Thursday, September 9, 2010

No Poo Challenge

Not that poo. Shampoo.

I was reading up on how to manage curly/wavy hair since mine is naturally wavy. Kind of. Like that girl from the new 90210 but less full and nice looking. So since I’ll have a baby soon and I don’t think I will have time to blow dry and straighten my hot mess of a head. And who wants to waste time at the mirror when you have a baby to dress up in tiny little outfits anyway? Not me.

So the girls on the curly hair site were talking about the no poo method and I read like a
sentence before I decided that that was weird and gross and I’ll just find some miracle product that will make my hair look sexy and tousled. Except miracle products are hecka expensive and I like money. I would much rather spend money on the previously mentioned little outfits for the baby. I mean, have you been to Baby Gap? If I weren’t such a cheap bastard I would totally buy up everything they carry right out of the store instead of waiting until next year after the rich moms bring it to the consignment store and I can scoop it up on the cheap. But anyway…

Then today I was reading a “green” mom blog and she tried the no poo method for like a day or something and then ripped it to shreds. Still, I was interested and googled it and eventually came across a thread on my cloth diapering site where all these women were no pooing and after the detox period, they were loving the shit out of it. And then this blog, which was helpful and convincing. So I’m going to try it.

Here’s the skinny. Shampoo and conditioner have chemicals and crap in them and they strip your hair of its natural oils. So the no poo method is all about getting back to your mane’s natural state and then it will be not weighed down and soft and pretty and all this other good shit. So you use a baking soda and water concoction to wash your hair and then an apple cider vinegar and water rinse and then poof after the detox period your hair is nice looking and healthy. I guess the detox period sucks because your hair is all like “WTF is this shit? Where is that cherry blossom crap you usually douse me in?” and then it gets pretty greasy as it gets restored to its natural state. But after that then your hair will be all voluminous and clean.

You’re supposed to use 1 T. of Baking Soda (BS) and mix it with some water until it’s a consistency you are comfy with scrubbing your head with. Some like a paste but I added more water so it would spread evenly. Then you massage your head in it and rinse. Then you mix 1 T. of Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV) with a cup of water and then rinse your hair (not scalp) in that and rinse. Easy, right?

Now obvs I’ve only done it once at this point but my hair feels totally different. After the baking soda scrub I noticed that my hair felt softer and I am totally not making this shit up. It’s not like Arm & Hammer is paying me to say this, so you can trust me. But, when it came time for the apple cider vinegar rinse, it went downhill. That’s probably because I used cold water and it was a real shock when I’m all warm and comfy and then I douse myself in cold stinkiness. Don’t do what I did, use warm water. At least it will be warm stinkiness.

My hair is currently drying and my waves aren’t sad little end of the strand waves either, they start at my crown which is nice and my hair is drying way faster. It does smell a little like ACV but I read that once it’s fully dried that it doesn’t smell, in case you were wondering. It’s only day one and obvs my hair isn’t detoxing yet so I will keep you updated on how things are going since this is the only thing I can do to pass the time before my due date.

Have you heard of No Poo? Have you tried it?

5 comments:

Brandy said...

I personally haven't tried it but when I was in beauty school there was a girl who had amazing curly hair and she didn't use shampoo. She did use a shampoo but it was from a health food store and basically was different oils. I bought it once and it was weird because it didn't get sudsy but it did make my hair seem better. I wish I could remember the name of it off hand.
You can probably skip the apple cider vinegar though, at least on a daily basis it will strip your hair because basically you are putting acid on your hair. It's hella harsh.
The longer you can go without washing the better it is for your hair. If you are not using products you can go for quite a long time without using shampoo and just massaging and rinsing your scalp.

Oph said...

I had sort of heard of this...I'd totally like to try it! Brandy gives a good tip about not using the vinegar all the time, sounds like a lot of work. I think I'll have to wait until a school vacation or something since I don't want to go with uber greasy hair. Does it give any inclination on how long the greasy stage lasts? Unfortunately mine gets greasy really easily and I use shampoo. It'd be awesome if my curls would start at the crown! They currently start half-way down and it makes me sort of sad (maybe a lot sad but that is beside the point). I can't wait to hear how it goes with you! Thank you.

KimR said...

I'm with Oph. I really would like to try this, but I'm also prone to greasy hair. I have to wash it every day or it gets really greasy and looks it, too.

KimR said...

Ok, I did some googling on oily hair and found some interesting (and some "interesting") sites. One mentioned using a green gram flour paste, similar to the baking soda paste. Another said something about using the vinegar rinse after normal shampooing.

Alecia said...

This is really interesting. Looking forward to hearing about your experience. After my daughter was born I went to my hairdresser and told him I needed a haircut that could air dry. It has worked great so far! It's still longish but he thinned it out so it dries faster.

 

Blog Template by YummyLolly.com - Header Frame by Pixels and Ice Cream
Sponsored by Free Web Space