No-shampoo Challenge: Recipes, Personal Experiments... and more than baking soda.

I don't think I still have to tell anybody that saying "No" to shampoo is an option.  "No-poo" revolution has started around the world, more and more people are going away from wasting money on things that they don't really need. I was reading about people who quit using shampoo, and I can't say I was immediately convinced that's the way to go, but cancer causing chemicals sounded scary... Unfortunately, everything that's marked as BIO and 100% natural often isn't like that at all, and you really have to read and understand everything what's on labels, and not everything is written on those labels... I had already moved away from store-bought cosmetic creams and lotions, I had stopped dyeing my hair, and reading about people who quit using shampoo challenged me. 

So, I accepted the challenge and started experimenting to discover the truth. Oh, that really was a challenge and it wasn't just a short walk. Not a month or two, but the idea of breaking the circle of the look and feel of my hair being dependent on shampoo, natural detoxification and natural living in general pushed me to move on. Skeptics are laughing at no-shampoo movement while more and more people are rising up their hands to quit using shampoos - and not all of them are hippies. It seems that nobody takes a neutral position, so I had to check what's in it. 

I started my no-shampoo days and asked myself: are these people, who have given up on shampoo, really satisfied with the results or that's just what they say because they are supposed to be satisfied? Is their hair really clean and fresh, or that's just their position, the attitude they want to demonstrate? 

Baking soda

What's the first thing to try? Of course, the most popular one - baking soda. I dissolved two spoons of baking soda (I have pretty long hair) in a cup of water, massaged it in my scalp, left there for a few minutes and then washed out. Sometimes I simply massaged baking soda in my scalp without dissolving it in water, and then washed out. Baking soda here and there. The results - clean hair, but not a nice feel. My hair felt dry and hard, no shine at all.

For a few months I was going with baking soda, trying to combine it with other ingredients to find the right combination for me. 

Baking soda + Apple cider vinegar

The next popular option is baking soda with apple cider vinegar. You wash your hair with baking soda, rinse it, then leave in your hair apple cider vinegar + water (half/half) for a few minutes, and rinse it off. Apple cider vinegar works as a conditioner. 

After the first time it definitely felt better than just with baking soda. I thought I had found my perfect option, but sometimes it worked, and sometimes it didn't. I'm not sure why. Sometimes after washing my hair was simply greasy and heavy - not a good look, and not a good feeling, but sometimes it really was great. Just in case if you are worried about the smell of vinegar - no, it doesn't stay in your hair. 

Soap 

For a few times after washing my hair I just didn't feel clean, and especially when I had to go somewhere, I needed a solution... I didn't have shampoo at home anymore and I had promised myself to resist the urge to buy it. This is where soap comes in - as a savior for the period when every day was my "bad hair day". My boyfriend already for a few months had washed his long hair with soap or water only. He already had his observations made. We usually buy biological soap base with 100% natural ingredients to make our own soap bars and liquid soap, but sometimes we have some conventional soap bar at home. "Normal soap" gets you clean, but dry, hard hair, that's impossible to control, while soap with BIO soap base and a few drops of essential oil really makes my hair clean and a bit softer. Still - that wasn't an option for me. I wanted to say proudly that my beautiful hair is the result of no-shampoo experiment, but soap didn't leave comfortable feeling.

Herbal infusions and essential oils

From times to times I rinse my hair with herbal infusions already for years, and, of course, this period wasn't an exception. Some ideas for that you can get in my previously published post here: Herbs and Oils for Healthy Hair and Scalp

I mixed baking soda with water, herbal infusion (tea) or soap water and essential oils in one old shampoo bottle and apple cider vinegar with herbal tea and essential oils in another bottle. So, I had shampoo and conditioner in many different combinations. 

Baking Soda + Lemon juice

Baking soda experiments had to be continued, and I discovered a combo that was almost perfect for me: baking soda + lemon juice. Clean and fresh hair, not dry anymore, no need for vinegar anymore. Basically, I could have lived with that if I didn't notice that my hair brush after every usage was dirty. This is where I almost lost my hopes. I had tried to find the best solution for about 4 months. Sometimes my hair was just perfect, but sometimes after washing it was a disaster. I had tried many options and discovered that one day the same thing works well, and the other day it doesn't work at all. Baking soda and lemon juice together seemed to work very well, but greasy hair brush wasn't really inspiring. 

Egg Mask

So, maybe I needed some nurturing mask for my hair. I've read many stories about people nurturing their hair with egg masks. One fresh, whisked egg and a teaspoon of honey was supposed to help my hair. I left it in my hair for about an hour, and after rinsing it off and drying my hair... it was still there. My hair definitely wasn't dry, but it wasn't clean as well. I washed my hair with soda and got it out, once again without happiness in my face. 

Baking soda for me was kind of ok, but I wanted my hair brush to be clean as well. My hair after washing sometimes was dry, sometimes oily and sometimes fine. Clean, fresh, light and hopefully shiny not heavy and greasy or dry hair was the goal.

My friend who used baking soda + apple cider vinegar was satisfied with the results, but encountered dandruff issue she never had before. Probably long-term use of baking soda for hair works well, it just isn't for everyone and definitely not for me. So, I moved on with baking soda hoping that the transition period will be over soon. Turns out my hair didn't really need that much of baking soda...

Rye Flour

Imagine a stream of light coming from the sky and embracing you accompanied by heavenly music - that's how I felt after washing my hair with rye flour for the first time. I brushed my hair and the hair brush was clean. After 2 days my hair was still clean, and after 4 days it was still ok, then I washed my hair again and it still was nice. Then I washed it with water only, and it still was nice. 

When you wash your hair with rye flour, it even kind of foams in your hair, gently covering all hair. You can't really rinse all little pieces of flour out of your hair, but when your hair is dry, they don't stick in, but scatter out, really leaving your hair clean and light-weight, and your hair doesn't have any specific aroma. After washing with rye flour or rye flour with a bit of baking soda I also don't need any kind of conditioner. 

In my country rye flour is cheap as the most popular bread is dark, rye bread. Now my shampoo is a tablespoon of rye flour with a dash of baking soda (really just a dash of it!), sometimes without baking soda, and sometimes it's water only. I have no idea if I had got great results if I started to use rye flour from the same beginning. Probably it worked well for me now because my hair already had restored the natural self-conditioning mechanism, but probably I needed long recovery time because my hair has been dyed. That's how it looks now (click on to enlarge): 

Here is what I want to tell: 

• It took 5 month for me to get the hair I wanted without shampoo. I didn't have "stinky hair phase", but had to go through "dirty hair phase". 
• During these months I spent less money for hair care than I could have spent on shampoo and conditioner. 
• It takes time. Your hair and scalp needs time to restore and revive, and it might take time to find the best option for you. Some people need as less as two weeks, others need half a year. Don't stop, because the results are charming.  
• After the transition period, you don't need to wash your hair every day, because it stays clean for longer and even if you wash it with water only, it is clean. Once or twice a week is totally enough, and, no, it doesn't stink or look dirty, of course, if you don't have any activities that make you sweat. (Basics rules of hygiene applies to everyone, with or without shampoo.) No-shampoo is the only option to really get your hair clean. Nature has given to us a lot more than we actually see, until we start looking for it. 
• Hair washed without shampoo doesn't have any specific aroma. Shampoo gives the aroma to your hair because of chemical fragrances (no, the rose aroma in most of cosmetic products doesn't come from natural roses) that stick to your hair because you just don't get the shampoo out of your hair ever. If going clean you are still longing for a nicely smelling hair, put a drop or two of your favorite natural essential oil in your hair! 

Now I know that finding the right no-shampoo option really brings satisfaction. It makes you to want others try it. And it really convinces you that you will never go back. I'm not going back to using shampoo, but I'm also not done with experiments. I will keep checking natural options and sharing them, so more people could find what they are looking for. 

Just in case you are looking for more options of natural hair care, here is another post from 2014: Herbs and Oils for Healthy Hair and Scalp

Feel free to share your thoughts, questions, experiments and discoveries in the comments!