Shampoo Experiment - Extension

I washed my hair last night. It was the first time I put anything on my hair in a month.

Yes, for a whole month, the only thing I put on my hair was water. Really.

This is going to be a series of posts because I want to document not only my procedure and results, but also my thought process.

Today: How this all started (Background)

Technically, this all started YEARS ago when a hairstylist told me that I shouldn't shampoo every day. She recommended once a week. I tried skipping days and found that shampooing every other day worked for me. Sometimes I would skip another day, but I'd usually have greasy hair if I did. This same hairstylist explained how sulfates are really bad for your hair. You'll now see lots of shampoo bottles that say "sulfate free." My favorite are the ones that say "no sodium lauryl sulfate" which is true, but they contain various other sulfates or even just some other lauryl sulfate instead. Nice try, but I understand chemistry!

I started using sulfate-free shampoo. It was hard to find and expensive back then. The breakthrough was when I found this. Apparently someone is making a killing re-selling that stuff. I was just at a Trader Joe's last week, and it's only $3 a bottle in the store. Win! Somewhere along the way, having cheap sulfate-free shampoo lead to shampooing every day again. I'm not entirely sure why. The best reason I can come up with is that it meant that I didn't have to remember if I shampooed the previous day or not. The daily shower is something you shouldn't really have to think about after all.

Then, fast forward a few years to the shampoo experiment. This did 2 things. First, it reminded me that I don't need to shampoo every day. Every other day works just fine for me. Second, it introduced me to the concept of "no-poo" and that there are lots of people out there who shun shampoo to various degrees. Many people are in the "once a week" crowd but some don't shampoo at all... ever... So, after the shampoo experiment, I was back to every other day and sometimes every third day. But again, skipping 2 full days between shampoo days definitely lead to greasy hair. Therefore, I was generally on an every other day schedule. Yet somewhere in the back of my head was this thought that maybe I don't need shampoo at ALL. It sounds crazy but lots of people do it. Just Google it.

Then, this New York Times article came out. I was intrigued. It makes some sense. And while the author's experience wasn't entirely positive, it still seemed oddly appealing to me. It at least got me researching the concept more. What did I find? I found people who hadn't used shampoo OR soap for YEARS. Like this guy. There are a few others, but almost everything I found was men. I knew there were plenty of ladies out there that were at least shampoo-free though. The more I learned the more I thought that I just had to at least try it out (save money, easier travel, better for me and my hair? sold!) And, one of the reasons I'm documenting this whole thing is to add another female voice to this story.

I was planning to ditch soap and all my hair products and go cold turkey on everything, but on what was going to be "Day 1" of this adventure I found myself covered in sunscreen (how do I get that off without soap?) and then realized that the previous day's conditioner that was still on my hair. I wanted to go completely product-free and therefore needed to wash off the conditioner with shampoo. Next, I had the realization that I would need to use something in addition to water to shave my legs and that I definitely wanted to keep doing that. So, I decided that it would be my last day of shampoo, becoming "Day 0" and that I'd keep using my bar soap until I had done more research and figured out an alternative.

I told myself I would to go a whole month without ANY hair product. No shampoo, no conditioner, no leave-in conditioner, no sprays, nothing but water. I also told myself that I absolutely HAD to make it past the 2 week mark which I read is generally the "transition period." I also decided to go cold turkey on my face soap along with shampoo. There are a lot of reasons for this decision and I'll discuss them next week.

So for a whole month I used my bar soap and no other body hygiene products.* I still use toothpaste. I also still wash my hands (with soap) after using the bathroom and before preparing food. Oh, and while I did wash my hair last night, I didn't use traditional shampoo or conditioner (more on that later.)

*Note 1: The TDE has been deodorant-free for a couple of years now. That stuff is bad for you and you don't need it. OK, technically it's the antiperspirant that is really bad for you. Deodorant (without antiperspirant) is OK, but you don't need it. Again, there's a "transition period" but I promise your body will adjust. I mean, I tap dance a LOT and I don't need it. In fact, not long ago I put some on for just one day as I was expecting a long and sweaty day, and then cursed myself for three or four days afterwards as my body over-produced sweat in a sort of "rebound" reaction. I must thank the ITH for initially converting me to the no-deodorant club with his simple statement of "I don't use it. Do I smell bad?" 

I didn't tell anyone I was ditching shampoo, not even the ITH. I wanted to see if anyone would say something about my hair looking dirty or smelling bad or anything. I went on vacation with my the ITH's family (who probably wouldn't have said anything if they did notice) and then with my family (who definitely would have said something if it was really bad AND experienced week 4 of this experiment.) And yes, the ITH tells me when I smell bad.

What was it like to ditch most of my hygiene products for a whole month? Did anyone comment on my hair during the process? You'll just have to come back later to find out!