
Yes, it has helped a lot! That was one of the biggest reasons I tried, and I’m so glad!
I was just composing my no shampoo post and came over to link to your egg wash post. Yep, I’ve now been there done that.
I’m going to be posting about my success. I too love no poo!
Blessings,
Kimberly
Rinsing your hair with water with lemon juice in it works too. That’s what I do with my all natural shampoo. And it smells nice.
This is good information. I gave up on the no poo thing because my hair did much the same thing yours was doing. It just seemed to be getting oilier, not less so. I think I’m going to try it again. Thanks for the tip!!
Yea! Yea! Yea!
Kim,
thank you for sharing your ‘no shampoo’ experience and advice!
I washed my hair for the first time today following your tips for hard water and the result seems good but, as you wisely wrote in your previous posts, results come with time.
Have a nice week end!
I am going to have to try this hard water trick. I am on about week 2 and my hair is so nasty, I can barely stand it. I have been shaving my head for 3 years (scalp issues) but have not since August, so it is now covering my ears and brushing my eyebrows and neck.
Here is my question. Do your girls use shampoo or are they doing the “no poo” also? My 5yo has hair about her mid back, and my 2.5yo has a serious rats nest in her hair, not even long enough yet to pull into one ponytail, ALL the time (even post brushing). My girls play outside ALL the time and their hair is very dirty a lot (especially when 7yo brother is “doggy-digging” in the sandbox :O ). Will the baking soda/vinegar help keep their hair clean as well, or shall we continue with shampoo for them?
I love your site and the story of your family.
Thanks for posting about your journey of no shampoo you insprired me to try it and it has been working great ! I don’t have oily hair so that has not been a problem for me but my mom who has also been doing no shampoo was having similer problems to yours and boiling the baking soda realy helped a lot!
Thanks again.
Love,Tessa
This was a great topic! I went no shampoo a year ago, and I had the exact same problem! (I didn’t even think about the water!) I switched to a solid shampoo that I use without conditioner, and I love it. But armed with this new info, I might give it another go.
Thanks!
I don’t quite understand about the baking soda. One of the reasons I thought to try this is that baking soda *softens* hard water. We’ve had extremely hard water in both of our houses over the past seven years, and when my mother-in-law (who believes that baking soda must be used for everything) dumps baking soda into my dishwater, it has always made the water so slippery-feeling that I worry about dropping dishes. So I find it odd that the baking soda doesn’t dissolve in the shower water well. (I’m not saying I don’t believe you. I’m just puzzled.)
Rachael,
I don’t understand the chemistry behind it either, but the soda simply doesn’t dissolve in our cold water. When we try, we get very gritty water. I was really hoping somebody with a chemistry background would speak up.
Maybe eventually someone good with chemistry will pipe up.
In the meantime, I am thankful you posted about this, so I know to boil my water first! (Most other sites just rule out the use of baking soda – or anything else, for that matter – as an alternative to shampoo if you have hard water.) We have company coming in just over a week, and I don’t want to subject them to the beginnings of my experiment! lol So I am planning to try this beginning just after that.
It looks like I subscribed to this thread, b/c I got emails about the comments… I don’t claim to be a chem whiz, but the site I mentioned above, longhaircommunity.com, has TONS of info on hair and the chemistry of it. For one thing, baking soda and vinegar washes are what are called “clarifying” washes, meaning that it takes EVERYTHING off the hair shaft, even more so than regular shampoo does. Sometimes this is useful, but caution is advised. As far as I know baking soda is alkaline as is hard water and too much alkalinity would tend to rough up the scales on each hair shaft (part of how it cleans so thoroughly). If you already have alkaline water, you might want to rethink using baking soda when not necessary. Vinegar and citrus rinses are acid and cause the hair shaft to lie down flat and seal off, but again your water makes a difference as to how much and how often you would use it. I personally use a cheap organic brand of shampoo, but first I do an apple cider vinegar rinse b/c of my hard water. It helps the pH go back to a more mid level and helps the shampoo do it’s job and do it gently. Then, I apply conditioner. After I get out of the shower I will put a few drops of jojoba oil on the end of my hair to help keep it moisturized and a little on the rest of my hair. For the last 2 years, ever since I discovered the “LHC” site and figured out my routine, my hair has gotten MUCH softer and smoother and less tangled. It is really happy now… Everyone has different hair, so if you are really wanting in-depth info, LHC is the place to go, seriously. Sorry for the novel!
LadyCopper, what exactly is a “cheap organic shampoo”? The only ones I’ve found that are free of all the junk I don’t want on my skin are about $2/ounce. If you’ve found something cheaper, I’d love to know about it!
I probably should have been a little less lazy with my word use. By organic I meant did not have such things as sodium laureth sulfate or parabens or ‘cones, not that all the ingredients were organic. Sorry! Many “flavors” of V05 are actually quite free of the bad stuff and they are super cheap. A few Suave flavors are okay, someone I know says Trader Joe’s has good “clean” shampoo for $3 for a normal bottle, etc. I would agree that $2 an ounce is pretty awful and not what I would pay either!
No SLS or parabens would be a *wonderful* start, as far as I’m concerned! I’ll have to check out the VO5. Unfortunately, we’re not close to a TJ’s anymore (waahh; I miss it!), or I’d check there, too. Their mango shave cream is paraben-free and works great.
Thanks!
I loved this boiled baking soda method. It worked great for getting all the built up gunk out of my hair. However, what do you do about the soda crystals that form in the spray bottle? Do you have to reboil it every other day or so? Any help would be much appreciated!
I use a dishsoap bottle, so the crystals aren’t a problem except when they make it hard to get the lid off and on.
Hey Hey!!
I’m just checking out your blog, sounds interesting! I normally use styling gel in my hair, would anyone know if that makes a difference in using baking soda/vinegar for washing? Or perhaps is there a natural alternative to hair gel? Thanks!
I forgot to click “Notify me of followup comments via e-mail”
I’m on the same quest…
My hair can be described as very similar to your own. So far what I learned in your excellent series of articles has helped greatly! However… One thing is killing me.
How do you get that nasty apple vinegar smell OUT of your hair after?
I fancy myself a mad scientist when it comes to these things, and I have been experimenting with various homemade shampoos. Anything I use apple vinegar in smells terrible, and the smell just won’t get out of my hair with out shampoo… Something I wanna stop using as it’s killed my hair.
Your comments and advice would be greatly appreciated, and I love your blog!
Marc,
I find that the vinegar smell disappears as my hair dries if I use diluted vinegar and rinse thoroughly. If yours doesn’t, maybe you aren’t diluting it enough? I only use a couple of tablespoons in a cup or two of water.
I’ve also heard that the more expensive brands of apple cider vinegar have a much milder odor than the cheap ones, though I haven’t felt the need to upgrade.
I used ACV a couple of times near the beginning of my no ‘poo trials, and, exactly as one woman on a website said, “it smelled like vomit.” Exactly. Like. Vomit. IMO, it doesn’t go away throughout the day, and diluting it doesn’t help much.
I started with–and switched back to–distilled white vinegar. I actually use quite a lot, as my hair is extremely tangle-y without commercial conditioners. I use about 1/4 cup with about 1 1/2 cups of water and it helps immensely with the tangles and does not leave behind a vinegar scent when dry if rinsed well. It does smell a bit vinegar-y when still wet, but IMO, white vinegar smells 10x better than ACV anyway.
So sure am I that white vinegar is not overly smelly that I have concocted a diluted vinegar and essential oil mixture that I pour into a martini atomizer and use as a de-tangler when combing my hair out after washing. I use this very sparingly. It’s necessary to shake thoroughly before using because the oil won’t mix, but it will distribute momentarily. Also, I use sparingly because scented oils ARE oils and will make your hair oily if you use too much. I avoid the scalp and eyes because essential oils are also very strong and will cause irritation.
One of the things I miss about commercial products is the smell. It feels nice and healthy and natural to have your hair smell like nothing but HAIR, except that the first time you leave your house, your hair will take on the odors of the places you visit, including the outdoors, wood/cigarette smoke, animals, etc. ACV had the benefit of thwarting all other smells and making sure my hair smelled like nothing but vomit until I washed it again. I will also use the de-tangler spray on my dry hair to make it smell nice, brushing after spraying to distribute.
Oh! You dilute it? That explains a lot! I never diluted it. I’m going to give that a shot later on! Thank you so much!
THANK YOU for posting this. I have been no poo since March and love it but, we have just moved to an area that has hard water. I have spent the first few weeks struggling with what to do. I broke last week and bought a bottle of shampoo in furstration and now am going to start over. I can’t wait to tell my husband. and Lady copper. blessings to you for the chem part of this puzzle. Being able to explain and understand it all means tons to me.
As for why boiling works, and I skipped my chemistry class every day in high school so who knows how accurate my judgement is (j/k, my class skipping is completely unrelated), from the wikipedia entry for hard water:
“Temporary hardness is caused by a combination of calcium ions and bicarbonate ions in the water. It can be removed by boiling the water or by the addition of lime (calcium hydroxide). Boiling promotes the formation of carbonate from the bicarbonate and precipitates calcium carbonate out of solution, leaving water that is softer upon cooling.”
…Maybe that explains it? :/
Ever since I stayed at my boyfriend’s house for weeks and enjoyed the wonders of soft water, I’ve been battling it out back here at home. My hair handled hard water just fine for months somehow, then suddenly it constantly looked greasy and I’d find that my fingers couldn’t even move through my hair while washing it anymore. I mix my baking soda with distilled water, so I figured it’s mostly rinsing it out that does the damage. However, I’m glad I found your method and will be giving it a try tonight. Fingers crossed. Going to see lots of people tomorrow. Must get rid of greasiness. XD
Just wanted to let you know, this post inspired our home school science experiment for the week. We got some aquarium test strips and tested our water; it showed 150ppm (“hard”) and extremely alkaline.
Then we boiled the water, let it cool, and poured it through a coffee filter. White sediment was visible on the filter (precipitated calcium?). Upon re-testing, the boiled filtered water showed 75ppm (“soft”), moderate alkalinity, and a slightly reduced pH.
I’ve been reluctant to try non-shampoo methods, knowing that we have hard water in our area. You may have shown us a way to beat it. Thank you!
This really worked. I was about to give up on baking soda … but the boiled water method works brilliantly! The water where I live (London, UK) is ridiculously hard, but I didn’t catch on to the fact that this might be the problem until I went to Wales and did a baking soda wash (and vinegar rinse) and had beautiful clean shiney light hair. Then I found your method. I tried it this week and my hair feels like it does when washed in Wales in their lovely soft water.
Thanks for sharing.
Thank you so much for posting this. My family was no-poo for over a year and loved it. Eight months ago we moved to a different state and since then no-poo has failed miserably. Hair was gooey and sticky and impossible to brush or comb, yuck. I realized we have hard water here when I added baking soda and it fizzed as if it were vinegar instead of water. We broke down and bought some Jason Organics shampoo and have been using that, but my face has been breaking out along the jaw line and my scalp itches like mad from it. I didn’t realize until that happened that it was shampoo causing me to break out and itch in the past! I am going to boil some water and mix up some baking soda and go right back to no-poo today!
I was luck enough to be in Italy (Venice) at the beginning of the month. Whilst there My hair was amazingly soft and silky because of the softer water, this prompted me to try No Poo when I got back home. I live in Kent, just outside London (UK), our water is Soooo hard, when baking soda is added, it leaves my hair feeling stiff and horrible, I was going to try substituting sea salt in place of the BS, but having read your tip I will try boiling the water. My ultimate aim is to eventually go completely over to water only washing. Not sure if this is possible but am going to give it my best try. This is a fascinating subject, keep reminding myself that only a few generations back, shampoo was unheard of any way, so lovely, natural hair must be acheiveable. Thanks again for the tip.
Sue,
I would love to hear if boiling the water works for you and how it compares to what you experienced in Italy.
For what it’s worth, I got lazy and quit using baking soda. Now I use an egg yolk mixed with a bit of vinegar. It leaves my hair soft and lovely, with no need to plan ahead. I’ve also heard that it was a common way to clean hair a few generations ago.
Thats an interesting Idea, I am a natural blonde, and I think I might try egg and lemon juice, rather than Vinegar.
Sometimes in the Summer,( when Its nice to let your hair dry in the sunshine ) I have given my hair a final rinse with Camomile, which was a well used way of lightening blonde hair for hundreds of years, going back to the days of Lucrezia Borgia I believe. I simply put a camomile teabag in a jug of water and add hot water.
Has anyone else tried Sea Salt in place of BS ? , I know that it can be added as a spritz to still damp hair, to get a tousled , wavy “Beach look “. Seems to me that it may not be quite so harsh as BS, which can make my hair feel a bit stiff and dry, not the feel Im after at all. Would be interested to hear what anyone else thinks.
I never made it back to say that this DID indeed work and I have been using it since. Your information saved my hair, yay!
I now keep my hair as dry as possible until I’m ready to wash it, then I massage in the baking soda and follow immediately with a vinegar (or kombucha, since I have some I over-brewed, it also works) rinse, and then I exit the shower. Never rinsing either out with water. Not rinsing the baking soda does NOT damage my hair more, and leaving the vinegar+water rinse in does NOT make it greasy, so long as I wash it thoroughly beforehand. My hair has been stronger than ever.
VINEGAR ON DRY HAIR?
Hmmm interesting… I have been no poo for just over 3 months… hair pretty yukky still though not as greasy as when I started.
Tried BCS and vinegar (kombucha) in various combos/methods to no avail.
I was beginning to think it might be because I was detoxing on a restricted diet… stuff comes out through the hair as well as skin etc.
Then I came across the idea of hard water… duh.
Incidentally if you add ACV to Bicarb it fizzes too. I use this combo for washing my dishes.
But I don’t think I want to use BC on my hair long term.
I tried spraying the vinegar on dry hair leaving for 5 mins and then doing the usual water only wash… result… slightly better but only for 24 hrs.
I’m now sitting here leaving the sprayed in vinegar on dry hair for a half hour.. then will water only wash and see. Or I might just leave it to dry and not water wash at all this time. I don’t think it smells but maybe that’s because it’s kombucha vinegar made with green tea… dunno.
It struck me that maybe the vinegar would break through the grease(sebum) when I was using it to clean the bathroom sink and it cleaned up coconut oil!
We’ll see.
Thanks for posting everyone.
An update on my earlier comment: IT WORKS! Boiling the water before adding baking soda made no-poo work for us again. So happy!
I’m experimenting with no shampoo and have very hard water, as well. Thanks for this info.
Just a quick question: Do you use your regular (hard) shower water to rinse after the baking soda and after the vinegar? Or do you use the boiled-then-cooled water for rinsing purposes? (IOW, does the hard shower water EVER tough your hair?)
Thanks!
Ashley, I use our hard water to rinse after I’m done, once the boiled water w/baking soda has done its job.
Permanent v temporary water hardness
My leaving the vinegar in (above post) did not work.
I’ve just bought a shower head (UK £40) which purports to soften water. Tried it once with water only and have to say so far it’s been the best method for me.. though not perfect. Now.. 3 days later I am about to try again… I figure maybe it takes a couple of washes initially for the hair to rid itself of the excess oil… we’ll see.
So maybe what I have is ‘permanently’ hard water which boiling cannot soften.. as opposed to the so-called ‘temporarily’ hard water which boiling works for.
If the shower head works I’ll let you know.
BTW it does reduce the water pressure.. so is no good for general showering… but a more expensive model would probably be OK.
Sue M
Another website I came across (was looking up what else I can do as we ran out of gas so I can’t boil water until we buy more, nnnnoooo…) said that the longer you boil the water, the more minerals will be removed, so it will be softer. I wonder if this is why sometimes my hair comes out super awesome instead of regular awesome? Welp, until I get out to buy gas I won’t be able to test it!
I tried washing yesterday without boiling the water, and my hair just ended up immediately greasy. I don’t know if I can get it clean without this “trick”.
I have been no poo for about 2.5 years and had been enjoying it, until this year I hit a wall. My hair was not coming clean and I went a couple of months trying different things. This fixed it all, I went to boiling my water and fixing the mix, changed from ACV to lemon juice rince and it is better than before. Thanks for the tip!
Could I just boil water, put it in a bottle and mix in baking soda?
Georgie, I never tried it but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work. If you try it, let me know!
After almost a year of trying different no poo methods/products on my fine, shoulder length, muddy blonde hair.. ( I tried 15 different things.. all exasperatingly no good) I FINALLY found something that works…. Moroccan Rhassoul clay… about 1 teaspoon with about 500 ml water added. Yippeee!!
Makes my hair clean, naturally shiny, slightly thicker, hang together at the back, lasts for about 5 days so far (slowly getting longer times between). Highly recommend this.
Can I just wash my hair with the BS mix without wetting my hair beforehand? Or do I have to wet my hair and then wash it?
There’s no need to wet your hair first since the mixture contains so much water.
so wetting your hair with hard water and rinsing it off with hard water won’t make a difference if the baking soda disolves in boiled water?
Hey. So happy to have found your blog. Love the looks of it. Your family is beautiful. I’m on take 2 on trying to go w/o shampoo (don’t like the poo name either!). I tried in TX (v. hard water) w/ just BS & water wash and it was HORRIBLE. I pride myself in being European and not having to shower every single day, but holey moley, my hair was so nasty, I caved like a day later. Now I live in NE (pretty hard water still) and I just tried your method today. My hair is still drying. Doesn’t look amazing or anything, but we’ll see. I know from my laundry detergent making that WASHING soda softens water. I wonder if I can’t use that instead for my hair. Will have to do some research. Trying to see if you wrote a follow up post on the hair saga. I’m fascinated. I don’t hate shampoo, but I am almost certain that shampoo is the #1 reason for my itchy, dandruffy scalp, b/c no matter how hard I try, no dandruff shampoos/remedies work.
It’s hard to explain if you have no foundation in chemistry, but…
http://www.chem1.com/CQ/hardwater.html
boiling gives you carbonate ions that will bind to the cations in the hard water (Ca+)
A change in the pH/Heat causes these ions to dissasociate. Also, notice what happens to Na+ which is present in Baking soda.
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for posting this! I REALLY want to try no ‘poo, but I’ve been going crazy trying to figure out how to use BS with our hard water. This has finally convinced me to try it (and I’m almost out of ‘poo).
I’m having the opposite problem… This is my first week doing the no ‘poo thing, but my hair gets really dry after I wash it with baking soda. I use 1 tbsp to 1 cup of water. Should I reduce the amount of bs? Or is this dryness normal?
I also use the ACV rinse with the same ratio. Would increasing the ACV also help?
Karla, most people tinker with the amounts until they find what works best for them. I agree with your instincts: I would try less baking soda and more acv.
Hi guys, I have a rather unusual situation quite the opposite of this. I stopped using shampoo a bit over a year ago and have been doing water only since last July. it’s been great, I’ve travelled all over the place with only slight transition issues. Here’s the thing: I just went from a place with really hard water to palace with really soft water, and my hair’s a mess! Nothing else is different in my routine, except now I’m brushing all the time to try to get rid of this grease. any thoughts?
Hey, I have half way started the no shampoo route a few days ago. I still shampoo, because I’m trying to use it all up – not to waste money if I stick with the no shampoo, but I do the vinegar/water rinse. It is almost november here in CO and my hair is static-y. Does your hair (using the baking soda and rinse) get static-y in the winter months?
I finally got around to boiling my water so I could dissolve the baking soda. I had forgotten the detail about the fizzing, and found it rather alarming – I would have sworn I’d dumped it into vinegar! What in the world makes it do that?!
I just want to thank you for this information! I have been struggling with this for almost a year now. I kept bouncing back and forth between using bs, liquid castille soap and organic shampoo. The organic shampoo worked but i really wanted to be shampoo free so i kept trying the bs method, even though it always left me with a waxy flim on my hair that was actually worse than just greasy hair. Boiling the water did the trick! I tried it today and the difference is amazing! My hair feels like it does when i give in and use the organic shampoo. Thanks so much!
You were wondering why boiling the baking soda makes it work better…I’m not entirely sure about this, but I recently make my own laundry detergent and one of the ingredients needed was “washing soda”, which is more caustic than baking soda. You can actually make your own washing soda by heating up baking soda in the oven (it changes the chemical composition somehow, changing it from sodium bicarbonate to sodium carbonate), so perhaps the same thing is happening when you boil it. Just my two cents worth.
Thank you for this post and I think this could be the key to my problems! I was using SLS free shampoo for the last year and then about 8 weeks ago (when the SLS free poo ran out) I switched to no poo method. Well, I have been having a horrible time and have not been able to figure out why my hair kept ketting this waxy feel to it. Not the greasy or oily stage, which I passed through. SO, I this hard water thing could be the key! I will be trying your suggestions to boil the water. I know about that supposed “slippery” feeling you are supposed to get, but I can never get it. After reading this post, it all makes sense! I am off to try out this new twist….keeping my fingers crossed!
Does this still work if you rinse your hair afterwards with hard water?
Yes, Lucie. It helped get our hair clean, and then we could rinse as usual.
I’m so glad I found your blog! I’m two weeks into no-poo and was close to calling it quits. I just could not get my hair to an acceptable level of cleanliness. And I had no idea what this “slippery feeling” was I kept reading about. Then I suddenly thought, maybe it’s the water. Did some research and found out we have hard water in my area. I tried your suggestion of boiling the water first and it worked like a charm. FINALLY, for the first time in two weeks, I have clean hair. I just wish I used a bigger pot when I boiled the water because it made a mess when I added the baking soda. Oops! lol