There's this thing called No 'Poo (I don't like that name). The idea is to use baking soda to wash your hair and a mixture of apple cider vinegar (ACV) and water to condition it. Some people also use coconut oil once every week or month for deeper conditioning too. Some people do it to save money. Some people do it because it doesn't strip the natural oil from your hair, meaning it's healthier and usually requires less products (shampoo strips all the oil, conditioner is supposed to add some back in, then products to control your hair, etc., and then your scalp overcompensates by producing even more oil). Some people do it for health reasons because they don't want chemicals anywhere on their body and prefer natural means of cleaning. A few years ago, my hair started to get wavier. And frizzier. And just generally unruly. To combat that, I started using more hair products. Which means my hair is slightly less frizzy and much more greasy the next day. Since I generally shower in the afternoon, post-workout, this is a problem if I'm going anywhere in the morning. So I figured I'd try this, because at this point, the things I do to my hair seem to be like taking a pill to combat the side effects of that pill, which I was taking to combat the side effects of that other pill. If the problem starts with the way I wash my hair, it seems to make the most sense to change that and see if it makes a difference. Plus the amount of money I spend on my hair seems to be increasing and I'd rather spend it on something else. Like coffee.
Day one: The
directions I pulled up on my tablet said to mix 2 TB baking soda with 2
cups of water. I just dumped that on my head, so it was more like a
baking soda rinse. Depending on how my hair looks and feels once it's
dry and in the morning, I might use more baking soda and apply that
directly to my wet hair instead. I didn't use any hair products after
and my hair smells faintly like vinegar. It feels pretty soft right now
and it's not tangled, but my hair doesn't normally tangle much.
Day two, pre-shower: So
far today, my hair seems less greasy than it normally does, especially
at the roots. I can't say for sure if that's due to not using shampoo or
not using hair products though. It doesn't have much body either, but
that could probably have been remedied by blow drying my hair instead of
letting it air dry. I'm not completely sold on it yet, but it did work
better than I expected. (My hair did get more greasy as the day went on, but it sounds like it may take a few days for my scalp to adjust and stop producing so much oil. Plus I touch my hair a lot during the day.)
Day
two, post-shower: I tried using 4 TB baking soda this time, applied directly to my
scalp. I thought it might work a little better this way. I think I'll
try making it a paste tomorrow, rather than the dry stuff or a rinse,
because it seems like it'd be easier to
handle. I also tried 4 TB ACV mixed with 2 cups water. Note to self:
mix the ACV with warm water, not cold. My hair is still wet, but the
vinegar smell doesn't seem any stronger despite using a higher
concentration.
Day three, pre-shower: My
hair is neither greasy nor frizzy today. Just wavy, because I let it
air dry last night. It does seem to have more body than yesterday and even be slightly less oily. I do think I'll try the paste this afternoon (probably with 3 TB baking soda, I don't think I needed all 4 yesterday and my hair isn't super long) and maybe blow dry it to see what my hair does.
Day four, pre-shower: After a long day yesterday, I finally took a shower at 8:30pm. I didn't bother to blow dry my hair. While wet, it did feel soft though. I used 3 TB of baking soda and made a paste. It was easier to handle, but I should have used 4 TB, since I didn't feel like I had enough to really get the crown of my head. I stuck with 4 TB ACV and 2 cups water. That seems to work well. Today, my hair is soft and wavy as usual. My roots are normally a tad greasy by now, especially around the temples, but they're not today. It's hard to say if my hair has much body to it, since it's been in a messy bun pretty much since I woke up.
So far I like the effect this is having on my hair (I do think I'll have better body if I blow dry it). It's soft and not as oily as normal. Like I said earlier, I can't be sure if that's the change in cleansing method or the lack of products though. It does take a little prep time before getting in the shower, but not long and it would be easy to portion out the dry baking soda ahead of time and keep some of the diluted ACV ready. It doesn't take any longer to actually wash my hair. I'm not sure how easy it would be to do this while traveling, but I suppose if you had everything portioned out/diluted, it wouldn't be much different than the usual shampoo and conditioning. I'm planning on continuing this for the next week or so to see how it goes and I'll update then.
Side note: We're on our third snow/cold day in a row. Since there was no school Friday for records day, the girls and I have been home together for six full days now. I love my kids dearly, but I'm an introvert and the down time I get to myself while the big girls are at school and Nora naps is when I recharge. Add in a few other factors like Ella being grounded from screens (I don't even remember why) and the fact that the girls pick at each other more with each passing day, and we're all a bit cranky and ready for school to start back up. I am glad that I haven't had to go out in the ridiculously frigid air though and that the schools are erring on the side of caution when it comes to the kids' safety. Eventually, there will be school again. Until then, books and ear buds are my friends. :)
