Shampoo free: Week 1

Well, I have taken the plunge and am no longer using shampoo! I know, you're probably thinking I'm crazy, but let me assure you I am still "washing" my hair!

For a very detailed post on the how's and why's, you can go here. The basics are washing with a baking soda and water mixture and conditioning with an apple cider vinegar and water mixture every other day to begin with (with a plain hot water wash on the other days). Then moving to only washing with baking soda when you actually need it.

And for a few extras, you can go here.

My reasons for making the switch are pretty straightforward. Sure, environmental factors played a part, but the most important reason for me is eczema. I have pretty bad eczema on my scalp and NOTHING I have tried (and I have tried all sorts of shampoos with herbal treatments, eczema shampoos, organic/natural, etc.) has had long term success. In fact, a lot of shampoos made it much worse. I figured this method was as close to natural as I'm going to get because the ultimate goal - once your scalp has been weaned off of traditional shampoos- is only washing 1-2 times per week!!

This week was my first week of shampoo free living. I'm still weaning my hair and scalp off of conventional products so the first few days I continued to use conditioner on my ends.

Sunday evening - baking soda paste, condition with anti-breakage conditioner
Monday evening - HOT water wash, condition with anti-breakage conditioner
Tuesday evening - baking soda paste, condition with anti-breakage conditioner
Wednesday afternoon - HOT water wash, no conditioning
Thursday - no wash
Friday afternoon - baking soda paste, condition with apple cider vinegar rinse
Saturday evening - baking soda paste, apple cider vinegar rinse

Also, Saturday evening was my first attempt at letting my hair dry with out brushing it while wet.

Results after week 1:
* My scalp is a tad oily, this is just my body trying to figure out what my natural oil production should be.
* My hair dries faster
* I have softer hair once it's dry.
* Finger picking thru my hair to get out major tangles doesn't cause nearly as much breakage as brushing
* Letting my hair dry is hard to do, but the texture of my hair is so much better when it's air dried

My natural hair type is fine, frizzy and semi-curly. I'm hoping that the frizzies are tamed once my natural oils are spread to the ends and my hair will actually be the nice kind of curly, rather than the crazy kind!!!