Going “No-Poo”

Finally Ready to Take the Plunge

I learned about No-Poo (washing with baking soda and rinsing with apple cider vinegar) about 4 or 5 years ago from a friend who raved about it. At the time, uninformed little me recoiled at the idea of ditching my sudsy, artificially scented bottle o’ chemicals I could barely pronounce (my favorite long name being Methylchloroisothiazolinone) for something that wouldn’t suds and wouldn’t smell (except maybe of vinegar—bleugh!)

Fast-forward to a week or 2 ago when now-more-progressive me* started reading up on BC/ACV. I read lots of rave reviews, a few warnings and noted that in general, most people report a couple-week transition period when your scalp adjusts to the idea that it no longer has to make up for all the natural oils you are stripping away every time you wash.

This equates to very greasy hair for a couple of weeks, an idea I am not so terribly keen on. I mean, yeah, we homeschool and I don’t get out as often as other moms might (we keep our extracurricular activities to a minimum), but there’s still church and piano lessons each week. I do not want to be a greasball in the presence of anyone but my immediate family. So, I came up with a plan…

Most people who go No-Poo go cold turkey and suffer through brave the side effects. Kathleen of Becoming Peculiar has a plan to wean off of shampoo by replacing one or more of your regular shampooings with a No-Pooing, increasing the replacements till you are completely No-Poo. My plan is that I am going to add a little dollop of shampoo into my baking soda/water mixture and I will gradually decrease the amount of shampoo in my mix till I am truly Poo-free.

Here are my initial impressions (after 3 BS/ACV washes).

• I so far haven’t noticed any greasy side-effects, most likely due to the presence of the shampoo. I am right now on my third day after my last wash and my hair is still free-flowing, looks clean, not gross in the least.
• My hair doesn’t smell like vinegar.
• My hair is SO much easier to comb through after my shower. This was a big surprise to me, I can tell you!
• I need a container with a narrow opening to apply the BS/ACV to my scalp so it doesn’t end up running down my face or missing the sides or back of my scalp.
• Some people report dry, staw-like hair caused by the baking soda, but I think due to the fact that I dilute it pretty well, I haven’t had that side-effect either.

Some people have reported that their normally flat, lifeless hair develops more body after they ditch the Poo, and also that their hair holds curls better without product. I can only hope the same can be said for me in a week or two (a girl can hope!).

*Some of the slightly progressive things I’ve done in my life:

I’ve cloth diapered, clean with water and microfiber cloths whenever possible, culture kefir, have made sourdough bread, make non-sourdough bread on a regular basis, have tried home-made deodorant [plan to try that again, different recipe], ditched antiperspirant, have brushed my teeth with charcoal powder [need to get back into that if I can just find a kid-safe place for my powder], am trying to decrease the amount of plastic we use in our kitchen/on the table, made my own BPA-free Mason jar water bottle complete with stainless steel straw, really really want to try DIY remineralizing toothpaste or powder…