No Shampoo? No Problem
Most of the articles that I have written since starting this blog have been focused on nutrition and exercise. Considering that overall health is the main focus of this blog, I am going to switch gears to a personal hygiene practice that I have undertaken.
For the last year I have not washed my hair with shampoo or any other chemically created substance.
"Gross! Isn't your hair greasy and disgusting?" Is a pretty common reaction when I tell people this.
And the answer is no. My hair looks exactly the same as when I did wash my hair. I personally think it has more volume and control, but I'm biased 
Why did I give up washing my hair?
First, let me make it clear that I do wash my hair, with water. I just don't use any shampoo.
Biologically speaking, we do not need to wash our hair. Our bodies naturally produce oils in our hair. These oils protect our hair from drying out and falling off of our heads.
When shampoo is used, it washes away all of the oils in our hair. Our bodies, in their infinite wisdom, create more oils to compensate for the oil we wash away with shampoo.
Because our bodies are producing more oil than we naturally need, our hair becomes "greasy" looking after a day or two without washing.
The solution?
I forgot where I heard this, but I thought it would be fun to try. Not only would I save money on shampoo, I would also stop the habit of dumping large amounts of chemical shampoo into the city sewage system, and I would save a lot of time in the shower.
For the first 2-3 weeks, my body was still stuck in Herbal Essences-addiction-mode. My hair was clean after I showered, but soon after it would look like I rubbed bacon grease on my head. (I buzzed my hair really short for the experiment by the way).
After those 2-3 weeks, my hair started to produce normal levels of oil and looked fine again. It has been a little less than a year and I have yet to wash my hair with shampoo.
For some reason my mother and my sister find this truly amazing and seek to tell everybody they know that "Ryan hasn't washed his hair in 7 months! Wanna touch it?" Which I obligingly allow. Not only do people get to touch my hair (which for some reason I really like. I'm weird), they also get up close and personal with a non-shampooed head.
I know that this kind of thing would be very difficult for a women with long hair to do (unless they hung out in a dungeon for a month). So I recommend cutting the times that you shampoo your hair in half. I know that my mother only washes her hair every 2 or 3 days and she hasn't lost all of her hair...yet. I have also spoken with other women who only wash their hair every couple of days, and they admit that they love their hair the days after not washing it.
One final note. For men with dandruff. This may be a cure. Anti-dandruff shampoo has a chemical in it called salicylic acid (and coal tar? WTF!). This chemical clears away the dead skin cells that flake off and slows down their production. But it does not solve the problem, it only masks it. I personally do not suffer from excess head snow, but for those who do, try this an see if it works. Let us know!
Also, for those who are wondering how long it takes for my hair to get that "greasy" look, I honestly do not know. I only shower maybe 2-3 times a week (water is a precious resource!) and my hair never looks or feels oily. Maybe I should see how long I can go without any form of hair washing? Possibly a new experiment for me to try!
Hope every one has a very Happy Holiday!
Till next time,
Ryan
Twitter
Facebook
December 20th, 2009 - 12:21
Do you wash your body?
December 20th, 2009 - 16:02
My boyfriend occasionally skips shampoo as well… I think he just does it when he is lazy or in a hurry (after hockey games… GROSS). I actually don’t care, but I can always tell when he doesn’t use shampoo because his hair doesn’t smell good like it usually does, it just smells like grease. I am very pro-soap
December 20th, 2009 - 19:22
Patty,
Thanks for commenting!
Yes I do wash my body. Only with all-natural soap though
- Ryan
December 20th, 2009 - 19:25
Shea
After intense physical activity (a lot of sweat) then his hair would most definitely smell bad. Especially if he shampoos on a regular basis. Question for you though. Being a women, do you shampoo or condition everyday? Thanks for commenting!
-Ryan
December 20th, 2009 - 19:29
i tried a little experiment of my own. i havent washed my nutsack in four months and let me tell you… it is fowl smelling. this is a great experiment and it produces a scent that attracts all of the ladies
December 22nd, 2009 - 10:56
hey this is totally unrelated, but I was reading Men’s Health yesterday (Idk if you read that) but they talk about some foods having endocrine disrupters and how plastic wrapping can make us fat. I thought that you would think it’s interesting. They just published a new book called “The New American Diet” that addresses the issue.
December 23rd, 2009 - 10:36
Jizzle,
Good to hear…. I am a little confused on how a fowl smelling nut sack attracts the ladies?
Thanks for commenting,
- Ryan
December 23rd, 2009 - 10:53
Ryne,
I only read Men’s Health when PJ finds interesting articles.
The endocrine disruptor idea sounds like complete BS. It seems like we try to confuse the issue of weight loss, weight gain and building muscle. The processes that are involved in all 3 are very simple. If we eat food that is high in sugar and refined carbs, then we are going to get fat. Regardless of plastic wrapping. If we eat less food, we will lose weight and if we put a large amount of stress on a muscle, than we will build muscle. Simple.
I used to subscribe to Men’s Health. While I did, I noticed that the direction of their articles attempted to lead us into thinking that weight loss and strength gain are incredibly complex processes. At the metabolic level they are very complex, but on the superficial level they are not.
“Plastic wrapping can make us fat.” Although their may be some evidence that somehow supports this idea, it sounds to me that we are again attempting to shift weight gain from personal responsibility to and outside factor. Remember the ladies who attempted to sue McDonalds for making them fat?
Thanks for commenting Ryne,
- Ryan
January 2nd, 2010 - 09:33
E ‘vero! Credo che sia una buona idea. E ha un diritto alla vita.
January 30th, 2010 - 02:17
Ryan
I have horrid dandruff problem and with my black hair I cant seem to get through it without being laughed at…. Please help me…. Ive used selsun blue and all that stuff but it always comes back!! what do i do!!!!
February 3rd, 2010 - 21:22
You are so right! Angie has told me about your experiment probably 3 or 4 times. I wish i could try this out, but being a lady has its disadvantages.
February 4th, 2010 - 11:52
Mikayla,
Thanks for stopping by leaving a comment! Yes, not shampooing long hair would be very noticeable. Especially to the opposite sex. But if you really want to try it…. I would recommend wearing lots of baseball caps and only going out in public at night. lol. Seriously though, shampooing to often actually damages our hair. Try to cut back and then work from there.
Thanks again for reading and commenting!
-Ryan
May 4th, 2010 - 14:44
For those curious women with long hair. I am a woman with hair past my shoulder blades – when it gets to my waist, I trim it back up. I was having such a difficult time with it (dry tangled mass that it was), that at my wits end, I decided to go no poo beginning of February. I did some research (I didn’t find this article for some reason), and decided that I would only shampoo when I felt the need for the first few months, and then move to a baking soda paste at the roots as needed. I’m at the baking soda stage now.
My hair became instantly more manageable. Yes, my scalp got oily after a few days. Yes there is a transitional period. Brushing becomes absolutely necessary to move the oils from your scalp to the ends. I would go as long as I could between washings, but to be completely honest, it felt worse than it looked. On the (few) days it looked bad, I would brush it, braid it, and leave it. Or put it in a bun. I felt like it looked oily, but no one said anything – even my brutally honest best friend could not tell I had not washed my hair for a week. She said it looked thick and shiny. I then took it out of the braid, brushed it for her to show her how it stayed wherever I brushed it (you know how oily hair does) and she cracked up. Never having had dandruff before, there were a few weeks in the transition where I experienced flakes. I freaked out at first, and increased the shampooing to twice a week – the flakes got worse – I calmed myself down, went back to once a week, despite the flakes – they eventually cleared up when I started using baking soda. I exercise regularly (with my hair in a bun) – and instead of shampooing after every workout, I brush my hair really well to distribute those oils. I do drink a lot of water and eat healthy foods and bathe regularly. My hair smells like hair, it doesn’t smell bad or rancid. My fiance does a sniff test every day. After the baking soda, it smells clean.
I am now considering alternating between baking soda and the “washcloth” method. You wet your hair, massaging your scalp (to increase blood flow and promote new growth) in the shower, just as though you were shampooing, but with no product. After you get out of the shower, take a washcloth, and “brush” your wet hair 100 strokes on both sides- this is apparently the best method of distributing oils evenly throughout your long hair. Curly haired women on the net apparently swear by this. I am hoping to be completely product free (baking soda included) by August – and I live in Texas – this summer is going to be interesting.
May 4th, 2010 - 18:38
Trfgirl,
Thanks for taking the time to leave such a thorough and educational comment! This is some great stuff that I think all women interested in going “pooless” should read. I am going to hop on facebook right now and let everybody know about this process.
Ryan
June 13th, 2010 - 23:38
Any thoughts on conditioner? I have been using like a pea size amount of shampoo and conditioner everyday trying to slowly get away from it but if I don’t use conditioner my hair is so tangled and frizzy is uncontrollable!!! Also, from working outside everyday I get a lot of dirt and sweat in my hair so is it still okay that I wash it everyday?
June 15th, 2010 - 07:09
Toni,
I won’t pretend to be an expert on hair conditioner…. however I do have some thoughts on its use. First, dropping the amount of shampoo and conditioner that you use is a great way to ween yourself off of using it! And you use way less so it lasts longer and will save you $ in the future (if you use as much shampoo as the females that I know, then you will be saving a lot of money!)
If your hair is tangled and uncontrollable, then by no means stop using conditioner. Walking around with a rats nest on your head would not be the most attractive thing in the world. Even though I think it would be pretty cool
Remember this: You were not born with snarled hair. Eventually your hair will become more and more manageable with less and less conditioner.
I recommend a method that my mother used when she stopped using shampoo (and conditioner). She simply started with one day. She didn’t use substance to wash her hair, only water, for one day. And if her hair looked greasy and gross then she would shampoo it the next time she showered. By trial and error, she ended up washing her hair once a week.
Don’t be afraid of experimenting a little bit. Some people can go multiple days without showering and their hair looks normal (me!) and some need to rinse their hair everyday. Find your happy medium!
Thanks again for the comments!
Ryan