new thread
Hey guys I just got back from 2 weeks in pennsylvania without tv, phone, or computer! It was pretty fun fishing, swimming, making fires everyday but now that I'm back I've got a question. What is the point of shampooing hair? I know it cleans the hair but is it really necassary? Cant you just wash it with water? What Ive been doing is washing my hair with water only, conditioning and then washing out the conditioner. Ive noticed that my scalp is itchy and white stuff comes off when i do, im guessing oil and dead skin cells; but I heard if you stay this way long enough your scalp will return to its original state or something???
the whole point of conditioner is to undo artificially what the shampoo did to your hair and scalp. (a bit like table salt, enriched flour, etc) So i would suggest to go only with water if you want to go that route.
I often wash only with water and i odn't have any problem with "white stuff" (dead cells)...
Don't wash too often and keep yourself busy outside like you did so you think less about your hair, and by then yes, your scalp should deal with the dead cells with its oil, and stop producing too much. See what works for you!
have fun
-vincent
Well I clearly think that your correct. It is obvious that everyone should be able to wash with just water as it is the natural thing to do. But perhaps some people take longer to adapt to no longer having there hair products.
I have very long hair (tho not as long as Lady G's), and I never use shampoo, only conditioner. I don't think anyone who doesn't load up their hair with styling products actually needs strong shampoos. I've also always had the skin buildup problem you describe, and here's how I deal with it. I dilute a cheap clarifying conditioner (Suave daily clarifying, white rain extra body, or VO5 kiwi lime) with some water, saturate my wet hair, and scrub the scalp vigorously to remove softened skin buildup. Rinse out well. This type of conditioner is too light to properly condition the hair, so you should apply a heavier conditioner to detangle and protect your hair next. Comb out while still in the shower.
...dilute a cheap clarifying conditioner (Suave daily clarifying, white rain extra body, or VO5 kiwi lime) with some water, saturate my wet hair, and scrub the scalp vigorously to remove softened skin buildup.
Sounds controversial!
Picture Purged
No, look at my hair. A lot of women on the women's long hair boards do it.
Wow! I agree with all the comments on the board, that is absolutely stunning hair! Very impressive!
I guess I can't really say much on the issue of scrubbing the scalp, as I've nver tried it, but I'll take your word on it.
Whatever you're doing with your hair, keep doing it lol!
Shampooing the hair keeps the shafts clean, the scalp clean, and the germs down to next to nothing. It's a hygene thing, pure and simple. A few hundred years ago our Colonists had long hair, of course, and when they got older, they wore long hair wigs. The reason they wore the wigs when they got old--men and women--was because they didn't bathe that often, didn't wash their hair and scalp that often, and by age 40, most were bald. We live in a more enlightened age now and know better. Of course there are always a few individuals who want to hearken back to some kind of primitive, native approach to haircare, or lack of it, but someday, when they're 40, ask them how it goes and be sure to tell them how odd they look with a wig, okay. Sorry to sound so up-front here, but it's taken us generations to learn about the importance of good hygene. It seems pretty dumb to toss that all out in the name of "being cool". Trust me dude, it's not cool. And your hair will stink too. Josh
water cleans pretty well.
Oh yeah? And how comes people right now have such high cancer rates? How comes people in here have to try 50 conditioners before they get one that suits them (... if ever)? How comes their hair gets 10 more oily than others' if they don't wash for a day?
And the baldness thing is just ridiculous. Maybe their bad nutrition based on meat was in cause more than their washing?! Just maybe. But yeah, maybe the lack of harsh chemicals on their head was the cause.... hah.
You're not up-front, you're just talking of things you don't know about.
Wanna come smell my hair? It doesn't smell at all. And I wash with water most of the time. (and will only use natural soap without harsh chemicals when I wash it)
Being cool has nothing to do with it; respecting your body is important. And scraping out its natural protection with chemicals is NOT respect.
-vincent
Vincent, you make it seem like shampoo is the cause of cancer. Just wanted to make sure you catch that. I think shampooing is respecting the body because the body likes cleanliness, when it's clean it's much healthier. The leading cause of death in the 19th Century was disease, in the 18th Century most people died of a cold or something simple because they didn't clean. They agreed that cleaning the body was no good, the oils the skin produces were natural and healthy. Well that means when they go potty and they don't have TP or corn stocks and use their hands they just wipe it off in the grass or they wipe thier nose with their hands and rub it on themselves or something nearby. And that's how it was. They died alot from disease. As for that note on cancer, our cancer rates today are not all that different from the cancer rates around the time that God made the world. We just notice it alot more. It's like the Civil War for many people. Some don't even know it happened but when you start telling them about it and how much it affects them today then it comes to the forefront of their mind a little while. Cancer has always been around but people just start learning about it and hearing it more often and it just grew. The only additions to cancer rates are from cigarettes, not entirely, but the most of them. Other minor additions are cancer from using a cell phone too much and all those nasty cell phone radiation wave things go into your head. Well then, that's it for now. Also, as for stink. Well hell, of course your hair don't stink if you haven't washed for a really long time with shampoo, it's because people are used to your smells and so you don't smell. One can not smell one's self unless it be an irregular smell, such as no deoderant one day. I hate when that happens, only happened once so far though I can remember. Anywho, back on track, after long enough, from what I understand, the hair smell will dissipate a little but it won't go away completely. Hair needs to be cleaned as do our bodies, with extra stuff than water. Water can not do much by it's self. Try going potty (yes, use TP, this isn't a horrible experiment) and then wash your hands with water only, no soap, and then go eat some finger good and tell me you don't start freaking out a little bit. Soap is good for body, shampoo good for hair. It keeps it 100% clean and it makes it smell fresh and scented. I use French Vanilla with Almond scent for my shampoo and MMM MMM it smells tasty.
That's bad reading on your part.
Oh, were you there? And that was very very near in an historical viewpoint, don't you think? I'm not saying the way people lived 200 years ago was healthy. Hell no. I'm saying the way people lived 12000 years ago was healthy. However, what I'm saying is that trying to make up links like "not washing hair causes baldness" is entirely "unscientific". Way too many variables are in cause.
Wow, you're surprising! All of your "facts" are pure bull. How comes? You have never met me, you have never smelled my hair, i bet you haven't ever gone a week without washing. 2-3 days with water? Have you met people who know me? Have you met my girlfriend? Have you met my parents? Do you have any source of information? Or are you deriving all of your thoughts from pre-mashed knowledge, like in that cancer theory of yours?
In any case, I would rather smell like my hair, however it might smell, than to smell like toxic agents who destroy my environment, who are packed with plastic that destroys my environment, and shipped in trucks who destroy my environment, to give cash to a few money makers at the top that exploit people in a few dozens other huge company that also, destroy my environment.
-vincent
"In any case, I would rather smell like my hair, however it might smell, than to smell like toxic agents who destroy my environment, who are packed with plastic that destroys my environment, and shipped in trucks who destroy my environment, to give cash to a few money makers at the top that exploit people in a few dozens other huge company that also, destroy my environment."
If you're using a shampoo that smells anything like "toxic agents," I recommend you switch shampoos to something more common and consumer-friedly. Something, say, like... flowers?
edit: scent-wise, of course.
Jeez!! I just wanted to know if their is any risk to not washing hair with shampoo and what do I find when I check back on my post! Seems like a wars broken out and you guys even managed to get a rise out of vincent. Oh btw just thought id mention I havent showered in a week, w00t. Im pretty sure jesus didnt wash his hair with shampoo...
Yeah, hair doesn't need washing when it's just paint on a canvas.
A war? I didn't see it like that. I was very calm for the whole discussion in fact. Sorry if it was taken as attacts/whatever, I will just not stand back and watch another say dumb stuff like "not washing causes baldness"
I'm happy for you that you have the strength to try it by yourself and see what works for you! (that also goes for one of the top-level replyer (a woman, i think?) that tried it before saying stuff.
-vincent
I would like to state for the record I did not say that nor any dumb stuff but wanted to make the most simplistic of all points. Cleanliness is next to Godliness and thusly so we should clean and bath and shampoo not because it supports corporate centers, not because it's biodegradeable and we're wanting to destroy the world, but because it's what normal people do and it's hygenic. People don't want to smell body smell and say, "Ok, it doesn't smell too bad I guess." They want to smell lavender and Kid's Fun-Berry, though that's more in general. Few will like it the other way around. But the majority of the public like a good smell, not a smell that..."it's not bad I guess." Hygene is good. Always bath and shampoo and soap your pits and your pendulum (if you're a guy, if you're a girl forget the pendulum part). It's healthily good.
I suppose the real question is "What is clean?". It seems a bit subjective to me.
If you believe in a creator deity, than do you not trust him/her/it to care for your cleanliness, i.e. is bathing in water not sufficient? As far as I am aware, God(dess) did not create shampoo/conditioner. One could argue that by creating the ingredients of shampoo, and giving man the intellect to combine these ingredients, God(dess) took an active enough role in the creation this "miraculous" substance. However, one could argue the same for thermonuclear weapons.
If you do not believe in a creator deity, I will assume you believe in evolution. We did not evolve with the ability to produce shampoo, nor (if I remember correctly) has there ever been a "shampoo tree". We did evolve with the ability to produce conditioner, it's called sebum. IMHO much better than store bought conditioner. Isn't it a bit arrogant of us to assume that we can do better with a few hundred years worth of tinkering, than several million years worth of evolution?
Just food for thought.
Ah, but we did. People have the ability to produce shampoo and do so.
Elizabeth
Ha, what I meant was that our bodies do not secrete shampoo. I'm pretty sure any of us can, with a little knowledge, whip up a jumbo batch of that stuff in the kitchen, but that was not my point. Gotta love semantics.
Wow - What a Rant! :-)
Give this man another Red Bull - I wanna see him do another!
Encore Encore!
LMAO!!!! :D
Wow, and you didn't say that ot the original poster who posted a 1 paragraph rant that was 10x as long?
sorry guys, i didn't mean that to sound as a rant. But it was actually a pretty slow reading, if you understand the concept of a comma...
-vincent
Slow Rant... Fast Rant who cares? Its just great to watch you go, whatever the speed.
ROFL!!!
I don't think this is linked to washing your hair. Infact I remember someone (was it Gollan) posting a link which dismissed the claims that Detergents found in Shampoo like Sodium Lauryl Sulphate causes cancer. You have to injest these chemicals in signifcant quantities to pose any health risk, in short you need to drink them!
In fact I'd go as far to agree with Marc that the high incedence of Cancer diagnosis is partly linked to our greater ability to detect and diagnose the conditions rather than a much greater predisposition to contracting these diseases.
Personally my hair stinks if I don't wash it at least once every 4 days. Though if I left it a few weeks without washing I'd probably get used to the smell and not notice any difference.
Just my $0.02
Sorted
Wow...you sure have been sucked in by the media telling you that shampooing your hair often is good. I am 40 with mid back hair that very rarely gets shampooed and it is still as full and healthy as ever. No hint of dryness and certainly no smell. A rinse with water and a spot of conditioner is just fine.
I've been growing my hair long for over 16 years and know of people who never wash their hair, just as I know of people who must wash, like myself, as well as the whole spectrum of people in between.
Some people with dry scalps can get away without even washing, as they are able to use just a brush to clean away debris, and they're done. Some seem to be able to use just water. Others use simple soap-based shampoos without detergents, and still others use detergent-based shampoos. I'm in the latter group.
One of the concerns with never shampooing is that for oily scalps, the sebum is subject to natural bacterial breakdown, which is where the dirty smell comes from. The excess oil and bacterial breakdown suffocate the hair follicles and alter the healthy pH of the scalp, which starts dropping strands at a greater rate than before, since scalp health is compromised. Also, there is no way that I can brush away all that oil, and I've tried in the past to increase the duration between shampoos, but my scalp does not adjust sebum production. Some claim this occurs, but not for me.
If your scalp is normal or oily, proceed with caution when washing only with water. Try it and see what happens, if it will work for you, but don't be surprised it it doesn't work. Most people seem to need to wash periodically.
JE
I just wanted to add a post which has something in common.
How come that before taking care of my hair (Before November 2003) I could go months without washing my hair and have absolutely no problems at all, no grease, no bad smell, it just felt normal. I know it's a gross thought, but I could go months, a few months without wahsing hair, but now, 7 days is the most!?! I was wondering how my scalp felt with no oil being washed off it for months?! It never bothered me or anyone else.
Maybe it's a gross answer, but my guess is that the oils were rubbing off onto pillows and bed sheets? Maybe on your clothes, hats, the sofa? Without much hair length to hold the oil on the scalp, it would easily get rubbed off. It's kind of like wiping sweat off your forehead, but less obvious and intentional.
JE
Yea, that's a gross answer!
But one thing I'd like to add, I had very dry hair then at the time, like it would take a couple of weeks to feel even slightly oily after a wash. And my hair was never oily, I'd say more normal, than oily, maybe on thr dry side. Any thoughs on this?
I never wore any hats either too.
Did your hair length differ back then from what it is now?
Yes. Back then, my hair was never longer than about 2 inches.
question how good it is to take such care of your hair like you do..?
-vincent
I'd advise against this as your setting yourself up for a yeast infection which would result in seborrhea and if uncontrolled could ulimately result in hair loss. But if you are doing this with no problems then go for it.
Plain water will never get rid of the OLD OILs, etc.
Not many people would shower without soap for the same reason.
Soap molecules 'grab' just about everything and then
the water rinses it all away.
men, enough with those adfirmations... it depends on the nature of your scalp and hair, many of u lot are generalizin too much. my hair is very dry and therefore i can (and i do) go without washing for a lot (just rinsing every day and sometimes conditioning)... and what? well, everyone loves my hair even much than before... they (both males and females) say it's fantastic and keep touchin' and caressin' it... and it doesn't smell neither good or bad... it hasn't got any flavour... summin' up, it's just like before (people ever loved it, since i started wearin' it long), but it's more shiny and far less dry... i'm not sayin i'm not gonna washin' my hair anymore, i'll just wash it once every two weeks, or formerly, if it starts gettin' dirty... hope this helps to make ur ideas clearer... see u lot!
I have to wash mine every day or it looks oily and unkept. Must depend upon the person, some wait days and days.
