Baking Soda and Vinegar No Shampoo Method

Materials:

• 500 mL Plastic cup
• Baking soda
• Apple cider vinegar

Instructions

1. Using the plastic cup, add 2 tablespoons of baking soda and 3/4 cup of hot water.
2. Mix with your hand, or by swirling the cup, until all the soda has dissolved.
3. Pour this mixture onto your scalp along the part in your hair, massaging it in as you go.  I usually pour a bit, massage, pour a bit massage etc., working from the front to back of my part.
4. Wait 1-2 minutes and then fully rinse your scalp.
5. Once your soda mixture is gone and rinsed, pour two tablespoons of apple cider vinegar into the cup and dilute with one cup of water.
6. Pour this mixture into the bottom parts of your hair (not your scalp). I usually do this by just lowering sections of my hair into the cup and submerging them in there for a few seconds. To get the rest of my hair, I tilt my head to on side and pour on, and then repeat on the other side.
7. Give your hair a final rinse and voila: clean!

Notes:

• I have thick, long, wavy hair, so these amounts have been adjusted to the amount of hair I have and the amount of soda/vinegar I need.  Play around with the amounts to find the right ratios for your hair.
• I keep all of the materials in the bathroom, pour the soda in the cup on the counter and take that and the vinegar in the shower with me. I add the water in the shower as I stand there.
• I wrap my hair in an old t-shirt to dry, not a towel.  When I went noshampoo, I did some reading and learned that this alternative may also help with frizzy hair.  Give it a try!
• The instructions above are the method I have used for the last ten months which has brought me overwhelming success.  Because it has been working for me, I have not tried anything else, but I have heard of other options you can try as a noshampoo regime.  See below for some links on other alternatives and further information:
  1. No Shampoo News Article
  2. Another Bloggers Methods
  3. Curly Girl No Shampoo Methods

It really is that simple.  It takes a couple times to get used to in terms of mixing everything up, figuring out the ratios etc., but once you do, it all happens in a jiff.  Eventually you won’t even need to measure any more and you will get good enough to just eye ball it!  Let me know if you have any questions, comments or feedback on how it works for you. For now, go buy yourself some soda and vinegar and go for it. You just might be surprised at how well you like it!

Perhaps the best part of all is telling people you haven’t used shampoo in your hair for almost a year.  You can practically see the thoughts streaming on overdrive through their mind: “Are you insane?  That’s disgusting! Get away from me.”  As a girl with extremely thick, wavy hair, who regularly required an ungodly amount of shampoo to get through the mane (as my friends call it), the looks you get are that much better.  The truth though, is that ever since getting rid of the shampoo, so is my hair.  Hitting nearly a year of shampoo free, I could never go back.  It’s just too great.

The decision to try it came innocently enough.  Last summer, I started following blogs quite religiously, especially those on health and wellness and clean living.  One continuous entry that popped up fairly often was the idea of going without shampoo: it was cheaper, better for the environment, and as everyone seemed to claim, better for your hair.  I had always struggled with shampoo and my hair.   I had never found one that could eliminate the frizziness that inevitably resulted, and I also always felt that shampoo left my hair flat and dry looking.  With nothing to lose, I dove in and adopted the baking soda and vinegar technique.  At first, I wasn’t necessarily committed, planning to give it a try a couple times, and then jump back on the shampoo bandwagon.  I did this, and then jumped right back off again.  You don’t realize the difference it makes or how amazing it is until you compare shampoo and non-shampoo hair, and then hear yourself saying, “how did I not do this sooner?”

Almost a year later and my hair is much easier to style, maintains its natural wave far more effectively, doesn’t seem as dried out and let’s just say that baking soda and vinegar is way cheaper than shampoo and conditioner.  As a student, this is a welcome bonus!  Now as I pack up to go traveling next month, I’m working on how to transport cider and soda, not shampoo and conditioner.  At the very least I don’t have to worry about people stealing my shampoo in the hostel showers!

Ok… So, now you’ve dealt with all your fears. That’s good. You’ve convinced yourself that it’s ok to try this “weird” method. You’ve found your motivation. You saw that there are other people that have done it and they are happy about it. You’ve read enough information to make you try it. Now you’ve found the courage to try it.

Very good!

You did it for the first time… You discovered that it is not gross and you don’t stink J You continue doing it and you see that it works fine. You stumble a bit (the build up and stuff), but you find support here. You read that you’re not the only one and you receive advice and carry on.

Now you’re more than one month into it, maybe more. You’ve passed the hard part already and you are happy with the results. You are really confident and you start to enjoy your new and healthy hair. You find yourself that you are really into this stuff and you are enthusiastic about it.

Sadly that’s not all…

Yeah, you’re not finished… Now you find yourself in the position when you start telling about this method to your friends and family. And… all Hell breaks loose. You thought it would be fine, but you forgot that you were reluctant at the beginning too. Your friends and family, and those you’ve told about this, start laughing at you. They start to mock you and they look at you like you are the biggest weirdo on the planet! J Maybe you didn’t see it coming, or maybe you thought you could handle it. Don’t worry, you will! They start to give you a bunch of reasons why it’s better and healthier to use shampoo… Maybe you start to debate those ideas, but I advise you not to. Let them say what they think, listen to them, but carry on doing what you feel like. They will think that this method is unhealthy, gross and bad for you. But you know a secret. You know that they are wrong because you’ve tried it for a long time, and you convinced yourself.

Steadily they will chill and they will probably forget about it. Be relaxed and you may find out that some of them tried it, or that maybe some of them embraced the idea and are using it. If not, you will find out that some friends like you for who you are, and that they don’t judge you by what you wash your hair with )

Try not to let your friends change your mind about a thing you’ve tried and you know is ok for you.

And don’t forget the fact that you DON’T have to share this method, even if you like it and use it. You know best the people you hang with and if you think that they will give you a hard time, maybe it’s better to keep it to yourself. It’s no one’s business what you do in your own privacy.

All the best,

Bogdan

First, let me introduce myself I am Bogdan, an almost 22 years-old student from Romania. I’m studying Psychology and I am very interested about green and natural stuff, from food to living.

I found out about the noShampoo technique from Facebook, if I’m not mistaken. I think a friend of mine “liked” one article from the website and I was curious to read it. That was a very good move for me. After I read all the articles, I asked some questions to a post but the answer didn’t came up as fast as I wanted and I decided to try this “weird and crazy” method.

My first experience was in November 2011. At first I was a bit reluctant In my mind I imagined myself, after using noShampoo, as a homeless guy. I thought that my hair will be filthy and unattractive.  I guess most of you think about this at first, it’s ok So, after several weeks I saw that my hair was… interesting. It was like it changed, somehow. It was thicker, let’s say, but not from grease, it was thick after I washed it.  My hair was like never before. It had volume, and I could manage it, I could comb it as I wanted. Simply, I was amazed! I have straight hair, and the length is medium.

After trying this method for several weeks I had my downs… I must admit it. When my hair was too greasy (for me) I made the HUGE mistake to wash it with shampoo… Trust me, it was a mistake. My hair was very soft and I couldn’t make it stay one way or another… I had a hard time dealing with it To be honest, I had my slips just 2 or 3 times and I don’t really regret them, because I saw very clearly the difference between using shampoo and noShampoo.

Now I have been using only noShampoo for several months and I think my hair is starting to adjust its oils. I say that because my girlfriend asked me everyday if I washed my hair with shampoo (she knows I don’t use it anymore) because my hair looks really nice and clean.

So, to wrap things up, I advise you to give it a try. I’m not saying “Do this for the rest of your life!!”, but just try for yourself and see if this is bull**** or if it really works. That’s how I did it, and I experienced on my own the benefits. You might feel a bit awkward at first, but you won’t look dirty and your hair won’t smell bad!

Have a nice day and give it a try!

All the best,

Bogdan

The good news: I don’t even think about it anymore.  My hair is now a creature of habit and independence.  If it wants a rinse, it asks me from time to time (one every couple of weeks in the winter, more in the summer).  Otherwise, it pretty much leaves me alone.  That’s why this blog has transcended its original purpose: to tell you of the journey.  My journey is finished, but many of you are just beginning, so, lets have some volunteer editors who’d like to join the NoShampoo editorial team.  I can offer you a free t-shirt and a whole lot of fun, and who knows, as the concept grows, so will the rewards.

Now, let’s have a look back at what I’ve learned:

1. It was an adventure.

Yes there were ups and downs, times when my hair cried out in confusion.  But thanks to all you noShampooers, I always had the strength to carry on.

2. It was fun.

Those of you haven’t, take a look at the flickr noshampoo album.  It must have been fun

3. It was enlightening.

Any form of journey is by nature a learning experience.  From this plateau, I can see the clear blue sea off to the south, the mountains to the north, the green dragon, and the white tiger.  And most heartening of all, I see the great mass of you coming to join me.

4. Did I mention it was fun?

So, good luck to all of you out there and don’t forget, if you want to be the next sifu, write it in this here comment thread.   And remember, however your hair feels, you will be welcome with open arms.

Here’s the press release :

The short films are rich, experimental and innovative.

The diversity of the work is impressive. Animated drawings, powerful audio-visual effusions, poetic-critical histories, sensual messages and gadgets distributed in 27 works show the latest work of art and film-makers from the region and beyond.

The program is available at www.blackboxonline.org

So how do you go noshampoo?

Step 1. Make the decision.

As Nietzsche pointed out, the fundamental human resource is will to power, a superset of will power.  Yes, once you have decided, really decided, to go noShampoo, the rest of this list is mere child’s play.  But what decision do you have to make?

Step 2. Formulate the decision exactly.

Do  you want to discontinue using shampoo, that generic item which can be obtained in hundreds of different forms in your local supermarket?  Are you going to replace it with something homemade, such as baking soda and apple cider vinegar?  What about something which has less environmental impact?  My recommendation: save yourself the brainpower involved in researching alternatives and just forget about the whole idea of putting anything in your hair at all.

Step 3. Take a break.

That’s right, now that the hard part is done (will power, remember), the rest is really pretty simple, right?  You just stop putting anything in your hair.

Step 4. Put something in your hair!

Well, of course I’d be lying if I said you could just stop putting stuff in your hair and everything would be hunky dory.  You’re hair will look like you just mopped the kitchen floor with it.  Take a fine tooth comb to it and all sorts of stuff will come out, the most interesting of which is a kind of grayish greasy substance which looks like rillettes.  So of course, you will be desperate to remove this matter from your head.  To be totally honest, it doesn’t really matter what you put in your hair, even shampoo.  You’ve probably got some of that old bottle lying around, so now’s the time to take a small quantity and clean your hair.

Step 5. Work from home.

Not really.  The idea here is to take progressively longer and longer breaks from your usual routine.  Using shampoo as your hair cleaner will become progessively less enticing (it really is very harsh) so now is the time to use baking soda and apple cider vinegar. Or just vinegar according to my mom.  Baking soda tingles your scalp, though, so I like it. Eventually you’ll only be using shampoo when  you go to the barber.  Then you’ll be asking the barber not to use shampoo.

Step 6. Nirvana

This is the point when you stop thinking about your hair.  It’s funny really, because all that time you were using shampoo, you probably weren’t thinking about your hair either, so it may feel like you haven’t progressed all that much.  This couldn’t be farther from the truth.  In my related study of addictions, I noticed that addicts were people who had returned to their previous truth, only now they required a foreign substance to achieve that state. Look at credit card abusers, at some point they run out of money, so technically they are in the same place they were when they started taking credit, only now they have to pay the fiddler as well. Look at drug addicts, they end being just as miserable as they were when they started taking the drugs (let’s face it, why would they take drugs in the first place) only now they are drug addicted and miserable.  Shampoo is the same, you were once an addict, which was easy enough and not particularly expensive (of course I only ever bought cheap shampoo).  But in the Nirvana state of no shampoo, you will not only be mentally free to think about whatever it is you were thinking about before going noshampoo, but you will also be slightly richer and you will doing the planet a favor.  Of course the poor cosmetic industry will have to take a tumble, but ah well.

Step 7. Learn from your mistakes

For those of you with children, make their lives easier by never instilling them with the foolish desire to use shampoo. With young’uns, it’s easy, you just stop using shampoo and they never know the difference.  With older children, you ought just to explain, or, like me, stop buying shampoo.  They’ll thank you for it later.

Any questions?

Do you ever feel like some of your relationships are only skin deep? Even significant others can sometimes give off that hollow thud when you tap them.  Well, go noshampoo and in 6 weeks, you’ll have put up a barrier that will separate the dodgy partner from the one that will stick around when times get tough. They’ll never know that in 6 months  you’ll be back to normal.

4. You can skip a whole aisle in the supermarket.

Supermarkets are getting more and more daunting. With an entire aisle devoted to shampoo (not to mention the entire aisle devoted to deodorant, shaving products, and conditioners) you’ll be happy in the knowledge that five or ten minutes less of your life will be devoted to something which is completely useless.  Spend that extra time with your family, if they can take it.

3. No need for Gel/Hairstyling

That’s right. The build up of oil in your head will lead to a life of funky hairstyles.  Here are my flickr photos devoted entirely to my noshampoo styles. And what’s even cooler is that brushing your hair actually makes it even funkier.

2. You have a new topic of converstion

Don’t you find that social gatherings are pretty stale affairs these days? You can’t even Bush Bash anymore. And then the conversations about kids/family/work dries up pretty fast.  This leaves you with little else to talk about, unless you are doing something really cool with your life…like using noshampoo! That’s right…you will be the funkiest most adventurous guy/girl at any social gathering.  And, no need to worry about starting meaningless relationships (see point 5).

1. Be a revolutionary!

Che Guevara, where are you?  These days, so little is worth getting excited about.  What is there to fight for anymore? If you have a poster of Che on your wall, then here’s the way you too can not only do something good for the world, but also actually look a little bit more like Che than you did before. Viva la revolucion!

Join the revolution!

 My head was getting very itchy for some reason and I was scratching it a lot and didn’t like the wads of gunk under my fingernails.

So I tried using a couple teaspoons of baking soda.  In France, baking soda comes in small paper envelopes, and I haven’t found the big boxes as you have in the states yet.  I used one envelope which is about two teaspoons.

I just wet my hair and put the powder all over my head and then scrubbed away.  There was a very pleasant tingling sensation which I enjoyed quite a bit, so I left it to sit for a couple of minutes.  Then I rinsed and put some lemon juice on my hair (vinegar is smelly).  That was it.

There was no extra sebum, but there was still some natural oil left. I read about baking soda, or sodium bicarbonate, on wikipedia and found information which does indicate its history as a kind of soap. For whatever reason, it behaves on the scalp as a kind of emulsifier, and so is probably the perfect solution.

However…

My head was still itchy, which was the only reason I washed in the first place! So I did another wash with baking soda and then, one morning, my wife spotted a nit in my hair! My girls all had lice from school, so I must have gotten it from them.

I had to use some lice medication and then shampoo to wash it out (it was an oily lotion).  So now my hair and scalp are dry as a desert I can’t wait for the oil to build up again.

So, my advice would be to treat baking soda as a kind of mild shampoo. I don’t see anything particularly different about it.  My advice is still: don’t bother using anything unless you have to, and then, perhaps once or twice a month, try the baking soda and lemon approach.