I went and found this thread to see when I originally read and responded to it. Soon after reading this I started washing my hair every other day instead of every day. According to this forum, that was around mid April, so a little over four months ago. While my hair has gotten less greasy on the second (no wash) day, there is no way around it: my hair is still kind of gross. The only way I can stand it is to have my hair up and back all day long so I don't see it or touch it. I always look forward to the day I wash my hair because it looks and feels so much nicer. Has anyone else had this experience? I feel like I have given it an honest try and am not convinced I like the results enough to stick with it.
Two tips that might be worth trying:
1. A baking soda wash and vinegar rinse once every week or so. Maybe what you think is grease is actually partly shampoo buildup.
2. Brush cornstarch or baby powder into your hair on the off-days.
Agreed on tip #1!! I've been experimenting the last couple of months. Basically it went like this:
1. For ~3 weeks I started consistently using a hippie shampoo I had bought months back, but never used because my hair never felt clean with it. This was my way of easing myself into not using shampoo at all. It was terrible and my hair was nasty. I almost always wear it up anyways, so I could control it, but ugh.
2. For ~2 weeks I stopped using shampoo altogether. Hair condition stayed about the same as when I was using the nasty shampoo. Was never
bad bad, but not good. Got "thick" and "acted as one", as Ladystache in Baja described.
3. Gave in a tried a BS wash. Did not use vinegar, because I forgot to bring it upstairs :) OMG THIS WAS THE BEST THING IN THE WORLD. I could nooooooot stop touching my hair that whole night and the whole next day!! It seriously felt so soft and clean and amazing. I was seriously transformed.
4. Lasted about 10 days without needing to do another wash! And actually 6-7 of those I was comfortable wearing it down. Before this whole experiment, it was able to be worn for 1 day down, 1-2 days up, then I HAD to wash.
5. Did another BS wash (about a week ago now). Similar happiness levels occurred. My hair feels fine today, and with a little brushing and smoothing out I would be perfectly comfortable wearing it down tomorrow.
So, general notes:
- the product build-up vs grease is no joke. my hair was awful between stopping shampoo and my first BS wash
- for years and years I had problems with itchy and flaky scalp, and I've literally had ZERO itches or flakes since stopping shampoo
- BAKING SODA IS AWESOME. On the days I use it to shower, I also use it as a sort of body rinse (mainly on underarms, feet, and unmentionable regions), used it as toothpaste, and used it on some of my hand laundry!
I don't see anything wrong with the occasional BS rinse fitting in with a no-product/no-shampoo routine. It is a simple, biodegradable, cheap product that gently cleanses without messing with your natural balance :)
For those who shower more often than you wash your hair, what is your routine? How often do you shower? Do you just kind of massage your scalp under the water for a while..? That's what I do.. but it seems kind of weird and not that helpful haha...