No-Poo.

Yup, no shampoo. This blog is sort of a one-off as they say in England, I know I don't normally write about beauty but I DO always like a good experiment. I love the idea of more freedom, and more free time so this thing I heard about looked like a good chance to take my hair off-grid and at best get some awesome hair, save money and stick it to all those glorified hair products commercials, and worst-case see if no-poo was a joke.

I have had SO many questions and friends who started doing it too, so I promised to make a one-stop resource as soon as I got it all figured out. For you guys already in the no-poo club, skip down to the checklist;)

No-poo is the theory that our scalp knows what to do without being stripped daily by shampoo (yes even organic ones, I used those for the past 2o years and it seemed to be better but not good enough) and then slathered with conditioner after it's just been stripped. Part of the theory is that shampoo was modernized around the 1930s by Proctor and Gamble, (I even found a fun story here about how it was also used as aircraft anti-freeze) and that it was just another way to create another need for consumers to constantly need/buy a new product.

My thinking was, wow there's a lot of videos of people doing this on youtube, & ya why does hair have to be so complicated?

I mean, it should just swing in the breeze after it's dried and not need a billion products, my precious time, and manpower to look fluffy and gorgeous right? Ever the dreamer, I set out to try.

REAL simple and basic, 5 Things that really seemed to matter (to me, of course, keep in mind we all have different hair!)

Scritch & Preen

Thank you, Toni! I did not even know what this was until I saw your video and yes, makes total sense. Also pleasantly reminds me of all the parakeets I had growing up, they did this all day and always looked fab, so ya. I'd way rather do this while I netflix, than a bunch of hot tools and products.

Switch to Hair Clips

(no more tight rubber bands by the scalp)

This kind of hair clip-claw is awesome. When I put my hair in a rubber band, I realized not only does it look bad when I take it out, but it keeps all the oil at the scalp in a tight ball, which is not helping the cause to say the least. It's ok to use a band when you really need it, but just be aware that is part of the problem of weird hair issues like kinks, dry ends, and too much oil in all the wrong places.

Bamboo Bristle Brush

You can get these at all the grocery stores, and the bamboo bristle takes the oil from the scalp and moves it down all the way- super key.

Also, I use a toothbrush to clean my brush ( and my old shampoo to clean my brush now!) because you don't want to put what's on the brush back in your new fluffy clean hair.

Dry Shampoo

You can get this stuff at tons of stores, but make sure that it's not the spray or aerosol versions which are full of all kinds of stuff you'd just need to wash out.

Using the powder to help hair, in the beginning, is awesome to adjust, and then having it on hand for styling to replace the old-school way of washing to style.

Basically, I did 12 hours flying and travel, drove to northern Michigan two days later and took my hair down, fluffed some of this in there, and went out for a whole day of pictures at a family wedding. Oh and that was after a week of no-wash, not bad I say!

The BEST wash

Hands down best thing I found. I tried a vinegar wash, baking soda rinse, organic hair shampoo-bar & plain water. Thank goodness I saw this stuff at a friend's house in Sedona, it comes handmade from Canada & worth every penny. Since it is made only of oil it is not technically shampoo and there's no hair-hangover after you use it like with shampoo where it varies from dry and crazy to too oily again. Thats because it keeps the scalp balanced and healthy, verses over soaping it and causing it to go haywire all over again.

Note, the first two months I almost gave up, it's terrible it really is. But what I learned is that the scalp is so used to overproducing oil after we "wash" it with shampoo that when we stop, it kind of freaks out and just needs a little bit of time to rest and "realize" that it's not going to get stripped and it levels out and makes its own right amount of oil.

I did notice these great things.

Only need to wash hair every 8 or more days

It does not smell to not wash hair!

Hair is fluffier

Hair has its own natural shape vs flattened with conditioner weight or frizzy with dryness from trying to balance out

Time, less time on hair, on the washing of hair, the styling of hair, oh and less water!

Hair does not feel greasy or heavy at the end of each day, who hoo!

Hair is not all split and dry at the ends and flat with conditioner at the top.

I even brought my new wash to my fabulous hairstylist Greg (his link here if you live in CA) and it was just as (if not more) fluffy and gorgeous than when he would use all the salon stuff.

This moms video is pretty useful and shes just funny sooo

Here is a gal who is 5 years in.

I am also curious to see how this helps people with hair loss and dandruff. I know for one friend it is the first thing to cure and not just treat bad dandruff.

As always thanks for doing all these fun journies with me!

What is life without a little rebellion & experimentation;)

Sincerely,

Aja