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Hey everyone. I used to have long hair about 2 months ago and then shaved my head completely bald! Well, now I have about 2 months worth of growth (which coming from bald isn't much) and I'm growing my hair long again. I'm glad I shaved it, though, cause I'd been having the urge to. I needed to start fresh anyways, as it was the first time I had long hair and didn't take the right care of it.
I just wanted to tell everyone don't be fooled by all the shampoos you see out there claiming to make your hair straight, or shiny, or manageable, nourishing, moisturizing, etc... nearly every shampoo on the market is just a detergent that strips your hair of the oils it needs. And conditioner is their way of making you pay more money to fix it.
Of course, we all need to wash our hair. I'd suggest going to a health food store and picking up some herbal shampoo. But make sure it contains no ammonium or sodium lauryl/laureth sulfate, which are the detergents which destroy your hair. A lot of "herbal" shampoos contain those, so don't be fooled. I use the Avalon brand, I've also heard good things about Aubrey. They lather up good and do clean the hair, how I don't know. (If anyone knows how they actually clean without using all those detergents, I'd like to know). It might feel like they don't clean as good, but that's just because they don't strip all the oils from your hair and scalp. If you want nice long hair, you can't be washing it every day with those regular shampoos. Baby shampoo is also gentle. I've read even plain soap is better than most shampoo, but don't use it if you have hard water (which you probably do). I have no personal experience on that one.
Any comments?
Over the years I have heard that if you never wash your hair it goes through a really disgusting stage and then settles down to be OK. After all, before shampoo was invented, all we did when we were cave men (and all of us were longhairs then) was to clean ourselves and cool ourselves down by taking a bath in a stream, a pool or the sea. Of course, we didn't live in houses, so the wind cooled our hair much more than it does now, even for those of us who work outdoors for a lot of the time.
Has anone any experience of not washing hair over a long period of time?
I might try this, but lately my hair gets dirty only hours after washing it. What's this all about? I used to have very dry hair and now it seems my hair has turned oily. My hair smells dirty by evening even if I washed that morning. Is this normal or this is some condition I should go to the doctor about? I like the oiliness, just not the smell. The harsh shampoos clean good but my hair goes right back to being dirty, so I just use the gentle shampoos. I want my hair to look good when it's long, so I don't want to shampoo often. Maybe I should try not washing...
Maybe you need to get out in the fresh air for half an hour or so every evening after you finish your work. That will get rid of the smell but not affect the oiliness.
Yea, if close to two weeks is a long time. I am at the moment rethinking the shampoo thing, though. I am going to go for a while not washing with shampoo. I'll just give my head a good rub down with warm to medium hot water each time I shower and see how that does to get dust and stuff out without ridding it of natural oils. You know, the way people did before shampoo!!
I myself have gone about 2 1/2 months without using any shampoo. I wouldn't say that I didn't wash it, as I equate rinsing well under water as washing. As far as I know my hair didn't have any bad smell. I mean, it smelled a little like the oil, but it wasn't an unpleasant odor. For the experts, can I continue doing this without scalpal issues or problems?.
xcarc
I had to go without washing for around a month once. It got rally nasty and then one day POOF! It felt like it had just been washed! So I think that this is true but I wouldn't reccomend it because having long dirty hair feels...well, icky.
I don't know how this would work for someone who is active. I mountain bike almost daily (weather permitting). If I didn't shampoo every day, it seems the sweat accumulating in my hair would get overpowering pretty quick.
I have heard that the reason our hair gets so oily so quickly is that the production of oils is speeded up because we strip the hair so quickly by washing much more than our ancestors did.
Don't know if that is true, though.