“No Poo” is short for “No Shampoo”. I have almost been avoiding shampoo for about a year now. It has actually been surprisingly good for my hair. It all started when I noticed that my hair was getting very knotted and dry after using shampoo, and then I would need a lot of conditioner to pull a brush through it which would weigh down my hair. I did some searching on the internet, and I saw that some people were using this “no poo” method to wash their hair without commercial shampoos. I am about 90% “no poo” now.
On days I do not go to work, sometimes I just wash my hair with water. When I do go to work, I use baking soda (1 tbsp) in water (1 cup) for my shampoo and 1 part vinegar to 3 parts water in a spray bottle for my conditioner. I find avoiding shampoo has been really good for me. My scalp is able to release natural oils to hydrate my hair, and it is no longer as dry as it was. My hair is much healthier appearing and has natural body. The commercial shampoo was drying out my hair, and the conditioner was weighing it down. There is an adjustment period where my hair was a little oily, but now my hair is much better. It rarely ever gets tangled.
I still use shampoo after getting into a chlorine pool. I find it is exceedingly difficult to get chlorine completely out of my hair unless I use shampoo. I try to use shampoos with natural ingredients (and not man-made chemicals) when I can to decrease exposure to toxic ingredients found in beauty products. In general, I wash my hair a lot less, which is good for my hair. Plus, it saves me a lot of money on shampoo and conditioner! People ask me if my hair smells because I don’t use shampoo. It does not really smell like anything. It is odorless. There is not a bad smell.
If you find that the commercial beauty products are drying out your hair like I did, maybe give “no poo” a go!