Punching Bag on Pages

Quitting Shampoo

Soooo, have you heard of it?

Well here's a quick summary of why you should try it. Shampoo and conditioner are not that great for your hair/scalp. It messes up your pH balance. Your scalp is dry after using conditioner, because it is highly acidic, therefore causing your scalp to overproduce oils. It's a really unhealthy way to "clean" and "care" for your hair. Shampoo and conditioner also trap oils in your hair, causing it to be darker and heavier. There's nothing natural about it, unless you actually pick up natural products (There are some out there).

By quitting shampoo and conditioner, your scalp will be restored to its original and intended color, texture, etcetera. You can read many blogs on it, but I just kind of wanted to share my experience (and keep a record of it in case I decide to continue... which is highly probable).

I have straight dirty-blonde hair that goes a few inches below my shoulders. I grew it out to my longest length last fall (of 2014), and I loved it. But my hair didn't feel healthy. I figured that it couldn't be that long, maybe it's just my hair type or whatever. My hair also used to be a beautiful blonde, but now it's dull. I do like the natural highlights, but I miss my younger color. Furthermore, I have this weird stress problem, where basically my hair will be gross (like humid weather gross). However, less than an hour after being home, my hair would feel silky smooth. Of course, up until a few months ago, I didn't know that you weren't supposed to wash your hair everyday. From the many blogs that I have read, the strangers' hair would change color, become easier to manage, and become more natural. I sure hope that I can get similar results.

Plus, this path is much cheaper. I decided to go cold turkey, and stopped using shampoo and conditioner all at once. You have to stop in order for your scalp to balance itself again, so you'll just rinse it in the shower for a week or so. Here's the record of what I did:

June 5th (Friday)- 11am was the last time I washed my hair with shampoo

June 6th (Saturday)- Rinsed in the afternoon

June 7th (Sunday)- Rinsed in the evening

June 8th (Monday) - 12th (Friday)- Rinsed in the morning

By the 11th and 12th my hair was feeling gross... until that night it was surprisingly soft

June 13th (Saturday)- Woke up and it was relatively soft, rinsed in the afternoon, and drying soft even. Can't stop feeling it today lol

June 14th (Sunday)- Still soft today! Rinsed in the early afternoon

June 15th (Monday)- It's not soft anymore, just kind of blah.

I brush my hair two to three times a day, and try to remove as many strands as possible. I also run my brush under scalding water to try to get rid of unwanted bacteria and dirt from the previous brushing. Also, when in the shower, scrub my scalp and push water down and out. Bacteria and dirt naturally builds up, and that's what actual "cleaning" of your hair is. The baking soda is basic, and it will pick up that gross stuff.

I bought the baking soda and apple cider vinegar, mixing one part baking soda with three parts water. Since it was a 12 ounce bottle, I mixed 6 tablespoons of baking soda and 18 of water. For vinegar it was one part apple cider vinegar (not white vinegar, too acidic!) and four parts water, so 3 tablespoons of it with 12 of water in my 8.5 ounce bottle.

Don't worry, your hair wont smell like the vinegar. Just fair warning, the baking soda will be extremely gritty and weird when putting it in your hair in the shower.

Now it's June 16th (Tuesday), the first night of my new washing. I shook up the bottles, scrubbed my scalp with the baking soda mixture, and waited for a minute or two before rinsing. I made sure my entire scalp was touched (squeezed quite a bit onto my head). Next I ran the vinegar mixture through my hair (I made sure it barely touched my actual scalp) and then rinsed in cooler water. Ba-da-bing! I was done. So now it's in the process of drying, and it seems soft.

June 19th (Friday)- I washed it again because I was going to a concert that night. It was relatively soft again. It's been a bit staticy (I know that's not a word), so I added a little more water to the bottle while in the shower this time. I went through the same process, and rinsed it out. With this ratio, a blog told me to wash my hair with it every 2-3 days. I waited until June 23rd (Tuesday) to do it again. I'm at the end of my vinegar/water bottle, so I'm going to fill it up again.

My next modification (because of the slightly frizzy/static feel) will be this:

Instead of 6 tablespoons of baking soda and 18 of water, I changed it to a (approximately) 5.5 to 18.5 tablespoon ratio. I know, it doesn't seem like a big change, but I don't want to drastically modify it. I need to experiment and figure out how the ratio exactly changes my hair. I did not change the vinegar and water ratios. Since I'll be changing this ratio probably a lot, I'm going to be using (and wasting) a lot of vinegar and baking soda in order to make my hair better.

It's July 25th... where did my summer go? Anyways, i'm in love with my hair. I've never been able to have this length of hair and have it be beautiful. Think about this: shampoo, conditioner, nor any other hair product has touched my hair for almost two months. And i love it. My hair is just so soft. You can see my natural highlights again, and i don't think i'll ever go back.