No Pooing

For the last 18 months, I've been growing my hair out from the pixie cut I gave myself when my son was born

And I also stopped washing it.

Stopped washing it? What? It's true, shortly after I hacked off all my hair, I read about No Pooing, and had to give it a try for myself.

There are multiple ways to No Poo. You can condition only, rinse only, wash with baking soda, rinse with apple cider vinegar, etc. For the longest time I only conditioned, but I've discovered as my hair has gotten longer that it needs the occasional baking soda scrub to remove any build up. I also replaced more than half of my "conditionings" with apple cider vinegar as well.

Why?

The answers are many. For one, shampooing too often robs  your hair of its natural oils and its natural cleaning process. So your scalp over compensates by producing more oil. This made sense to me since I always had dry ends but oil roots.

I also hate the idea of using chemicals that I don't need to. Have you looked at the side of a shampoo bottle lately? Granted, conditioner isn't much better, hence my switch to apple cider vinegar. I really only find I need conditioner on days I've used the baking soda, because otherwise my hair gets a little too dry.

Finally is the expense. A box of baking soda lasts me all year and costs a dollar. Apple cider vinegar costs a dollar for a huge jug that also lasts nearly a year. Since I started No Pooing, my hair also got into much better shape, which means I don't buy any more styling products, either. Win-Win-Win.

I do still color my hair (started going gray in my twenties... and I'm just not ready yet), but I've been experimenting with making my own hair dye as well, so hopefully I'll be able to skip the chemicals and expense there soon, too.

So what does a head of hair that hasn't seen shampoo in a year-and-a-half look like? Pretty much like this (although I wish I had brushed it at least a little before the photos were taken!)

While you can't touch a photograph, I have to say my hair has never been softer or looked better. My son agrees if his insistence that I wear it, "down Mama!" and his constant winding his hands through it are any indication.

No Poo: It's a really addictive lifestyle change.