It has now been more than two weeks since I stopped using regular shampoo and started washing my hair with a homemade “no poo” treatment of baking soda followed by apple cider vinegar.
You can read more about the process in this post about homemade shampoo and how to use it.
I’ve got to say, for the first few days I was not digging it AT ALL, but I have been converted.
Even Eddie likes it now. He says it feels really soft, almost like the kids’ hair. The stale smell went away after the first few days and now there is no noticeable smell at all. As my mom said, “It doesn’t smell flowery like it would with shampoo, but it doesn’t smell bad. It just doesn’t smell like anything.”
My hair is much softer, and sure, it’s more environmentally friendly. But the main reason I have been converted is because I have naturally curly hair and it is crazy how much more manageable my hair is now! I REALLY wish I would have tried this during those 2.5 years we lived in Florida and I couldn’t do a darn thing with my hair in the crazy humidity.
This was my hair air-dried with regular shampoo and a a lot of product to keep the curls in check. I would use a mixture of 1/2 hair gel and 1/2 conditioner to keep them tame. That would last for one day only, before looking ridiculously out of control the next day.
Awwww, we miss you, Grandy. And look how little Penny was!
If I let it air dry without putting any product in it, it would look like this by the next day:
Sorry for the tiny picture, it’s the only one I have. Besides, Yikes!
The difference with the “no poo” is pretty amazing.
The was my hair on the third day (these pictures were taken Saturday night and I hadn’t washed my hair since Thursday), after letting it air dry and using NO PRODUCT at all.
You can see that my hair is still curly, but it just doesn’t have the crazy frizz that was there before, the curls are bigger, much looser and less “Lion King.” And it’s not greasy. (Plus these “after” pictures were taken on a really rainy day, which would normally mean out of control frizzing.) It’s like magic. I can still use the flat iron to straighten it when I want to, and it actually responds better to that than it used to.
Click over to my previous post about how to use homemade shampoo if you are curious about trying it out for yourself.
What do you think? Would you try it?
How’s the no shampoo going? I’m thinking of giving this a try after school’s out.
Surprisingly well! I’m still doing it.I really like it now. The first two weeks are rough, though, I’m not gonna lie. I hear that you can do just the vinegar every day, if you want. Just limit the baking soda to twice a week. So I guess that’s what I’ll start doing after swimming or working out in the summer.
Maybe adding a few drops of essential oils to the vinegar rinse would help combat the smell. There are several that are good for hair and hair growth.
I am going to try this on my daughter who has an itchy scalp all the time. It is horrible! Thank you for the no poo recipe. Here’s hoping!