This morning I am going to talk about the No Poo and No Soap methods I have taken on. I am one of those people who research the heck out of a subject and then do my own thing. So I will talk a little about each of these methods and then tell you what I do. The reason this is on my mind right now is because I think after a month of no shampoo I am finally hitting "the transition phase" everyone talked about in their blogs, and I am seeing some things I could do differently in the no soap routine too. So I will discuss those here as well.
So as I said in my last post, when I dyed some of my hair purple, I went searching for a natural method to keep the colour as long as I could. I discovered the no poo method. What is the no poo method, you ask? Put simply, it is using a baking soda paste and an apple cider vinegar rinse in place of shampoo. I won't go into details because there are a LOT of blogs out there that do. Just search for the no-poo method and you can get all kinds of information. It is important though, if you use baking soda to make sure to use the acv rinse. Do NOT skip that step. In fact, I found at least one blogger who had very bad results from baking soda. This lady here has a list of alternative no-poo ideas that I found very interesting and I might even try some of them. I am definitely interested in essential oils. Many no-pooers have a transition phase which is pretty ugly, where the hair gets extra oily while it adjusts to not having the product in it anymore, sort of a detox stage. (Anyone who has done detoxing in their bodies knows sometimes you get sick or a headache or something but once it is over you feel so much better. The hair is the same way.) Due to not wanting to tax my overtaxed liver anymore I went to organic and more natural shampoos years ago. So when I went 6 weeks without this transition phase I was thinking I was pretty special. Well, here it is now, week 7.... and there it is.. itchy and oily scalp at the same time. It has been this way a few days now. Bad enough that I thought maybe I left too much acv in when I washed my hair on Monday and so I rinsed with plain water on Tuesday too. But there it is, still icky. I just need to get through a few days and then it will be all wonderful again. There could be a couple reasons I think it took so long for me to reach this stage. One is that I have been using organic shampoo and only washing my hair once or twice a week for several years already. The other is that up until this week I only had the pasteurized acv you buy in a store, but now I have some of the raw, unfiltered acv with the mother of the vinegar in it. The mother is the part of the raw vinegar that gives it a cloudy appearance, and natural health gurus all claim that the nutritive and beneficial aspects of the vinegar is contained in the mother. It could be that now is when the real hairwashing begins. I am not sure. I just know it will go away.
So in my research I also came across the water only method. It intrigues me as well and has given me some ideas to mix and match methods. Because that is what I do. :)
Here is what I do now:
First of all, in researching the baking soda and acv method, I discovered that baking soda is bad bad bad for dyed hair. I also learned that acv can be used to clean the hair as well as a rinse post-baking soda. So why use baking soda at all? So I mix about 2 Tbsp of apple cider vinegar in about a cup of water and put it in a spray bottle. I brush my hair and get the tangles all out with my fingers before my shower. Then I get my hair wet, turn off the water and spray the diluted acv on my scalp and massage it in. Then I spray the acv into the body of my hair. I have long curly hair so I use about a third of my bottle in a shot. Then I rinse it out. And I do rinse well. In cooler water because hot water is also bad for dyed hair. Sometimes I will do another acv spray-down and leave it in until I am done the rest of my shower and then rinse again. When I get out of the shower, I wrap it up in a microfiber towel. I use Norwex (because I sell it). Then after the water is absorbed, usually by the time I have dried off and brushed my teeth, I use my fingers to comb my hair. The other thing to note is I only do this about every 7-10 days. I am almost 50 and it has been a long time since I have had really dirty and greasy hair to worry about. In between washings I would take a few drops of Argan oil on my fingers, and rub them together to warm up the oil, and then massage the oil into my scalp and on the ends which would look a little dryer at about day 7.
My results:
The first thing I noticed is that my hair was really soft. Even the grey hairs. And it was really curly. Even without scrunching. And almost no tangles. Even in the days between washings my hair doesn't tangle nearly as much as it used to. It is much more manageable. And it takes less time to do my hair than it used to. Today I noticed all kinds of new little baby hairs about an inch long sticking out. Of course they are all grey now, but that's ok. I paid my dues and earned every one of those grey hairs!! And this method will keep them soft at least. My purple tresses are still bright after 7 weeks of this! I am sold. Well... I was sold. Now that I have done some more research, I want to switch it up again.
How I am going to switch it up:
The blog that I found on washing with water only was very interesting. The blogger mentioned using a boar bristle brush and I went "ding!" I have a boar bristle brush somewhere. So I think in between washings with the acv I will use the boar bristle brush on my scalp to loosen up some of the sebum that might be collecting there and also bring those natural oils down to the ends of my hair. The other thing I want to incorporate is essential oils. Namely lavender. Lavender is good for itchy and dry scalp. It is good for over oily scalp. It is relaxing and helps you sleep. Lavender is good for just about anyone. :) I can put the lavender oil on my hair brush, but since I don't use a brush every day, I am thinking I might add it to my acv mix and see what happens... It can't hurt to experiment, right? Or maybe I will add it to some argan oil or avocado oil and use it the night before I wash my hair as part of a deep conditioning program.
No Soap
In deference to my overworked liver I switched to organic body wash about the same time I originally switched to organic shampoo. Then a few months ago I got some argan oil for my fingernails and found out I can use it for a LOT of things. I started using it in my hair and when I remembered as a moisturizer. I was never into the whole beauty thing so most of the time never took time to moisturize. Now my skin is fighting back at me. Anyway, when I ran out of bodywash I was online looking for natural shampoos for dyed hair (before I discovered no-poo), and saw this body wash made with moroccan argan oil. I quickly looked at the ingredients. Looked good to me, and I ordered it. They had removed the sulfates and the parabens, and all of those bad things but... they added fragrance!! Oooooo bad. I am allergic to fragrances. Being a Norwex distributor and using the chemical free cleaning products all over my house, I have learned that the smell of clean has no smell. Whatever the natural scent of the essential oils and oils I use is what I wanted. Not perfume!! So I went researching. And I came across a very interesting concept.. Washing your body with no soap... well, the no-poo worked well for me so this had great possibilities. I am on day 4 of no soap and no one has kicked me out of the house yet for smelling bad. I think this could be a good lifestyle change too.
What I do:
Basically, since I already had a dry skin brush and an exfoliating cloth, I have started with this method. First of all, I use a Norwex body cloth on my smelly areas... groin and underarms. And anywhere I might have a skin lesion. (Norwex body cloths are microfiber so it picks up everything on the skin and then also has a silver thread woven into it which is an antibacterial, so it will self clean the cloth). I use the dry skin brush on my skin next. All of it. Even under my arms and in the folds of my fat. (sorry if that is tmi). I have some varicose veins so I am super careful in those areas. But otherwise, I use it on all of my skin. And then I get into the shower and use the exfoliating cloth on all of my skin. I had a poofy thing I used with body wash and discovered it was crappy without body wash. So I was going to get myself a loofah, until I was digging through my drawers and discovered one of those exfoliating cloths, like this one. Someone had given it to me at some point or another with a gift basket and I kept it but never used it. I tried it and it works pretty good. I think a loofah would be better, but this does the trick. Then I get out of the shower and use a microfiber towel to pat dry my skin. That is all I have been doing. Easy peasy. :) And it didn't take any longer than it used to to shower with body wash.
My results:
This is only day four, but I am noticing some things. My very dry alligator skin on my legs is disappearing and my skin feels very soft. My dry skin and callouses on my feet are going away. I feel clean and I don't stink. Some of the skin lesions I had are clearing up without any ointment or tea tree oil or anything else on it. Just on their own. And I think my edema in my legs is actually going down. The dry brushing is really really good for the lymphatic system. Now I think I am hitting a transition phase here now with my skin too. My arms are looking a little dry again and I was itchy last night. So today I am giving my body brush a good washing, and I think I need to add in an oil to moisturize, I think.
How I am going to tweak it:
When I discovered the water only shower method I also had found a method people use on their face using oils. A mixture of castor oil (to clean) and then two or three other oils of your choice, depending on personal preference and skin type is used to cleanse your skin. I figure why not for the whole body? So I went back to google and decided to try coconut oil (if I am not allergic to it.. gonna do a skin test.. apparently that can happen), argan oil and avocado oil for their healing benefits for aging and dry skin. And I might add some lavender oil to it too. Or maybe cypress oil to see if that helps with the edema. Along with the castor oil. I live out in the country so I order almost everything online. I had the argan oil and coconut oil already so I placed an order for organic cold-pressed castor and avocado oils. They have arrived now and so I am going to try that, on my face and body. And then I also am going to moisturize afterwards with either the argan oil or the avocado oil. I will let you know how it turns out. :) I am pretty sure it will add some time to my routine but most of the time I have the extra few minutes available. I just might have to cut out a game or two on facebook. :)
So I think I have talked your ears off... written your eyes out? Made you read way too much for one day. LOL So until next time...
Make a great day!
Shannon
UPDATE #1... I only wrote this yesterday but I feel I already need to update you on something else that happened. Yesterday I had a pajama day. I didn't shower. I do that periodically, and I have to say that even without showering yesterday I still felt cleaner all day than I usually do on pajama days. I am thinking this no soap method is working well. I will be trying the oil cleansing method today.
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