Anybody Doing The No Poo Method.

[gn1g]

Is anyone is doing no poo? What are the benefits?

 

[snoop]

I've been clay washing for years and have now been experimenting with water only washing/rinsing. The later has helped me to determine what it was i liked about the first. For me having a coating of sebum on my scalp and hair has helped my hair to be less fragile. In both cases I still use a leave in and an oil to seal but I've become more cognizant of which oils work with my sebum and which oils leave my hair feeling greasy or dry and greasy.

Based on techniques like finger detangling and washing frequently, I can't say that I couldn't maintain my length using shampoo (because I have used shampoo to clarify my clay washes), however I feel more comfortable with clay washing.

 

[scarcity21]

What Clay do you use and how do you use it?

 

[snoop]

I am currently using kaolin clay. I started off using Terressentials which is a pre-made bentonite clay. I switched to rhassoul clay so that I can make my own hair wash. Basically you can mix the clay powder with either water or coconut milk/cream and then add carrier oils or essential oils to suit (optional). The ladies in the MHM thread would have some good recipes.

As for specifically how, once you have the clay mixed, you just wash your hair with it as you would shampoo. The only real difference is that it does not lather.

 

[scarcity21]

Thanks. I just bought Aztec clay...do u think I can use that?

 

[snoop]

I haven't tried it but it is a popular clay to use in this board. You should be fine.

 

[hair4romheaven]

I haven't shampoo in years. I clay wash multiple times per week. I put a few drop of terressentials in a squeeze bottle add water and saturate my scalp. Leave on for a while then rinse. I do this while in braids or twist. I saturate the braids or twist sometimes as well
1x a month or 6 weeks i take down twist or braids and use aztec clay mixed with acv and avj
Then i use rhassoul clay mixed with green tea.
Wash days are so simple. Products are inexpensive as well.

 

[snoop]

How do you do this without your braids/twists getting fuzzy? I do this too but I refresh every two weeks.

Also on refresh day I'll wash loose just to make sure all of the clay gets out.

 

[nothidden]

I'm definitely no poo. I've used bentonite sodium and/or calcium clay for over a year now. For me calcium clay is very conditioning. I can easily finger detangle w/both. I recently began using Terressentials mud wash. I used to revisit my shampoo bar for a 'good' washing like once a month, but haven't used it in a while. I find it hard to believe I'll ever stop using clay. I believe my hair is more defined because of it.

 

[snoop]

This is an old thread, but I'm bumping it. @Chicoro @Mapleoats

So, I never ended up sticking to water only because I found that it left my hair feeling coarse/dry. I'm not sure why. It could have been hard water build up, the quality of my sebum, product build-up....

HOWEVER, I've gone back to clay washing. My clay washes are much more ingredient rich now as I add ayurvedic powders, amino acids, hydrolyzed proteins, and other ingredients to them.

They WAY that I wash my hair is also different. On days when I wash my hair loose, I use a lot of water. I mean a LOT. I think that this has a made a big difference to my hair. As far as I know, my hair was normal porosity and I think that it's still normal, but it behaves differently. When I wear medium/jumbo twists I'd loosen my hair to wash it and I personally believe that the water plus the raking process (with my fingers), help to train my coils to clump.



I guess my hair looks like 4b because of it, but my hair is definitely 4c.

One weird observation that I've made is that my hair flash dries (I think that's the right term), when I wash it. I'm not sure if it's the ayurvedic clay mixes that are doing it or if it's the amount of water, but by the time I'm ready to get out of the shower my hair feels "dry" (but not parched) even though I've been under the water for close to an hour. I'll wring the water out and my hair still feels dry. HOWEVER, my hair feels soft and moist throughout the week even after just moisturizing it the one time after washing. I'm not complaining...but it's another thing that I have to look into.

 

[Loveygram]

I still mostly water wash with occasional clay or shampoo washes during the year. I have done this consistently for the last few years. My water comes from a spring fed well and so far no problems. Frigid winters are when I will use more than water on occasion because of wanting to put oils or a butter on my ends. Also , it is when I will use a blow dryer more often. Initially, my texture seemed to change but that could be because of getting old, lol. My mom had 3a big curls that went poker straight by the time she was 80. Btw, my scalp problems seem to return after using shampoo so clay washes work better but seem to be drying so I use an ACV rinse. Hair stays twisted or braided most of the time and out only on occasion. This year, I may try just water washing with no oils and butters on my ends and see how it goes.
Your hair looks beautiful and healthy. Some dryness can be expected, but hopefully not a hard breaking type dry. I wash once a week without having to moisturize in between except when wearing it loose. Best wishes.

 

[snoop]

Do you do mechanical cleaning with a brush? If not, what -- if any -- technique do you use for cleaning and sebum distribution?

 

[Chicoro]

I'm a clay mix washer. I stopped using shampoo around January 2023. I used to have to TEAR my ends apart to detangle and unbraid my hair. My ends used to be sticky and like Velcro. I believe this was due to commercial shampoo.

Now, I use a clay mix and my hair is soft and my ends are no longer sticky. Shampoo traumatizes my hair. My hair can recover from the onslaughts of shampoo up until it gets a certain length and age. After, say, waist length, shampoo exponentially eats away the structural components of my hair strands.

It took me seven (7) years to realize this.

 

[snoop]

I used @Chicoro 's moisture drenched pre-poo recipe as the actual wash yesterday. I was under the impression that aloe contains saponin in it, however, a quick google search just now tells me that most of the saponin can be found in the skin. Next time I'm going to blend and strain the entire leaf and wash my hair with it. My hair feels soft and looks and feels much better than it did before. I still need to do some scalp exfoliation, but I might just use Inkey List scalp scrub on my next wash.

I also picked up two jars of apple sauce baby food today. Apple sauce supposedly is used to remove sebum from hair. While I don't want to completely strip mine, removing some might help add a bit of sheen to my hair. Since I'm all about one-stop shopping, I'll most likely add it to a clay mask and see what happens.

I will say, that my hair really likes hot water and long hot detangling sessions in the shower (using my fingers) has helped my hair to clump and also not to mesh when wearing twists for a long time. I just finshed two months in mini twists and taking them down was a breeze, where before two weeks would have my hair meshing. I think that 1, these detangling sessions have trained my strands to stay more uniform downward instead of frizzing out. This helps when I'm twisting my hair since I don't use a comb or any products other than water to make my twists. 2. I'm getting good sebum and oil coverage along my strands. This keeps my hair from acting like velcro and meshing on itself. I would describe my hair as cottony, but after a nice long water sesson, the surface of my hair feels smoother than it used to. I feel like I'm doing a very SLOW version of the The Wolfganglisborg Method.

 

[snoop]

This is what it looks like when I finger detangle under the shower stream:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CWdssitlHYQ/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet

On weeks where I do this weekly, I loose the amount that you see in the video. If I don't detangle for a month, I loose a lot more. I also seem to shed more in the fall/winter than in the spring/summer.

 

[IDareT'sHair]

I'm a Clay-er and a Cleanser. However, I do use a mild when 'Poo (per the instructions when using K18)

 

[Chicoro]

I'm a Clay-er and a Cleanser. However, I do use a mild when 'Poo (per the instructions when using K18)

I didn't know that! Me, too! I started January 7th, 2023 and have been consistent for the entire year. @snoop hooked me up and gave me a recipe that she was developing at the time. I didn't have a clue about how to use clays let alone figure out a recipe. I came to clay out of desperation. My ends were sticky ate-up. I had no idea that shampoo was the culprit.

Which clays do you use? What is your recipe or process, if you don't mind sharing, please? How long have you been using clay? Has your hair thrived because of clay? You are natural, right?

 

[Chicoro]

I used @Chicoro 's moisture drenched pre-poo recipe as the actual wash yesterday. I was under the impression that aloe contains saponin in it, however, a quick google search just now tells me that most of the saponin can be found in the skin. Next time I'm going to blend and strain the entire leaf and wash my hair with it. My hair feels soft and looks and feels much better than it did before. I still need to do some scalp exfoliation, but I might just use Inkey List scalp scrub on my next wash.

I also picked up two jars of apple sauce baby food today. Apple sauce supposedly is used to remove sebum from hair. While I don't want to completely strip mine, removing some might help add a bit of sheen to my hair. Since I'm all about one-stop shopping, I'll most likely add it to a clay mask and see what happens.

I will say, that my hair really likes hot water and long hot detangling sessions in the shower (using my fingers) has helped my hair to clump and also not to mesh when wearing twists for a long time. I just finshed two months in mini twists and taking them down was a breeze, where before two weeks would have my hair meshing. I think that 1, these detangling sessions have trained my strands to stay more uniform downward instead of frizzing out. This helps when I'm twisting my hair since I don't use a comb or any products other than water to make my twists. 2. I'm getting good sebum and oil coverage along my strands. This keeps my hair from acting like velcro and meshing on itself. I would describe my hair as cottony, but after a nice long water sesson, the surface of my hair feels smoother than it used to. I feel like I'm doing a very SLOW version of the The Wolfganglisborg Method.

Be careful with the skin of the aloe plant as it can be (not automatically for everyone) an irritant along with the yellow liquid within the plant. I would suggest you do a patch test to avoid any possible set-backs when you decide to incorporate the skin in your processes.

 

[IDareT'sHair]

@Chicoro
I'm using Pre-Mixes

HennaSooq's Cleansing Clay, Sarenzo, SheScentIt , Curl Origin (and many others)

I do love Rhassoul and Pink Clays tho'.

 

[Chicoro]

@Chicoro
I'm using Pre-Mixes

HennaSooq's Cleansing Clay, Sarenzo, SheScentIt , Curl Origin (and many others)

I do love Rhassoul and Pink Clays tho'.

Thank you for the detailed response!

 

[AtlantaJJ]

I really want to get into clay washes now, but I need to find a way to make it easy, not messy to use.

 

[snoop]

Be careful with the skin of the aloe plant as it can be (not automatically for everyone) an irritant along with the yellow liquid within the plant. I would suggest you do a patch test to avoid any possible set-backs when you decide to incorporate the skin in your processes.

I'm looking into this further now.

Someone on another online forum mentioned that they found that the younger plants (shorter leaves) tend to have more of the yellow liquid in them and that they tend to be more irritating.

I'm going to keep this in mind going forward. If I'm being good with my time, I soak the aloe vera for 30 min, drain the water, then soak overnight. Otherwise, I try for at least 30 min. I should start testing on paper the amount of aloin coming out of the leaf after soaking.

 

[Chicoro]

I'm looking into this further now.

Someone on another online forum mentioned that they found that the younger plants (shorter leaves) tend to have more of the yellow liquid in them and that they tend to be more irritating.

I'm going to keep this in mind going forward. If I'm being good with my time, I soak the aloe vera for 30 min, drain the water, then soak overnight. Otherwise, I try for at least 30 min. I should start testing on paper the amount of aloin coming out of the leaf after soaking.

I just cut the plant leaf, stand it up on a plate, with the tip up and the exposed flesh at the cut point is exposed, and let it drain. It works like a charm.

 

[snoop]

I just cut the plant leaf, stand it up on a plate, with the tip up and the exposed flesh at the cut point is exposed, and let it drain. It works like a charm.

Ahh... no water in this process? I should try this. I've been doing it in water, but I've never been sure if I'm leeching out nutrients while adding water into the leaf.

 

[Chicoro]

Ahh... no water in this process? I should try this. I've been doing it in water, but I've never been sure if I'm leeching out nutrients while adding water into the leaf.

No water. No irritation. No soaking.

 

[snoop]

I'm seeing a few people on Insta talking about scooping and spreading and it's making me realize that I should actually give this a proper go.

I didn't think that I made a lot of sebum, but I'm trying something new and I think that it's helping. I want to test it out a bit more. I will say, that I am using my goat hair brush. Hopefully, it's helping with distribution. Under certain light my hair looks so shiny after preening.

I'm currently installing a new set of mini twists because I remember a YTer (oh so long ago) mentioning that the best way to distribute sebum on our hair, when you're first trying to get coverage was to install twists. I figure min twists would give me the most optimal style for distributing. Hopefully, I can keep these twists in until the end of April, at which point I should hopefully have reached full coverage.

I only moisturized once last week (LCO) and once again on Saturday (C). I did an okra and honey wash this morning. My hands feel so greasy. I don' think it's just leftover product. Scalp massages for the win!