Lovelyish

I don’t see using drug-store alternatives as inherently worse for your hair than high-end, as I’ve read ingredients off the back of both and found myself being unable to pronounce at least half of the ingredients, let alone even knowing what the hell they are. But, I do agree that water-only or no-poo are great alternatives for the average hair type, with co-washing probably better suited for those with really coarse hair. I am water-only, but my routine doesn’t sound nearly as hard as what was mentioned above. All I do is comb and brush with a boar bristle brush before my shower, usually spending a minute or two doing so. Once a week or less (I don’t seem to need to do it too often anymore now that I’ve been water-only since May-ish) I’ll do a more thorough brushing, where I’ll separate the hair into sections and slowly brush, and this can take 10-20 minutes. Skipping the thorough brush just means that my hair will start feeling a bit heavier at the roots, but it doesn’t make it look bad or anything. In the shower I just massage as I would when using shampoo. I do, however, shower daily. When I tried water-only last year, I’d only rinse it 1-2 times a week, the same schedule I had for shampooing, and it was a hot mess. It was greasy and almost sticky with oiliness, and I was also not brushing it so the oil did not distribute. I don’t think a water-only method actually has to be harder than shampooing as long as you make sure to be more regular with it. 

I tried no-poo with baking soda and vinegar. Never heard of using castile soap. I’d probably recommend the baking soda though, as it is alkaline and the vinegar is acidic, so they balance each other out. But the baking soda wash itched and made my scalp smell funky, while the vinegar made my hair slimy. The downside to this is that you really need to go through a lot of trial and error to figure out the right proportions of water to vinegar, as well as how often to use it. I’d recommend water-only over that myself, although I do agree that the smell of vinegar in the hair is actually quite nice. Like, really nice. But I also love the smell of tea tree oil as well as garlic (on its own, not together), so.. lol.

Castile soap and other oil based soaps are difficult to use in hard water areas. That’s one point of the vinegar rinse, to break down the minerals that make washing away soap scum difficult. Still then I haven’t had much success with oil based soaps. My water is too hard. It was WAY better when I have soft water (at my home in the city) but my scalp doesn’t like the high pH.

I use conditioner only with -cone free conditioner, and I have relatively straight and medium hair (not too fine but not coarse either). Conditioner only is the only thing that has worked long term for me. I have a blog post dedicated to the method so I don’t feel like typing it out here again.

Most silicone buildup can be removed with a simple clarifying shampoo. I’ve never heard of it being permanent. But, there are hair types that thrive with silicones.

I quit using commercial shampoo, conditioner, and face products in June of this year. I use baking soda to cleanse my hair, diluted apple cider vinegar to condition my hair, lavender castle soap to wash my face, and aloe vera and jojoba oil to moisturize. I must say I have the best hair and best skin of my life after switching. There was a transition period, but it passed quickly and was so worth it. I actually write about natural skin and hair care on my blog, check it out for recipes and tips if you are interested in getting started!

I use normal shampoos bought in the store, like Garnier, Herbal Essences and Wash & Go. I don’t have any problems with my hair, in fact people regularly compliment me, saying they wished their hair was like mine.

I do occasionally put mustard oil in my hair, leave it for a couple of hours before showering and it seems to work.

i’ve been wanting to try the baking soda/apple cider vinegar combination.  but for now, i have switched to shampoos and conditioners that are more organic.  right now, i’m using some Burts Bees stuff.  i’ve also used the Yes to Carrots and Yes to Tomatoes lines.  

i tried water only, but boar bristle brushes don’t get through my extremely thick hair well enough.  

I’ve been using Pantene’s 2-in-1 shampoo & conditioner with no issues and have been complimented on my hair, so I guess it’s whatever works for the individual. 

I currently wash my hair every other day and would like to try every other other day, not certain how to say that, . I’ve used Apple cider vinegar, which has a pretty definite/strong odor, in my hair and it didn’t smell at all. My boyfriend was convinced I would smell afterward so I rinsed with it and he had no idea I had done so. I suppose that guy didn’t rinse it out lightly with water afterward?

I just use normal shampoo and conditioner.  If I don’t wash my hair with shampoo, it gets really greasy and gross.  I might try to use vinegar and baking soda at some point, but I’m not sure.

@too_pretty_to_die@xanga - There are a lot of different types of boar bristle brushes, some for short hair, long hair, and there are some that have stronger bristles! Nylon bristle brushes are recommended for really coarse hair I believe, you could always try that for your thicker hair. Otherwise, just sectioning it off makes a big difference instead of brushing it all at once.

Currently, it is a lot but not really. I straighten my hair once to twice a year. My hair is trimmed once a year. I wash my hair once a month and every two week I wet my hair and add leave-in conditioner to my hair (Beautiful curls) if I need a deep conditioner, I use egg and mayonnaise with a shower cap over the hair. I tried the hot oil treatment but it is a pain to remove.

Daily, I keep my hair in a style that does not require it to be down. (french braid, buns, twists, etc.) It gets braided at night and during the day it gets brushed and I use Argan Oil focusing on the tips of the hair to avoid some of the breakage I get. Other oils? Coconut oil- my hair loves it!

I am all about the natural products especially since I am african american and I have seen first hand how harsh black girl hair products are. My hair is much more soft and manageable.

LUSH bar shampoos are really fantastic. I really like their shine one. 

:S “…which isn’t surprisingly not unpleasant.” Ummmm, what?

I use Joico’s KPAK Shampoo and Pantene’s Beautiful Lengths Conditioner, and I’m really happy with my hair. It’s over 20 inches long, and it’s really really healthy. 
@bookiecutie - I’ve been really curious about their bars. What’s your hair type though? I’m not sure if it would work on my hair. I have very thick, long, wavy hair, which has a tendency to get greasy quickly at the roots.

oh the vinegar thing.You have to shampoo your hair, then rinse it with a few capfuls of vinegar diluted in about a half gallon of water. Let it sit on your head for a few minutes (long enough to shave one leg or wash your body), then rinse rinse rinse with warm water (NOT HOT). This gets all the build up of hair products out of your hair, doesn’t upset the oil balance, and does NOT leave your hair smelling like vinegar. Really makes your hair squeaky clean and doesn’t dry it out!

Baking soda scrub and apple cider vinegar rinse.

I think it all depends on your hair type and how hard your water is.  I’ve got really curly hair which gets irritated or dry as a result of using conventional shampoos, so I use either Dr Organic’s olive oil shampoo or Giovanni 50/50 shampoo, depending on my mood.  I then follow with a conditioner rinse (I use Raspberry and Macadamia Nut conditioner by Superdrug), followed by a large blob of Tresemmé’s nourishing moisture conditioner.  It works quite well.

I started using an organic, sulfate-free shampoo, and my hair is amazing and falling out less. Totally worth the extra $4. 

I really want to jump on the “no-poo” bandwagon, but I don’t know how to do it without looking nasty for several weeks first, and I really can’t afford that with college and interviews. 

@ashleynicole - hahaha i’m glad i’m not alone on the vinegar smell thing. also, i recently kicked all the acne chemicals i was on, and surprisingly (I guess I’ve actually been out of the woods for awhile) all my acne cleared up, and it even coincided with my…hormonal time that makes me break out usually. Baby steps I guess, but it’s cool to see how our bodies know how to fix themselves when you give them the chance.

I go conditioner only daily, with the exception of sulfate-free shampoo + deep conditioning twice a week. I just use Suave (one of the cheapest, lightest conditioners at the drug store) on my non-shampoo days and really take a few minutes to massage it into my scalp the way I would shampoo. My hair is straight, long, and fine but I have a lot of it. This regimen makes it a lot more manageable and shiny without being oily/weighed down in the least. Plus my hair smells yumz every day

I like the Organix line… I recently ran out and ended up temporarily switching to just plain ol’ craptastic Suave… and I can DEFINITELY tell the difference.

i’m trying to make the switch to more organic / healthy / eco friendly products . i really love my Organic wear mascara that i just purchased . i’m also a fan of the Yes to _________ lines [ so far i've tried tomatoes, blueberries & carrots ]

I’ve been using baking soda to wash my hair, and a diluted mix of apple cider vinegar and honey as a conditioning rinse. At first, my hair was gross–super oily, static-y, and limp–but after a couple of weeks, it started to look nice. I don’t think it has the same sheen that it did with shampoo and conditioner, but it’s still very soft, and it’s much less oily than before. I used to wash with shampoo in the morning, and by the evening my hair would be greasy. Now I can wash every other day with no problems.

Adding honey to the vinegar definitely helped too. It makes my hair feel much softer than vinegar alone does. (I think it’s also lightened my hair slightly, which I wasn’t anticipating, but it’s kind of nice.)

I still use shampoo about once a week. Sometimes, baking soda just doesn’t make my hair feel very clean. Plus sometimes I like to use homemade hair masks with egg or yogurt or something, and baking soda isn’t enough to get it all out.

If you want more ideas on all-natural beauty treatments, crunchybetty.com is really helpful.

You probably also don’t know how chemotherapy works, nor the exact processes of nuclear fusion, so we should totally not treat cancer and should also block out the sun right?!

Just saying, “I don’t get it” is not a valid reason to question why or how something works and label it as toxic.

i’ve been hip to this “all natural” craze for a mean minute. when i was a senior in high school, i switched from whatever product i was using at the time to burt’s bees hair care line. i love many of their products, but their shampoo and conditioner combos in various flavours (i remember using the pomegranate and another one…) left me really missing lathering agents (sulfates, etc.). furthermore, my hair was coming out dry and tangled. i haven’t tried any “all natural” shampoos or conditioners since then. for me, it has become about balancing over-the-counter hair care products with a timely routine and a select few natural ingredients.

i straighten my hair relentlessly. i have naturally thin, fine hair that curls into ringlets about the circumference of drinking straws. once a week, i’ll “pre-poo” (a deep conditioning treatment that occurs on dry hair before shampooing) my hair with a combination of honey and olive oil (warmed for twenty seconds in the microwave). honey, you may know, is a humectant, meaning it draws water into the hair shaft, and olive oil is used in many hot oil treatments to repair damage and add shine and lustre etc. (can be used to also “seal” moisture in).

in the shower, i shampoo once with pantene relaxed and naturals shampoo (loaded with silicone, dimethicone, you-name-it-cone, it’s-in-there-cone…), rinse, and condition with the companion conditioner. after rinsing and getting out of the shower, i deep condition with a mixture of a nondescript pantene deep conditioner for fine hair, and honey and olive oil. that sits in my hair while i cool my heels under a hooded dryer for at least fifteen minutes. then, i apply a serum (also -cone laden) and a heat protectant, blow dry (or stretch my curls out in a less heat-damaging fashion, as i’ve been trying to do lately) and straighten and my hair comes out marvelously for the week ahead.

i said all that to say this: if you’re big into heat styling (comme moi) -cones in shampoos, conditioners and other hair products can help “weigh hair down” (to the best of my knowledge) to achieve maximum sleekness. now, of course, if you use these products every day, you’re bound to get that build-up mentioned in the OP. but, in moderation and depending on your hair type, -cones aren’t all bad. also, i use a buttload of olive oil during this routine, and that can leave my hair feeling greasy. the harsh sulfates in the pantene shampoo help (once again, to the best of my knowledge) hydrolise the majority of that oil, but still leaves my hair really soft, balanced, shiny and manageable.

I don’t wash my hair regularly. I try to do water-only about half the time. I have quite thin and dry hair, and it is a nightmare to comb out after using shampoo unless I leave conditioner in it. All those chemicals cannot be good for our bodies. Some people like the tight squeaky clean feeling of their skin, hair, etc…but I don’t. I find that I break out more when I wash my skin too much.

Yeah, I’m mostly only conditioner… I just shampoo a couple times a week and my hair seems fine.

@penguinkoala084@twitter - I’ve had similar success with Yes To Tomatoes for acne issues… I should check out the shampoo now, I’m slowly replacing all my products with Yes To.

@soulfuric - You’re right, I don’t know how those things work but they are not relevant to my post, nor did I say WE should stop doing anything. I was seeing if anyone could help me find a more natural product or at least tell me what is going into my shampoo ( I had listed out the ingredients but they got edited out).

I never said anything was toxic either, I would just rather have natural products, or at least know what the ingredients are. No  need to be snarky.

To EVERYONE who has answered-Thank you. The response is overwhelming and I will definitely be taking notes. I use Dove right now, and it works great on my hair. I have no problems with it at all, but I would just like to lead a more natural (greener, if you will) lifestyle and I started out by pointing out that I didn’t know what was going into my hair and wanted to change that. I’m a college student, so buying organic shampoos might be out of my budget since they tend to be more costly, but I will be looking into the baking soda/ vinegar thing.

I use Herbal Essences regularly and my hair doesn’t have any problems, seriously. I don’t really have money or access to fancy organic shampoos, though those sound really nice. I’d like to try them one day but there is no way I’d ever go without shampoo. My hair stylist always tells me how good my hair is, and I’d really rather pass on going through a long period of oily gross hair, especially if it doesn’t work out for me anyway.

Baking Soda and Apple Cider Vinegar. I cannot stop raving about it! I have been “no ‘poo” for nearly a month. It is just as easy as a bottle of shampoo, and my hair feels healthier and more beautiful than ever! I’m so impressed. (plus it’s far cheaper than bottled shampoo- traditional OR “healthy”)

1T of BS per cup of water as the wash (into the scalp), then rinse well. 1T of ACV per cup of water as a conditioner and rinse well. This can obviously be tweaked as needed for your hair type! (part of the beauty of it!). I make up a big bottle of each in advance.

Just research “no ‘poo” movement to find out more details. It’s awesome.

This is really an awful case of the blind leading the blind.
You said you didn’t know what those chemicals were? How can you even know if they are good and bad? How can anyone say anything is better than something else if you don’t even know what it is? Yes, chemical compounds that are 36 letters long can be just as harmless as olive oil. Do your research, learn what’s good and bad so you can make intelligent, informed choices.

I don’t have enough money to care about things like this, but if you do have the time on your hands, more power to you. 78 cent Suave is where I’m at haha

@LightBlue21@xanga - That’s funny, because I intentionally did the transition while I was interviewing for a new job. But my logic there was the fact that, whenever I interview, I pull my long hair into a tight bun, so the fact that it was a little greasier than usual didn’t really matter, because it was slicked back and pinned up anyway. The transition period also wasn’t as long for me as most people say it would be. It was really only bad for about a week.

@hollowhopes@xanga - That’s a pretty good price for shampoo, but I think the baking soda/vinegar might have it beat. One box of baking soda and one bottle of vinegar has lasted me since May! I’m pretty sure I paid less than five bucks for both, and they’re not even halfway gone. So that’s pretty much five bucks a year. I guess it depends how fast you go through your shampoo – I would never really keep track…