All ready to start! Reccomendations?

[holothuroidea]

Hello all! I have been testing the "no poo" waters for a couple weeks now. Today I found a pretty headscarf and a boar bristle brush and I'm ready to take the plunge! I'd just like to get some feedback before I begin my "adventure

Comments

[muddyhandprint]

I typed a whole response and then realized that you said you wanted to go water only. I don't have much experience with that so I'm not sure how helpful I can be, other than to say that I've seen a lot of people with hard water struggle with it.

Using Dr. Bronner's on your hair every three days is pretty harsh, so I'd guess that is what is causing the waxiness (your scalp going into sebum overdrive)- especially if you haven't been using acid washes consistently. If WO doesn't end up working out you may want to try some other alternative washes before giving up entirely.

As for alternative acid washes, I've been using strong black tea for the last couple weeks (along with a baking soda wash) which smells nice and makes my hair nice and soft. Before that for the last few months I'd been adding peppermint to a white vinegar wash to help with the smell.

[holothuroidea]

I picked WO because it seems the simplest and I want something I can stick to for the full six weeks. If it doesn't work I will try something else, maybe washing with more diluted Dr. Bronner's less often or the baking soda. I just want the simplest thing that works, so I'm starting with water.

[secret_gyoza]

I WO and because I exercise a lot I do rinse my hair (usually with cool water) almost every day but I only wash it every couple of days. When I say wash I mean the whole scalp massage and I also have a fine toothed plastic comb that I rake over my scalp in addition to combing my hair.

What about a lemon water rinse as opposed to just lemon juice?

From what I've read here it seems that with any change you need to give your hair a bit to adjust but I think the 1 exception is things that make you hair feel dry. Maybe you were using too much Dr Bronners? I think I have read about some people using a dilution of it but I've never tried it myself and I could be remembering wrong.

[holothuroidea]

Thank you for your reply! I did 25% of lemon juice in water. Maybe I could dilute it more? The tea sounds nice, though. I think I might need some kind of acid wash because my water isn't soft.

I guess I was washing too often with the Dr. Bronner's, and I didn't dilute it. It did seem very harsh, I was afraid that if I continued my hair was going to disintegrate! It was a really weird combination of waxy/sticky and dry at the same time. Like straw dipped in beeswax.

There is something appealing about WO to me and that's why I want to try it. So, I definitely shouldn't scrub every day? What's a good interval to start with, every 3 or 4?

Also, I do the oil wash method on my face, what do I do if I get some in my hair? What about food and stuff? I have kids and it is not uncommon for the little one to grab my hair with sticky hands. In fact this happens on a daily basis.

[secret_gyoza]

well when I started WO I was scrubbing every day because I figured that if I was washing sweat out of my hair I might as well wash my hair. Then someone here suggested that it might work better if I scrub every few days as opposed to every day and I like how my hair feels more this way. It's softer now

[secret_gyoza]

oh and on the days I "wash" or scrub or whatever you want to call it, I use hot water and a final rinse in cold water. When I say cold water I mean, I turn off the hot entirely and then when it's ice water I drench my head. Of course now it's getting cool so I'm oh so careful not to let anywhere but my head get wet lol.

The idea is that the warm water will open your hair shaft and help break up excess sebum to move it down the hair shaft but the cold water closes it again. Same idea as the acid rinse.

[kaypgirl]

If your hair is brittle, careful with the boar bristle brush. Some people don't like it because they believe brushing your hair a lot promotes breakage and split ends (too lazy to look up if that's true or not), especially with a bbb

[holothuroidea]

I've heard that about the bbb, too. My hair is very short and doesn't need to be combed out (no knots) so it shouldn't require too much brushing to spread out the sebum. It seems essential for dryer hair to move the sebum around. I will watch out for breakage, though.

The honey doesn't really sound like a good idea for me. It's a really nice morning face wash, though!

[holothuroidea]

How will I know if my hair needs a clarifying wash? I'm expecting a lot of crazy waxy yucky hair for the first couple weeks.

[holothuroidea]

Thanks everyone!

I've finalized some plans. I'm going to water only wash every 3 days with filtered water and an acid rinse. I want to try the tea, it sounds nice.If it doesn't work I'll try more dilute lemon water or distilled vinegar.

I'm going to try to not get water in my hair when I shower because of the hard water. I guess I could look into some shower filters.

I still don't know what to do about getting food out of my hair. I'm hoping that vigorous scrubbing and brushing will take care of it.

On another note I had to nix the scarf. I couldn't find a way to wear it that didn't look "religious." I live in an area with a lot of Muslims and I don't want to offend anyone. I'm going to look so stupid in a hat, though, it's not even cold yet! Such is life.

[secret_gyoza]

You might luck out, I had next to no transition period and I dealt with it by wearing a bandanna as a headband and other head bands to cover my hairline. That was really the only place that looked gross.

[hannahsarah]

Dr. Bronners nearly destroyed my hair! No matter how much I diluted it or how well I rinsed, my hair was waxy and horrible. I went back to bs/water and a weak lemon juice rinse and my hair is very happy again. In between washings I use a lice comb to help distribute oils away from my scalp. It works amazingly well!

As far as looking too religious, I am sure that a cute bandanna on your hair is not going to confuse or offend anyone. Muslims can spot who's Muslim and who's not. I'm an Orthodox Jew (married), and I cover all of my hair with a scarf when I'm not wearing my sheitel (wig). No one has ever mistaken me for a Muslim, and I live in a heavily Muslim area. If they don't know I'm Jewish, they probably just assume I'm having a bad hair day. ;-)