How I am No-Pooing It

Other than a poodle-perm in 7th grade because I envied the girl with the corkscrew curls pony tail, my hair is otherwise untouched by salon chemicals.  In this picture, I just had it washed, trimmed and heat-set curled because I won it in a giveaway!

Growing up, I washed my hair every day with cheap shampoo in hard water.  I wasn't in the best of health for puberty (my diet consisted almost entirely of processed foods) so my hair would get really greasy really quickly.  Shampooing every day didn't help matters, either.

After I began improving my diet, I could go longer between shampoos.  I also learned to wash just the top so as not to dry out and damage the length.  Then, I switched to more natural shampoos.  I tried Scottish Lye Soap, my homemade soap and Dr. Bronner's with mixed reviews.  Some days they seemed to work well.  Others, not so much.  Although around the time I was using the soaps, my water softener broke.  We have ridiculously hard water, so I needed heavy chemicals do clean anything, it seemed.

A couple years ago, I learned about no-pooing your hair using baking soda and apple cider vinegar.  I tried it and hated it and felt like it wasted an awful lot of cider vinegar.  But I also hated that I hated it.  So, I recently tried it again, but changed my technique.

Now, I no-poo once a week and use a Yes To shampoo once on the weekends!

I'm trying to use up what I have in the house, so I've been using *ahem* dry dog shampoo.  Hey, the ingredients are baking soda, corn starch and lavender oil...no weird doggy stuff in there!  Sounds pretty haute for a dog to me!

I rub some of the dry dog shampoo onto the top of my hair and massage it on my scalp.  If the underneath is a bit oily, I do that, too.

Then, I pour some of the dry dog shampoo into a mason jar and add some apple cider vinegar to create a reaction and dissolve the dry dog shampoo.  

Next, I get into the shower and get my hair wet.

Then, I add some of the warm shower water into the mason jar and slowly pour it over my head and let it run down the length of my hair.

After, I massage it through.

Finally, I rinse thoroughly.  

Voila!  Clean, healthy hair!

For added hair health and wellness, you can do a pre-treatment of coconut oil the night before.  Massage coconut oil into your hair and wrap with a head wrap or towel, then no-poo in the morning.

Argan oil makes a luxurious leave in conditioner after no-pooing.

Bulk Herb Store also offers herbal rinses for your hair.  I haven't tried them yet, but if I do, I'll do a review for sure.