Welcome back to an other episode of my health tips and tricks! Today I want to write about the health of our hair!
Are you a shampoo user? Most probably you are. We grow up thinking shampoo is necessary for us to clean our hair. We don't question it.
We start with our children.
When I sometimes visit baths with my baby-boy, I always feel kind of sad when I see how the mothers rub shampoo in their children's hair and the children gets shampoo in her or his eyes, cries out loud from the pain. It is very hurtful to get shampoo in your eyes, I think we all can agree on that.
If you knew it wasn't necessary to use shampoo for your children's hair, would you continue with it?
Probably not.
Our hair produce natural oils too and as long as you don't disturb this natural balance for your hair, it will be just fine. I haven't used shampoo for my boy's hair. Not even once. And he has the healthiest and most beautiful hair possible.
What happens when we apply shampoo to our hair?
When we start to use shampoo, we literally damage our hairs natural balance. We think we do something good for our hair and that we need shampoo to get our hair healthy, good smelling and clean.
What happens? Our hair will produce more oils and some people gets dandruff or dry scalp and hair. We also get unhealthy and weak hair. (At least many of us).
The stronger shampoos you use (more chemicals), the more you will need these shampoos.
My hair is long and I always wanted it to get even longer.
My story. Why I stopped using shampoo and what happened.
First of all, I always wanted to have long thick hair. My problem was that my hair always got very oily and I needed to wash it every second day or at least 2 times a week. I used only natural and organic shampoos but however, I always had a dry scalp and oily hair.
I tried some different no-poo methods but didn't like them very much. Than I read about someone who only used water to wash her hair and I was like: wow, I have to try this out!
This must be the most natural way to wash my hair I thought. I was overwhelmed and started trying it out immediately. I didn't do must research in forehand (I should have done it though. That would save a lot of frustration.), and was shocked from the amount of oils my hair was producing.
No shampoo - only water. What happens?
So what happened when I stopped using shampoo was that my hair started overproduce oils.
**Our hair needs oil and when we wash it out we often add some coconut oil, argan oil or olive oil to get that healthy and good looking hair.
So why not to keep the natural produced oils in our hair to get that next hair level? **
It is all marketing guys. And cultural believes I guess.
Do we need shampoo with different kind of chemicals as sulfates and silicone? Sulfates takes away the natural oil our hair produces and cause dryness. And when the hair loses their natural oil it overproduce oils. And than we are back again with washing our hair with shampoo. And so on.
If you don't know what happens when we use conditioners containing silicone, make a small research and you will find it out.😊
When we stop using any shampoo, our hair will try to find back to it's natural state with a low amount of oil production and a normal scalp.
This may take some weeks. During these weeks you will have a challenging time with very oily hair. But it will get better soon. So just keep on believing and make your research on the internet how to practice this only water method in the best way.
What you need to get started.
- A good hair brush. I can recommend a vegan paddle brush.
- wide toothed comb.
- warm and cold water.
How to?
How I wash my hair with water only.
- I wait until my hair looks and feels to oily and I feel I need to wash it. Once a week most of the time.
- First I massage my scalp for a couple of minutes to activate the blood circulation and to lose dirt and oils from the scalp.
- I pull my fingers with some hair in between from my scalp to the hair tops, to get the oil from the scalp in all my hair.
- Than I start brushing my hair until all the dirt and lose hair is gone.
*I wash my hair with warm, almost hot water while rubbing and massaging my scalp. I make sure I wash my hair from the scalp to the tops to get out as much dirt as possible. - when I finish I wash my hair very quick in ice-cold water.
- To dry my hair I use a cotton towel or shirt (yea it is kind to your hair.) And than I let it air-dry.
- When my hair is still damp I use my wooden wide toothed comb, starting at the ends and working my way up (Be gently because your hair is fragile when it's wet).
- Style and done!
- I wash my brush every time after using it because it absorbs a lot of oils and dust. And I don't want to have that in my hair the next time I use the brush. Clean the brush with very hot water and maybe any soap, and than wash it out with cold water. I let it dry on a warm place until the next time day.
So simple and a easy way to bring your hair to the next level.
I have used this method for some years now ( I started before I got pregnant) and it works very well for me.
My hair is long, strong, healthy and smells good!
If you got any questions, please let me know!
I am looking forward to all your feedback on this method!
Love, Niina