If you don't know about "No Poo" by now, you are so out of it! After Mama Birth's absolute disgust, we all were intrigued, right? I had actually heard of the No Poo thing on a DFW Holistic Facebook group I'm a part of and knew just enough to be dangerous. The fact that Mama Birth was so grossed out just made me more excited to do it!
OK, so I read quite a bit of blogs about it, and I'm not going to lie to you -- I was pretty overwhelmed with all the recipes. The woman that does my hair has told me that of 400 clients, she only has one other person with hair like mine. For the record, she's totally grossed out by what I am doing.
My hair is very dry and as a result, I always go about 5 days between washings. Otherwise, I have no oil whatsoever. I guess I was doing the No Poo thing and didn't realize it was a movement. I haven't gotten the "Curly Girl" book yet and I do not claim to be an expert by any means. I've only been doing this for about 2 weeks, but I'm hooked!
Everyone has their reasons for doing the No Poo thing. It seems like a lot of people are concerned with the chemicals in shampoo, but I'll admit, I really couldn't care less about that. What I was reading, the people with wavy or curly hair reported their hair getting curlier, had more volume, and their hair was curling all the way to the root. That was enough for me!
This is what I have been doing:
"Shampoo" is just baking soda. Most recipes said to add a tablespoon to 8 oz of water. I did that the first time, but I have so much hair, I decided to just use baking soda in my palm an add a titch of water. I massage that into my scalp and then rinse.
My "Conditioner" step is a little more complicated. In a mason jar, I mix the following:
* 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
* 3/4 cup water
* 1 Tablespoon honey
* 8 drops Tea Tree Oil
* 8 drops Peppermint Oil
The recipe calls for a tablespoon of food grade aloe vera gel, but I haven't bought any yet. I've been happy even without it, but I am anxious to try it with it.
I pour it on my scalp and work it through my hair, all the way to the ends. I leave it on for about a minute and then rinse. I read about "plopping," but I've been doing this for years too -- just squeezing the moisture out of my hair with a towel. I never comb it. I have still been adding "The Conditioner" by Paul Mitchell after I'm finished with the washing, but I don't work it through my hair, pulling the hair. I just scrunch it in and then let my hair air dry. I never use a hair dryer.
I am a product junkie, usually using about 4 different things in my hair after it's been washed with shampoo. I haven't felt the need to do so with the No Poo. It feels like there is product in my hair and it is curling to the root. The biggest difference I've noticed, however, is the volume. Now, I am a product of the 80's, graduating high school in '89, so needless to say, I love big hair. The increased volume rocks!
My scalp feels much less itchy and dry and I'm going 7 days without washing. In the morning, I just spray it with some lavender water. The first batch I made had way too much lavender and weighted my hair down. A couple of drops has worked great though. Just spray and scrunch.
I have heard great things about using coconut oil as a conditioner, so I'll let you know how that works. There are a lot of recipes out there. The most basic No Poo is the baking soda and then the apple cider vinegar rinse. Just play with it and see what works for you. I'm curious about how this works for people with oily hair. Feel free to post your experience with No Poo here to help others figure it out.
No comments: