I’m happy to say I’m completely shampoo free and everything is fine. My previous attempts at home-made shampoo were a quasi-failure, their only success that I realized it was either shampoo or noShampoo. To help me in my quest, I cut my hair pretty short and then just let things go. The end result is that I haven’t used shampoo for at least two and half months and everything is fine. I notice that my hair has it’s own natural cycle of getting greasy and then being fine, which is strange, but ok.

I will see how it goes for a year and take it from there.

Inspired by the overwhelming popularity of the site and video, I decided to go completely noShampoo. These are my thoughts so far.

I live in London. London is a dirty city. I realize many of the noShampoo gurus are living near beaches (it seems mainly in Australia). If you swim in the ocean everyday, and live near a beach, I wouldn’t have thought your hair (or anything) would really get very dirty. This is not the case in London.

Grease builds up. I haven’t used shampoo for several weeks, and at the beginning, there was serious sebum build up. My brush was clogged with a greyish grease. The upside was that new and interesting styles such as the one shown below can be created.

This style was created by brushing the hair backwards. Notice the incredible amount of lift at the back.

I didn’t see how this initial Grease problem could be overcome so I tried various experiments with shampoo replacement options.

Shampoo alternatives

The basic idea here is to find something that cuts out some of the grease and dirt, but leaves enough behind so that your scalp doesn’t increase sebum production.

shampoo oil mixture
I mixed shampoo with almond oil in a 50/50 mix. Shaking gives a white foamy emulsion. Using the emulsion in your hair doesn’t really create much foam.
Result: Too much sebum was stripped, leaving the hair unprotected and dry, and re-starting the natural sebum production.
Conclusion: doesn’t work

egg yolk
Recommended to me by an Albanian friend. Egg yolk is an emulsifier, which is something that binds oil and water. Soaps are detergents, which are very strong emulsifiers. I figured this might be the answer
Result: Success! The hair was not greasy, and it was not completely stripped.
Downside: Eggy smell all day.
Conclusion: requires addition of perfumes.

egg yolk + yogurt + vanilla extract
To solve the problem of eggy smell, I added vanilla extract. My girlfriend also suggested yogurt. I used Goats Milk Yogurt. Approximate ratio: 1 egg yolk to two tablespoons yogurt + two drops vanilla extract.
Result: Success! Washing my girlfriends hair this time (yes I convinced her to go no shampoo), I noticed that any trace of egg white in the yolk will leave snotty white pieces stuck to the hair. I removed these manually. Trick is to wash hair with coldish water or remove all egg white from the yolk mixture. Her hair was left very shiny. She was happy with it. So was I. There is almost no sebum buildup afterwards.
Conclusion: Way to go!

Where to go next
Emulsifiers are the way forward. They are weak enough to leave the sebum bound to the hair and scalp, but strong enough to remove excess oil and dirt. I will see if I can find any other natural emulsifiers that do not smell like egg.

MoTown girl extols the benefits of the noShampoo routine. She calls it the ‘no-poo’ routine. I couldn’t agree more. Not so sure about the ‘conditioner wash’. Sounds like more of the same…

The Daily Mail dramatizes the situation, but 3 of the 5 loved noShampoo. “I found it liberating” says one. “I saved £35″ says another.

Natural Family Online also asks ‘why should you go no’Poo’. “It’s a supply and demand relationship, much like nursing a baby.” She advocates the use of Baking Powder and Vinegar. Hmmm.

Natural Living warns of the initial two week ‘icky hair’ problem.

To mark the debut of noshampoo on earth, we (I) will be offering a free t-shirt to a lucky subscriber. So register today for your chance to add this excellent item to your wardrobe.

The shirts are also for sale at the noshampoo store.

Those with an environmental conscience may simply opt to donate money to the noShampoo cause. They can do so using the paypal donate button on the right.

Are you tired of fine, dry, and cracked hair? Are you sick of spending money on treatment after treatment, only to find your hair is worse than before? Look no Further! Try noShampoo and put an end to your hair problems…forever.