new thread
About a week and a half ago i decided to ask one of my freinds who has amazing, healthy hair, what his secret was. His way of looking at it is that people have been able to maintain healthy hair for hundreds of years. So all the sudden shampoo and treatments come into the picture. He dosnt use shampoo or anything to wash his hair but water. Shampoo he claims it does nothing but damage it and takes away the natrual oils. Like me he has a big flaking problem, so he directed me to buy some natrual castile soap to wash my scalp. It works! I havent used any product on my hair in a week and a half and my hair is sooooo smooth, tangle free and feeling better than ever before! The best part is i use one bar of soap for my whole body now and the scent sticks with you through out the entire day.
Does anyone else use this method or feel the same way about hair products? Or should I not be doing this?
Any particular brands of soap? where can we find it? how does it work?
Not any soap. It's called castile soap. It's all natrual and dosn't damage hair or stip it of it's natrual oils. You can get it online or at most health food store such as "Whole Foods" if you have one of those near you.
The only brand of castile soap I know of is Kirk's. I've used it as hand soap in the past and it seems to work ok. I've never used it on my hair and, until I hear about others who have, I don't plan on it. Don't want to be the guinea pig! Here's a link that gives info about Kirk's. I know this site is trying to sell you Kirk's and other stuff but it's the only one I could find that gives info about the soap.
http://www.safehomeproducts.com/shp2/es/kirk_soap_1.asp
--Rick
I have washed my hair with Kirk's castile soap every day for several years and it's great. It is the most basic kind of soap made and it rinses out very cleanly, and it's economical, too.
Castile soap leaves your hair on the alkaline side but this is easily remedied by rinsing with a pint of warm water containing two tablespoons of lemon juice or vinegar (at that dilution there will be no smell after it dries).
Does your friend use conditioner at all?
Or does he merely just rely on his scalp oils to lubricate his hair?
I'm a bit skeptical about these claims. I only shampoo once a week myself but i conditioner almost every day. My scalp doesn't produce sufficient oils on its own. That's what i need conditioner to help this.
No, he dosn't use anything. Like me he has pretty oily hair so what he told me to do is 2 or 3 times a week use your fingers to slide the oils to the ends of your hair. I imagine it takes more times a week as your hair gets longer.
If your hair dosn't produce enough oil you should try some oil treatments and if that dosns't work try sleeping with the oil treatment in. Don't take my word on sleeping in it though, I would research it first but it worked very well for me when I had trouble conditioning.
No one take this post as an actuall way to deal with your hair and scalp cleansing. This is a small group of peoples opinions and somthing that I am expierimenting with.
Where did he gain this knowledge from?
No Conditioner?
If he says so. But what of the abrasive dirt shampoo gets rid of?
Well, guess some people can get away with this. I tried the "Water only" route once and in my case it was a poor experiment. Have never tried Castle Soap as I am having great luck with my own routine. But everyone is different. It could be that since only 1-1/2 weeks trial w/Castle Soap and water is being more gentle on your hair than what you had been using before. You will know much better in 3 months time or sooner.
Guess the others that post will give you the answer you are looking for. I myself think that not using conditioner is a 100% mistake for long term hair health.
I would agree with what your friend says for the most part, but it didn't work so well for me. I tried the water-only thing for about 2 months (a pretty long time), and the whole time my hair was really oily feeling/looking, and it always looked like my hair was beginning to "Dread"... one friend actually said my hair was looking good in dread locks, and I wasn't even trying to get dreads! After about 2 months, my head began to itch like crazy, so one day I cracked and just washed my hair... I couldn't believe how much better it felt... no itching, no oil, just soft and shiny, and it looked like hair again... not that mess of "dreads". Needless to say, I wash my hair about every 3 days with a 100% all natural shampoo (Tom's of Maine brand), and then condition with a standard over-the-counter brand such as Garnier or dove. I won't deny that the water-only works for some people, it sadly didn't work for me though...
-Ardroth
Interesting. I've been using Dr. Bronner's castille soap to shower with for years, but I've never thought about shampooing with it. Is the soap you're using 100% castille soap with nothing else added, or does it have a few essential oils like Dr. Bronner's? Regardless, I may give it a try.
Cheers,
Jeremy
It's pure castile. I just wannt get some of the liquid stuff so it will last longer. The bar lasts for like a week.
I use one bar of soap for my entire body, but I also use it for my hair. It's a bar of Nag-Champa soap, smells like incense :)
I wash my hair every 4 days to 2 weeks, occasionally longer and occasionally less.
