41 Days Without Shampoo

Are you aware of the “no poo” movement? It’s a popular practice in the “green” or natural-minded community meaning “no shampoo”. The idea is that our scalps and hair are fully able to cleanse themselves naturally and that commercial shampoos and conditioners add unnecessary chemicals to the follicles and strands, weighing them down and causing all kinds of icky hair problems. Most “no poo” advocates will tell you that as soon as you remove these chemical additives, your scalp should start to regulate itself and your hair will return to its natural, beautiful, manageable state. You will have amazing hair, and you’ll never have to wash it again!

As a busy mom of two who sometimes doesn’t get a chance to shampoo regularly anyway, the idea sounded good to me. I decided to give it a try for 3 months. On the day after Christmas, I stopped shampooing my hair. The “no poo” regimen suggests using baking soda and apple cider vinegar in lieu of shampoo and conditioner. I made a squirt bottle of each and kept them in my shower.

The first few weeks were rough. Instead of being amazing, my hair got really, really dry. I had to get a haircut and explain to the stylist that she couldn’t shampoo my hair. While I was there, she pointed out that part of the dryness was a result of putting baking soda, a drying agent, on my already color-treated hair. Oops, I had never thought about that! Apparently most of the crunchy folks who do “no poo” don’t get highlights regularly. Of course they don’t.

I reduced the amount of baking soda I was using and started massaging my scalp with a light moisturizing oil. For about 10 days, things were smooth sailing. Well, except for the fact that my hair was constantly frizzy, difficult to straighten fully, and took more than twice as long to blow-dry. I don’t have 25 minutes to stand at the mirror with a blow dryer, so half of the time I didn’t even fully dry my hair in the morning.

Then the scalp issues started. I’ve always had a dry scalp, and I’ve always had to use medicated shampoo. I do hate that I have to use chemicals to keep it under control. It would have been so satisfying to know that my body could regulate this on its own without help. Unfortunately, this was not the case. Somewhere around the 39th day of this experiment, I actually developed sores on my scalp. There were other even grosser things going on with my head, but I don’t really want to talk about it.

On the 41st day of this experiment, I decided to give it up. The next morning, I stepped into the shower with my faithful Head and Shoulders shampoo, and a feeling of disappointment. I saw a difference immediately. When I dried my hair, it took only 10 minutes. It was silky smooth. My scalp had stopped throbbing.

As someone who is often identified as a “green” blogger, I was a little disappointed that I failed to conquer this challenge. It’s another way that I might be seen as “not green enough” by the natural parenting community. I got a little discouraged, and I was afraid to blog about it.

Pondering this failure, I was reminded of how I also tend to compare my parenting or my children to others. The thought that always comforts me when I doubt my parenting is that each child is different. What works for your children doesn’t work for mine. Some of the things other kids enjoy, my kids will hate. A remedy that calms my baby might not work for yours. Your children sleep through the night…mine might never!

Why would I judge my scalp, or any part of my body, any differently? My head is different than anyone else. Some can skip shampoo, but I can’t. I can only work with what God gave me. I am thankful to have hair at this time in my life. I hope to encourage you with this thought as well. Is there an area of your life that you are comparing to others? Let’s let go of these things and be thankful for what we do have.

“No poo” was a fun experiment, but it didn’t work. I’m thankful for the ability to wash my hair every day, no matter how “green” it might not be.