I am blessed with long thick locks of hair that grow at an exponential rate. But I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with it. Washing and blow drying it just seems like such a time waster. And with every stroke of my hair brush through my hair it feels as if a tiny needle is pricking my scalp – not nice. But I love that my hair doesn’t need much primping to look nice.
Washing my hair has always been far too big of a task for my liking first thing in the morning. Taking a good solid ten minutes in the shower and a further 30 minutes of drying time – who has time for that!?! Not only was washing my hair time consuming but with every shampoo I used I found I got what I paid for. Cheap meant squeaky clean and a tangled mess after blow drying, and expensive meant – well, expensive.
I searched the web for a good compromise and found something quite interesting – the no-poo method. Say what!?! It means no shampoo, but it does not mean not washing your hair. It merely means not using shampoo to wash it. All you need is bicarbonate of soda. Honestly, this stuff is so multi-functional I just went ahead and bought a 10kg bag of it from here. So now all I have to do is get a bit of bicarbonate of soda in a cup, mix with a little tiny bit of cold water to make a paste and rub into my scalp on a wet head. Leave it in for a few minutes to work and then rinse well with warm water.
You’ll find as you’re massaging the bicarb of soda into your scalp your hair will start to feel more silky and your fingers will brush through your hair quite nicely. It removes all the dirt and oil from you scalp without leaving behind any residues or toxins. It’s simple, dirt cheap and the best part is I now only have to wash my hair once a week. That’s right, only once.
Now transitioning from shampoo to bicarbonate of soda is not a quick switch. It takes time for your scalp to adjust. Because the more you wash your hair with shampoo the more you need to wash your hair. It’s the same thing as using soap on your face. The soap removes all the natural oils and so your body has to work overtime to replace it all. So give yourself at least 2-4 weeks for your head to ‘get in the game’ and you’ll end up with perfectly clean, naturally cared for hair that is seriously low maintenance.
When I started out I needed to wash it about every three days, but now once a week, maybe twice if I’ve exercised, is all it takes to keep my hair looking like this,
This is my hair six days since my last wash. You can condition your hair as normal, but I don’t bother with this. Every now and again I’ll pour a little apple cider vinegar on my ends. It brings back some nice shine and gets rid of split ends. I like to rub in coconut oil on my damp hair as a little post wash conditioner, but again I hardly ever do this. So if you’re fed up of having to wash, blow dry, style and repeat day in and day out, then give this a go and give it some time to prove itself. Here is a list of the steps to washing no-poo style:
- Mix 1-2 tablespoons of bicarbonate of soda with a little cold water to make a paste (this is not a science so don’t get hung up on consistency)
- In shower get all your hair nice and wet
- Separate your hair into sections and take bicarb mix and rub into your scalp all over – massage well, you do not put it all over the rest of your hair, just the scalp and roots.
- Leave in for a few minutes and then rinse well with water – don’t forget behind your ears!
- Use conditioner on your ends or spray/soak with apple cider vinegar.
- Rinse and you’re done!
Here’s a closer look at my roots so you can see there’s no dandruff and what not!
Have you ever tried the no-poo method? Share your experience in the comments.
Photography by Tyron Cupido – thanks babe x
Edit Note: Just to mention that I do not dye my hair and have been told by a hair dresser friend that using bicarb of soda on dyed hair can fade/strip the colour.
Jenny Cupido 
Do you blow dry your hair after? Do you use bicarbonate of soda to wash your children’s hair?
I’m going to buy some this week and let you know how it goes. Thank you for sharing your knowledge 🙂 x
I do blow dry my hair after. It takes almost 18 hours for my hair to dry naturally! I did use this on my kids for a bit but because the paste is cold it freaked them out too much, so just switched to organic kids shampoo. Hope it works for you though! xx
So interesting! I’ve already switched to apple cider vinegar mixed with water for my conditioner, and am about to try no shampoo. I was thinking of using a simple castile soap mixture, but if that doesn’t work, maybe I’ll give this a try! Thanks for sharing : )
Castile soap can actually work too well on hair and make you hair quite stringy and tangled. If you want to use soap though try mixing it with coconut milk. Super moisturising and great for hair. I use it on my kids and works great. X
Thanks for the tip!!
I have been thinking about doing this. Thanks for adding another testimonial to help me make my decision! (a visit from your Thrifty Thursday link up)
Thanks for reading! It’s definitely worth trying. Let me know how you get on with it. X
My father in law has been telling me about this. I’m going to have to give it a try.
Go for it! You do need to give your hair time to adjust so be patient. Let me know how you get on. I’d love to hear about your experience with it.
Pingback: Week-end Wandering | What I Loved This Week| Living Well Spending Less
I have been using this on my daughter and I keep having people ask what I’ve been doing to her hair. I swear it is thicker and softer then it ever has been and as a bonus it doesn’t hurt her eyes. I us bicarb soda and water for her shampoo and then a bit of coconut oil as a leave in conditioner. I’m just finishing up my last bottle of shampoo and I’m making the switch too.
That’s so awesome! Love hearing how it’s working for others and especially kids. Thanks for sharing!
There are so many great alternatives to the normal commercialized products… thank you for sharing this one. 🙂
You’re welcome! It’s a very different experience for normal shampoo but really works just as well. X
I really should try this. I don’t know I’m scared to give it a shot. I have long thick hair too, and hate having to wash it.
It’s very simple but it is a change from shampoo. I tip my head upside down to rub the baking soda into my scalp as it’s hard for me to get to the back of my head. I prefer making a paste as well so it doesn’t feel so cold but it really does work. Clean fuss free hair.
WOW!!! Thanks so much for sharing this! I have three girls, plus myself and we can really benefit from these tips. Thanks for linking to What You Wish Wednesday!
I was reading your blog this morning, so great. We have three girls also and the amount of cleaning and combing – it’s enough to make me want to eat a chocolate bar just to get through it! But this is such a cheap and effective way of maintaining really healthy hair. I think I’ll share a post on how to take care of it post shower to avoid awful tangles and hours spent brushing. Thanks for your lovely comment! xx
Pingback: All Things Thursday Link Up Party {No. 48}
Visiting from Thriving Thursdays – great post – I love, love, love natural hair products. It’s amazing how simple our everyday products can be – there is no need to buy any of the expensive stuff – the cheaper stuff works well, too….
Totally agree! Ive loved learning all about natural health. Its become a passion of mine. xx