The Lazy Girl’s No ‘Poo Hair Washing Method

My husband rarely compliments my hair outside of me fighting with my curling iron for two hours and sucking up a cloud of hairspray. One random evening, he reached out and grabbed my product-free, day-old hair and said, “Is that what your no shampoo is doing? Looks good.” I was shocked that the same man, who tugged on my belly flab noticed my hair that I did nothing to besides my no ‘poo routine. Since I started this two months ago, I struggled to find an easy and efficient routine as a mom to two littles. Mainly, I just wanted to have clean hair without spending any more time than I need to during my midnight shower because… two littles. I have a no ‘poo routine for when I can’t spare the time to wash with baking soda and the extra time rinsing and rinsing and rinsing it out and it is even simpler and just as great. When I’m crunched on time (or just want to get to bed as soon as possible) and need to ‘wash,’ I use a water-only wash with an apple cider vinegar (ACV) leave-in conditioner and my hair is clean and I’m in bed.

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No ‘Poo Water-Only Wash + ACV Leave-In Conditioner {great tips from Hilda Blue}

What you’ll need:

• Hair brush
• 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar (ACV)
• 1 cup of lukewarm water
• old t-shirt to wrap hair

What to do:

1. Before getting into the shower, brush your hair to get out tangles and distribute the sebum.
2. Combine 1 tablespoon of ACV and 1 cup of lukewarm water into your bottle of choice. Set aside.
3. Under your shower head, wet your hair thoroughly then massage scalp gently for a few minutes, long enough to let water clean entire scalp.
4. Apply ACV mixture to length of hair (do not apply to scalp) and work it through with fingers.
5. Leave it on and once out of shower, wrap hair in t-shirt.

Tips:

• You can rinse out ACV, if desired (I do promise there is no smell if left on, PROMISE).
• Remove t-shirt and let hair air dry.
• Do continue baking soda washes if your hair is prone to be greasy/oily.
• If you’re battling oily hair, increase baking soda and reduce vinegar.
• Use water-only wash after workouts or just every day (no harm since it’s just water!)

Final thoughts:

The t-shirt trick is something I’ve done for years but makes perfect sense now. It causes less friction therefore less frizz caused by the harsh fibers of bath towels. Just wear the t-shirt turban long enough to capture excess moisture. Optimally, you want to air dry after a wash. My hair is greasy/oily so I noticed a difference when I water-washed more frequently like every other day versus once a week (like baking soda washes). I do baking soda washes (how-to can be seen here) when I know I am in need of one and I can spare the time and it’s worth it, especially for oily locks. The great thing about water-only is that there are no ‘side effects’ because it’s just water. The error in baking soda, for me, was that I either used too much and/or didn’t rinse well enough and my hair was super dry. I feel water-only wash is great for stretching clean hair in between baking soda washes used for my super greasy days.

Follow my No ‘Poo journey here.

Want to be even lazier? See a “dry shampoo” recipe here.

How do you maintain your hair in between (sham)poo days?

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I Shit You Not, No ‘Poo Isn’t That Bad

Please note: This is styled with a curling iron but no hair products.

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I was a little embarrassed when I told Gym Hottie that I haven’t used shampoo in three weeks. He was pretty disgusted because my hair, when I did use conventional shampoo, always smelled from buildup and I’d always force him to smell it to gross his ass out. Sexy. I never washed my hair everyday anyway. With thick, naturally wavy, sometimes frizzy oily Asian hair (wow, I am a MESS), washing it everyday made it more maintenance than I needed it to be because it takes forever to dry and to style to look decent enough to be around other people. I had no idea this would be a slow journey into no ‘poo, as in “no shampoo.”

No ‘Poo is the method of hair care where you ditch the regular shampoo that come packed with chemicals that do little to no good for your mane because it strips your hair of natural oils. Anyway, I’m sure you already think it’s super gross and whatnot that I don’t use shampoo anymore and I’m not here to tell you otherwise but I’m going to continue anyway. No ‘poo doesn’t mean you don’t ever wash your hair: it just means that you find natural ways to clean your hair. Methods can be 1) using less shampoo or less frequency of washing it, 2) baking soda (BS) and apple cider vinegar (ACV), 3) water only (no cleaning agents) are ones that I have heard of. I have done all three at a one point or another with the last two methods within the last month.

So, there it is: I have not used “real” shampoo in almost an entire month. Gross, huh? Well, yeah, I’m not here to sugar coat it because all hair trying the no ‘poo method has to go through a transition period. No ‘poo transition is when hair produces excess oil after being used to having it stripped of the very thing from commercial shampoos. So, here I am with oily hair but I know once my hair adjusts, my hair will be fabulous. The first time I ‘washed’ it with baking soda and ACV, my hair felt clean more than it has been since I haven’t been able to find my favorite Herbal Essences shampoo. My hair still got oily after a day or so after Herbal Essences and at least with baking soda/ACV, it’s cheap and natural. I also styled it the day after my first BS/ACV wash and my hair held the curls so much better and lasted eight hours later. To combat the intermittent hair grease, I do a homemade dry shampoo, which I will post next time.

Scouring the testimonials and blog posts about no ‘poo, the recipe for baking soda/ACV is basically 1 tablespoon of either to a 1 cup of water:

Baking Soda Shampoo:

– 1 tablespoon of baking soda
– 1 cup of water

Mix the two ingredients into a pop-top bottle (for example: water bottle, old shampoo bottle) or cup and pour on scalp only. Massage gently in circular motions. Rinse really really really well. Please rinse well. Seriously. REALLY WELL.

Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV) Conditioner:

– 1 tablespoon of ACV
– 1 cup of water

Mix the two ingredients in a (separate) pop-top bottle (I used the empty perineal cleansing bottle from my home birth kit). Pour onto length of hair only, NOT ON YOUR SCALP! Work through your hair by combing with your fingers. Rinse or leave it as a leave-in conditioner (I haven’t used it as leave-in conditioner yet) but I know that the vinegar smell does not linger once dry.

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Do you think you could go no ‘poo?

Follow @laotiancomotion