It’s been just over a week since I last washed my hair with shampoo! For those of you who don’t know what the “no ‘poo” method is, don’t wig out. It’s essentially giving up conventional shampoo/conditioner and opting for the most natural form of hair care possible – using water to wash away dirt and your hairs natural oils to condition. I decided to give it a try myself for a various of reasons:

it’s as zero waste and eco friendly as it gets!

my hair has always been a poofy, (book)-Hermione-esque, thick and unruly mane that can’t decide between wavy or curly. With giving up hair styling products when I started this zero waste journey I really haven’t known how to deal with this mess of locks. So I thought I’d see what my hair decides to do with no human intervention…after all, look how much good human intervention has done in the world thus far BUT THAT’S A WHOLE ‘NOTHER TOPIC INNIT (woah sorry that boiled up outta nowhere)

I’ve always had problems with my scalp: I’ve used extremely harsh chemical shampoos to fend off extreme itchiness. These medicated shampoo bottles are just about the only plastic I have left in my bathroom and I’m dying to find a way to be rid of them…perhaps au naturel will make my scalp happy!

I’m a lazy bastard and, once I have adjusted, I should only have to rinse my hair once a week. This is also part of the reason why I chose not to do the baking soda+ACV method..ain’t nobody got time to mix up those concoctions. That and it seems to be quite drying for your hair which I definitely don’t need.

And finally, I’ve wanted to try this method for a while and I figured now is the best time to do it: it’s my last year of university and thus the last year in which it’ll be semi-acceptable to look like a slick ass hippy before I enter the realm of the workforce.

So how does my hair feel after ten days of grimy build up, you might ask? Low key awful, I might answer. But that’s to be expected! I’ve heard horror stories of people’s transition periods but the end product is usually well worth these greasy, greasy weeks.

Thus far, I’ve been scritching and preening (and brushing with a boar bristle brush) once every two days or so and washing with water every three or four days. The scritching and preening helps greatly with distributing the oils and seems to be a very essential component of the transition process. Ideally I should be doing it every night but it completely obliterates what little curls I have so I can’t usually bring myself to do it nightly! It is also very time consuming (45mins-1hr) but the interval at which I have to scritch and preen should decrease drastically as I move out of the transition period. I’ve been wearing my hair in a bun or ponytail pretty much every day (which I usually rock anyways because, remember, I lazy af! so it’s not much of a compromise) and the grease is hidden pretty well. On days where I actually need to look somewhat presentable, I’ll throw a little dry shampoo on and that does the trick.

It’s pretty easy to hide the disgusting mop, but the feel is getting to me a little. As the grease, or sebum I suppose is the technical term, builds up, it’s making my hair. SO. sticky. gummy. waxy. I can definitely deal with it for now but I hope I’m out of this phase of the transition soon so that I can touch my hair without cringing.

One thing I’ve had to be careful of is, surprisingly, my acne. It’s been clearing up fantastically lately (post on curing cystic acne naturally/zero waste coming soon!) but I still have to be really careful with it. Many trying no ‘poo can attest that the oils from your hair easily get onto your pillow, and then onto your face, and then into your pores and poof you have a face full of pimples. Many people suggest changing your pillow case every day or few days will help but (how many times do I have to mention how lazy I am) that just don’t work for me and my laundry schedule. Instead, I’ve been wrapping my hair in a head scarf at night so the oils never get onto my pillow in the first place! And I’ve had no troubles with break outs thus far.

The shear amount of oil in my hair may seem like a huge, overshadowing, negative; however, there has also been one CRAZY awesome positive. My scalp problems are….. gone. It’s border line miraculous. My head does get a bit itchy and I do have some flakes but one round of scritching and preening and it feels like I’ve just shampood with the harshest of chemical scalp shampoos (aka great). Seriously guys, if you struggle with psoriasis, seborrheic dermatitis, or any of those other lovingly named conditions on your scalp, consider giving this method a try.

I think that’s everything I’ve noted so far…It’s going well! Gross, but expectedly so – and hopefully worth it down the line. I’ll update you in another week or so and include some pictures of what my hair is looking like. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions about the no ‘poo method please comment, I love a good discussion!

Also, Christmas is coming – spread some happiness! And listen to Leslie Odom Jr’s Christmas album (thank me later).

Kristy