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Hair washing

Some of us use shampoo and conditioner, some baking soda, some just water...let's chat this out!

I always used s & c until a few months ago when I used baking soda. I liked it for a few months, but then my hair just couldn't decide how to be-it was sometimes oily, sometimes dry, sometimes weird. I learned, however, that it's not normal to have my hair coming out so much. Apparently, shampoo (all different kinds over the years) made my hair come out. Not a ton, but way more than was coming out with just a baking soda scrub. I went back to s & c for a short time, but now I'm trying the water only method. It's quite annoying to have such oily hair right now, but not a huge deal to wear it up/braided...which is usually what I do anyway.

P has only used water for a few months now, and says his is way less oily. I'm going to try to see how this goes! My hair doesn't feel dirty, and smells just like water..so that's fine. It looks fine as well, just oily on top! I just rinse well, then try to scrub really well all over my head, rinse again.

I don't really wash myself very well with soap. I just have dr. bronners. mainly for shaving, but every once in a while I actually use it washing/shower wise.
Sometimes I wash my face with it, but not really that often.

Well as you know I do use shampoo, but ever since college I tend to use the excess lather from my hair to wash my body. Sort of a twofer. I just never could see the sense of two soaps for one body.
And this has nothing to do with anything, but whenever I remember the smell of Irish Spring soap, I'm back in the dorms hearing Em sing "Pop Music."

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You can do it theo!

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N still hasn't noticed my lack of shampooing or my lack of deodourant.  I nearly told him on Saturday abuot not washing my hair, but I decided that it would be more amusing for me to find out when he finally realises on his own.

ha, that's what I was like, I almost told him but then decided it would be fun to see how long it took him to notice.  But that plan kinda failed, oh well.

On a semi-related note.  My husband was smelling my hair last night and told me it doesn't smell as nice as it used to : /  I had it tied up and he was smelling the top of my head so I let it down and he decided the ends were better.  I made him promise to tell me if he thinks it smells 'bad' because I can't tell at all and would hate to be at work stinking without knowing it!
I think it still looks/feels ok, not great, but certainly not bad.  Keen to compare hair with Shell next week : )

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This is so cool to read other people doing this :) I just started washing with water a few weeks ago. It just seemed like a natural thing to do, and I didn't want to spend a ton on good shampoos.

The obvious greasyness was getting to me, (just waiting for someone at work to ask why I gave up showering) so I've started wasing with very watered down shampoo, just the roots, only when *desperately* neccessary. I'm liking this! The best thing is, my hair is SO manageable and much softer now.

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... "YOU ARE GROWING OH MY THAT MEANS YOU ARE PIMPLY AND SMELLY AND YUCKY AND YOU DON'T REALISE IT BUT OTHER PEOPLE DO SO YOU MUST WASH YOUR FACE EVERY DAY AND SHOWER AND WEAR DEODORANT AND OH GOD DON'T TELL ANYONE WHEN YOU HAVE YOUR PERIOD OR EVERYONE WILL HATE YOU!!!!!1!!!one!!!"
...

HA!
Oh, 6th grade health class, the wonderful lessons You've taught Us...

So after almost a month of W-O washing, my hair finally feels greasier-than-usual just about all the time, instead of just at the end of the day/day after washing.
I consider myself fortunate that I don't have a job or any sort of public engagements that would make this 'greasy phase' really uncomfortable for me. I'm sticking with the water-only regimen, knowing that the greasiness will work itself out, and no one gives a crap what my hair looks like in the meantime.

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Downside of no hair washing: THIS PINK/PURPLE IS TAKING FOREVER TO COME OUT OF MY HAIRR.

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fb: "so, i'm going to go without washing my hair for two weeks."
J: "ok."
fb: "it's supposed to be better for my hair."
J: "yeah?"
fb: "and that way I can use less shampoo & conditioner."
J: "cool."
(later)
J: "maybe i should try not washing my hair."
fb: "no, you need to wash your hair."

yup.

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Downside Upside of no hair washing: THIS PINK/PURPLE BLUE IS TAKING FOREVER TO COME OUT OF MY HAIRR!!!!

fb, yay you are jumping on board?
Teehee not so keen on J following suit though I gather

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well, sorta. i was already washing my hair only 1x a week, no wetting in between. i figure it would be better for dry/frizziness to extend it to two weeks. which also means i can be lazier about straightening my hair.

he's all too keen about being lazy with his hair, but he has a scalp condition so he *must* wash it every other day. 'cause i said so.

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Am I the only one who's never washed my face with more than water and perhaps bar soap? I didn't even know until recently that it was "necessary"... but I've always had pretty ridiculously clear skin. I was somewhat embarrassed to discover this, but I also feel like I'm certainly not unhygienic, and I find the idea of buying a separate facial cleanser to be kinda silly.

As for shampooing/conditioning, I've been washing my hair (with just shampoo) every day, but I feel bad using so much when I honestly don't feel like I need it. I was only doing it every other day or so until my brother told me that he was apparently observing my shampoo bottle and he found the fact that it wasn't going down fast enough to be a reflection of my radical mannerisms. o.O I seriously just didn't wanna spend like $7 on a tiny bottle again so soon, ahhh! Dx

But I didn't want him portraying me as some nutjob to my parents - they already have PLENTY of problems with my vegan diet, and are about the most unaccepting people on the planet - so, after telling him how stupid and life-deprived it made him to spend his time calculating my shampoo usage, I decided to fly under the radar and use more than I necessarily needed.

After reading this thread and seeing the votes of confidence for less shampoo use, I think I'll just tell him to shove it though. :P At the very least I'll downgrade to only shampooing a couple times a week, I'll see about maybe dropping it altogether. Like others, I am somewhat afraid about having mangy hair, but perhaps I'll muster up the courage. ;D

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TLB, this is one of the advantages of being of a certain age. We were taught that the ONLY thing you really need to put on your face is natural (oilbased) soap and water! Maybe lemon juice if you reaaallly objected to freckles. This was in the 60s when Natural was all the rage. Only in the mid-to-late 60s did they start coming out with alll this "stuff" to put on your face. It started with Noxema. Yeah...you were supposed to clean your face with "cold cream." Lanolin, beeswax and crap. I remember when my mother tried it. She smeared it on, and tried to wash it off with water. It wouldn't come! So she smeared it off with tissues, grumbling loudly, and said, "My face feels like shit!!" (Item: in those days my mother didn't use words like that. She learned, much later, but in those days she normally wouldn't have said "shit" if she had a mouthful.) She washed her face with soap to get the gunk off and we made jokes about using a burlap washcloth.

All the "products" really came into use in the 70s. I've never washed my face with anything but soap and I am known for my beautiful skin. Even living here, where the sun is terrible, I don't look anywhere near my age. Healthy diet, sleep, and basic cleanlliness are really all you need. I've never worn makeup either. I see these women here who spackle the stuff on with a trowel and they just look unreal. Certainly not attractive. And it ages your skin because it can't breathe.

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I never wash  my face. Weird! My skin is relatively clear, except for the monthly zit.  It might get some residual washing in the shower, but I don't make a specific point to scrub it or anything.
For hair, I wash mine every other day. On the day off, I still take a shower and get it wet, and blow it dry, but I just don't shampoo it. My hair actually looks better on my off day.

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so baking soda and water really helps your skin, AC?  I'm a bit zitty and am terrified to give up my facewash, but if you think it would work.....then I might just try it...
I'm just really greasy - and wear makeup every day....and I will break out if I skip one day of washing my face....stupid face...

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so baking soda and water really helps your skin, AC?  I'm a bit zitty and am terrified to give up my facewash, but if you think it would work.....then I might just try it...
I'm just really greasy - and wear makeup every day....and I will break out if I skip one day of washing my face....stupid face...

I'm telling you! I've had acne since 7th grade, and BS is the only thing that ever worked so well. I don't even get more break outs on the days when I wear some makeup. I don't think I'll ever have perfectly clear skin all the time, but I now only have the occasional little bumps. It's worth a try. Stop doing whatever other wash you are doing, and just start with the baking soda. Have a little container of it in the bathroom-rinse face, pat some BS into fingers, rub into face, rinse, dry. I usually just wash once a day, sometimes twice-but I don't feel like I HAVE to wash it all the time to stay clear (ish). Hopefully it will work well for you!

My hair is a different kind of greasy now. I could probably stand to do more WO washes (maybe every day, I'm not sure), but my hair is just kinda oily all over, and heavier now. I don't have the SUPER oily crown of head anymore. I do love how my hair looks after  WO wash, and no brush.

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I used to use baking soda on my facee. It worked.
It just kindof dried out my face. So I just put a paste of it on my face when I need to.

When I was little I scrubbed my face with baking soda and salt. It was our toothpaste and I just really thought it made my face feel nice, because I'm a messy toothbrusher and I always get it all over. So I just scrubbed it around one day. Haha. It was awesome.

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We used to dab a little lavendar cologne on zits. Dries them up a treat and smells nice too. Lemon verbena will do the same thing.

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So apparently the water only method is extremely dependent on your water quality. Back home in Portland where all our drinking water is rain runoff it works well. Out here in Wyoming however on the mineralized well water? Not so much. I am going to have to go back to the old shampoo/conditioner routine until I get back home. I think I am going to have to go to the store later and get some distilled water to wash my hair with.

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AC, sounds likem y hair is in a siomilar state to yours....just kinda heavy all over.

Not really totally in the oily tunnel.  It doesn't necessarily feel oily, just heavy.

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yessss, this is what I've had the whole time.  Heavy, flat hair.  bleugh.  But, at least it's not oily!  Not long till we get to compare our mankiness, Shell! : )

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So glad to hear i'm not the only one who doesn't wash their hair very often. I just don't think we really need to... until it starts to stink that is!

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