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Monday, February 17, 2014

Boo on No-Poo

Have you heard about the new "no-poo" craze?  I know it sounds like a constipation medication, but it's not.  It's an eco-friendly beauty regimen.  You can read an article about it HERE if you want...  but here's the basic idea:  You stop using shampoo.  Forever.

I know, I know.  It sounded disgusting to me at first, too.  I read various articles about it, and it turns out that the chemicals in shampoo are actually pretty damaging to your hair and to the environment (am I a horrible person because the "bad for your hair" bothered me more than the "bad for the environment"?  Hmmm...)  Anyway, they also said that your hair follicles produce oil, and when you're constantly stripping your hair of its natural oils then your oil glands start overproducing.  This is why your hair gets greasier faster if you shampoo a lot.  Interesting.  Well, I hate greasy hair, so the promise of letting my body regulate its own oils and avoiding constant shampooing sounded like a good idea.  A shortcut, if you will.

After reading testimonial after testimonial about how this "no-poo" thing gave people Pantene-Pro-V-commercial hair by only rinsing their hair with water, I decided to go for it.  Plus, I was almost out of shampoo and didn't feel like buying any more.  I figured it was as good a time as any to try my new eco-friendly hippie experiment.  The articles told me that there would be a "transition period" where hair would feel a little greasy because my body would still be regulating its oil production.  In the mean time, I was supposed to shampoo and condition with baking soda and apple cider vinegar until I was one of the cool kids who only needed to rinse with water.

Ummm...putting baking soda and vinegar in my hair sounds like a fifth-grade science experiment gone wrong.  In my quest for beautiful hair, though, I decided to go for it.  Full-steam ahead on the no-poo movement!  Anything for beauty!  Let's make a volcano on my head!

It was five weeks later that I decided perhaps no-poo wasn't for me.  I know.  I went five weeks without using shampoo.  Gross.  To be honest, it wasn't terrible.  My hair didn't look greasy, and I didn't have to wash it often.  My hair did feel a bit thicker, but I actually think my hair is too thick anyway so that wasn't a huge plus.  I thought my no-pooed hair felt a bit waxy, like I never got it actually totally clean.  That wasn't too fun.  The part I missed most about shampoo was the wonderful smell of freshly shampooed hair.  Hair that smells faintly of vinegar isn't nearly as exciting.  I gave up on my no-poo experiment yesterday, when I finally broke down and broke out the Garnier Fructis.

I apologize to my fragile hair follicles that are apparently crying out from their chemical burns, and I apologize to the baby polar bears for ruining their habitat with my eco-destructive habits.  My hair finally feels light and fluffy again, though, so I'm a happy camper.  It's been over a month since I had light fluffy hair.  Excuse me while I go swish it around for a while.


1 comment:

  1. So Mac was recently telling me about this. She and I are thinking of trying it and to help the smell, she has these oils that will help make it smell like mint and euclalyptus. Maybe I'll have Rex smell my hair and tell me if it smells good or not lol

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