Wednesday 21 September 2011

Bye Bye Chemical Hair Products!!

This post might be a tad bit unusual to some because it goes against everything we've been taught about personal hygiene. I have now been 2 months without using shampoo or any kind of cleaner in my hair other than an avo mask and some coconut oil and argan oil to enhance my natural curls and moisturize slightly in the dry Joburg climate and now still in Canada  because the cold is knocking. To be quite honest I was very skeptical going into this, I've always had oily hair and generally only washed my hair twice a week but I thought that my hair would just go so oily without shampoo and that it would essentially be a nightmare. But I'm all for experimenting and since my significant other was the first guinea pig for this one and it seemed to be working very well for him, I told myself that it was definitely worth a try for experiment' sake and also to eliminate more chemicals from my daily life and from my body.

So to my surprise, I don’t think I've ever had nicer hair. My natural curls are more defined and my hair is soft and easy to manage. When I was using shampoos and conditioners as well as many other expensive hair products, my hair would fall flatter and the curls didn’t really stand out at all. I used to blow dry and straighten my hair so that it looked good and it was high maintenance. All that stress on my hair caused it to actually look worse than it can without it all. The damage that all those chemical products does to our hair is quite obvious to me now. It doesn’t really make sense to strip our hair of all its natural oils and then use products to counteract the drying effects of it.  Now All I have to do it rinse it well and massage my scalp every day or every other day and apply a bit of organic cold-pressed coconut oil and let it dry naturally.

 I must say its such a relief that I don’t have to go through the whole process anymore. I used to dread washing my hair because I just didn’t feel like doing it all. Now there's absolutely no issues. I do have to give my hair the occasional Argan oil treatment because I'm in dire need of a haircut and the ends are dry from past chemical processes  but it's just as simple as using coconut oil. It’s nice not to have to spend all that money on hair products as well, more savings for fruit and travelling, what's not to love about that!

The "No poo" movement is actually quite widespread nowadays and more and more people are trying it out. It's different for everyone, with some people going through a transition phase of greasiness but then having the best hair they've ever had and announcing their loyalty to the practice. One thing that cna be used as a transition tool is "washing" the hair with baking soda and water and/or an apple cider vinegar rince as well as the use of coconut or other like oils. :) 

So, who's up for it?

2 comments:

  1. Hey Tash, would love to view the "before and after" pics of your hair if you have any?♥

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  2. I'll be posting them as soon as I find a spare minute :)

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