Are You Allergic Or Sensitive To Shampoos?
In, are you allergic or sensitive to shampoos, I take you through my journey with shampoo alternatives.
BEING A PERSON WHO IS SENSITIVE TO SHAMPOOS, I WENT LOOKING FOR NATURAL ALTERNATIVES
Being a minimalist and wanting to use natural ingredients sent me in the right direction.
I found sodium bicarbonate and vinegar, Soapwort root powder and Yucca root powder.
I have also had to make adjustments for greasy and itchiness.
So, which works best for me and what have I learned?
First of all, I Tried Baking Soda and Vinegar
My research on a shampoo alternative took me to the “No Poo” method. My understanding is there are many different variations of this method.
I first heard about it in Dr. Sam Bailey’s YouTube video. It sounded like a reasonable alternative as I am sensitive to all the shampoos I have ever tried.
The recommended way to start is one Tablespoon Baking Soda in 8 ounces of warm water. Wet your hair and then apply this with a scrub in between, let it set and then rinse well.
After this use one Tablespoon Vinegar (Any) in 8 ounces of cool water and do the same as the baking soda. Use cool water as that closes the cuticle on the hair and prevents frizziness.
I let the baking soda set for a minute or three and then rinse. The vinegar I let set about 5 minutes and then rinse.
Baking soda is a PH of 9 and Vinegar is a PH of 2 to 3 but your scalp is a PH of 5.5.
The first time I did this I had a ton of shampoo build up on my hair that I would not have known about unless I did this process.
After the last rinse I had squeaky clean hair better than when I used shampoo.
I have changed the amount of baking soda I use and the amount of time I leave it on. Over time and making adjustments between greasy hair in a few days and very itchy scalp that would drive me crazy.
Now I am at the point where I use 1/2 Tablespoon of Baking Soda and I rinse it off almost immediately after applying it the usual way. The Vinegar I use the same but don’t let it set as long either.
Since learning that our scalp has a mantle that protects us from infections and other things I turned away from the baking soda, as it destroys the mantle.
It is too harsh and strips the mantle, taking many days for it to restructure itself.
Secondly, I Tried Soapwort Root
Wanting something that was near the PH of the mantle, so it would keep its integrity and I would still have clean, non-greasy hair, I turned to Soapwort root powder.
I used 1 Tablespoon in 8 ounces of warm water and agitated it with a spoon.
After wetting my hair with warm water, pouring the mix on, I would scrub it lightly and then rinse it off.
It does not lather at all but the powder particles rinse out thoroughly and I did have clean, squeaky hair when finished.
In addition, I followed up with the cool vinegar rinse the same as before.
After a while this didn’t work very well, as I had to wash my hair every 3 days because it would get too greasy.
My Last Resort Was Yucca Root
My last experiment is Yucca root powder.
I use the same amount and in the same fashion but the Yucca root powder starts cleaning as soon as it is applied. There are no suds but it gets the hair squeaky clean.
As before, I follow it with the vinegar rinse.
Being able to wash my hair once a week only, would be fantastic!!
For about a week now, I have been using the Yucca root powder. I figure my mantle has to do a little adjustment so we shall see.
I washed my hair for the first time with Yucca root powder and then I washed it again and I looked at the calendar and it was exactly one week.
This is great and my hair wasn’t very greasy and I did not have an itchy scalp.
I am very happy with this current choice. Let’s see how this plays out over time.
My current conclusion is that the natural plant forms of shampoo are much better for your scalp mantle as the PH is very similar. They work well cleaning the hair of grease and leaving it feeling great.
Give it a try!!