Hair Care

What about our hair?

Basically I rarely use shampoo, and then only a dab at the crown of my head. I also use a boar's hair bristled brush to distribute the natural hair oil to the ends of my hair. This may sound gross, but research it. You will be surprised at what you find. That is exactly what happened to me (See thread on my experience with 'No Poo' below). Now my naturally curly, frizzy hair is a delight. No more gels, mouse, cream rinse, hair spray, or silicone smoothers. Who knew going bare natural would wipe out a whole shelf of hair care products?! These days I use castile soap when I need a bit, which is about once a month, if I do my water only washing with each shower I take. By the way, when I researched how things were done in the late 1800s to early 1900s, I found a quote that stated "Pure soft water is all my hair and scalp have ever needed".

Just a note in case you don't want to read about my 'No Poo' experience: Soft water really makes a difference on how long I go without shampoo.

There are many who use baking soda and vinegar. I won't say much about that since my experience with it is minimal, but when done right, it does give satisfactory results. I am working on finding other means, sustainable at home means, for washing hair. So I will keep you posted once I make another worthwhile discovery.

Update May 2015

I am currently doing what is called Low Poo right now because our water is so hard and I am trying to grow my hair out. There has been an increase of helpful information on the web about various methods. There is a facebook group that has compiled many resources. it is a great place to ask questions and see what others have experienced. Look for "No Poo & Low Poo Hair Care Group Forum," to start your journey to better hair.

Update 4-16-13 Scroll down for original forum thread.

Tomatoes

Yes, I used tomatoes to wash my hair. I must say the results have been nice. I found others on-line who use tomatoes as a conditioning rinse, but I used them as a cleansing shampoo. My hair felt like I had used an all-in-one Shampoo/conditioner. If you are use to using a castile shampoo, this will be similar. I add essential oils occasionally to give a nice scent. Lavender and Lemon Grass combined very well. Experiment, with different things, you may just find the perfect shampoo. I even added some onion a few times. Onion has sulfur which is good for your hair, but my husband and I both wanted Italian food after I came out smelling like tomatoes and onions. The smell does not last a long time, though.

You can use any form of tomato from fresh to paste. There are, however, some warnings that I should share with you before you begin.

Fresh Tomatoes seem to be the best option, but make sure you peel and de-seed them before blending them smooth. Otherwise, you will be brushing seed and skin peeling flakes out of your hair for a few days.

Tomato Sauce is a good option for when you are in a hurry. Tomato Paste works as well and is usually more cost effective. You will need to thin the paste out with some water to make it more the consistency of sauce. The warning on these options is that it will stain (cooked tomatoes). That may not be an all bad thing if you like pink/redish hue highlights. My gray/brown hair looks better with the tomato highlights. Just be aware that the staining does rub off on clothes and pillows. The fresh tomatoes do not do this.

Once you prepare your tomato, put it in a squeeze bottle. Apply it to your hair wet or dry. Process through just like regular shampoo (no foaming bubbles), then rinse out and style as usual.

Other Produce

I have also use Cucumbers and Lemon. It was cleansing, but a little less moisturizing. So I stick to tomatoes, but the combination worked well for my husband. The same rules apply to this as to fresh tomatoes; Peel and seed them before blending smooth. You should use a large cucumber and the juice of a very small lemon. It smells great if you use it right away. If it marinates, you will smell like pickles, so you have been warned.

Once you prepare your cucumber and or lemon, put it in a squeeze bottle. Apply it to your hair wet or dry. Process through just like regular shampoo (no foaming bubbles), then rinse out and style as usual.

Here is a forum thread on my experience with 'No Poo'.

Posted 24 March 2008 - 01:55 PM

I have taken up another challenge. (As if T-Tapp was not enough of one)
I came across some discussions and articles on not using shampoo to wash your hair. Let me know if you are interested in links or just do a search for "no poo" and "water only hair care"
We stopped using the common products that have the sls and silcones and such years ago, but even most of the natural ones aren't ideal.
I guess this is the next step. They say it takes a bit of time for the oil production to reduce, but once it does,
you hair is entirely different/better. So for saving time, money and getting better scalp health, here we go. DH has decided to do it with me, at least we will go through the bad hair days together (may need a big hat, lol).
We decided to do the water only washing. There is baking soda and apple cider vinegar options as well.
Has anyone here done this before?

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"no poo" "no soap" thought of as "no sodium laurel sulfides"???
Anyway, my iterpretation of it!
I used something like Miracle II (NOT master's miracle....lawsuits there)
A whole gallon $55 can be used for more than a year...2 yrs ago i put 1 oz per load of laundry, washed hair/skin -- for an entire year!.
And put 1oz into a "foamer" bottle. My DH didn't like "no foaming action" with shampooing his head!
But likes homemade lye soap (i thought the animal fats would 'clog my pores')
But i use in laundry/handsoap container.

No....not only water!! Tell me how it goes!!

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I used baking soda for about 6 months.. my hair got very dried out and brittle and broke in all kinds of crazy places. I then resorted to going to the HFS and buying no chemical shampoos.. expensive.. but something I'm valuing. As for soaps I use only olive based soaps like Kiss My Face - I read Ivory is also a good one too.. so the family uses Ivory or Kiss My Face.

My hair is long.. I have split ends.. I do want a healthy choice, but I also want to keep my long hair.

Rosemary and horsetail tea is supposed to make a good rinse for your hair. I haven't found a way to keep it long enough, it gets a growth on it.. I know, smaller batches.. but I didn't do that.. I found another solution. My shampoo has a combination of Peppermint and Rosemary in it.

I know there can be a delicate balance between the alkaline (baking soda) and the acid (a.c.vinegar or lemon). Some people shared that their hair really started falling out when they did bs only. I thought I would just see how this soft water i have here does first, before going back to my hfs stuff. Herbal rinses are fun, but I do not have the time in my life to concoct them right now.

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Someone asked me my opinion on the Miracle II stuff, I could not tell them anything since I never purchased or used it. Glad to hear someone likes it.
Even with some of the best hfs shampoos, you have to get use to no lather. We are so shaped in this country to have things a certain way. I read a post by a guy from Europe who thinks we Americans stink, since we don't smell like people, only chemicals and perfume. HA HA. He uses olive oil to clean himself.

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We use Avalon rosemary shampoo, but since I only wash my hair once (occasionally twice ) a week, and my kids once every week or two, it lasts a long time. I think once you get in a cycle of washing less often, your hair adapts, and oiliness isn't such a problem. I haven't thought of water only, I was thinking of trying baking soda, but not apple cider vinegar, I can't STAND the stuff. Blech!

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Really? I have such terribly oily hair. It really is a family thing. Me and several of my Aunts and Uncles could wash our hair twice a day it's so oily! And if I don't wash mine every day (I can get away with ever other day if I can stand it..bleh) it looks yuck and my head starts to hurt.

Dh is complete opposite of me. Dry thick curly hair. He likes to leave it and wash it once in a while with soap and then "oil it" often to keep down the dryness. He's letting it grow out long for the first time ever to see what the curls will be like. I'm loving it so far.

I've wondered though if there would be something I could make here that would keep my oily head under control but not be full of chemicals. Not a lot of choices here otherwise I'd probably just go to the health food store.

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I may have some shampoo recipes stashed away somewhere. I would have gotten them from doing a search on the internet for homemeade shampoo. The hfs typically will have a shampoo for oily hair.
As far as our hair, my DH and I have moderately oily hair. The ends of my hair is dry though so I put lotion or coconut oil on the ends. I read a mix of reviews from very oily haired people. Some say it took about two months (they did bs and asv or lemon occasionally to keep up), but then they were pleased. Others said forget it, not worth it to them. A few said they reduced the frequency of required shampoo washings, so for that they thought it was worth it.
If I do an herbal rinse now and then, I would not consider it cheating. I have no interest in doing acv, I would rather smell like stale hair than vinegar. I tried a vinegar rinse a few times many many years ago, someone said it would help with frizzes. My poor DH said "your hair is wonderful please do not put that stuff on again". He can not even stand to eat vinegar. After we became vegan, the condition of our hair greatly improved (including some gray hairs returning to brown). The problem with shampoo is that it strips your natural oil and then your oil glands go crazy trying to make up for it. I would like a better balance rather than oily at the top and dry at the ends, so I figured it would be a worthwhile venture to try.

Friday the 21^st was the last day we used shampoo, and so far the wo wash is doable. I'll Keep you posted.

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That's great! Thanks for sharing! I'll go googling.

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I'm a once a week, maybe twice shampoo'er - I hate to be cold.. and getting wet leads to being cold.. so .. yuck. We have very hard water here, which we soften with salt. Hard water is very drying on the hair. My mother tried to encourage me to collect the rain water, it's naturally soft she said, and wouldn't damage your hair. Good idea.... very hard to put into practice though - when you only get an inch of rain all summer! She doesn't understand what ARID means.. and when you live on the prairie and a drought comes.. there just isn't any rain water to collect.. not even if I collected from my roof!!! lol

Lemon will make your hair blonder and brighter.

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You can find some good recipes on the 'net for natural shampoos. Try makestuff.com. You can get most recipes for free, but it's only like $1 a month to join if you decide you want more!!!

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Thanks Z! Cool site!

Note about rain water....it's so true, you hair gets super soft using it!! I had the blessing of living for 4 months in a remote location in asia where it rains a lot and so we used rain water to bathe in. Wow! Amazingly soft hair!

Yep, lemon juice works just like you said, S.

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Posted 30 March 2008 - 04:07 PMUpdate.

We made it past the first week on Friday. I really liked how my hair looked on Friday after a water wash. I was able to leave it down. Rather than it being all fuzzy and fly away, it stayed in place. My husband likes the 'gel' effect. Having his hair stay in place really helps his handsomeness.
I should share that the water here where we are has a softener system on it. I had read that some people use a water/salt wash. So you may say we sort of are using a water/salt.

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Posted 03 April 2008 - 09:21 PM

Well I thought this no pooing was going to be a time of 'gross hair'. So far it is still not bad. Tomorrow will be two weeks. I am able to wear my hair down on water wash day. My hair is 2 inches below my shoulder (trying to grow it out) and fine/thin wavy. I usually like to pull it back on the following day though. My DH is having the same experience. This may be the new way for us.

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Wow.
My dd went for months without using shampoo. She did use conditioner so I gess that would put her out. She was working on bring out the curls in her hair and the no shampoo method worked.

Shes back to shampoo now though. She discovered the wonders of a straightening iron and what it will do to reduce fuzz.

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Yes, the 'no shampoo' is bringing out my curls more. I really like it. Before, the longest layers on the top surface were straight when dry and the shorter ones underneath were curly, more like coils. Anyway, it is all coils/wavy now. I really like putting my ponytail into a ringlet.
I did read about people doing the conditioner as a transition and said it worked well. I did not figure I would need to transition due to the fact that I was already away from using the regular chemical type shampoos and only using very good hfs stuff ($9.00 a bottle, I am picky).

I did use a straightening iron years ago, it does work. However it takes time (which I don't have) and a toll on my hair if I am constantly heating it up. So I gave that up pretty quickly.

We are still liking the results, and discovering ways to reduce our current budget makes way for a baby budget. Yay!

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Posted 21 April 2008 - 12:44 PM

Thought I would share an update. Here are the recent entries from my 'poo'less journal;
4-14-08 I am starting to not like this. My hair smells like dirty hair. I used conditioner to help improve the rinse out. Being that it was a moisturizing conditioner, it did not do any cleaning. There were no ingredients that do that. I am getting a lot of white build up. I am not certain if it is detox muck or if it is just oil build up. My hair still looks nice worn down the day of water washing, but I prefer to pull it up the following day.

4-18-08 I used my conditioner again today. I am still liking how the hair looks and holds the curls. I can wear it down the day after water washing if I like, as it does stay in place. My DH is considering using a tiny amount of shampoo once or twice a month as he feels is needed. 4-20-08 I was only able to do a fast scrub and rinse today and it was still nice afterward. I may be causing more oil production by excessive scrubbing of my scalp (but it feels good to massage, oh well). I wondered if I did not rinse it long enough, but it was fine.

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Posted 29 April 2008 - 10:28 PM

I thought I should post my conclusion of this challenge.

I think I am past my detox stage. I am not experiencing the smell that I did not like anymore. I am still liking my hair. I did have some additional hair loss in the beginning as I thought I would. Now I am losing about the same amount of hair that I did before starting this challenge. The other nice thing is that my hair is growing faster than before. I have had to cut my bangs twice in one month (I usually cut it once every month and a half). We have been doing this for over a month and will continue to do it.

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Very interesting! I don't know if I could get through greasy detox stage. I have very thin straight hair. I wonder how that would affect it. I am usually trying to get more body in my hair as opposed to controlling curls and frizz. Thanks for sharing your experience.

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Don't know if B is around anymore,....... but I bought SoapNuts Shampoo and I also bought the SoapNuts laundry soap.

Now.. I was very surprised when this arrived, as.. it showed up in a plastic bag and looks like gooey brown balls - I haven't opened it yet, I still have 2 boxes of laundry detergent, but I do plan on doing my diapers before baby is born with them..

But, I used the shampoo this morning. It doesn't LATHER - so it's a learning curve in terms of how to wash my hair.. I have long hair.. I expect the lather to move through the whole length of my hair.. but that didn't happen this morning. BUT, my hair is clean.. so.. if it's biodegradable - grows on trees and achieves the results, I can learn to change my expectations.

Health Reasons to use Sapon'Hair Shampoo:

A natural shampoo for any type of hair

* No sodium laureth sulfate
* No ammonium lareth sulfate
* No cocamide dea
* No petroleum by-products
* No colorings
* No parabens
* No phenoxyethanol
* No animal products

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Since I dreaded my hair I actually only have to wash it every 2-3 weeks (since it's separated at the scalp my head doesn't get oily, and also because I am not putting product in it). So now I pretty much only wash it when I get something in my hair. But I have this awesome residue-free bar shampoo that I use.

Isn't it amazing what all they put in EVERYTHING? I mean, you are putting that stuff on your scalp, and look at what all it can have in it. Scary stuff!

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Dh started letting his hair grow out these past couple months to see just how curly it is. He's NEVER done that in his life and always combed it back too. Turns out he's got super curly hair! Yes, I LOVE IT! And he is going without washing it with shampoo but every once in a while. After washing it with water every day he puts almond oil on it. It looks great. Healthy and not dry.
D is long haired now too but with STRAIGHT and very soft hair!

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Maybe you could find an indigenous plant that is a saponin - and find some way to gather, store and use it in your house. It can't be that the only saponin Adonai created was in the Himalayans.. there must be some other plants that are saponins

Saponin content
In its natural state quinoa has a coating of bitter-tasting saponins, making it essentially unpalatable. Most quinoa sold commercially in North America has been processed to remove this coating. Some have speculated that this bitter coating may have caused the Europeans who first encountered quinoa to reject it as a food source, even as they adopted other indigenous products of the Americas like maize and potatoes.
However, this bitterness has beneficial effects in terms of cultivation, as it is a crop that is relatively untouched by birds and thus requires minimal protection. There have been attempts made to lower the saponin content of quinoa through selective breeding in order to produce sweeter and more palatable varieties of the crop.

I want to know where I can buy Amole root, soap plant root,soaproot bulb,guaiac leaves,quiillai bark, red campion root, saltbush root,soapberry fruit,soap pod fruit,soap tree, soapwort root,soap lilly and wild gourd fruit. Thanks so much for whoever can help me buy these hearbs. Are there herbs I can use to harden my homemade soap? I

There's also the Yucca plant which is a saponin...

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we have been trying this also. I did buy Healing Scents natural shampoo as recomended on www.skindeep.com ( a site on chemicals in all products). Anyway. I haven't been able to use it because MY hair is too oily and it is a moisturizing shampoo. My hair is long and fine so you do notice the oiliness. I did dry corn starch one day as recommended online and combed it out then showered off. It was ok but I need a different brush to get more out. Then yesterday I used baking soda just on my scalp so try to get the oiliness out and rinsed with ASV. It seemed to work. I will have to keep experimenting hear to see what works. It is defiantly a challenge

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Ok so Quinoa we DO have here!! I know what they mean about the bitter tasting stuff. And as a side note, all you have to do is rinse it at least once in water before cooking it like rice and it tastes better.
So I could use the "quinoa water" if I save it instead of throwing it away for washing my hair then? Which makes me also think of something else. I have made soy milk several times and what you do is blend soy beans that have soaked for a day with hot water in a blender. Once you strain the blended beans with cheese cloth and the saved liquid is what you cook to make soy milk. What's leftover, there IS a name for it but I can't remember right now...the dry cake of blended beans I think is good for washing things too. I am going to have to go look that up again and see if it is usable for washing clothes or body or hair. I would think not for hair because it's all grainy. Lol.

You got me thinking....Thanks!

What about aloe vera? Is it good for hair at all? I have tons of it in my yard and I use it for other things.
I think I need a good recipe.

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Posted 10 August 2008 - 01:52 PM

Just a quick update.
We still like doing this.
My DH will use a tiny amount of shampoo maybe one a week now that it is hot and he is working outside (it was once every two weeks). I have used shampoo on rare occasion. A tiny amount, the size of a dime, on the crown of my head maybe about 4 times and a full shampoo three times (when I get debris in my hair or just want to do it) since this adventure began. When I do a full shampoo, I put coconut oil in my hair afterward because I do not like the light, fine, fuzzy fly away condition of my hair after a shampoo.

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How do you like using the soapnuts? I bought some and am pleased with them for doing laundry. I don't know what I think of it as a shampoo though. I boiled some down (it was very easy) and I added some lavender oil for a nice scent. I knew it was not going to lather, so might as well add some essential oil to it. The verdict is still out on that though. I used it once, going straight from a long duration of no poo. It hardly removed any of the natural hair oil (a plus in my book). Then I used it two days after a full shampoo. Too soon to tell. I don't like my hair for about a week after doing a full shampoo.
Anyway, I wanted to know how you were liking it after a good trial?

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Well my verdict is, it's too expensive for a large family, as you have to use too much to move it through the amount of hair we have (I have boys with long hair) and yes, it does not remove enough of the natural oils for my liking.. if I'm going to clean my hair.. it's not dirt and dust I want out.. the water alone can do that.. it's the oils in my hair. My hair is very thick and I can feel it right now. I washed with soapnuts the last two times.. yesterday was the most recent, and my hair is thick and heavy with oil.. not greasy.. it doesn't have that wet look, but I can feel the heavyness. So even with LOTS of the soapnuts shampoo, I don't like the outcome.

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Thanks for your reply. It helps to know anothers experience. I am working on a project that will be presented to the public, and not everyone has hair like mine.
The company I had purchased my soapnuts from did say that it would not remove stains, but hey, most natural detergent doesn't either, so I was not to concerned about it.
Perhaps you will find something better. I have yet to get the chance to study saponins in my area, so who knows what I will discover next. =)

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Posted 19 October 2008 - 03:01 PM

Okay, just to give a review on soapnuts for shampoo.
You ladies may have long since grown bored with this topic. However, I like to keep it going with any new updates or discoveries because I was blessed to be able to follow someone else's thread (somewhere else)for a long time seeing the results that helped me decide to do this in the first place.

So here is the review:
It actually made my hair oily. I made some shampoo from my soapnuts according to the directions that came with them. I used it for awhile (about a month) to get a fair result. I had to use other shampoo once a week to cut the oily buildup.
For me, plain water works the best. I use a tiny dab of shampoo once a month or so only on the crown of my head. I have never been so pleased with my hair.

It seems weather you have thick straight hair (S)or wavy fine hair (Me), soapnuts does not work as a shampoo!

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I've been slowly phasing out hair washing...lol I'm down to once a week but have been using ordinary shampoo....I would love to get to a no chemical state though...what do you all use to wash your body? I have norwex body cloths but haven't used them for any length of time to see if it's worthwhile...

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Posted 01 December 2009 - 05:23 PM

Here is my final update and maybe a little vent.

I have been doing this since march 2008.
I have really liked my soft curls that stay in place. I did not like my hair going frizzy and wild after doing the occasional deep cleansing.
With all the wonderful positive results, I have discovered one big problem. I seem to be more prone to split ends.
I do not color, tease, hot curl or blow-dry my hair, so I can not attribute it to any of those things.
I have been growing my hair out to one length for years in the back (I cut the bangs and sides short every month).
I now have hair sticking out everywhere from top to bottom. I thought, oh this is new growth, yippee. After closer examination,
I found it was split ends, broken and tweaked.

I will not rule out 'no shampooing' completely. It may have something to do with my hard well water. I especially notice a difference in the winter when the water level changes, so that may have something to do with it. I will go with once a week shampooing for now and maybe try it again in the future with a different water supply. For now I have to find a good stylist to cut my hair in cute layers to stop the receding of the split ends. I am trying to convince myself that it will be cute and that I will like it, instead of crying that my hair is gone and my time is wasted.

So while it seemed a very good long term option, it had some bad effects for me. For those of you who cut your hair frequently, split ends should not be a problem.

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My oldest daughter has been 'poo free for some time now. Several months, but less than a year.

Her hair was extremely oily, she had to wash it twice a day when she was using shampoo.

After the detox, she went to just washing with a bit of baking soda in water about twice a week. And now her hair isn't oily any more. I guess it was the shampoo making her scalp secrete all that oil. And the shampoo caused dirt to stick to her hair, too. Also, after 20 years of thinking she had straight hair, she found she has nice wavy hair.

I may try it. I'm worried about the split ends. I would try to keep the baking soda off the strands and just on the scalp.

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The difference without shampoo is indeed wonderful. And yes, it is the shampoo causing the increase of oil production.
I never used the baking soda. I read that it can cause breakage if you do it too much because it alters the ph balance.
Maybe your daughter is using it just right in regards to frequency and amount.
Does she have split ends?
I have been washing my hair once a week for the last three weeks. Ugh! I don't like how it looks and feels. Even though I put coconut oil in it and did a vo5 hot oil treatment, it is still dry and rough. I really need to find another way of doing this because I will not go back to daily or EOD shampooing. And I certainly do not want to buy all those expensive products to make my hair look like it did while no pooing. Not only is it a poor use of money, but I don't want all the chemicals.
I spoke with a stylist friend last night and she agreed that I needed to chop my hair, so today I will do it.
I have almost convinced myself that I want it cut short in layers. It is a little easier to take when you really know you need to do it.

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July 22, 2011

By the way,
I am still doing this.
I decided that I over reacted about the split ends. It is unusual to go that long not even trimming your hair.
I purchased a boars-hair brush and have found that it distributes the minimal oil nicely, but it probably had something to do with the split ends as well.
I still use the brush but, I just am more gentle with it now.

I also finally tried baking soda and vinegar. Can't say it thrilled me. I can see the reason people like it though. However, I get nearly the same results with the water washing (each shower) and a dime size amount of shampoo at the crown once a week.

This is crazy, but I also tried dirt...mud. The curls were amazing! I had a very difficult time washing the itty bitty granules out though. I could not stand the grit on my scalp so I did a full wash later that day. I will try again someday with a different type of dirt, perhaps clay. I will be trying rainwater next, finally. Our water is hard.

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