Three months into the no-shampoo experiment.

I'm not sure what to conclude about this hair experiment--no commercial shampoo, just baking soda and vinegar once a week. The picture above was taken yesterday in the same location and at the same approximate time of day as the picture I posted in mid-Oct -- although it's with a different camera.  Here's my hair in late July (yet a third camera) before I stopped using shampoo completely; my hair looks almost red in that photo and it's decidedly not red--maybe it's a reflection from my shirt and life preserver.

About a week ago, my hair felt very dry so I impulsively put some Neem oil on it one night, just a tiny bit. I combed it through my hair, and then thoroughly rinsed my hair the next morning in the shower. The hair above is about 3 days after that rinsing. It's also gotten very cold so dry hair would be expected.

After 3 months, I'm beginning to think that my hair looks basically the same whether or not I use shampoo. I'll probably continue to avoid it just because I'd like to get in a full year using just baking soda and vinegar.

I stubbornly want this no-shampoo experiment to work, meaning I want to learn for sure that shampoos are worthless. I'll confess why: I like to be right about things, and I'd love to find out that something we've been trained to do for decades is pointless. I should be ashamed to feel that way. Maybe I am. It's some sort of power thing maybe, or maybe it's about wanting to feel superior or smarter than...who? Anyone? Everyone? Will have to think about that.

I'm vain enough that if I begin to think my hair would look better using shampoo, I'll go back to it. My need to be right isn't as strong as my vanity. That might change though, as time marches on. I hope I don't lose my sense of vanity completely but I know I've lost a lot of it. You should see how I dress when I go grocery shopping. One step up from going in my nightgown and bathrobe.

Fascinating stuff, huh? Only 14 more days of daily blogging. I wonder if I'll continue in December?

Giving up traditional shampoo. For no particular reason.

My hair with no shampoo for 7 weeks.

I'm trying a no-shampoo experiment. My last shampoo with a commercial hair product was August 15, 2014.

Here's my history so far:
Aug 16-24, beach vacation: washed hair with ocean water and tap water only.

Aug 25: 1st washing with baking soda solution (2 teaspoons baking soda diluted in 24 oz of water) followed by a vinegar solution rinse (2 teaspoons vinegar diluted in 24 oz of water).
Aug 26-Sept 1: washed with water, every 2nd or 3rd day.
Sept 2: 2nd washing with baking soda/vinegar (BS/V).
Sept 3-9:  washed with water only.
Sept 10: 3rd BS/V washing.
Sept 11-19: water only.
Sept 20: 4th BS/V washing.
Sept 21-27: water only.
Sept 28: 5th BS/V washing. (Added a rosemary water rinse--steep fresh rosemary in boiling water for 15 mins; cool down and rinse hair.)
Sept 29-Oct 4: water only.
Oct 5: 6th BS/V washing, followed by  a rosemary rinse.


This experiment came about without any planning or forethought. Being at the beach reminded me how much better my hair feels and curls up when I'm there. I always think it's the salt water. So by the end of Day 1 at the beach, when I took my first shower, I said "I'll just skip the shampoo." And for the rest of the week, I washed my hair with water only.

When we got home from the beach, I Googled "no shampoo hair wash" and realized that there's a lot written on the subject. A lot. Another blogger I follow, by pure chance, wrote about the no-shampoo method during the week I was at the beach (and offline). So that seemed like a sign from somewhere that I should try this out.

So far my hair feels good, although it didn't really feel bad before I started all this. I do think I notice that it never feels like it needs to be washed. It doesn't feel greasy or flat. It's keeping a curl, or wave actually, better than before. And I think the BS/V might be lightening it a bit because the gray doesn't show as much, and there's a lot of gray on that old head.

I have no faith in much of what I read online, pro or con, about this washing technique. For one thing, there's a lot of questionable chemistry in some of the arguments on either side. But giving up commercial shampoos is attractive to me. I'm suspicious enough to not trust shampoo manufacturers. Do we REALLY need to use those products? Are our scalps and hair dirty unless we use them? If I were religious, I'd ask myself "did Eve suffer because she didn't have L'Oreal to wash her hair with?"

I like the idea of not having to "recycle" the shampoo bottles. (Yeah, right, like plastic bottles truly get recycled; tell me another fairy tale. That's a rant for another day). I like the idea of not putting those chemicals on my body and down the drain into the water supply. I like saving a buck. I like experiments.

There are some scary videos out there about how using baking soda will make your hair fall out. I'm skeptical. Maybe people who put pure baking soda paste on their hair every day or two have problems, but those people are, sorry, stupid. On the other hand, I'm only 7 weeks into this and I may be bald in a month.