Tuesday 21 January 2014

Going Low 'Poo. Weeks 1 and 2.

Just before Christmas I decided to go Low 'Poo.  

Here are some definitions for you in case you think I'm talking about something toilet-related!  No 'Poo means no shampoo, washing your hair using only natural substances, usually plain water, or bicarbonate of soda and vinegar.  Low 'Poo means using only shampoos that don't contain nasty-chemicals on your hair.  Google it if you want to know more, there's lots of info to read online.

Recently the Lush Karma shampoo bar and Jungle solid conditioner I'd used for years stopped working for my hair, I was fed up with it looking horrible so I bought some cheap bottle shampoo and conditioner from Aldi, which made my hair lovely and shiny again.  My routine was to wash it 3 or 4 times a week, towel dry, comb through with a wide toothed comb then smooth a bit of almond oil through as a leave in conditioner. 

But I didn't like the strong smell of the Aldi shampoo.  Or the fact it came in plastic bottles.  Or the fact it had lots of nasty chemicals and SLS and parabens in it.  And then I remembered that the Lush shampoo and conditioner had SLS's in too.  And then I decided to try something a little more natural. 

Here are some photos of my hair before.  I have thick, curlyish, shoulder length hair cut into layers. It tended to be nice and wavy and bouncy just after I washed it, then the waves and curls would gradually drop out the 'dirtier' it was.  I only ever brushed it right before I washed it, because brushing it would make it all frizzy and static.  It was nice and shiny too.  (I'm missing my old hair now I've started thinking about it!)

These are recent photos...


And these are of a very young me (there's one of me at my school leavers prom, doing the macarena, with enough hair gel to set my hair solid!  Others show my baby hair, how it looked when I used to slap the frizz ease on and when I had my hair super duper, waist-length long!  It was a lot curlier when I used to put product on it to hold the curl, I wonder if there's something natural I can replace that with...



Now I use this eco friendly, made in the UK, fair trade, SLS-free solid shampoo and apple cider vinegar as a conditioning rinse, or I wash it with plain water.


I'm still trying to work out the best method for me, I'm not sure yet how often I should be washing it and stuff like that, I'm working it out as I go along...

Week 1 - My hair was quite happy for the first week.  I washed it twice, with the solid shampoo and vinegar.  My hair doesn't smell like vinegar - hurrah!

Week 2 - I had a few of days of greasy hair, not just greasy at the top, but greasy all the way through the strands of my hair.  The worse bit is right in the middle at the back of my head, it is grease city.  Urgh.  My hair was flat like a pancake and I was most unhappy.  My scalp was really itchy too.  I washed it once with shampoo/vinegar and a couple of times I gave it a rinse and a bit of a head massage just with plain water while I was in the shower, which made it feel a bit better.  While my hair was still wet I put a little almond oil on, as a leave in conditioner.

Here are some photos of my hair during the start of it's low 'poo journey...including some crazy morning hair in photo one, and photo three of very flat greasy hair, which is what I mostly had.



Have you ever gone no or low 'poo?  Any tips?

Linking up with Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways.

6 comments:

  1. I've heard that the first few weeks of low poo/no poo are the hardest for this exact reason but then the oils in your head calm down as they adapt to the new routine. About a year ago I went low poo (rinse everyday- shampoo once or twice a week-condition 3 times a week) and my hair is mostly happy. While I found a shampoo with no SLS, the plastic is troubling. I can actually re-fill my shampoo bottle at the food co-op, which would be a fine solution, if I actually remember to clean the bottle & bring it to the store.

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    1. Yeah, I think it's pretty much expected that your hair will become unhappy and greasy for the first few weeks. It's interesting that you condition without shampooing, I might give that a go.

      I like the idea of re-filling shampoo bottles, sadly there's nothing like that round here yet, but I imagine I'd be bad at remembering to take it with me too!

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  2. Just switched on your new blog! Reading your post about hair, I've found that I've flat and greasy hair too... I use Lush product too but solid shampooes were good only for a few months, then I had to prove those ones in bottles and they work only if I alternate them. But I know that they use parabens and other chemicals – even if less than other commercial shampooes – and I'm still not so happy, even for the plastic bottles. So I'll search for a natural solution too, thanks for your suggestions! ;)

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    1. Hi Danda, thanks for following me here :)

      It's funny about the Lush shampoos isn't it, I've used one for the past 5 or so years, I wonder why they stop being effective after a while. I'm finding my hair isn't too bad using more natural products, so might be worth having a go too!

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  3. This low/no poo malarkey sounds v interesting. Good luck with it Susie. I'm off to google it. Xx

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    1. And you shall find many crazy, hippy dippy methods of washing your hair - tis interesting though, some of them have to be effective...if someone had told me I'd be washing my hair with vinegar a couple of years ago I wouldn't have believed them!

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