I just linked this on Reddit, so I suppose I'd better update.
It's day 27 without shampoo, conditioner, or any product. My hair is soft and not particularly greasy--call it a 2 out of 10 on the greasiness scale--and I do think it looks fuller, though maybe that's just wishful thinking.
Occasionally I catch myself thinking about shampoo, and how my hair used to be "clean". That's just silly programming. It's clean right now. It's just not dried out and perfumed like it used to be.
I'll start looking for some water-soluble products (hairsprays and whatnot) in the next couple of weeks.
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Monday, July 18, 2011
Day 17 of the "No Poo" experiment
A little over 2 weeks ago, I got butchered at the Blown Away salon here in Owatonna. The following day, we were set to leave for a 4-day trip to cabin with (I later found out) no shower. It seemed like a perfect time to try the "no shampoo" experiment. According to those in the "no poo" movement, quitting shampoo stops exposing your skin (scalp) to harsh chemicals, and blah blah blah. Oh, wait. It's also supposed to make your hair fuller and more manageable. Hel-lo? Fuller hair? As a male in my 40s, I can use all the help I can get.
So for the past 17 days, I've used no shampoo. None. I haven't even used apple cider vinegar, which some of the no-poo folks recommend. (I've never found apple cider vinegar to work for any of the applications for which it's widely touted.) I also haven't used any styling product, largely because my hair is so short I haven't needed any.
The various websites which recommend this practice tell you to expect greasy hair from "a few days to a few weeks", until your body re-calibrates your, uh, hair oil production. My understanding is that shampoo strips out essential oils from your hair, then your body goes "Uh-oh, we're running low on oil. Better make some more," and so it cranks out more than it otherwise would. And then it takes a while for the body to realize it's producing too much.
This sounds "right" to me; that is, it sounds about like how I understand the body works, constantly balancing out its chemical supplies. In my experience, I got to a somewhat greasier state of existence, then kind of plateaued there. So if my shampooed hair produced hair that was at a 1-2 on the greasiness scale, I got to about a 3 or a 4, and it hasn't gotten any worse. I'm led to believe that it will drop back to a 2 in another couple of weeks, so we'll see how that goes.
So for the past 17 days, I've used no shampoo. None. I haven't even used apple cider vinegar, which some of the no-poo folks recommend. (I've never found apple cider vinegar to work for any of the applications for which it's widely touted.) I also haven't used any styling product, largely because my hair is so short I haven't needed any.
The various websites which recommend this practice tell you to expect greasy hair from "a few days to a few weeks", until your body re-calibrates your, uh, hair oil production. My understanding is that shampoo strips out essential oils from your hair, then your body goes "Uh-oh, we're running low on oil. Better make some more," and so it cranks out more than it otherwise would. And then it takes a while for the body to realize it's producing too much.
This sounds "right" to me; that is, it sounds about like how I understand the body works, constantly balancing out its chemical supplies. In my experience, I got to a somewhat greasier state of existence, then kind of plateaued there. So if my shampooed hair produced hair that was at a 1-2 on the greasiness scale, I got to about a 3 or a 4, and it hasn't gotten any worse. I'm led to believe that it will drop back to a 2 in another couple of weeks, so we'll see how that goes.
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