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

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

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.

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

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!!!!

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

Good to hear…. I am a little confused on how a fowl smelling nut sack attracts the ladies?

Thanks for commenting,

- Ryan