Shampoooo!

[primavera]

I have long, thick hair. I want to leave shampoo behind, but I don't know how to get it clean enough otherwise. I really don't want greasy hair. I've read of people using baking soda, but that sounds too abrasive for the hair follicle.

[Raw Rob]

I use two whipped eggs. My hair's about 3 to 4 inches long. You might need more if it's longer. You can also add a little olive oil for conditioner but I don't because grease will just build up on it more quickly. I probably wash my hair every 2 to 3 days. It depends on what I've been doing.
(I got the idea from AV's book)

Also, since going zero carb, I have absolutely no dandruff.

[goodsamaritan]

I'm a guy with short hair.
I don't shampoo my hair.
I only shampoo my hair with an organic shampoo when I get a haircut to get the little bits of hair out.

[TylerDurden]

I very rarely shampoo my hair(perhaps once every couple of years and then only when I'm staying elsewhere and have a bottle of shampoo handy). Apparently, hair cleans itself if you just let it alone for 6 weeks or more. I admit I did have very greasy hair in pre-rawpalaeodiet days, but that cleared up as soon as I cut out the dairy.

[SkinnyDevil]

Why do you want to give up shampoo?

Water works pretty well on it's own, but you can always go with some sort of minimal ingredient all natural product. Dr. Bronners, Paul's Organic, etc. are good, as is Knotty Boy Dread Bar. I wonder if Ivory Soap is still natural?

You can always mix up some salt water (you know how clean your hair & scalp feel when you get out of the ocean) or even a mild abrasive (salt & sand, mud, etc) or oils.

[invisible]

a 'natural' but commercial shampoo. Usually two-three times a week.

[phatdave]

I have the impression that certain things like hot water and shampoo strip the natural oils that protect your hair. In doing so (again this is the impression I have) your glands in responce produce an excess. This seems to perpetuate a cycle. When one stops stripping the oil, the hair will naturally be greasier/oiler than when in normal balance. When left alone, things will return to normal - but remember that the hairs natural condition is, with a certain (not excessive) ammount of oil.

One of course might slowly dillute the shampoo to make the process gradual and less severe.

I dont use shampoo - i have very short hair as I annoyingly shaved my head again on a whim (doh).
If I had lovely long hair, I appreciate that although our double lives result in us eating raw this and that, and reaping the benefits of paleo living - sometimes we have to sit in board rooms, or class rooms, or who no-ones where that might be very nice, tidy and sweet smelling. If I was so inclined to be a little sqeakier than my body's natural state - than i might yes, i might, go ahead and use a tiny winsy bit of diluted 'shampoo'.

The real question would be what to use.....


 

[PaleoPhil]

I found a "natural" shampoo I like that's luckily available in my local health food stores. My requirements were that it be edible or close to it, that it work and that it not dry out my scalp with too much detergent. I searched the Internet and found one that does all that. It's not truly Paleo, and is more expensive than chemical shampoos, of course, but I figure it's good enough until I come across something better. I've gradually been replacing all my chemical stuff with natural stuff and use mostly natural personal care products now. I figure if I'm eating real well I should also put good stuff on my skin, as some of it gets absorbed into the body.

It's interesting that water alone is most popular, and not surprising. I wonder when hunter gatherers first started using some hair cleaners and what they were. I'm guessing that they didn't use much beyond water and sweat lodges until the very late Paleolithic or early Neolithic, then maybe used tallow or something?

[van]

  For well over twenty years i have only used baking soda.  Don't worry about abrasiveness....  Place a couple of teaspoons in wet hands and rub into wet hair. work  it into the hair and scalp evenly, and let sit for five minutes. Then use your finger tips to massage the scalp.  Rinse with luke warm water, not hot, to prevent stripping of too much oil.  Rinse very well.   Inbetween washings, rinse well with warm water massaging scalp.  Soaps clog up sebum glands and cause hair loss  and all sorts of problems for some, me included.    Also washing with baking soda under arms and any where else really works so well at preventing any body odor. 

[Ioanna]

My hair is long, thick and very curly/wavy.  I wash it because I can smell the environmental toxins of my day in my hair at the end of some days... like smoke, etc.  I also thought I could not live without conditioner.  I've been using baking soda though.  My hair feels so soft with it!!, it's all I need.  I've tried lemon juice too (after the baking soda), but I can't remember why or what that did for me.   

I'm trying to take cooler showers too... hot showers are my remaining guilty pleasure, I wish they were healthy!

[SkinnyDevil]

I have the impression that certain things like hot water and shampoo strip the natural oils that protect your hair. In doing so (again this is the impression I have) your glands in responce produce an excess. This seems to perpetuate a cycle. When one stops stripping the oil, the hair will naturally be greasier/oiler than when in normal balance. When left alone, things will return to normal - but remember that the hairs natural condition is, with a certain (not excessive) ammount of oil.

You are probably correct.

My hair is in dreadlocks and I wash it only occasionally. It gets wet a lot (swimming and showers and rain and such), but I only break out a shampoo (the aforementioned Bronner's or Knotty Boy) once in a blue moon these days.

No problem with dirt or oils or bad smell. In fact, one of the prevailing problems with many people who have dreadlocks is the musty smell one gets if one doesn't obsessively clean them, but it's not a problem for me. I might add that other raw foodists I know (most are vegans, though) who have dreads have similar experience.

Ocean water is the best, in my view.

[van]

Ionna what could be unhealthy about hot showers?  Ok,  maybe if you alternated hot and cold you'd get more circulation going, but at the expense of enduring cold water.  Just offering my support, hot showers, yum, enjoy.

[primavera]

Why do you want to give up shampoo?

Water works pretty well on it's own, but you can always go with some sort of minimal ingredient all natural product. Dr. Bronners, Paul's Organic, etc. are good, as is Knotty Boy Dread Bar. I wonder if Ivory Soap is still natural?

You can always mix up some salt water (you know how clean your hair & scalp feel when you get out of the ocean) or even a mild abrasive (salt & sand, mud, etc) or oils.

I want to see if giving up shampoo improves my scalp's health, particularly greasiness. I cannot go a day w/out shampooing.

Mmm... mud and salt sounds like a good idea. I'll definitely experiment with those.

[primavera]

Ionna what could be unhealthy about hot showers?  Ok,  maybe if you alternated hot and cold you'd get more circulation going, but at the expense of enduring cold water.  Just offering my support, hot showers, yum, enjoy.

Well, I know hot showers dries out my skin/hair something terrible.  My skin is definitely better now that I take cool showers (I'm a sissy and I can't take cold showers, I find them kinda torturous).

[primavera]

Ok, Ioanna and van, you've convinced me. I'm going to give baking soda a try. How often do you wash Ioanna? How does your hair feel with baking soda, squeaky clean or soft (like dog's fur)?

[Ioanna]

Ionna what could be unhealthy about hot showers?  Ok,  maybe if you alternated hot and cold you'd get more circulation going, but at the expense of enduring cold water.  Just offering my support, hot showers, yum, enjoy.

hahaha, van, thanks, I will enjoy  my hot showers!!

Ok, Ioanna and van, you've convinced me. I'm going to give baking soda a try. How often do you wash Ioanna? How does your hair feel with baking soda, squeaky clean or soft (like dog's fur)?

I take a quick shower everyday, but how often I actually wash my hair depends on what I did that day... like if I went swimming or can smell smoke in my hair or something, then I wash it otherwise I don't.  I like what SD wrote though, I do love the way I feel and my hair too after spending time in salt water.  Back to the baking soda... made my hair feel really soft (I was really surprised, I thought it would just turn into some frizzy, curly mess!), but it felt clean and soft (maybe like dog fur?).  I think the lemon juice afterward can give squeaky clean... or apple cider vinegar, but I remember I tried lemon juice so I wouldn't smell like a salad all day

Let me know what you try and how it works!  I'm always looking for ways to care for my hair and skin!!

[van]

  if the water is hard,  the minerals will bind with the baking soda, and your hair won't be as soft or shiny.   Years ago, I used to follow up with sticking my head under the RO water spicket in the kitchen sink and massage gently for a minute or two.  Amazingly soft and shiny.  Vinegar or lemon juice will do a similar thing.

[Michael]

Glad you added that info to the discussion van.  My own experience with using baking soda as shampoo simply left my hair like dreadlocks!!  Perhaps that explains why.  Thanks.

Most recently I've been using pure olive oil soap which seems to work ok but haven't actually found anything that works as well as I would like.

[PaleoPhil]

I've been trying baking soda the past couple of days too, and it has left my hair flat, dull and greasy-looking and feeling like I did not wash it. I cannot stand the smell or taste of vinegar and would rather keep it out of my house. The only kind of lemon juice that will keep for very long is that which contains preservatives, which I'm not thrilled about, but maybe I'll try it. Please don't even suggest squeezing a fresh lemon every few days just so I can rinse my hair. If that's the only solution then I'll stick with my natural shampoo. Are there any other solutions?

[Raw Rob]

The whipped eggs makes my hair extremely soft. I was at the bar a few weeks ago and people were taking turns feeling my hair. I kid you not. I think I had washed it the day before. 

Whenever I get out of the ocean my hair feels very sticky, not clean.

[PaleoPhil]

Were the people at the bar female? If so, the expense of the eggs might be worth it. 

Yeah, my hair and body feel sticky after getting out of the ocean too (which is I think why they have outdoor fresh water showers at many ocean beaches), though it gives my hair more body, like a styling gel.

[Michael]

I'm glad I'm not the only one with bad experiences using the baking soda.  For many months I have been using lemons juice - and more recently bulk purchased white vinegar - as an after-shampoo rinse.  The lemon juice works well.  The vinegar seems to strip the oils from my hair and leaves it very dry.  Both work out very expensive even buying in bulk.  I was buying cases of 1 litre bottles of organic lemon juice without preservatives although it had been pasteurised (fine as long as one doesn't drink it!).

I may try the whipped eggs Rob.  That sounds good (although, again, expensive!).  Were they whipped whole eggs, yolks or whites?  Do you find that you require a lemon/vinegar rinse after  shampooing with the eggs?

[raw]

i found that egg white is good for oily hair and yolk is good for dry hair. since my hair is dry, scalp is oily, so, i should use entire egg. (i haven't done that yet, after i use that, definitely i'll flash the result). back home, i see natural shampoo (RITHA= don't know the englisg name of it). it's a part of  plant that after soaking couple of hrs, can make more foam than any shampoo i use ever in my life. for conditioner, i use henna. it's a bitter colored leaf and my grandma's home has that tree. those makes hair look absolutely gorgeous.

To Ionna, i also have very curly hair (long) and always need to do the conditioning after shampooing my hair. if i don't use the conditioner, i can't brush my hair. after using the baking soda, you never use the conditioner?

[KD]

I use whites maybe once or twice a week. if I get yolks in there by mistake ( I can't believe people actually separate and eat yolks, what a pain in the ass and a waste) my hair reaks of eggs. It smells a little odd with just the whites too but goes away by the next day or so.

I was taking almost exclusively cold showers til recently as my place gets in the upper 50's/lower 60's these days with the windows open, they are certainly healthier, particularly considering that your skin will absorb more chemicals in the water when it is hot. of course the cold water is more natural as well. I have a filter now that works great so I dont sweat the temp as much.

my hair has a nice luster this way and is fairly curly, I was washing it once a week with an organic shampoo for years, and always distrusted the no poo thing. There was one particular baby shampoo/conditioner that made my hair look like doll hair, and i've yet to find any natural combination to replicate that, but it looks healthy enough. I think eating bone marrow helps.

[pioneer]

coconut and olive oil, sometimes avocado, and eggs. these are good options. I normally use coconut oil.