No shampoo or shampoo?

bigcurls22 · 03-16-2007, 02:55 PM

I've read the curly girl book and it says not to use shampoo. Im confused though, the longest ive gone without using shampoo is 4 days and my hair looks greasy. What do you guys think?

Oregano (formerly babywavy) · 03-16-2007, 03:46 PM

The key is to really scrub, scrub, scrub your scalp w/ your fingertips while under the shower stream. This is called "water washing". If you just go w/o shampooing, and w/o wetting down or anything, you probably are going to be a little greasy. But the combination of breaking up the oils w/ your fingertips, and the water distributing it down the hair shaft, it seperates some of the oil.

You'll also hear many people talk about co-washing, b/c the conditioner will break up the oils, and act like a "wash" w/o overly drying out, or cleansing out the oils in your hair.

The important thing is to not use products that will build up since you're not using shampoo. But you will find many people on this site who haven't used shampoo for YEARS - so it can be done, if it's done RIGHT.

CuteCoils · 03-16-2007, 04:15 PM

I think it will vary depending upon your individual needs--or if you use a lot of products.

I find that a modified routine works great for me. I'm on a modified bohemian routine aka I don't rinse daily (but, basically the breakdown is the same; Three co-washes, then poo/clarify every 4th wash).

but the main thing is if you feel you need to periodically shampoo, use a product that does not contain any SLS, SLES, SMS or other harsh cleansers.

Look for natural sudsing agents like, castile, quilaja bark or yucca-root.

HTH!

curlsx45 · 03-16-2007, 08:57 PM

It really depends on how much sebum (natural oil) your body produces. During your teens supposedly a lot more is produced. As of late, even non sulfate poos have not been doing the job getting rid of all the grease/product build up. It really depends on your individual needs. You should probably try the conditioner wash only, make sure to really scrub and work at the scalp, and if after a few days there is noticable build up that isn't going away, try a non-sulfate poo. Some of these include Devacurl's No Poo, Jessicurl's HCC or GLS, Burt's Bees Shampoos. These are much less harsh and are able to get the build up off usually without drying out the hair too much. Good Luck!

Suburbanbushbabe · 03-17-2007, 01:46 PM

I agree the key to not shampooing is a good frequent scalp massage. I massage either in the morning with wet hands before damp styling, always massage under a stream of water before co-washing. It's very pleasurable. I also massage at night sometimes, on dry hair. I'm trying to go longer between shampooing and it seems to be working. It has been 12 days since my last gentle poo (Mastey Traite). I have co-washed 3 times in that period. I usually alternate a damp style day with a dry style day.