Goodbye shampoo

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

Perhaps many will remember (and mothers and grandmothers will tell someone) that back in the 50s of the last century it was customary to wash your hair once every two weeks. And washing your hair every week was considered too frequent by some. I remember when I went to school, Sunday was a bathing day in our family, and we washed our hair once a week.

The arrival of modern shampoos, of course, delighted the Soviet woman. They were so scented, foamy. Just lovely, especially compared to ours, remember those in glass bottles? They did not foam at all. When I was in school, I sometimes noticed that by Friday my hair was not so clean, but still my mother did not allow me to wash my hair as often as she wanted. I don’t know why, but it was so with us.

And so Mr. Vidal Sassoon opened the whole world for us. “Wash your hair as often as you want,” he said, and encouraged women to buy new shampoos and conditioners. Perhaps this was a marketing ploy, and not a concern for our beauty. Thanks to the new installation, women and men began to wash their hair more often, almost every day, which means - and buy shampoos more often. That's for sure - "gold mine"! It is easy to calculate that sales have grown by a swoop by 7-10 times! After all, they began to wash their hair not once every 1-2 weeks, but 7 times a week.

Everything would be fine, but the main consequence of more frequent hair washing is not only and even not so much empty wallets. Although it’s unpleasant to realize that someone made a good profit on our desire to be beautiful. The main disadvantage of the modern approach to washing hair is a significant deterioration in its condition. Stories about grandmothers from Russian villages, who had braids as thick as fists until old age, are not myths. Ask your family, look at old family photos.

They finally convinced me to try the "life without shampoos" photo of the 30s and 40s of the last century. The beauties of those years demonstrate luxurious hair, while it should be borne in mind that there were no shampoos in the modern sense of this product at that time! Especially in Russia. In general, women did not use shampoo until the 1930s. It was customary to wash your hair with soap once every two weeks, and even earlier, at the beginning of the century, they completely washed their hair once a month. But the photos of those years do not in any way indicate that the hair of women of that time somehow needed more frequent washing. So why do we need to wash our hair every day now when those women’s hair looks thick and shiny without any additional styling products?

Daily washing strips hair of natural oils that provide shine and protection, harsh chemicals found in shampoos, thin hair and dry scalp. Such a problem as dandruff is partly also a consequence of the frequent use of shampoos, ask your grandmothers again - you have not heard of dandruff in the last century. The more often we wash our hair with shampoo, the more we lose natural sebum, and we are forced to produce it with renewed vigor, replenishing the loss. That is why the hair of modern women becomes oily within 24 hours after washing. The circle closes: more fat - more often washing, and more often washing - more fat. In addition, with age, the production of sebum slows down somewhat, and women in their 40s have a daunting problem of dryness, which is aggravated by daily shampooing.

What is the solution? Yes, the question arises - what is the solution? Not washing your hair seems to be hygienic. The pollution of the environment is now stronger than before, and it will not be possible to abandon the use of detergents. I tried this - avoiding commercial foaming shampoos, using natural recipes and as little as possible. And now I will report on what I have done.

What homemade recipes will replace store-bought shampoos? So, if you refuse shampoos, then you need to replace them with something. I have only used one recipe, but there are many more. Therefore, in short, I will offer you a choice of several available recipes:

1. Soda. You can take as much soda as fits in the palm of your hand, add water and wash the hair roots with this gruel. You can prepare a long-acting mixture. To do this, pour half a cup of baking soda into a bottle and add 4 cups of warm water. Shake well and keep in the bathroom. One of the popular recipes for washing hair with soda is as follows: massage the scalp with the composition described above, rinse with warm water, and rinse with natural vinegar. This is the so-called gypsy method. Vinegar is needed - a quarter cup if you have short hair, and half a cup if you have long hair. The hair does not get used to such washing immediately, but after about three or four weeks the hair will adapt, and you will not wash your hair more often than once a week.

2. Soap. Buy liquid soap from an organic beauty store, drugstore, or a homemade soap manufacturer. Mix equal parts of this soap with water, but it is better to use different herbal teas instead of water, they will give a great smell. Add two teaspoons of tea tree oil to help get rid of dandruff and even lice. The composition is ready.

3. Aloe Vera. Very simple - gently massage the aloe vera juice into your scalp. This method is also good in that it gets rid of dandruff, prevents hair loss, increases blood flow, and normalizes the pH level.

5. Calendula. Put dried calendula flowers in a jar (you can prepare it yourself, or you can buy it at the pharmacy), fill it with olive oil so that it covers the flowers. Close tightly and store in a dark place for 2 weeks, shaking daily. Then strain the oil, add Vitamin E (a natural preservative) and use as you would a normal shampoo. Many people know about the benefits of olive oil, but calendula adds anti-inflammatory, antifungal and antiseptic properties to this.

6. Coconut oil Excellent smell and care for your hair. Mix coconut oil with herbal tea, massage into scalp and rinse well, hair will be shiny and silky.

Personal experience:

And now I'll tell you about my life without shampoo. The experiment began like this: three times a week I washed my hair with a mixture of baking soda and water (1 tablespoon for 1 cup of water, it is not desirable to increase the concentration of baking soda). Gently massaged the scalp with the mixture. I did not touch my hair lengthwise. And then all the hair from roots to ends was washed with diluted apple cider vinegar (2 tablespoons of vinegar for 1-2 glasses of water).

First week: "Awful, but I will hold on!"

At first, as many beauty bloggers warn, the hair was adjusting. And it even seems to have emitted more bacon than usual. That is, for about a week or two, the hair was actually more oily. But the problem was solved with a ponytail, as well as hats and handkerchiefs.

Second week: "Already better, but still a lot of fat"

I was afraid that there would be an unpleasant smell from the hair. But, it seems, this is nothing more than a delusion, at least I did not smell any smell. And where will it come from, I rinsed my hair, washed it, combed it with a clean comb.

Third week: " Class! Hair is not so light, but it is already much thicker and does not require daily washing "

To be honest, the hardest part is the first days. I really wanted to take a fragrant and foamy shampoo, but I lasted, and then it became easier and better, somewhere on the 9th day. Sometimes I washed them every 3-4 days with baking soda, sometimes I just rinsed them with water, several times with water conditioner, sometimes I added a few drops of tea tree oil or olive oil to the baking soda.

Fourth week: "Exactly what is needed! Now there is a shine, a healthy look, to the touch - pure silk! "

I noticed the first changes after three weeks of such abstinence from shampoo. The hair has become very pleasant to the touch. So heavy, even. The hair has also become noticeably thicker. Most likely, this is the result of the work of natural oils, which now remain on the hair, and do not rinse off when washing. Of course, no dryness and no static electricity or split ends, which is an obvious plus. Before that, there was a small wave on the hair, now they are clearly heavier, and there is no waviness, so, probably, the method can be recommended to those who want to calm their unruly curly hair.

As soon as I use a hairdryer, my hair becomes noticeably worse, so now I practice exclusively natural drying at room temperature. Perhaps a small disadvantage is that the hair has become somewhat darker, this is a fact, but this can also be attributed to the results of the work of natural oils.

Two months without purchased shampoo: “I never thought it would be so great. The scalp breathes and rests, the hair itself is like a child's - soft and shiny "

It takes some getting used to the "new" hair. They are now somewhat different. That is, silky, heavy, shiny, slightly greasy to the touch, not at all the same sensations as after using daily shampoos. But I like it, as with my skin I feel that beauty has become natural, alive.

Will I go back to my purchased shampoo? I don’t know, if only in very rare cases. Now I can travel for a week without washing my hair. Once, I confess, I used shampoo, I really wanted the smell of flowers. But then I realized how wrong I was, because I instantly remembered all the unpleasant sensations: dry skin, slight itching, some kind of dandruff…. No, so far only natural ingredients please me and my hair. I am ready to live without commercialized shampoos and maybe even without conditioners. And I can advise you to follow my example. If you are afraid of the first "fat" weeks - try life without shampoo on vacation, in the country, it's worth it!