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Like Aimee, I am on the no shampoo, baking soda only bandwagon.
Ever since I left the pristine city water of Portland for the hard, over-chlorinated water of Ohio I have had trouble with my scalp. Dry, itchy and dandruff mere minutes after I shampooed. I tried everything — tea tree oil, dry scalp shampoo, dandruff shampoos — nothing worked. I resigned myself to a life of scalp misery.
And then, dear friends, I discovered a random web page about baking soda as a hair cleanser. (I’m trying to find the page again and can’t. Sorry.) This is the deal: take a handful of baking soda and dip your fingertips into it, massage into scalp. Do this until you’ve used the lot of it. (I use less than a 1/4 cup, I guess.) Rub it all over your scalp, rinse clean. For good measure, use some white vinegar or apple cider vinegar added to a cup or so of water as a second rinse. Voila! Beautiful hair!
Well, not at first. The first time I did it, I ended up with scarecrow hair, which is what happened before when I tried it. This time, I didn’t let it sway me and 2 or 3 days later (you honestly don’t need to wash your hair every day if you do this), I did it again. It takes time for the poor beleaguered scalp to kick in to making its own oils once more. Be patient with it.
I’ve been doing this for, ummm, about three weeks, maybe? Anyway, my hair is gorgeous. Really. Ask Brett. I also dye my hair (and touched my roots up just recently) and have curly hair, which tends to dryness. My only concession to the hair dye was to use a leave-in conditioner to wash it right after the dye job. Then I didn’t wash it for three days but went directly to the baking soda/vinegar mix.
I have absolutely no problems with my scalp now and my hair is shiny as a Pantene commercial. As an added bonus, I no longer have to clean the drain after every shower because my hair has apparently quit falling out.
I think I’m allergic to the chemicals in shampoo or something. Although I’ve tried the chemical-free stuff, too, and it’s never worked for me.
I have tried doing other things with the baking soda, like adding it to shampoo (no dice, itchy scalp directly after my shower) and washing only with conditioner (makes my hair too greasy). I’m sticking with my nickel and dime beauty routine forevermore.
And now back to your regularly scheduled blogging.
Interesting. I’ll have to give that a try for a few days when I don’t have to go anywhere.
As a soapmaker, I feel dutybound to mention shampoo bars to you as a possibility. A really well-made shampoo bar - difficult to find, you have to find an exceptionally good soapmaker; I haven’t perfected my shampoo bar yet - with a vinegar rinse will give you thick, shiny, clean hair and the free oils in the bar condition the scalp at the same time.
Now if you could only solve my oily, thin, fine hair issues… I’d really appreciate it.
- d
My toddler breaks out when I wash his hair with shampoo, so I rarely do so. I will try the baking soda! I won’t even have to worry about him drinking the bath water afterward.
As for shampoo bars, I tried a freebie Burt’s Bees shampoo bar on the little guy’s head and I don’t recall a skin reaction. Unfortunately, he liked the bar so much, he took it outside and washed the patio with it. I’ve been meaning to buy another bar at the store, but the price tag puts me off.
Baking soda might be just the ticket this cheap mama.
But if you put vinegar on your baking soda head, don’t you get that volacano eruption from elementary school? I suppose it’d be a good way to wake up in the morning!
I will be trying baking soda the next time I wash my hair, thanks! I have the same problem you did, my scalp is so dry and itchy and I have flaking skin right after washing it! I was at a loss as to what to do about it, not even the expensive Aveda dry scalp shampoo worked. I would love for something so simple and inexpensive to be the ticket.
My only question is whether or not you come out smelling like you’ve been playing with Easter eggs for too long? (that vinegar smell always smells like Easter at grandma’s to me)
There’s a cheap product called cholesterol which acts as a conditioner. It’s good for use once a week or once in two weeks, though I guess that varies with individual hair types.
I have been plagued with the itchy scalp since a baby! Thank you for sharing this tidbit and I’m going to try it asap. Can Apple Cider Vinegar be found anywhere?
YAY, You’ve joined the shampoo-free!!
I’m having so much fun, I can’t even tell you…
Have you been on the MotheringDotCom bulletin boards? There’s lots of great input from everyone else who’s exploring.
My curly-headed friends tell me there’s a book called _Curly Girl_ that really goes into why your shouldn’t shampoo (the book says you just need something to break the surface tension on the hair when you wash it, which is probably why baking soda does the trick). And why you should never ever ever use silicone-based products on your hair. The friends who use the things in the book are uniformly thrilled with how beautiful their hair is now.
My hair is as straight (and limp) as a straight stick, but the shampoo my husband bought last week is giving me scarecrow hair. Maybe I should just go to the baking soda routine myself for a week to try it. In the interest of scientific inquiry, I’ll report in on the results on straight hair.
Oh, I LOVE my hair now! Before, I was always pissed off at my hair, always. It took me a couple of weeks to *really* be convinced and I’m still having some adjustment issues, but in all, I’m SO pleased with how my hair looks these days. I still really can’t get over the fact that I don’t use shampoo anymore
Every couple of days I’ll be admiring it in the mirror and yell out to my boyfriend, “can you believe how great my hair looks?” Or I’ll make him feel, “see how soft?”
Dawn, have you tried any teas? I’ve “washed” with chamomile tea with honey. I also used rosemary tea (just a branch of it from a bunch I got at the market, steeped for a while). Niiice.
And whoever asked, no, you don’t end up smelling funny
If I *really* bury my nose in my hair, I can smell a faint apple cider vinegar scent, but I think it pretty much goes away once your hair is dry.
I’m very interested–my hair has been horrible lately. It seems dirty less than a day after I wash it and I’ve felt like I’m going bald. I’ve been chalking that up to either perimenopause or lasting effects from the fertility drugs, but I certainly wouldn’t doubt that it might be chemicals. I’m going to look into this now!
Is this still working for you? We have chlorinated water in my city and I’ve had itchy scalp forever. I think I’ll try it starting today. Does the witch hair phase last very long?