No 'Poo for me, Thanks

I can hear my mother now, "Jasmine, you are so gross. Did you HAVE to pick this title?" Yes, actually, I did. I have learned the hard way that my hair hates shampoo. Even before I went natural washing my hair left my scalp dry, flaky and itchy. I always attributed this to getting relaxers or the constant heat that was applied in order to maintain straight hair or hard water.

I learned about co-washing, using conditioner as a mask and to detangle only to rinse it out, from of all places QVC. Yeah, I watch QVC for entertainment-tragic! Well, they were selling a product called Wen which is just a series of conditioners for different hair types to be used as a cleanser and conditioner. The reviews for the product were pretty good and of course the QVC spokesperson raved about it. Well, I wasn't going to buy Wen but thought if there is any validity to using conditioner only to wash your hair, then it should work with any conditioner. I can't even remember what brand of conditioner I used, but it did seem to work. My hair felt as if it retained more moisture and was so much easier to detangle. As my journey from relaxed hair to natural progressed, I experimented with different conditioners (Oyin Handmade's Honey Hemp continues to be my favorite) to find that my dry, itchy scalp was a thing of the past! No more flakes (eff you Head and Shoulders)!


Now, using conditioner to co-wash is great; but you do have to be careful of product build-up. I decided that I would use shampoo to wash build-up out every two weeks. I bought some all natural shampoo and after the first use my hair felt dry, stiff and was difficult to detangle. I did a little research and found some low detergent shampoos, a.k.a. lo-poo, to try out. There was still too much 'poo! Though my hair was easier to detangle, my hair felt dry and stiff and it did with the full on shampoo. I even tried to reduce my shampoo washes to once a month; but the 'poo still stripped my hair of its natural moisture.

My next step is to try a few methods I've heard about here and there. One is the 'sugar scrub' method. I love sugar scrubs on my body; but I am not too keen on having sugar stuck in my hair (plus more rinsing means more time under hard water). Then there is the baking soda treatment (mixing baking soda and water to make a paste), but I am fearful this too will leave my hair stripped and dry. And if these home remedies don't work, there are some no-poo products that may work. Last weekend, I washed with lo-poo, so in 3 weeks I will have a report on the no-poo strategy (I need time to build up some build-up:).