Ditching the Conventional

I heard about the "No-Poo" method a few years ago and was immediately interested. In case you haven't heard of it, people use the term No-Poo when referring to ditching shampoo and conditioner for alternative methods of washing their hair. I have even read testimonials from girls who ended up ditching cleansers for their hair altogether and just washing it with water. Of course, everyone's hair and scalp are different and what works for one person may not work for someone else.

When I lived in Oklahoma I very briefly tried using baking soda and apple cider vinegar with every other wash, in hopes of eventually switching over completely. I don't think this was the best method and I didn't take the time to figure out what would work for me. Maybe it also had something to do with the fact that it's very humid in Oklahoma, but I did not like the results I was getting. I did, however, switch from washing my hair every day, to every other day. I also started using less shampoo and conditioner when I did wash my hair. I only used shampoo on my roots, and only applied conditioner to the ends of my hair and this helped my hair tremendously.

Here are the reasons that going No-Poo appeals to me:

• I don't like all of the terrible chemicals and harmful ingredients they put in most shampoos and conditioners. I would rather try to use something that's more natural.
• Conventional hair products come in plastic containers and I'm trying to reduce the amount of plastic I buy and use, and the total waste I produce.
• Shampoos and conditioners (especially ones with natural ingredients) can be expensive.

I have decided to give the No-Poo method another try. This time I think I'll do things differently though and try to find what works best for me. I'll starting by cleaning my hair with baking soda and apple cider vinegar on the day when I would normally shampoo and condition my hair, and then see how long I can go before needing to do it again. I also bought a brush with boar bristles to use between washings to distribute my hair's natural oils from the roots to the ends. I would like to try not to use any dry shampoo either, but we'll see how this goes. I'll post updates on here about how it's going and include more details as to what I'm doing, and try to post some pictures too.