The reasoning goes as follows:
- Commerical shampoos contain chemicals which strip your hair of the oils your scalp produces, leaving it feeling squeaky clean
- Your scalp has a meltdown over the loss of all these natural oils which it has produced for your hair's wellbeing, and so goes into oil production overdrive trying to replace them
- Your hair quickly becomes oily and greasy due to this overproduction from your panic stricken scalp, and so.... you need to shampoo it all over again - vicious cycle complete.
The thinking is that by stopping using these shampoo's your scalp will rebalance itself and gradually will stop the oil production frenzy and return to what a normal scalp should be, producing enough oil to keep your hair healthy and no more.
The benefits people have felt have been impressive, my research around blog land has found people experiencing healthier hair, an end to dandruff, reduced hair loss, no more frizz and even in a slow down in greying hair! Impressive.
Personally, I stumbled upon this idea around three months ago, whilst searching for ways to speed the growing process in my effort to get my short hair shoulder length, the idea intrigued me but as a daily washer I couldn't bring myself to do it. Instead I cut down my shampooing to every other day - and I struggled to do that!
But recently the idea started playing on my mind again, I did more research and I found myself truly convinced. And so last week I decided to take the plunge. I washed my hair with shampoo and conditioner for the last time on Monday 14th April, I wish I had savoured it more.
Ever since I have been using the method of washing my hair with baking soda and apple cider vinegar, as infrequently as possible. There are all kinds of suggested ratios and I am still figuring the best ratio for my hair out, but currently I am going for 1/2 tablespoon of baking soda mixed with a bit of water in my hand and then applied to my hair (directly on the roots) and 200ml of AVC mixed with 100ml of water in a spray bottle (sprayed only on the lengths and ends). So far it has gone as follows:
Day 1 - Last wash with commerical shampoo and conditioner - hair was lovely
Day 2 - Not washed, hair was greasy
Day 3 - Washed with baking soda and vinegar, hair felt clean, but I was rather paranoid!
Day 4 - Not washed, hair was feeling pretty greasy, wore in ponytail and smothered my fringe in talcum powder to soak up the excess oil
Day 5 - Washed with water only - grease ball (didn't leave the house)
Day 6 - Washed with water only - had to leave the house for a meal so ponytailed and talc'd again
Day 7 - Washed with baking soda and vinegar - must have messed up on the baking soda as roots did not feel clean
Day 8 - Washed with BS and AVC, felt better but still not as good as the first wash
Day 9 - Not washed, rather greasy
Day 10 - Washed with water only - to quote a colleague 'it's still wet isn't it?' - it wasn't.
Day 11 - Washed with BS and AVC, much better not greasy in lots of places, must have missed my crown though - that was sticking with the grease
Day 12 - Not washed, greasy but, and I don't know if I'm dreaming, less greasy than usual....
(Not washed means I didn't allow it to even get wet, wet hair can break more easily I heave heard, so I'm trying to avoid wetting it every day)
So far, not so good, but maybe getting better... My hair has always been into it's excessive oil production so I do expect I will have a rather long breaking in period. The aim is to try and keep the BS and AVC washes to twice a week to allow my scalp the breathing space to get to work balancing itself out - hopefully sooner rather than later.
But for now, here's a picture of my hair on Day 6.
Yes I went out with hair like this :O but what might disgust you more is that compared to how it felt - I thought it looked pretty good....
Eugh. Muchos x
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