Going poo-less: No Shampoo/Soap in the Shower

My daughter, who at 22 has never cut her hair ever, has been experimenting with no shampoo, vinegar rinses, olive oil, etc., with mixed results. Much depends upon hormones, hair type and diet. It is a better way to go, though. I think the soapless trend is also heavily affected by what a person eats, as well as availability of bathing water and opportunity to wash clothes. People who are heavy meat eaters I find have a very distinct body odor that comes through even with using soaps and which I find repellent. Like a walking hamburger stand. If one eats processed foods and works in a toxic environment, their skin will be sweating those toxins out and the acceptable scent level for being with other people won't be the same as, say, an organic vegetarian who doesn't use soap. Dirty clothing has a lot to do with acceptability; most people have encountered elderly people who absolutely reek because they wear the same clothes every day and believe that they don't dirty them and can't smell themselves. All those dead skin cells and poisons leaching from the skin end up in the clothes.

I'm becoming more and more a fan of pine trees.
Some people put pine oil (Pine-Sol) cleansing products in with their laundry.
I began using it to handwash my clothes and found it quite acceptable.
I don't know how many trees they have to kill to produce this stuff...

Vinegar/water 50/50 is an acceptable disinfectant for the house.
It is also the best way to wash vegetables and fruits.
Pine oil for clothes (not the body !!) -- pine needle tea for the body...
Hmm... the only thing left to wash is... pans and dishes.
What would be the best thing to use... ?

http://www.globalhealingcenter.com/natural-health/pine-oil/


As for dry skin -- aloe vera... or vegetable shortening.

I didn't used to use shampoo at all, and I still don't put soap on my body except my hands for washing dishes. But I am temporarily using town water, which is chlorinated, and after many years of using living water from a bog, my hair and skin have now gone completely off the hook in shock. Now, very sadly, I have to use shampoo (a natural type made of pine and other essential oils) once per week or my hair just will not get clean, and worse than not clean- it gets really oily and flat and just not nice in any way, and my scalp freaks out too- scaly, and scabby even- gross. Then, after washing in the town water, it takes days to feel like normal hair again. It is very annoying. I cannot wait to get back onto my land so I can use living water on and in my body again. There's not just chlorine in the town water either, I realise- all those pharmaceuticals... they can't be helping...

For me, it's not the shampoo that's the issue. It's the nasty treated, polluted water.

Imogen Skye wrote:I didn't used to use shampoo at all, and I still don't put soap on my body except my hands for washing dishes. But I am temporarily using town water, which is chlorinated, and after many years of using living water from a bog, my hair and skin have now gone completely off the hook in shock. Now, very sadly, I have to use shampoo (a natural type made of pine and other essential oils) once per week or my hair just will not get clean, and worse than not clean- it gets really oily and flat and just not nice in any way, and my scalp freaks out too- scaly, and scabby even- gross. Then, after washing in the town water, it takes days to feel like normal hair again. It is very annoying. I cannot wait to get back onto my land so I can use living water on and in my body again. There's not just chlorine in the town water either, I realise- all those pharmaceuticals... they can't be helping...

For me, it's not the shampoo that's the issue. It's the nasty treated, polluted water.

What type of water filtration/treatment are you using on your property?The water here (from the town) is sterilized with chloramine which has caused sever skin problems and has ruined my digestive system.

Good point on the clorinated water. Thanks for reminding me.

From what I understand, letting treated and clorinated water sit for 24 hours
allows the chlorine gases to dissipate -- and then it can be used for watering
houseplants, gardens, and -- bathing. I have to be reminded of all the things
I use water for. I've been setting my drinking water in the fridge for 24 hours,
and now, I should plan ahead and save a big bucket of water for bathing...
and use my water-saving bath technique.

All living systems depend on good bacteria and micro-organisms for health.
A man named Doug Kaufmann has written several books on this subject --
telling us that antibiotics are destroying our health... antibiotics, of course,
totally destroy a person's entire digestive tract flora and weakening our
immune defenses.

In the same way... chlorine is added to water to do the same thing as
antibiotics -- to totally destroy bacteria. Well, that means everything that
the water is put on, too.

Save rainwater.

Ben, I used to live in Yukon (until 6 months ago), and the bog water was glacier melt, so I didn't ever filter it with anything. It came from the bog along a narrow stream and we took it just a short walk from the bog from that stream. Here, in town, the water is chlorinated (not with chloramine- nasty nasty stuff!), and for now, we are drinking bottled water. When I get out to my land, there is also a marsh/bog with a stream, and for drinking, I will have it tested, and if necessary, I'll be using a Berkey filtration system. OR, harvest rainwater for drinking and use the stream/bog water for washing. I'm not exactly sure what the best method will be out there just yet. There is a possibility of contamination, so I'll probably filter it. In Yukon, this was completely unnecessary.

I miss the living water. A lot. The difference between living water and treated water is life; that seems pretty significant to me...

Linda Sefcik wrote:Good point on the clorinated water. Thanks for reminding me.

From what I understand, letting treated and clorinated water sit for 24 hours
allows the chlorine gases to dissipate -- and then it can be used for watering
houseplants, gardens, and -- bathing. I have to be reminded of all the things
I use water for. I've been setting my drinking water in the fridge for 24 hours,
and now, I should plan ahead and save a big bucket of water for bathing...
and use my water-saving bath technique.

All living systems depend on good bacteria and micro-organisms for health.
A man named Doug Kaufmann has written several books on this subject --
telling us that antibiotics are destroying our health... antibiotics, of course,
totally destroy a person's entire digestive tract flora and weakening our
immune defenses.

In the same way... chlorine is added to water to do the same thing as
antibiotics -- to totally destroy bacteria. Well, that means everything that
the water is put on, too.

Save rainwater.

Chlorine will dissipate when left open to the atmosphere or boiled rapidly for one minutes.Chloramine is the combining of chlorine and ammonia.It has to bind to a live substance and held in suspension.Chloramine can't be 100% eliminated from a contaminated water source.

Imogen Skye wrote:Ben, I used to live in Yukon (until 6 months ago), and the bog water was glacier melt, so I didn't ever filter it with anything. It came from the bog along a narrow stream and we took it just a short walk from the bog from that stream. Here, in town, the water is chlorinated (not with chloramine- nasty nasty stuff!), and for now, we are drinking bottled water. When I get out to my land, there is also a marsh/bog with a stream, and for drinking, I will have it tested, and if necessary, I'll be using a Berkey filtration system. OR, harvest rainwater for drinking and use the stream/bog water for washing. I'm not exactly sure what the best method will be out there just yet. There is a possibility of contamination, so I'll probably filter it. In Yukon, this was completely unnecessary.

I miss the living water. A lot. The difference between living water and treated water is life; that seems pretty significant to me...

Yeah,up there most contamination comes from wildlife.Not many people around to trash up the water supplies.

My Anishnabe (AKA Ojibwe or Chippewa) neighbors here on Manitoulin Island traditionally washed with cedar tea. It is made by boiling the leaves and small twigs of cedar (Thuga) for a 1/2 hour or so. This results in a strong tea, which is then diluted in bath water or diluted to pour over the hair.

I have taken cedar baths before important ceremonies (also a traditional use) and the feeling of sparkly cleanliness combined with a cheerful fresh smell and the emollient effects on my skin and hair from the cedar oil remains a pleasant memory. After reading this thread, I must ask myself why I don't take cedar baths and shampoos more often.

Cedar is well known by the indigenous residents in any country around the world where it grows naturally as a powerful protective agent to repel bad energy of any kind. Western science has shown it to have strong disinfectant properties. It is one of the 4 sacred medicines (in addition to tobacco,sage and sweet grass) of the Anishnabe and cedar tea is consumed by them as a cure all for colds, aches and pains, etc. Sacred eagle feathers ( chemically very similar to our hair) are washed in cedar tea to restore their luster and cleanse them energetically. Homes (floors,walls,counter tops,etc) are washed in diluted cedar tea as well for both physical world and spirit world hygiene.

We permies are in many ways re-learning old ways. I suggest trying out cedar tea for a variety of cleansing needs, including as a deodorant, shampoo, and soap substitute. It can grow in your backyard or be harvested along the side of the road - no need to even buy processed essential oil. I do recommend using an old pot reserved for making cedar tea - getting all the cedar oil out of the pot after making tea is very hard.

So---something free,local,safe, with zero packaging,sweet smelling, and with a traditional use dating back thousands of years sounds pretty good to me!

Manitoulin Mary

Oops, spelled it wrong- that's Thuja, not Thuga

so the red cedar in my garden is useful for something after all will try that, thank you!


I learned this summer that you can use wood ash as soap for washing your hands. I liked it, my hands always felt quite soft after that. so yesterday I conceived of an experiment of using ash to wash my hair (I blame the full moon), and it was a catastrophe if you want to transform your formerly nice, soft, if fatty hair into sticky straw or even dreadlocks - wood ash is perfect, but otherwise I wouldn't recommend this. I hope my hair will restore to a more normal state.

I love the cedar tea idea.

I've been trying the pooless, and am SO happy that the psoriasis on my scalp is gone.

Then, the other morning, I woke to what looked like 1980's hair. It was reminiscent of this, but brunette and no curls:



(This is some image being repinned/posted all over the internet - I do not know her. And apologies to her or anyone who does know her.)

My '80s hair moment cracked me up and made me rather happy. You see, in the '80's, I permed, I gelled, I moussed, and I could never, ever get decent volume out of my fine, limp hair. And here it happened to me while I slept....just naturally. Ha!

I must admit I'm still working out the right combo of baking soda, vinegar, and clay to keep the greasy at bay. Maybe I need to try the cedar tea. When I have a combo and timing that works best for me I'll post it here.

I stopped using shampoo nearly 10 months ago and my hair is almost to the point where I really want it. Quick and easy to take care of, just a rinse with water while rubbing my fingers on my scalp, then some brushing and I'm done with it. I'm currently using baking soda and apple cider vinegar once every 4-5 weeks maybe, then water the rest of the time. I think I might be stuck at this frequency if I keep using our really hard water in my hair every day.

The transition has been long but having a public facing job I didn't want to go a single day with bad or greasy hair. I completely replaced shampoo with about a teaspoon of baking soda and a tablespoon of vinegar every day. I wet the baking soda with a couple drops of water and rubbed it in my dry hair. Then diluted the vinegar in probably close to a liter of water and rinsed it out. I didn't see a difference in this vs shampoo and neither did my wife.

I did that 5 times a week then just water on the weekend. After a couple weeks of this my hair on Saturday started looking pretty good, but was still kind of rough on Sunday. So I went to every other day and it worked out great. A couple weeks later I was able to go 2 days, then 3 and so on till now where I'm basically at once a month. I was fine with this rate of progression as I never once had to hide greasy hair, it always looked fairly good. The feel of it took much longer to get silky smooth as it is now. For severl months it felt...more like an animals fur perhaps, firmer.

It's all good now and I'm much happier. It's quick and easy to deal with. I did have to switch to a boar hair brush from plastic and I think that helped out a great deal. Brushing it while it dries I can see and feel my hair fluffing up. I don't think I could ever go back.

I tried the no poo for months, also tried making my own, using all sorts of combinations. What works best for me, and what I now use with great success is Aloe Vera and Honey. I mix the two together and wash my hair with the rinse. My hair is incredibly soft and very healthy, I could be imagining but it also feels like it is slowly getting thicker.

A question for those of you going without soap... what do you do about sunblock that is designed not to be water soluble? Do you not wear it, or do you not wash it off?

Ben Stallings wrote:A question for those of you going without soap... what do you do about sunblock that is designed not to be water soluble? Do you not wear it, or do you not wash it off?

I used to make my own de-greaser for getting heavy duty axle grease off my hands , that could probably be used for this .... altho i am not a "no'poo" person i use natural saponoids two of the main ones are rinse water from Quinoa and/or yucca root pulped and drained, then reduced slowly on a stove-top (rapid boil makes rapid foam), then adding aloe gel, tea tree and eucalyptus oils.... this combination creates a solvent that cracks even the toughest oils/fats , is antiseptic and antibacterial and not dehydrating for the skin...

extracting yucca soap footage here

Ben Alpers wrote:I stopped using shampoo nearly 10 months ago and my hair is almost to the point where I really want it. Quick and easy to take care of, just a rinse with water while rubbing my fingers on my scalp, then some brushing and I'm done with it. I'm currently using baking soda and apple cider vinegar once every 4-5 weeks maybe, then water the rest of the time. I think I might be stuck at this frequency if I keep using our really hard water in my hair every day.

The transition has been long but having a public facing job I didn't want to go a single day with bad or greasy hair. I completely replaced shampoo with about a teaspoon of baking soda and a tablespoon of vinegar every day. I wet the baking soda with a couple drops of water and rubbed it in my dry hair. Then diluted the vinegar in probably close to a liter of water and rinsed it out. I didn't see a difference in this vs shampoo and neither did my wife.

I did that 5 times a week then just water on the weekend. After a couple weeks of this my hair on Saturday started looking pretty good, but was still kind of rough on Sunday. So I went to every other day and it worked out great. A couple weeks later I was able to go 2 days, then 3 and so on till now where I'm basically at once a month. I was fine with this rate of progression as I never once had to hide greasy hair, it always looked fairly good. The feel of it took much longer to get silky smooth as it is now. For severl months it felt...more like an animals fur perhaps, firmer.

It's all good now and I'm much happier. It's quick and easy to deal with. I did have to switch to a boar hair brush from plastic and I think that helped out a great deal. Brushing it while it dries I can see and feel my hair fluffing up. I don't think I could ever go back.

Ben, I wish I had been smart enough to follow your system of gradually lengthening between baking soda and vinegar rinses - that was brilliant.

Ben Stallings wrote:A question for those of you going without soap... what do you do about sunblock that is designed not to be water soluble? Do you not wear it, or do you not wash it off?

I found a brilliant post on the SPF factor of different vegetable oils: http://almostexactlyblog.wordpress.com/2013/05/29/natural-face-moisturizers-with-spf/. Some of these have a high enough SPF that I imagine you could use them even without the zinc oxide, which is what I think makes a true "sunblock." Though sunblocks/suncreens are perhaps better discussed in another thread.

Paul and I still use soap for our hands. While I don't use sunblock or sunscreen, I did start using an oil cleansing method for my face (some hormonal/food influences are just too much for water alone - and, yes, also worthy of a separate thread!) and I use soap to wash the greasiness off my hands afterwards.

David Williams wrote:I used to make my own de-greaser for getting heavy duty axle grease off my hands , that could probably be used for this .... altho i am not a "no'poo" person i use natural saponoids two of the main ones are rinse water from Quinoa and/or yucca root pulped and drained, then reduced slowly on a stove-top (rapid boil makes rapid foam), then adding aloe gel, tea tree and eucalyptus oils.... this combination creates a solvent that cracks even the toughest oils/fats , is antiseptic and antibacterial and not dehydrating for the skin...

extracting yucca soap footage here

David, I want to try this. Sounds amazing.

The metrosexual goes poo-less.

I guess I'll fall for any fad.

My wife is the exact opposite of a permie. She is an extra wasteful, vegetable hating, outdoor hating, TV watching, sitter. She just loves talking about nonsence.... all the time

I got a wife like that because I was't much different, video games consumed me. I did cut my long hair, and ditched the flannels and tattered jean shorts after the Grunge era so I could score some poon.
Well that was 20 years ago, and since then life has been $5 bottles of Shampoo, $6 bottles of body wash, and $60 bottles of cologne.

I'm a stay at home dad, of a disabled, sweet 7 year old little hellian girl. So what do I have to loose going pooless?
I don't get out, I'm tenured with my wife, and she has often health issues in the love making dept.

I of course hid it from her but I'm a little over a week in, and I asked her to smell my hair, beard, and pits.
She has NO problem telling me if I stink, and she said I smelled fine.
Now it had been over 12 hours since I had my water shower, and I had worked for at least 5 hours outside on permaculture activities in my hard in the hot sun.

After she asked why I told her.
I got the usual responce, what the fuck is pooless (that's what I said when I saw Paul mention it on a YT vid)
I told her and she made that face, oh well fuck her.

She can have her face lotion, foot lotion, daily face wash, acne face wash, vagina wash, body wash, body scrub, shampoo, dandruff shampoo, conditioner, spray, and perfume.


Now I'm 41 and have pretty short hair (I went to cosmetology school and flunked out when I was 18, but I have cut my hair, my kids hair, and my wives hair since, so SCORE!)
So I didn't/don't have too much a problem with grease, although after I showered I always spritzed my hair with hairspray to keep my style, now I just rub it the way I like with the towel and it stays.

We will see how week two goes.

1. So far I use nothing but water and wash rag.
2. If I get grease funk from a car or something I will use my wifes body wash, I'm not buying hippy soap (I will eventually make my own hippy soap, with self grown herbs made in to essential oils)
3. I wash my hands with soap and water at the sink.

minyamoo metzger wrote:She can have her face lotion, foot lotion, daily face wash, acne face wash, vagina wash, body wash, body scrub, shampoo, dandruff shampoo, conditioner, spray, and perfume.

I can be a bit of a girly girl too (ok, not that much of a girly girl, but I do like all the scrubby, bubbly, smelly stuff). I decided to go all the way-- poo-less, soapless, lotionless, toothpasteless, and perfumeless. I never really used soap on my body or deodorant, and I know as a midwife that the vagina is a self-cleaning organism! No good has ever come from a vagina wash!! If that part stinks--go see your local vagina doctor, midwife or natural healer! I also have cut way down on the chemicals I use around the house for cleaning, but that might be another thread.

Anyway, I did have some issues with the whole transition thing, my hair was greasy and awful around the scalp and dry as straw at the ends, but I persevered and tried some different things until it got better. It's been a couple of months so maybe it was just the right amount of time for my system to adjust to not having all the oil stripped away everyday! What ended up working for me is cleaning my hair with a handful of baking soda wet with just enough water to make a thin runny paste. I only use it around the hairline, ear to ear and then it spreads down a bit with a little added water. I leave that in for a few minutes while I rub it all over my face, neck and chest. When it feels slippery, I rinse it out with water, then I use a 50/50 vinegar water rinse just on the parts I can hold in my hands, in other words not on my scalp. I do this about once a week and water rinses once or twice in between.

OT--The other thing I did that really helped with the condition of my hair, which was damaged from about 5 years of highlighting since I started going grey, was I henna'd it. That was awesome! I have always been a redhead, but with the aforementioned highlighting my color was getting blonder and blonder, and not a pretty blonde, but a fadey, dull, crispy, yucky blonde. So the henna did amazing things for both the color and the condition---like I never highlighted it in the first place! As I sit here writing this, my head is covered in another pile of muddy goo-- a mixture of henna and another herbal dye called cassia, which has more of a golden pigment--good for natural blondes and it can also be prepared so that it doesn't change your hair color. BTW, there is a third plant that works well for darker hair, indigo. I found a great website that explains all this at http://www.mehandi.com/. (No affiliation with them on my part!)

As for lotionless, I now use coconut oil for body lotion. It feels a little oily at first but it sinks right in, in about 5 minutes. I do have to be careful to keep my hair up until it sinks in though, otherwise my hair gets too oily from the coconut oil.

I use witch hazel as a toner on my face, then I use just a drop or two of almond oil and/or castor oil as a face moisturizer. Beautiful, glowey, clear skin, and I am fifty next month! I also use the almond oil/castor oil combo as a night cream, but I slather it on much heavier, like 4-5 drops of each mixed in the palm of my hands. I have also noticed my eyelashes and brows growing thicker and healthier from the castor oil. By morning, it's all soaked in and my skin is soft and smooth as a baby's butt. I have wondered how much of it was really soaking into my skin, and how much was ending up on my pillow case, but I haven't noticed any greasy stains on the linens.

For toothpaste, I have made up a mixture of baking soda, salt, bentonite clay, coconut oil, and some essential oils. That works well, but sometimes it is easier to just stick the toothbrush into the box of baking soda and brush with that. I also like to rinse with hydrogen peroxide for the antibacterial and whitening properties.

And you can make almost anything smell nice with the addition of some essential oils, not to mention the therapeutic and medicinal value of many of them.

I'm not sure how permie all this is, but it has to be better than all the chemicals I used to smear all over my body!

I tried the baking soda and ACV a year or so ago and it didn't work for me. I have straight hair that's 4 or so inches below my shoulders and it just stripped it. It felt horrible, it was extremely difficult to brush, and working the baking soda in was a nightmare. Now i use JR Liggets and i love it. My hair looks great, don't need conditioner though i do rinse with ACV every other week or so. And i have to wash my hair every other day or it gets greasy and unpresentable in public. And as for those people posting about showering every few days, how does that work on your lower bits? My lower girly bits enjoy cleaning every day, thank you very much.

I found this wikihow article titled "how to get self cleaning hair" while browsing reddit today. Gives a nice simple explanation of going pooless that I thought folks here might enjoy.

http://www.wikihow.com/Get-Self-Cleaning-Hair

I wash myself with a rag on a stick. Sorry I couldn't help myself. Simpson fans will get the joke. Anyway, I know this thread is about going pooless but what about simply using a wet towel and hand washing? I would prefer using some soap. The shower thing seems superfluous without soap.

I've been a walking oil reservoir since I can remember. I'd have to change my bed sheets every other day, wash everything in hot water, which included my clothes. I've fought foot fungus, smell and calluses all my life. Not to mention my stink... UGH!

Not sure why but I've been deodorant free for years. I've started, have never in my life, wearing undershirts which seemed to help. BTW, after some trial and funk, I not wear Nylon undershirts as they work better than poly stuff...

While researching rocket stoves on you tube, I found a seminar that Paul Wheaten was giving... He mentioned going poo'less... Well Duh! was my first thought. How could I not realize what soap and shampoo was doing to me.

I went poo'less cold turkey. I use a washrag to scrub with, head to toe. having SHORT hair, the oily transition lasted a day or two. I have to state though... I love my hot showers and will never be able to do a 1 minutes or even a 5 minute shower... It's one of the few pleasures in life I have.

I feel like we've been mentally conditioned to wash with something... Sadly, yesterday, I grabbed the bar of soap, washed, then proceeded to grab the bottle of shampoo... OMGosh! I was so mad at myself... but I realized it happened because I have a physical habit and it's going to take a while to change it.

I work closely with people all day... No one has yet to complain!

Alan

Several years ago, I ran out of deodorant and didn't make it to buy any more for a few days. Imagine my surprise when I found I didn't really need it. I asked my climbing partner to tell me if she ever smelled any funk on me. After several months and no complaints, I haven't bought deodorant since. This worked well for me in northern Arizona even when I was doing field work - camping and not bathing for up to 4 days at a time.

Then I moved to the jungle of Ecuador. With the heat and humidity, even with daily showers, my pits got pretty rank. A friend gave me an extra trial size of commercial deoderant which made my pits really itchy. So I threw it away. Then I tried mixing talc powder and baking soda and was amazed that the smell just disappeared. I find I need to use the powder every few days - certainly not every day - just to knock back the stinky bacteria again.

Since then, I've found I was using less and less soap in the shower - just using it for my face, pits, and bits. Last week I decided to take the plunge and go totally soap and shampoo free. The soap has been no issue at all, but my scalp has been a little itchy. I washed with a water solution of baking soda and then rinsed with a dilute vinegar solution, which helped some with the itchiness, but not completely.

I plan to stick (and hopefully not stink) it out for another week or so, then reassess.

So Paul Wheaton’s pooless presentation caught my eye. I’m three days into this terrifying experiment. No one hates me yet. My dogs still hang around me. I take the obligatory self-sniff. I appear to not yet offend. (Well no more than usual) This morning, on the way to the shower, I stop off at the nearby sink to shave. I’m about to put shaving cream to my face and think “hmm what’s this stuff got in it.”
Water, Stearic Acid, Triethanolamine, Isobutane, Laureth-23, Fragrance, Lanolin, Propane, and Sodium Lauryl Sulfate. I was good up until Fragrance. Nothing says cancer causing more than the words "food dyes", "artificial flavorings", and "fragrances".
I’m not going to use soap. I’m not going to use shampoo, but I’m going to lather this stuff all around my nose and mouth. No body informed me what to use for shaving.
So this is an enquiry: Any suggestions on a shaving cream substitute?
It is also a “Hey, has anybody tried this?” enquiry.
I tried a couple drops of olive oil. My first thought was how will I get the excess olive oil off, without using soup?
With that reservation, I gave it a try.
As a lubricant preventing razor burn, best thing ever.
As a substance for promoting close cropping of my facial hair, as good as any shaving cream.
But now what to do with the olive oil residue on my hands and face. Then I noticed, after shaving it really did not feel any oilier on my hands and face than when I put standard lotion on my hands or face. A couple rubes of my hands over my face, followed by rubbing my hands together and the olive oil seemed to soak in as good as normal lotion, so it became my new face and hand moisturizer.
Any shared thoughts will be greatly appreciated.

Well, it's been about a month and a half since I stopped using soap and shampoo, and I am content with the results. My hair seems nicer, cleaner, and more manageable than it did before, and the itchiness of the scalp only comes back if I don't wash with baking soda and vinegar for 3-4 days. My hope is that I will be able to go longer and longer between washes, using only water between.

Regarding shaving cream - I have been using a shaving cream/brush combination. The particular cream I'm using is probably no better than the stuff in a can regarding chemical exposure. But it works better than the canned stuff, and it doesn't contain aerosols. I haven't tried olive oil, but I might give it a try. I HAVE used olive oil as a hand moisturizer, so I see no problem with just rubbing it in once you're done shaving.

Kirk's Coco Castile really leaves me with dry skin. I can use it during the summer, but during the winter, my skin literally hurts after bathing with it.
Dr. Bronner's is even worse, and even seems to give me a rash, especially on my face. Adding some neem oil seems to help, a bit.
I can get by better with 'fancy soaps', but spending $6 on a bar that may last a month is getting expensive.

I'm going to try the soap-less thing and see what happens. After I showered last night, my sides and back were on fire, so I had to grease myself-up. This works presently OK, but is time consuming and kinda wasteful, with all the washing and replacing of oils.

My main concern is how does chlorine affect the water only showers?
I'm thinking of getting a shower filter, but even then I don't think they remove all the chlorine.

Anybody have any reports on no-soap using chlorinated city water?

Thanks.

My water is quite highly chlorinated. Due to limited testing equipment, my town measures their chlorine concentration (and pH) with a pool and spa test kit. They figure as long as the chlorine concentration reads at the lowest level, they are good enough.

I haven't had any problems with the no soap gig. But it sounds like you have pretty sensitive skin. Your best bet is to try it and see how it goes. Just don't give up too soon. It might take your body several weeks to adjust it's oil production. In the mean time, you can maybe treat symptoms with moisturizers, or ease into soapless by only soaping once every 2, 3, 4 days, etc. For that transition period, you could use the fancy soaps that play nice with your skin.

Hey everyone,

I am a soap maker. We run a small organic cosmetic business. Obviously I am very environmental and health minded (or I try as hard as possible).

I don't use deodorant at all (some days I spray myself with water and a mix of essential oils). A mix like lemon, bergamot, cedarwood, patchouli, etc, is rather pleasant.
I take a shower using my self-made soaps, which are very nice for the skin, no drying at all (they are made of coconut and olive oil). A properly well made soap should not leave the skin dry or irritated, many soap makers add colorings and fragrances and err in the percentage of oils. I found out that if you bath yourself with water in nature, frequently every day, then you might not need a soap most times. Those experiences I had were with swimming in the ocean and bathing in natural lakes.

You can also buy liquid castille soap and add a couple % of olive oil and it will feel much less drying on the skin.

I tried for a month or two not to use shampoo. It went well. The hair gets used after 3 weeks (my hair is rather oily). Its not the end of the world Apple cider vinegar is quite good for the hair. Corn starch is also nice and soaks extra fat. I wash my hair with herbs like soapwort, also with my own made shampoo made with decyl glucoside, which is the mildest surfactant there is (and no preservatives or any other chemical - i use a small percentage of alcohol to preserve it). Weleda has a rather synthetic-chemical free shampoo. But many other claimed "organic" brands actually have a lot of synthetics to them. Read labels carefully. I dont use a conventional shampoo for such a loooong time. I love the effect nettles and calendula have in my hair. Really cool.

Toothpaste: the simplest and the most natural the better. But I found baking soda and most clays to be rather agressive for tooth. A gum/gel toothpaste without synthetic chemicals is what I use. Many essential oils are perfect for mouth, clove oil (very diluted) is excellent one: perfect for tooth and gum problems.

Cosmetics is often an area where most environment-minded people forget about. And one thing in life where chemicals are most ubiquotous. So it is rather important to take care of that.
Hope I was useful in sharing my own experiences.

I use SheaMoisture on my hair but this seems to make my hair even more greasy. I've tried the baking soda/ acv but I didnt like that either. My hair is naturally oily and the shampoo I am using now makes my scalp itch too. I was reading previous posts about using conditioner as the main shampoo...would this work on oily hair?

hey everyone! i finally got into the no-poo thing so i just have to bump this thread.

my hair and skin has always been that "get an oil change!" type. quite litterally i have thee biggest girly girl sisters and the only way they would get near my hair is **immediately** after i washed it. and by washed it i mean shampoo, wash my body, rinse hair, shampoo again, shave, rinse hair, conditioner, just enjoy shower time a bit, and finally rinse rinse rinsey rinse.
and within a couple hours if someone wasnt there to know i'd just been in the shower would ask if i needed in the shower.... //angry face!//


so due to the current just life stuff.. long story short its not optimal and bathing from a bucket in a small living area is not so fun, thankfully now its warm out and the hose is alright albeit cold.

so not having a job right now and hating washing my nasty mop head of hair in a bucket... i said screw it. i washed my body as usual, cutting down on the bit of soap i use there. and since i cover my hair anyways it was easier to get up, brush it, cover it, and be done with it until i went to sleep. my hair stunk like mad, but that was nothing new this was just.. more..
and thats how it went for 8 weeks with only three water only rinses.. which made it feel like someone poured hot oil over my hair and rub it all in and then dunk me in icewater.. not fun..

so recently i said enough! and started trying again with baking soda-water wash and ACV-water condition. OH MY GODS!!! my hair has NEVER felt that good! i wanted to drive the 6.5 hours to have my sisters touch it and ogle at this miracle!
yes i know i sound super dramatic but if you had seen my hair before you would be ogling and amazed along with me i promise!

so now i am working on how long i can go between washes for my hair. right now its been four days since the last wash and i think this is about what my hair used to do by the end of the day when i was using shampoo. hopefully the 8wk terror-hair has more than taken care of my spazzing hair greasiness.

using baking soda instead of toothpaste. been off the deoderant for quite a while, still smelly though so lookin for a homemade one that'll work for me. and cutting down body washing soap.

Woo hoo, kadence! For those of us with oily skin and hair, I think soap/shampoo just makes our glands produce more of it. One of life's ironies.

DeLaney, I don't know about using conditioner instead of shampoo, because I haven't done that, but I have experimented with the baking soda/acv a lot. Some folks recommend diluting the baking soda in water and applying it that way, but for some reason I prefer just shaking some baking soda into my hand, and mucking it into my hair. Though I only do this every week or couple of weeks because I find it's really stripping for me. We have hard water though, so my hair and scalp tend to get build up from more than just my own "stuff" so I use acv more frequently as a rinse - usually once a week or so, though sometimes every other day, or (rarely) every day.

I might have mentioned this before, and several others have commented about this, too, but it's odd how using oil to clean the skin is actually very restorative, even for oily skin. My favorite (and only) face wash right now is castor oil and olive oil. I probably use it every other day or so, sometimes 2 days out of 3. My skin hasn't been this clear in years. If I start to get a pimple (usually from eating sugar--gah!) I rub in a dab of castor oil and it helps it dissipate more quickly.

Jocelyn Campbell wrote:
I might have mentioned this before, and several others have commented about this, too, but it's odd how using oil to clean the skin is actually very restorative, even for oily skin. My favorite (and only) face wash right now is castor oil and olive oil. I probably use it every other day or so, sometimes 2 days out of 3. My skin hasn't been this clear in years. If I start to get a pimple (usually from eating sugar--gah!) I rub in a dab of castor oil and it helps it dissipate more quickly.

well thats like the native americans. europeans called them "red faced" because certian tribes would make a sort of paint from red ochre and bear fat (or other meat fat but i read specifically bear fat) to use on their face. it was to protect the skin from windburn, sunburn, etc. and the europeans couldnt believe that there was no soaps and things like they relied on a good deal even by then AND YET the natives almost all had near perfect complexions and none of the acne etc type issues.

I found this article on Reddit thought it would be good to share it here!
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/25/magazine/my-no-soap-no-shampoo-bacteria-rich-hygiene-experiment.html

Sam Barber wrote:I found this article on Reddit thought it would be good to share it here!
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/25/magazine/my-no-soap-no-shampoo-bacteria-rich-hygiene-experiment.html

I just did a quick skim: how fascinating that the beauty product industry is jumping onto the beneficial bacteria bandwagon! There was more meat to the article than that, to be sure. Hope to read more in depth later.

I'm going on three years of no poo. I haven't gone soapless, purely because, I'm a sucker for a bar of good goats milk soap. AND because I'm not brave enough to stop shaving my legs...is there a way to shave your legs without soap?
My routine is quite similar to yours, Jocelyn. I scrub the baking soda in my hair, only at the roots, and then rinse using a very diluted solution of acv and essential oils. I find that in my hair (which is coarse and curly) too much acv leaves the roots greasy, so I try to just rinse the ends to keep it from tangling madly, which it is prone to doing.
I'm so excited to see so many at least willing to experiment with this. It's not an easy thing to give up, but when you- the results are well worth it!

Really three years without poo that sounds like a serious medical issue! Just kidding. I recently started using Baking soda in my hair I was not using anything besides water for several weeks but my dandruff was really getting bad. I started using baking soda and it has gotten a little better. I also used a little olive oil to help replenish the oil content of my hair. I am going to try using vinegar next we will see how that works.

Sam-
ACV should help with the dandruff. You could also try adding in some essential oils