I tried the ‘no poo’ method & here’s how I got on

So, why did I try the ‘no poo’ method to keep my hair clean in the first place? Can you really get by without washing your hair? I gave it a try, and here’s how I got on.

What is the no poo method?

The so-called ‘no poo method’ has nothing to do with constipation…. 

It is a movement though! The no poo method involves ditching the shampoo and either simply rinsing with water or using more natural and more gentle alternatives to clean your tresses.

The idea is that, rather than stripping the natural oils in your hair, you work with the oils to get your hair into tip top condition naturally.

This makes sense when you consider that commercial shampoos began to be sold less than 100 years ago. Our ancestors may not have called it the no poo method but, apart from the odd soaping in the very occasional bath, that was pretty much what they were doing.

Proponents of no poo say that, although your hair will initially feel more greasy, your scalp will recalibrate and begin creating the right amount of oil for your hair. Many no poo method fans say that your scalp will produce less oil over time because it’s not being stripped by the harsh detergents in commercial shampoos.

Why the no poo method?

Regular readers will know that I am making efforts to reduce the chemical load from products in our home – both from cleaning and personal care items. 

The accumulation of chemicals, toxins and other substances in the body, ingested or absorbed through our skin, have been linked to many potential health issues. We have no control over some aspects of this, such as outdoor pollution. However, we can minimise the chemicals in our homes and our bodies with some sensible precautions.

The average bottle of shampoo may boast of containing natural ingredients such as coconut, avocado or argan oil. However, there are also likely to be up to 15 toxic chemicals hiding within that plastic container too.  These chemicals have been linked to illnesses as gruesome and varied as hormonal disturbances, cancer, allergies and fertility problems.

I have recently begun to look at everything I put in and on my body, as well as the potential chemicals in cleaning products and emanating from our furniture, wallcoverings and paintwork.

I am also keen to produce less waste, so I have been making a lot of effort to purchase eco friendly and biodegradable items, as well as making my own.

What I hoped to achieve

In recent years my hair has become so frizzy! The combination of twice daily dog walks in all weathers, naturally grey hair that is dyed blonde and the lack of a decent hair cut for such a long time mean that it has been looking and feeling dry and straw like.

It didn’t seem to matter how ‘nourishing’ the shampoos I purchased were supposed to be, nothing  made any difference. Immediately after washing and styling, my hair looked OK, but this lasted just a few hours before I was back to the Worzel Gummidge scare crow look.

I hoped that by using the natural serum produced by my own body rather than washing it away, I could tackle the frizz, as well as reducing the number of chemicals in my self-care routine.

What did I do?

There are lots of gentle ways to clean your hair that don’t involve shampoo.  A quick search of the internet will give you many different options.

As I had just purchased a large bag of soap nuts from Amazon* to do our laundry, I decided to use some of those. I boiled half a cupful up with 4 cups of water for about half an hour. (Incidentally, I also use this mixture as washing up liquid!)

I used this in exactly the same way as I would use normal shampoo. It didn’t lather at all, which was fine, and was easy enough to run through my hair. However, I did get some in my eye one day and it stung much worse than most shampoos!

Once a week, I followed this up with a cider vinegar rinse to give it some shine. This involved about half a cup of vinegar diluted with three parts water. I also used a small amount of Moroccan Argan Oil* on my dry ends.

What happened?

The sebum, aka grease, arrived with a vengeance! After a week, my scalp felt quite heavy and greasy. However, it didn’t look as bad as I was expecting. I wondered if I would start to resemble those teenagers with over active glands whose hair is so greasy it looks wet, but that didn’t happen.

What was more noticeable to me was the way my hair felt. I wasn’t used to the oily feeling on my scalp and I didn’t like it.

I blow dried and straightened it as usual, and it looked pretty good immediately afterwards. However, because I am so desperate for a hair cut, my tresses still looked crazy within a few hours, even with the added grease to stop the ends being so flyaway. In fact, after a couple of weeks, the oil started to make my windswept mop set into ridiculous formations after my dog walks.

However, using this no poo method with soap nuts did make my hair smell nice and clean.  I began to brush it much more, to move the sebum along the hair shaft to nourish the ends naturally.

After four weeks, there was no doubt that my hair was in much nicer condition. It felt softer and more flexible, particularly at the ends.  However, it looked awful most of the time and I was desperate to wash it. One morning,  I decided that I could take no more and reached for the shampoo.

If I had kept going for another couple of weeks, the theory is that the oil production in my scalp would have settled down, but I think I need to try again when I have a decent hair cut.

Lessons learned

Since trying the no poo method, my hair has looked and felt much shinier and softer. It also needs washing less often. Instead of washing it every other day, I am now doing it twice a week tops. 

This experience has made me appreciate that shampoo might make my hair look good immediately after washing, but long term it makes it dry and depleted.

I really wanted this to work for me, so I am going to give it another go as soon as I have been to the hairdressers to have it styled.

The next time I attempt the no poo method, I plan to use gram (chick pea) gram (chick pea) flour*, as demonstrated by Fairyland Cottage. Bicarbonate of soda would be another possibility, but I have read that it can be very harsh on a sensitive scalp like mine, so that will be a last resort.

Lock down was probably the best time to do it, because only Mr S got to see my greasy locks, but I do think it’s worth another bash at some point, even if I do have to show it to the world as I go through the first oily weeks.

Have you tried the no poo method? How did you find it?

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