No 'Poo Part 3: Switching to Low 'Poo

When I last checked in, I was 20 days into the No 'Poo Experiment. I'm now on day 55. Here are the updates.

Right after I posted my last update, I noticed that my hair suddenly didn't feel so "clean" between washes. For a while I chalked it up to the fact that "Hey, hair that contains some of it's natural oils is definitely going to feel 'different' than hair that has been stripped of it's natural oils." That is technically true. My hair felt heavier, yet it was still bouncy with plenty of volume. It had texture. I didn't mind this as my hair actually stayed in place. Fly aways were non existent. It was nice!

But, no matter how thorough I was in my washing process, I still had random spots that felt greasy, especially up underneath. The top of my hair always looked flawless and gorgeous (or so people told me). Underneath it felt greasy. Maybe this is because my hair is so short right now. The top part has more surface area to distribute the natural oils. The little short hair underneath does not. That was my reasoning but I'm not sure how accurate that is. See what I mean?

The goal was to be able to go 3 or eventually even 4 days between washing but I was back to 2 days and sometimes really toughing it out on day 2. I kept trying to adjust my baking soda to water ratio, or keep it the same and adjust the apple cider vinegar to water ratio, but nothing seemed to make a difference.

And that's when I colored my hair on day 40. I'm pleased to report that you can, in fact, still color your hair and not use shampoo. I was afraid the baking soda would be so harsh that it would wash the dye right out but it's been totally fine. However, by coloring my hair, it stripped the oil right out. Since I'm disclosing all hair secrets, I use Preference or Excellence by Loreal. After washing on that day, even with baking soda, my hair was back to it's pre no 'poo state. I'm not gonna lie, I REALLY liked the way may hair felt. It was squeaky clean and light. I almost threw in the towel right there on day 40.

Alas, I figured there had to be a happy medium. So, on day 45, I cheated. Well, not really but kinda. I'm now doing what is referred to as Low 'Poo. I'm still not using shampoo but I've added a soap agent, castille soap. It's still all natural and chemical free, which is the whole point, but the castille soap gives it a sudsing effect that essentially dissolves dirt and grease. Now, I'm back to washing every 3rd or 4th day and I'm much happier. My new recipe is below. This will last me about 4 washes and is super cheap!

12 ounces of water
2 Tablespoons baking soda
1 Tablespoon castille soap

Oh, I've also been super pleased with my dry shampoo concoction. Again, all natural. I've actually considered adding it to the nYn product line. I typically start needing to use it to get through day 3 but it does a great job of soaking up any oil and leaves my hair looking fresh but doesn't weight it down. I have a friend testing it now to see if someone else loves it as much as me.

There you have it. If something else changes, I'll do another update. For now, I'll just be over here doing my Low 'Poo thing.

I'm curious. Are there any other No 'Poo or Low 'Poo folks out there? Do you have a recipe that works for you that I haven't tried? Share it with me and other readers in the comments below.

Want to start at the beginning?
No 'Poo Part 1: The Journey
No 'Poo Part 2: The Experiment