I am new with some questions

[tomi_girl1]

In one of my other groups, they started talking about no poo and I have tons of questions and am getting lost in all the info online. I have long-to my bra strap-thick wavy/curly hair with a horrible itchy scalp and awful dandruff that I use really harsh stuff to control. It's been about 4 days since I have washed my hair

Comments

[piperchicki]

I think the other two posters got most of your questions... but I wanted to feel important, so I thought I'd take on the conditioner question.

So, BS, like corval said, cleans your hair. It does this by stripping most of the grease and oil away, which is why you only want to use it on your scalp, and just let it catch the rest of your hair when you rinse it out. Baking soda is a base. Your scalp is naturally acidic. After rinsing out the BS solution, you need to reacidify your scalp (and as corval said, get the scales of your hairs to lie flat.) or you may be in overproduction of oil land again. Some people use ACV as their acid rinse, and it works wonders on your hair. (Me, for example.) Some people, it turns into a wierd feeling mess. (My sister, for example.) My father in law actually uses coffee as an acid rinse, because in addition to reacidifying his scalp, it stains his grey hairs subtly brown. (It's working for him, so I don't question it.) My sister had better luck with a white vinegar solution, occasionally mixing it up with heavily diluted lemon juice. Some people swear by chamomile tea.

Short version: If it's not working, stop doing it, and find something that does work.

Oh! The conditioner only argument right! Some people forgo shampoo, and instead wash their hair with the conditioner of their choice. Some people find that the small amount of detergent in conditioners cleans their scalp sufficiently, without stripping. Warning: check the ingredients for anything ending in -cone, -one or -ane, and avoid those if you decide to try this. (Or research the 'curly girl' method of hair care. A lot of those sites have suggestions for conditioners that work well for this.)

(Also? I think I wash more frequently than most people on no-poo. I wash every 2 or 3 day, sometimes doing an ACV rinse on the days between to make things softer. This is a huge improvement over I had to time my washings to 6 to 10 hours before dressy events, because if I was at the wedding/party/night out on the town 18 hours after my last wash with shampoo, my very fine hair would start looking scraggly and oily. I've got actual body in my hair now. Who knew?)