No Poo - the final verdict

After 8 months of trialling no-poo (ie. not using conventional shampoo and conditioner), I've decided to stop. For some reason, I could never get a consistent result. Some days it would be great - other days it would be horrible. I've tried baking soda, flax-seed, honey, chamomile tea, apple cider vinegar and lots of other things.

This has actually been a powerful lesson for me. Why do something for 8 months that clearly doesn't work for me? Mostly because I'm a stubborn person and secondly, if I say I'm going to do something, I'll do it even if it causes me problems.

Funnily enough, the last eight months have also been a period of hibernation, of not wanting to be seen and working through some old emotional crap. The transformation is continuing this year, but now I feel like I'm slowly coming out of a cocoon. I'm learning to be more flexible, more kind to myself and willing to grow and change if things aren't working. 

As I've said - raw food is not about the food, no-poo is not about my hair. They are both symbols for my values and ethics, and they have to work for me, and not against me. 

Please don't let me discourage you from trying or continuing with no-poo. Everyone's hair is different and it works beautifully for some people. 

So now I'm trialling some shampoos and conditioners. When I first washed my hair a week ago, it came out great and it's one less stress for me. 

I need some help though. I'm looking for hair products with minimal packaging (or can be bought in really large quantities), great ingredients, beautiful results, and a lovely company ethos. Any suggestions?

I actually feel quite liberated, and I'm just so excited to see how else I can transform and simplify my life. I'm ready to shed everything else that's not working for me!

Are you holding on something you know doesn't serve the vision of the best you? Please share!!

To your best life,

Comments

[Kim from Milwaukee]

Denise, I commend you for sticking with it for eight months. Wow! You are a bulldog! Thank you for sharing your trial.

I use baking soda/vinegar about once/week, and I've gone to washing my hair every other day. I use Aubrey products, since they are totally organic, nothing questionable in them, and they leave my hair nice and conditioned. I've used them for about 30 years, and they are consistently a great company. They've changed their formulations since I started using them, but they still remain the only products I trust.

I love to experiment, and my next possible conditioner may be just a rinse with cococut milk, like the canned organic stuff. I may have to cut it with water first, but I'm excited to give it a go. I still use a regular conditioner (Fructis) since I love the smell of it, and my hair is so dry if I don't use any conditioner.

[Johanna]

Hey Denise,
I'm sorry it didn't work out for you!
I found your blog through your comment at No Impact Man.
I have been using baking soda only for washing my hair (and as a deodorant) since September. I only found a working routine by January. I now wash my hair twice a week, one time only with water, the other time I have some baking soda in a cup, I pour some water in it and stir. Then I apply some on the bits that get greasier than the others and pour the rest all over my head, massage it in and then rinse.
Before January I just applied the baking soda on my hair and I also tried to go with plain water only, which didn't work.
Other than toothpaste and liquid for my contact lenses, I used a cosmetic product again for the first time since September yesterday.
It's a shower thing my sister gave me for Christmas, thinking that since it was from a green company that I would like it.
But I wasn't really feeling that great about the products she gave me, they were still not clean enough for my taste. Still I felt sad for her, and now that I read about the shelve life of these products I decided to give the one I liked the most a go.
Nothing special, I just found it made no difference with my usual water only routine, except that I smelled like the product, which I didn't enjoy.
But I have to agree with my sister that this company does a far better job than your usual cosmetics brand. The company is called Lush. ( www.lush.com ) They claim to be environmentally friendly, I say they are a lot more than others. They still use a few chemicals that I deem superfluous.
What I think they are doing well is:
- less packaging and recycling packaging. most of their cosmetics are not fluid, so they don't need plastic bottles to pack them
- use as much biological ingredients as possible
- don't test on animals
Since they are quite a popular alternative brand (there is a fun factor to their products which makes them attractive) I think they are in a good position to make the public aware and I am happy when more people choose for their products. I would like to make my friends or my boyfriend who aren't as crazy as me to go no-poo to choose for Lush.
Still, I think Lush could do a better job. They have a "cool" image, not an "ecological / natural freak" image, and I wish they would use this image for selling cosmetics a bit more ecological than they do.
But you can't have it all. I'd still recommend them to you, I haven't found a better alternative yet :)
Also, check out www.cosmeticsdatabase.com and be careful to read why the products get a certain rating there (some of the "best rated" have a data gap that is too big for me!)
Good luck with your quest :)