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To shampoo or not to shampoo?

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  • We have some aloe growing in our back yard. I never thought about trying it on my hair. I just did my BS and AVC rinse so I’ll wait a couple of days and give it a try. Should I smear it into my hair before I shower and then wash it out? I’ll tell everyone know how it goes.

  • Thanks queenfluff. For the chlorine, I meant what does it take to actually wash the chemical out? Im actually asking for a relative who is considering no poo. I used a lot of oil stupidly, even a heavy duty BS wash this morning didnt get it all out. Ill wait. I think water only is producing enough oil as it is. Although Coconut oil is a great moisturizer for the rest of the body.

    Also started oil pulling and drinking half a cup of ACV total throughout the day today, which is really supposed to help health as well as skin and hair. Cant wait to see how it ends up.

    Cheers for the advice.

  • queenfluffqueenfluff Raw Newbie

    Hi NatureGal28 – I just used the Aloe Vera on my one spot on my scalp. I think Lucy said somewhere at the beginning of this thread she made an aloe vera rinse or something. Check the first couple pages. I’ll check too if I have time. I think it might have been more “liquidy” Aloe vera (maybe mixed with something like lemon juice).

    Hi Beavers – Well, the only thing that will get the a chemical out of your hair is another chemical. I would try to just rinse very well with water and if you don’t smell the chlorine anymore after a good water rinse than you probably successfully got it out. Other than just water, BS is the only other “no poo” thing that would remove it from your hair – but be careful because you might end up with some very dry hair (esp if you swim in chlorinated water everyday).

    You might want to try a white vinegar rinse to remove the oil (1 tblsp to 2 cups warm water – pour in, massage and rinse very well). If that doesn’t work, you might just have to wait for it to works its way out. Should take a few days. I did the same thing with an avocado – it was super oily but nicely conditioned – after about 3 days it was pretty much gone.

  • queenfluffqueenfluff Raw Newbie

    hey lushpapaya – That is the the way to do it! I can tell what hair is the newly grown no poo hair and what is the poo’ed stuff now. My hair grows very slow unfortunately so to cut it off all would leave me with pretty short hair but I still trim and I can’t wait for all my old shampoo (and damaged looking) hair to be gone.

    Hey all -

    I had Kandace move the thread to this new forum – I thought it was definatley more appropriate – I hope everyone finds it!

    Anyhow, i tried something new today! I washed my hair with aloe vera! And it turned out pretty nice! It isn’t as dry feeling on the ends and the rest of my hair feels very soft – it is isn’t perfectly clean mind you but I am happy with it. The best thing is that my scalp feels really good – it doesn’t feel dry and no flakey. I just used the aloe vera and mixed some water in. The aloe vera is gel-ly like shampoo is a bit so it was almost like putting shampoo in . I just coated my head and massage it into the scalp and rinsed for 10 minutes. The only thing is that the aloe vera is the bottled stuff so it has a few other “additives” in it besides the aloe vera. But it is the organic stuff so no bad chemical or anything (a few vitamins and stuff) but i want to use it up because it is an older bottle. I would definatley do the aloe vera again. I might try a baking soda aloe vera mix. :)

  • My hair is about shoulder lenght, so thats not so bad. I will definently try the aloe vera, if I can find some without additives.

  • kundalalitakundalalita Raw Newbie

    man… i wanna chop off my poo hair too! i’ve been about 10 months too but still it would be way too short for me. i’m used to having my hair about mid/low-back length, does it grow slower being that long?

    any tricks on making hair grow faster?

  • queenfluffqueenfluff Raw Newbie

    kundalalita -

    It could be that your hair is growing but your ends are breaking off thus making it seem like your hair isn’t getting anywhere growth-wise. That happens a lot with long hair.

    If you haven’t been getting your ends trimmed, than check them out? Do they have alot of breakage and splits? If so, keep those trimmed up – otherwise they will just keep on splitting up the hair shaft and there won’t seem like it is growing.

    If the ends are OK, I would suggest MSM, scalp massages and rosemary or nettle rinses. Rosemary and nettle are suppoed to help with hair growth. I just bought some dried nettles and I am going to make a rinse. I let you know how I make it. I have used nettle juice before on my hair along time ago and it made it very strong.

    My hair grows really slow too. Unless I do scalp massages, it hardly seems like it grows at all. It is probably because I don’t hardly exercise (your scalp needs circulation and stimulation for the hair to grow in addition to proper nutrition).

  • kundalalitakundalalita Raw Newbie

    my ends break off some, but not to the point that its not lengthening at all, the last time i cut it was last summer and i suppose its grown about 5 inches in about 10 months…i assume thats pretty normal, right? i’m just anxious to grow out healthy no poo hair long but i guess theres not much to do in that arena, except take some kind growth hormone..

    i dont know what nettle is but it sounds pretty interesting. i think i would like to take the next step up from no poo and get some kind of regime for raw super hair lol… i try to eat seaweed everyday already … i also feel like i’m battling the water from my shower, it seems to dry out my hair… please do let me know how you make that rinse and how that works out for you…

  • queenfluffqueenfluff Raw Newbie

    I found a neat page with basic directions on how to create herbal rinses for hair:

    http://www.ehow.com/how_2080238_herbal-hair-rin…

    I will skip the vinegar and shampooing part of this of course! ;)

  • OK so I tried the aloe plant in my hair. I cut off the spikes and blended the whole leaf I think this was too much. It was soothing but started to burn. I also put it in dry hair. My hair was soft and a lot less frizzy. I want to do it again but next time I am going to wet my hair first and then smear the gel only on my hair. Its a great idea I just took it a little far.

    I have noticed that my hair grows faster now than before no poo. I have pretty long hair I want to cut off the pooed part but if I wait a little longer I can donate it to Locks of Love.

  • queenfluffqueenfluff Raw Newbie

    NatureGal28 – Yeah, only do the gel. I am not sure if the leaf part is really that beneficial. I just wet my hair and use the gel (I mix in a bit of water too just to “stretch” out the amount I have). I coat my whole hair and massage in the scalp and rinse!

  • MeditatingMeditating Raw Newbie

    I am amazed at how popular this thread became.

  • teadeteade Raw Newbie

    I shaved off my hair too!! haha. not for no-poo though… surprisingly my hair reacted fine to stopping shampoo. Only the next day did it have a smell (apparently only I could smell) and then that went away. Now its just easier to rinse without the hair. I’m planning on growing dreads now (easier to start short?? anyone know?) Any advice on that would be awesome.. or direction to a good site or something.

    thanks!

  • queenfluffqueenfluff Raw Newbie

    hi teade!

    Wow! you shave it. Feels very clean doesn’t it? That is the best way to start with a clean slate definatley!

    For the dreads, I believe it is best to start with a few inches of hair but I am not an expert on dreads. I think you can start them by forming braids and just permanently leaving them in and they knot up. Well, don’t take my advice on that – but I think that is one way to start them.

    here is a thread on here about dreads. There are some experts on this site!

    http://www.goneraw.com/forums/6/topics/748

    good luck with the dreads – my hair too fine for them plus I like to run my fingers through my hair so it wouldn’t work for me. :) I think they look really good on some people though.

  • I am 31 years old and my hair line is starting to recede. I hope I spelled that right. Does anyone know of a way to actually regrow new hair on a completely bald spot? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

  • queenfluffqueenfluff Raw Newbie

    sproutamo -

    Well, if this helps David Wolfe says male pattern baldness is a sign of a tin deficiency. He also claims that the sap from the bark of the cacao tree is a treatment for male pattern baldness (i don’t think he has that problem so I highly doubt he has tried it) so maybe stay tuned for for a product by him for that!

    I would start doing scalp massages on that bald spot – you have to get that circulation going to that area to start the hair regrowing. Just masage until the area feels warm. A few thread pages back on this thread I have a big list of what foods you can eat for better growing hair. One of the best things to take IMO is MSM. Combined with vitamin C, it grow hair faster if you take it faithfully. Give it a month or two though.

    I once that a bald spot in a strange spot on my head. The rest of the my hair was strong, long and thick. I didn’t even notice it until one day I clipped up my hair and notice a little white area. I had a completely bald spot around the size of a quarter. To this day, I have no idea how that happened but the hair grew back. I did lots of scalp massages on it.

    So, you can get the hair to grow back if you work at it.

    Hope I helped! :)

  • angie207angie207 Raw Master

    I didn’t read all the posts, but I am glad to hear that I am not the only one not using soap! I take a bath maybe 2 or 3 times per week with just some essential oil if I want it, and I have bee shampooing about once a week because I thought I had to – good to know I can let that go now, too! thanks, everyone :)

  • MOTHMOTH Raw Newbie

    I did no poo for four months, and I LOVED IT!

    Just shaved my head though, so I wonder how starting over with no poo will be.

  • queenfluffqueenfluff Raw Newbie

    hey angie – Welcome Abroad! Glad you are joining the ranks of us peeps who have been enlighened abou the fact that shampoo is not necessary. I am honestly starting to look at it as a product that was invented so someone could make more money selling people a product they don’t need. (that wouldn’t be the first time for that).

    MOTH - Great! Actually your new hair that grows out will be even BETTER if you can believe that. Like baby’s hair I would guess. Ever notice that a baby’s hair is always so clean and soft – that is until someone decides to shampoo it – than it starts to get “dirty” and oily so they thing they have to start shampooing it. If they had never started, it probably would have stayed perfectly clean with just water rinses.

    Your new hair will be completely “virgin”, for lack of a better word – un pooed, undamaged and completely “raw”. I have been reading some of your other posts and it sounds like you are doing really great(I know you had some worries over life changes – I feel ya – I got those worries now too in a major way!). I am very happy for you that you are doing better!

  • so i read this post about a week ago.. and was intrigued by the idea.. since i dont shampoo but ever 4 days anyway, i was already on day 4 when i read this.. so, not so bad so far.. im about a week and a half into it.. yesterday my scalp was flaky and i couldnt hide it since it was in the front.. so i wrapped it in a scarf and went to work.. everyone was like “i love that scarf!” hey i figured it was more cute than ucky scalp.. any advice about flaky scalp??? i dont mind greasy hair but little flakes in my dark brown hair gotta go! :(

  • flakes! help!

  • msrawdivamsrawdiva Raw Newbie

    i only “wash” with conditioner, do oil rinses in the shower with vatika oil…IF i ever need to use poo (which would mainly be before i henna) i will use a carol’s daughter brand diluted and only at the scalp.

    loveskale – i wish i could take you shopping for some ayurvedic products, like vatika and/or amla oil. i would suggest researching some ayurvedic products for the dry scalp.

  • I wash my hair maybe twice a month, but I have shortish hair…maybe 4-5 inches long. When I do though, I use the BP/ACV ‘no poo’ method. Talk about keeping any style…I don’t even need gel to look wacky.

  • queenfluffqueenfluff Raw Newbie

    Oops sorry loveskale! I missed your post!

    Ok flakies. Well, let me ask you something. What are your flakes and scalp like right now? Are the flakies dry and is your scalp on the dry side? Or are your flakies oily and your scalp oily?

    Oily flakies are dandruff. Dry flakies normally mean that you might be using too much heat on your hair and scalp (either blowdryer or hot water in the shower). Your scalp is skin so it can dried out like the rest of our skin.

    what is your diet like right now? Are you still eating any meat of any sort or are you vegan? Eating alot of fried foods?

    Dandruff (if that is what you have) is representative of some sort of imbalance in your system. If you are eating an excess of fat and protein, it is your bodies way of eliminating the excesses. If you were a meat eater or ate a lot of protein your body still might be discharging these excess amount. Dandruff is just protein and oil clumps. If the meat eaters of today, all stopped shampooing there hair, they would probably all develop dandruff because they get too much protein – and the wrong sort at that!

    If it is NOT dandruff, than you might want to look at whether or not you are using too much heat on your head. I still get some dry flakies myself – not dandruff – just from rinsing with hot water in the water if I am cold. Also, keep in mind that when you stop shampoo entirely you have your gross period to contend with. You will have excess sebum for a while and it will show up in your combs and brushes (grayish waxy stuff) so don’t confuse that with the flakies. That will dissipate once your scalp normalizes to the correct amount of sebum production.

    What can you do? Do scalp massages to loosen the flakes. Do this at night and than brush or comb them out of your hair. Also do this before you rinse your hair out. (you are still rinsing your hair right?) When rinsing your hair in the shower, make sure you concentrate on massageing your scalp in those areas where you see flakies. Keep the water temp on the cool side. If you flakeies are dry ones, put some coconut oil on the places where it is dry when you massage your scalp.

    Make sure you are rinsing well – I still rinse for ten minutes and I use a massage setting on my shower head to cleanse my scalp.

    If you are dealing with dandruff, there is a natural rinse you can do to help (dandruff is something that will need to eventually correct by the body itself – you can call it a form of detox if you want once you body expels the excess protein – your dandruff should subside).

    Just keep in mind that when you first give up shampoo – you are going to have some rough patches – so don’t freak out too much about them. Just deal the best you can and move on – they will fix themselves once you get further down in the process.

    What sort of shampoo were you using before?

    Here is a natural treatment for dandruff:

    Ginger Dandruff Treatment

    Ingredients

    Ginger root 1 teaspoon sesame oil 1 teaspoon lemon juice

    Directions Squeeze ginger root through press to obtain one tablespoon of juice. Mix all ingredients. Apply to scalp and let dry before shampooing. Repeat three times a week.

    Rosemary is also known to help with dandruff and oilies.

    Rosemary Rinse for Oily Hair

    Ingredients

    1/4 cup dried rosemary

    Directions Simmer rosemary in 1 1/2 cups of water. Strain mixture and discard rosemary. Use remaining mixture as the final rinse after shampooing.

  • Hey ya’ll. I’ve been no-pooing (!) for about a month now, and I am loving it. I started after shaving my head, and besides a janky smell for the first couple days, I haven’t had any problems.

    MOTH- like queenfluff said, new nopoo hair is just like baby hair! Mine is so soft and grows much more quickly than it did before. I just rinse it when I shower, and style it with a little dab of coconut oil. I smell like a tanning salon, but it’s worth it.

  • angie207angie207 Raw Master

    Coconut oil! I never thought of that :) Thanks!

  • Angie- coconut oil is awesome. Kundalalita gave me the idea, and I use it for almost everything now. Soap, lotion, hair product (and I get to lick my fingers when I’m done!).

  • angie207angie207 Raw Master

    Soap? Can it clean your hands? I don’t get it – please enlighten me :)

  • Angie- I think I used the wrong word. I use it to clean my body and face in the shower, but I don’t know of any antimicrobial qualities it may have. A pretty hard-core raw friend of mine has told me that coldpressed coconut oil is a sterile substance, but I’m afraid that it would be a disaster for laundry or dishwashing.

    As a bodywash, though, it’s great! Sorry for the confusion :)

  • angie207angie207 Raw Master

    Thanks! I’m wondering about something to wash my hands, because they get so dry even with organic soaps. If it works as a face/body wash, I might try it…

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