A Personal Review of Going No Poo

I have taken up a great interest in the no poo movement, which is simply those who chose not to wash their hair the traditional way of using "shampoo" to cleanse their hair. You can read more about no poo, the no poo movement and learn more about it at this link: What You Need To Know About No Poo!

But today I want to give you all the ups and downs and my two month trail in the world of no poo. i am one of those hands on people who literally tend to try something out on myself if it sounds promising. And of course if it's natural, I am NOT a guinea pig for drug companies trying to promote yet another cure all pill! But when it comes to natural remedies I am kind of a buff on things like that. So I heard that people were having great success weaning themselves of of shampoo and finding their hair to be more manageable, easy to style and scalp problems nipped in the bud! So I was all in!

The First Month:

This was the worst of the worst stage, (at least for the first 2 weeks) my hair felt yucky, greasy and I wanted to give up. I read that those who went no poo, had problems for up to two months with extremely sticky hair, I did not want to go that long! There were a lot of tips that I picked up from different forums, and I started by using baking soda and water to "wash" my hair and vinegar to "condition it. This worked rather well for some time, I had to wear my hair curly all the time, which was good, and I needed No products to do so. normally I have very limp slightly wavy hair, and to make it curly I have to scrunch it with gel, spray gel, and mousse along with a diffuser attachment on my hair dryer. I was shocked I did not have to do any of that with my un shampooed hair! I got compliments for how nice my hair looked and that was pretty cool considering I had been no pooing along with no products and not even a dryer!

The Second Month:

Month two I made a transformation. I actually color my hair blonde, and really needed a touch up, so I went about my normal color cycle. Because of the hair dye, all my natural oils were stripped (these were the wanted natural oils that made my hair curly) But when I blew my hair dry for the first time in about a month, I was really happy! My hair felt so lightweight and flowing! I wanted this feeling to last.

I was actually about to switch back to regular shampoo but then thought of how wonderful my hair was looking with these curly curls all over and it's something I always wanted (I actually had about 2 perms in my life just to give me curls!) So i decided to try to no poo method of conditioner only washing, known as CO washing. You can read more about CO washing and how to do it here: Conditioner Only Washing: Co washing Know How

I am a firm believe in CO washing, I love it! I can wear my hair curly or straight, I can blow dry it without it being to heavy that my hair falls flat, I can style it with no needed product....it's amazing! And because I had already went through those dreaded few weeks of no poo earlier, the transition period was perfect! No overly greasy hair or nothing!

What I Use:

I but the cheap V05 conditioner (it has to be free of any ingredients that end in "cone") Oddly enough V05 is perfect for CO washing and many others rave about too. It makes my hair smell fresh and clean and soft any shiny!

I only CO wash about two times a week, maybe three if I wear my hair straight the whole week. It takes a little more time in the shower because you have to let the conditioner soak on your hair for about fifteen minutes before rinsing it off, but it's so worth it!

I encourage you to read the links I provided in this article as well as the sources I included in them.

Sources:

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=2898