In my last blog post, I named the players in the great No-Poo experiment. In this one, we are gonna tell you how week one went. Jay Bee started a little later in the week than Vino and I did, but it's all still good.
I should also let you know that Jay Bee is chronicaling her results at her own blog, so if you want more details go to
ThaGeekyMomma and enjoy. it's fabulous.
But first a quickie description of what we are using and the amounts:
To wash your hair and scalp: Rule of thumb is 1 tablespoon of Baking Soda
(BS) mixed with one cup of warm water. Wet hair, apply and massage into scalp. Let sit a couple of minutes, and rinse well.
To condition your hair: 1 tablespoon of Apple Cider Vinegar
(ACV) with one cup of warm water. If you have dandruff, don't massage into scalp, concentrate on the length of your hair. Let sit a minute or two and rinse.
That's it. Easy, huh?
Here's a look at how it went:
Jay Bee
Day 1 ‘poo-free
Prep
It took 20 minutes from start to finish getting everything together. That’s including taking time out to take pictures (that never loaded on to my pc) every step of the way.
I decided to reuse my shampoo and conditioner bottles since I had conveniently run-out just was we were deciding to give this whole no-poo thing a try. I do have to say that the time it took for me to rinse them out had me thinking that considering the length of my hair there was no way I took this long under water when I rinsed out my hair. And then I got a little grossed out at the idea.
I mixed
No-Poo: 2 cups of spring water to 2 tablespoons of baking soda
“Conditioning” rinse: 3 cups of spring water to 3 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar.
Dandruff rinse: 1:1 cup ratio of spring water & white vinegar
Steps:
1 Brush out Hair: I need a bristle brush. The plastic bristle brush is not going to cut it for distributing the natural oils to the tips of my hair.
2 Dandruff rinse: Since dandruff is a concern of mine I did a bit of research and found the most recommended rinse. It is to sit for at least 1-2 minutes. Don’t forget to Open. A. Window!!! Tilt head back when applying and do NOT allow your hair to frame your face while doing this. You will get dizzy if you do not head my warnings.
3 No-poo: I need to get used to not having it suds up. I kept adding rinse to my scalp because it didn’t feel like I was “washing” my hair. It did feel nice on my scalp & face. Use Room Temperature Water. That cold water on the scalp first thing is… yeah it’s a doozy. The ends didn’t feel too dry or tangled at the end. I wasn’t desperate to add conditioner like I usually am.
4 Conditioning Rinse: Use Room Temperature Water. It bares repeating. Cold water. Not fun. There is a light smell, but not unpleasant. Didn’t feel as soft right off like conditioner does. Couldn’t detangle my hair in the shower like I usually do.
5 After Towel Drying: My hair didn’t feel as different as when regularly washed. I was able to braid my hair after detangling it again. I did have to comb it out once again. My hair does seem to require more time and attention after washing, but that could be attributed to my OCD when it comes to my hair or the adjustment to something different.
I was keeping this experiment from The Hubs because he’s always so skeptical about thing and I wanted to at least get t done before he knew about it. When I told him about it the first thing he said (more like whined) was, “Are you going to start smelling like vinegar now?!?”
I picked up my hair. “Smell”
He carefully sniffed. “Ok.”
I had to laugh, but it’s true so far no vinegary smell.
At this point I’m still winging to continue with it. After doing the math I spend about $50-$75 a month on hair care products. If this works out I would be paying $5 for at least 2-3 months of hair care –that’s including the dandruff rinse.
My wallet really wants this to work out.
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Vino: I had waited 3 days since the last actual shampooing to start this. Rinsed very well with warm water, used a very wide toothed comb to smooth out. I think I squirted about a cup of the BS solution slowly into my scalp, massaging every few squirts, concentrating on my front hairline and natural part. Rinsed well, using the comb again. I then used about 1/2 a cup of the ACV rinse, aiming for mid-shaft and the ends. Remember, I added the essential orange oil to offset the pickle smell. I let it sit as I cleaned my body, then did a cool water rinse of my hair. Towel dried, air dried. Added NO OTHER product.
Ended up with clean, soft, EXTREMELY FRIZZY hairz.
Day 2. Skipped the BS, got hairz wet, sprayed ACV on, decided not to rinse out. Towel and air dried, and used a touch of sulfite free leave in conditioner. Slightly better frizz control.
Day 3. Same as above, but worked some olive oil into my hairz.
Day 4. Another cup of BS wash, similar to day 1 episode. I'm now leaving the ACV in without rinsing. Noticeably softer hair, but still frizzy. Could be the weather contributing....(rainy and humid)
Day 5. Water rinse, ACV rinse.... now trying Coconut Oil sparingly as a leave in conditioner. My hair is very fluffy! I need to tame the volume and steer away from Big Texas hair!!
Today is Day 6. It will be a no BS day. I'm going with every 3 days there. I don't have oily scalp or dandruff issues. I may try some big rollers to tame the frizz.
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Me (your lovable blog host): I too didn't wash my hair for a couple of days. I could do that because it was the weekend, and I wouldn't gross out my co-workers. I did my first wash late afternoon on a Sunday, hoping that the oil monster wouldn't attack my hair overnight, so that Monday morning wouldn't see me scrambling to wash it again.
Day 1: Mixed the stuff and used it much like Vino described.Because there’s no sudsing action, it didn’t feel like I was really getting anything clean, but after I was done, and the hair was dried, it looked and felt pretty darn clean. I noticed that as it dried, it was extremely soft, and way more curlier than normal. I might like this!
Day 2: I wet my head down well, but didn't wash it. The grease monster seems to be at bay for the moment. No itchiness with the scalp, for which I am ever grateful.
Day 3: I was late getting ready for work, but attempted to do the BS and water and rinse under the faucet bathroom sink. I highly recommend that you do NOT do this. Unless you have a very small cranium, which I do not. It was just impossible for me to rinse all the BS out of my scalp, and that led to very itchy issues during the day.
Day 4: Wet head again, and spritzed on some ACV and water. Good to go. I am noticing the texture of my hair is changing. Not oily per se, but it's like the strands are kind of banding together. It doesn't look or feel bad, just different from what I'm used to.
Day 5: I'm used to washing my hair every day, sometimes every other day. I'm kind of hoping I might be able to go 2-3 days without washing it, because let's face it, it takes a little more time to mix up the BS and water before showering each day. We found an empty squeeze bottle to mix it in, and I'm hoping to maybe get 2-3 uses out of batch.
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Bonus addition of the not-so-very-talkative Hubster:
He likes it. A lot.
Ok, so that's a wrap up our initial first week of trying the No-Poo method. Next week, we'll update how it's going for us all!
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| From Jay's Blog http:thageekymomma.blogspot.com |
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