As some of you know, I stopped using shampoo and conditioner in March 2015 - if anyone right now is thinking I’m a lunatic, why don’tcha check out my photo diaries. See, not so bad, right?
Anyway, so I wasn’t exactly blessed with the power of observation, but what with tackling IBS and having to keep food diaries (in my mind), I had slowly come around to the notion of paying attention to my own body by the time I made the risky and slightly mad decision to go “no ‘poo”.
Here are some things I’ve noticed since I stopped using shampoo and conditioner, and I think they’re pretty awesome:
1) The rash behind my ears has cleared up
For about a year before I started reading up about the no ‘poo movement, I had patches of dry skin behind each ear.
The patches weren’t itchy or sore or anything, but the skin was dry in a way that it never had been, and it annoyed me that it would only go away if I put E45 cream on it every day.
Within a few weeks these patches had completely gone and haven’t come back since, and now the only thing that gets behind my ears is dried rhassoul clay…
2) I can go longer between hair washes
EWWWW right. Maybe read the other benefits before you pass judgement on this…
Before “no ‘poo”, my hair washing routine would go as follows:
- Day One Wash hair, blow dry, straighten.
- Day Two Dry shampoo to get rid of limp greasy hair.
- Day Three Wear hair up in a ponytail/bun.
- Day Four Wash hair and start all over again.
Now my hair washing routine goes something like this:
- Day One Wash hair with clay in the evening, let hair dry naturally overnight.
- Day Two Brush hair and go.
- Day Three Brush hair and go.
- Day Four Wear up in a ponytail/bun during the day, then work homemade dry shampoo* into roots and leave to soak up excess sebum overnight.
- Day Five Brush hair and go.
- Day Six Brush hair and go.
- Day Seven Wear up in ponytail/bun, wash with clay in the evening, and start all over again.
I could stretch the days out longer if I wanted to, but at the moment I’m pretty happy with my routine and that my hair looks fresh more days than not.
And if I have any special occasions that interrupt my wash cycle, I don’t give myself a hard time.
*Dry shampoo counts as a wash.
3) I don’t need to use heat anymore
Before, using heat on my hair would go one of two ways…
- Wash hair in the morning, blow dry and straighten hair (I had to use straighteners to tame the ‘poofyness’)
- OR wash hair in evening, leave to dry naturally overnight in an attempt to do less heat damage - and wake up with limp and lifeless hair, which no amount of straightening could fix
This is my relationship with my heat tools now…
- Wash hair in the morning and leave to dry naturally. Done.
- Wash hair in the evening and leave to dry naturally before bed. Done.
- If it’s a really special occasion I’ll quickly run the straighteners through the ends of my hair in the morning - I’ve used them 3, maybe 4 times in the last 5 months.
For the first time in my life I can literally roll out of bed, run a brush through my hair and my hair looks and feels ready to go. As for the poof, all I get now is a natural wave, and the rest of my hair weighs itself down very nicely:
4) I saw the true extent of the damage I’d done to my hair
Once my hair had completely detoxed, I saw just how split my ends were. Granted, it had been months (and months…) since my last cut - but without silicones from conditioner coating my hair, I got a much more accurate picture of the state of my hair. See how fluffy and dry my ends were?
5 months into going no ‘poo I plucked up the courage to go to a hairdresser to get the split ends lopped off - I only lost an inch and the stylist had no problems dragging the comb through my wet hair, reassuring me that my all-natural venture was working just fine. Phew!
5) My hair is more manageable
When I was using shampoo, all that blow drying and straightening was actually necessary just to keep my hair “under control”. Then, when it was freshly washed and styled, it would be impossibly slippery and I couldn’t do a thing with it.
Now I can feel what my hair actually feels like - it’s thicker and just as shiny as before, and without all the silicones coating my strands I can now do whatever I want with my freshly washed hair. Like wear it down. Or in a ponytail. Well, you can take a horse to water.
6) I save SO. MUCH. TIME.
All of this has allowed me to push my alarm further and further back in the morning, meaning I’m getting a full night’s sleep most nights and feeling 10x better for it.
It was actually Graeme who said how glad he was that I don’t have to get up at 6.30am every 2/3 days to wash my hair, and then wake him up horribly early blasting the hair dryer.
I washed my hair twice a week before, and I wash my hair twice a week now. But the fact that I’m spending less time using heat tools, and that one of my washes is as simple as dumping kaolin clay and cornflour on my head, my hair is now so easy to manage that I just get up, brush my hair and go. And for someone who wants long, low maintenance hair, well that’s just a no-brainer.
Thank you for reading my little listicle! In the interest of balance I also wrote a list of the really uncool things I’ve noticed since going no ‘poo that you might want to take a peek at before jumping into it yourself, this lifestyle choice is not for the faint of heart and anyone interested needs all the advice they can get their mitts on.
If you are interested though, you might like to take a look at my FAQs where I’m always updating on what I’m using and my current routine.
