Hey there guys, so i'm at 9.5 months of growth and decided to give no poo a try. I noticed that lately my scalp has been dryer than usual even though I shampoo every other day. I think my scalp is sensitive to the chemicals in any shampoo and the results is usually a mild case of dandruff for a week or so. Anyway I've been shampoo free for the past 7 days, only water washing my hair. It feels pretty good. I wouldn't describe it as greasy, rather slightly "waxy". My hair got lots more body now, but it doesn't look as good as when it is washed properly. Anyway I want to ask how long does the transition phase last in the no poo method? How long until it starts looking nice and healthy (and less oily/waxy)? Does anybody here have a blog or site that tracks one's progress?
Transition is usually weeks to months...different things work for each person in helping your hair look acceptale during that time. Most people end up water washing more often than they shampoo and conditioned.
Regarding the scalp flakiness, some people find that a dilute vinegar rinse can help with the scalp anger y correcting the scalp's pH.
What on earth possesses you to refer to shampoo as "poo", you silly goose, that's just all kinds of nasty :-D
As a kid i called it poo too. i couldn't make a sh sound so it either came out "poo" or "lampoo"
"poo" is just a shortened name for shampoo. people over at the long hair community board call it too. people from california, usa often say they are from "cali" just shortened version.
duncan
Indeed, at the women's board they call it that. Over here, they call the approach "washing only in water". Women usually prefer more sanitized language than men, an example being their coining the nonsense expression "classic length" to avoid saying "hair down to my butt", but use of "poo" seems to be an exception in that they opt for the grosser term. And like "classic length", no one outside that circle knows what the hell it means.
As for our state, "Cal" and "Calif" are the traditional abbreviations. The Post Office likes two letter abbreviations and encourages "CA", but that abbreviation in other contexts has gotten confused with "Canada", an example being the state's web site "ca.gov". Newspapers use one of the two traditional abbreviations. So we have the first two, three, and five letters already being used, and then recently along came the first four: "Cali" This one seems to be used only by very young people, and even then, only in an informal context. Others don't use it at all, and quite a few here don't know it refers to the state at all, and think it's a town somewhere in Latin America.
I'm not sure where "Cali" originated as a state reference, but a good guess would be that it was in our large Latino community.
Hey, we're a big state. I guess we need lots of abbreviations?
Bill in San Francisco
And we don't call it "Frisco"
But SF CAL seems to work. Look at the button on your Levi's.
You can also add the term "BSL" or bra strap length to your list. Here on MLHH we use "Nipple length." I personally like it to be a little longer and just go with "MBL"- mid back length. Still, I like the term "classic length" because one man on here would say "I think i'll grow it up to my ass!" To each his own... next thing you know someone could start a trend by saying I want to grow my hair up to "penis length"- where the hair touches the top of your penis. hahahaha I'm just kidding, and I'm just having fun with your extractions of hair terminologies. hahaha
PEACE and LOVE
rowie
Yeah, if you measured it to the bottom, that reading would depend on "how glad you are to see me"!
Don't forget "belly button length"! But do forget "belt length". On some folks around here, that would be longer than "classic length".
My favorite "stupid length measurement" is where folks measure hair length from their hairline that's above their forehead, up over their head, and then down to where the hair stops. This measurement gives a buzz cut a length that approaches a foot.
Scott and I were together once measuring the lengths of our beards. To make sure mine was longer than his, I measured from my forehead hair line, down over my nose, and then to my beard's hair tips, and Scott totally cracked up!
Bill
Still, I like the term "classic length" because one man on here would say "I think i'll grow it up to my ass!"
Classic length sounds more impressive and grand then saying butt length.
With correct grammar usage i think when one grows their hair longer it is rather down then up. Or if your one of those unfortunate people whose afro hair grows upwards defying gravity.
I would think it more appropriate to say " I think I'll grow it DOWN to my ass" rather then " grow it UP to my ass". A weird way to describe it. Odd how some people would say that they are growing their hair up to a certain length. You would think that hair grew out of one's feet, hearing that!
I knew a fellow who was born in California and he always described his home state in the US as "Cali".
I guess in this quickening age our language is constantly evolving. Most people these days would not speak the language of Old English and if we went back 800 years would be almost unrecognisable.
cheers,
Duncan
-I guess some kids are starting a new wave of language in preparation for life in space. I could understand how hair would grow upwards. hahahahaha I've met some interesting people from "Cali" that would say "please close the light" instead of "please turn off the light." hahaha Don't you just love the fluidity of the English language? Still, to each his own...
- I'm originally from "Cali," while the school system sucks there, compared to East Coast academies, at the college level, California colleges like Berkeley, are very much forward thinking. Critical thinking is no problem, however, formal structures in language I find would not be as polished as someone who has studied in the East Coast.
The same can be said about the East coast, I'm assuming that the kids there are highly emphasized to properly learn grammar structures because there is no curriculum that fosters "ebonics." hahaha However, they lack the ability to really push their critical thinking skills because they are so uptight about language structures. I'm now studying in Northern New England, and I find that class discussions are less radical thinking. People pause more because they really think about what they are going to say...
- Sometimes I wish the English language had one formal structure like the French language. The L'Académie française did a good job keeping their language to only one formal structure. Hence, learning their grammar structure is more definitive and less fluid when it comes to writing academic papers. Well, I'd rather have the freedom to express and create neologisms then be constricted to one form of writing.
cheers,
rowie
lol I agree it is kind of nasty, but that's how people refer to the method of no shampooing.
You mad me laugh! That was really funny!
Darrin
Yeah I assume in North America "poo" doesn't have the meaning we associate with it on my side of the pond(Uk & Ireland).
If a Brit can answer both of these questions "yes", then its meaning is not trans-pond variant:
1. Is it brown?
2. Does he leave it in the loo?
Just don't ask an American where "The United Kingdom" is. One pollster here found the most common answer to be "Arabia".
Bill
The average American view of the rest of the planet is legendary! :)
At least that's how it seems sometimes to us Brits/Canucks. I hope it's not really that bad!
But yeah, I think the word "poo" is international.
Damon
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Yeah, it is. I think the reason Arabia is the most common answer is that many Americans call those islands off the French coast "Britain" or "England". The American name for those islands probably goes back as far as the time of the revolution, when most contact was with England. Meanwhile, some Arab countries have or have had "Kingdom" and "United" in their names.
Once a name for something becomes ingrained in a language, it's not apt to change. We still say Porto Rico and Tia Juana, although those have not for a long time been those places' names.
Bill
Hey Damon,
The old saying that the funniest jokes always have a large grain of truth to them definitely applies to your outstandingly hilarious "Map of the World" -- and yes, unfortunately I have indeed met a few fellow Americans who seem to view our planet as if the U S of A is the center of the Universe, and every other country just politely orbits around us in order to make our lives more blissfully clueless about others... I especially enjoyed reading the names of some of the other islands, continents and countries, like: "coffee comes from here I think"; "cold!"; "kangaroos"; and last but not least, "they make our stuff" -- OMG, I've honestly known of some actual real-life Americans who don't really know much more than that!!!
Thanks for the great laugh, I loved every minute of it!
- Ken in San Francisco
(who would like to go to "cruise ships go here" someday - LOL)
Hey!....an entire continent is missing. Can you say Africa?
Africa, a continent? Isn't that part of South L.A.?
Hey, I didn't make that map; I swiped it off the internets. But maybe it's coz Africa doesn't "make our stuff", "do our laundry" or grow coffee? Dunno ... :)
Damon
Here is a quote from one online article (http://feelinfeminine.com/?p=5665 - live link below):
"The truth is that when transitioning from shampoo to no poo, there can be an adjustment period when the hair will continue to overproduce sebum as it did when the the natural oils were being stripped from the follicles daily by sudsy shampoo. This transition period can last anywhere from a week to two months and may not occur at all with some people. If the no poo method is done properly, this temporary increase in oil production will end once your body catches on that theres no need to produce that much sebum anymore."
In reality, everyone's scalp and hair is different and reactions vary enormously. It also depends on how often you were shampooing your hair before you go 'no poo'. The scalp takes longer to adjust if you were shampooing it every day or every other day.
I only shampooed my own hair once a week and the scalp seems to have adjusted quite rapidly to 'no poo'. I haven't shampooed my hair for about two weeks now (just hot water) and it's not greasy in the slightest. I'm leaving longer and longer gaps between shampoos - and probably I will abandon shampoos altogether at some stage and go the BS and ACV route instead.
Just enter "no poo transition period" into Google and you'll find tons of info. ;)
Keep us updated on your progress.
Damon
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Beautiful You: The No Poo Method
In case anyone is wondering, my own biggest reason for experimenting with the 'no poo' method (apart from avoiding all those ghastly chemicals) is to add volume to my hair. I have fine hair and I was getting sick to death of the way it hung limp and lifeless for at least two days after every time I shampooed it. Now, after two weeks of no shampoo, it's got LOADS of volume! Yayyyy!!!
It strikes me as amazingly ironic that some shampoos advertise themselves as "volumising shampoo". Well yeah, they artificially replace some of the natural oil that the shampoo itself stripped out in the first place. Kind of like a paint-stripper that advertises itself as adding paint.
I used to fall for that trick - but no wonder my hair looked awful after every shampoo.
Damon