Shampoo Free

[Eden]

So the "Brazilian Blowout" thread got me to try going entirely shampoo free.

Its been about 2 weeks now and I'm pretty happy with the whole experiment. I had been doing "shampoo light" - just a few times a week before this.

So far - I like the salt scrubs. It feels nice and it keeps my hair dandruff free. I have to take care to really rinse it out well or my hair feels sticky afterwards.

I'm still using conditioner - TJ's Tea Tree Tingle, just on the ends though. I've been keeping it off my scalp. I also got some leave in conditioner that completely water based -nothing that won't rinse out Uncle something or others.... its at work and I can't remember the exact name. It smells a bit odd - vegetably, but not offensive and it does a good job.

I have found I have to brush my hair. I do it before I go to bed and use a boar bristle brush to distribute the natural oils my scalp makes to all of my hair - otherwise the hair next to my scalp will start to look a bit icky.

I almost gave in and used shampoo today - but I gave it a good salt scrub for the second day in a row with a really, really good rinse and it came out looking very nice again - not oily at all, so I'm still in - no shampoo.

[TsPoet]

I've been shampoo-free for about 3 months. With shampoo I have extremely unruly hair, so unruly it's ruly . When I use shampoo I don't do more than run a comb through the hair occasionally to keep it from getting dreadlocks, otherwise nothing.
Without shampoo, it feels heavier and is less curly, so I have to comb it. But, no dandruff, and people actually have commented me on the looks of the hair. So, I'm happy.

[Eden]

I'm not sure I could get dreads..... before I stopped shampooing I never did anything more than run my fingers through my hair for the most part.... even now that's all I do to "style" it. Brushing and combing just pulls the curls out and makes it simply fuzzy - hence why I only brush it before bed.

[NbyNW]

Eden, what salt scrub are you using -- are you making your own? I would be curious to give this a try.

I can generally go with light shampoo/ every other day, except for this one part of my scalp that seems to flare up every now and again, ever since my ill-fated Guatemala trip (years ago). I have to use a tea tree oil or dandruff shampoo daily during a flare-up. Would be interesting to see what happens if I rotate in a salt scrub.

[Eden]

I've just been using salt I have - I believe its plain epsom salt - it might have once had a little lavender oil mixed in.

[moonfroggy]

i have been shampoo free for about 2 years. every few months i use some baking soda in water to rinse it if it seems actually dirty or greasy and if it is getting to tangled i rinse with vinegar but otherwise all i use is water. before i lived here i tried to go shampoo free and my hair always ended up so oily i would break down and use shampoo or just a bar of soap and vinegar rinse but i did sort of wean my hear and use soap or shampoo as little as i could manage. i think water quality and ph effect how easy it is to go completely shampoo free because as soon as we moved to this house which has very nice well water i found my hair did a whole lot better and just stopped needing the once in a while (maybe once a month or every 3 months) shampoo it was getting.

[lph]

Hey, thanks for the tips. I'll be giving this a try. I have hair that naturally can get corkscrew curly, but gets dry and strawlike very easily. I've only shampooed it once a week at most for a long time, but I've noticed that on long "showerfree" vacations it sort of changes character but actually looks nicer.

I haven't brushed my hair since I was a little girl... *breaking out the coarse salt and a hairbrush*

[Melalvai]

This is intriguing. Can you post pictures of your hair?

[jessmarimba]

lph, check out naturallycurly.com, they have tons of good advice if you want to try it.

I used to have pretty curly hair and I have tried going shampoo-free several times over the last few years and it just doesn't work for me. I think part of the problem is that there are products still in my brush that are unfriendly to no-shampoo methods of washing, but I also think that my head just gets too oily.

[NbyNW]

ooo, that gives me an idea for doing a salt+tea tree oil scrub . . .

[Jolt]

Interesting, makes me want to experiment but I'm not sure how well I could pull it off. Right now I am using TJ's tea tree shampoo and conditioner. I only shampoo every couple of days (every day is just unnecessary and is too much) but by day 3 I notice my hair starting to look greasy. How much does the success of going shampoo-free have to do with the natural texture and oiliness of one's hair? Mine is fairly thick, wavy, and I would say medium texture (not really fine but not coarse either).

[Eden]

My hair is the same way - I have a lot of hair, its not super fine or very coarse - middling I'd say. I used to shampoo once or twice a week (I was using TJ's sulfate free) when it started looking oily. Now instead of the shampoo I do the salt scrub and it seems to do just as good (if not better!) a job of it. Brushing it out at night helps too - my only problem is that my brush is collecting a lot of lint and I'm not sure how to clean it.....

p.s. I really need a haircut.... how about I post a picture after I get a trim....

[snowroo]

Honest question, what's wrong with shampoo?

[jessmarimba]

Eden, an apple-cider vinegar rinse (diluted) will help too.

snowroo, most shampoos have sulfates (necessary for washing out the silicones added to a number of hair products - essentially a plastic coating to make it shiny and behave). sulfates, which are the detergents that make shampoo lather, are a relatively harsh chemical that causes your hair and scalp to dry out and your eyes to burn if you get shampoo in them. I think I've also heard of some studies that note the environmental damage they cause, but I don't know how scientific they are (nor do I feel like trying to find them right now...and my memory isn't good enough to recall any in particular). So that wasn't the most helpful answer but I probably just opened pandora's box.

[Veronica]

There are sulfate free shampoos.

Veronica