The hair experiment: Six months on

It has now been six months since I began the 'Hair Experiment' in which I gave up shampoo for good! You may be interested to read about why I did this and the results after five weeks. Basically it was to try and overcome dry and flaky skin problems on my face and scalp but also just to keep things natural. There are too many harsh chemicals being used in this world.

So, since that five-week update, how have things been going?

The hair experiment - approx 3 months shampoo-free

I have to say that I'm pretty happy :)

You can see from the pictures that my hair is clean, shiny and not greasy.

What you can't see from the pictures is that the skin on my scalp has improved massively. I still get the occasional flaky patch, but now I have to hunt for them. While I was still using shampoo they were everywhere and much bigger.

I am not one to fiddle with my hair. It is a rare event for me to get the blowdryer out, let alone the straighteners or rollers. My arms get too tired and it takes up valuable sewing time!!! I have to admit that a bit of effort with the hair straighteners does improve the appearance of my hair and smooths those flyaway strands, but I'm happy with the natural look while I'm just shopping or doing the school run. All these photos are taken 'au naturel'.

I love this photo.

Giving up shampoo has been a very easy process for me with practically no problems at all. As I mentioned previously, I used a very dilute vinegar solution instead of shampoo every three days. However, I did notice that my hair got a bit greasy-feeling around the two-month mark. I just carried on with the vinegar and this problem quickly passed. 

I was so pleased with the progress I was making that around a month ago I decided to give up the vinegar as well and just use water on my hair. I get it wet in the shower every three days and just give my scalp a bit of a massage with my fingers. (I would be happy to wet it every day but it takes too long to dry so I wear a shower cap on the other days). I can't tell the difference as far as my hair is concerned, it's still great, but my scalp has improved even further. Win! On top of that I've also given up soap everywhere except on my hands and, ahem, privates. I thought I'd end up with smelly armpits, but I'm pleased to report that they are actually less smelly. Amazing! It certainly helps to keep the shower clutter-free :) I wear my home made natural deodorant made with coconut oil and bicarb, which is fantastic.

This picture was taken a couple of weeks after I had started using water only on my hair. I never would have believed this could work until I tried it myself. I would also have probably thought that someone like me was a radical loony, but luckily now we all know that that's not true...don't we?

I know a few of my readers and friends tried this too. I would love to hear how your own hair experiments are going. 

Hair bun using a DIY hair doughnut/donut...and a hip hop concert

I am going to show you how to do this super-easy hair bun. I am the world's worst at doing my own hair, but I did this style in a couple of minutes. I can still hardly believe it! It is all thanks to a 'hair doughnut'.  Now I know I'm not the first to make or use one of these but I couldn't find another tutorial like mine so I thought I'd post it here.

Now, before we go any further, I must apologise for the poor quality of these pictures. That is because they weren't taken for the hair at all, they were just snapped during...wait for it...my first ever hop hip dance performance!!!!!

Yes people, you are never too old to get your funk on in a pair of high top sneakers and I am living proof. I danced with a group of teenagers and I haven't had so much fun for ages. Here we are doing our thang (me at centre front pulling a silly face).

My two gorgeous boys were also performing in the same concert. They were both brilliant. Here we are ready to go:

My only chance to get make-up and hair gel on my children, since I have no daughters!

Speaking of hair, let's get back to the doughnut.

Here is how I made it:

I started with a rectangle of old t-shirt fabric. Use a colour as close as possible to your hair. I have long hair so I made a larger doughnut. My starting rectangle measured 26x12cm.

Fold in half lengthwise and stitch, leaving a couple of centimetres unstitched at each end.

 Turn right side out. Open out the edges, fold rectangle in half left to right (i.e. the two visible unstitched ends together) and pin right sides together. Sew along the whole unfinished edge. Sew slowly, opening out as you go (apologies again for the blurry photo below).

Turn that seam inside and stuff the doughnut. Finish the hole with some handstitching.

That's it.

To wear it, put your hair in a ponytail and secure quite tightly. Put the whole ponytail through the middle of the doughnut. With the doughnut next to your head, lean forwards and arrange your hair all around the doughnut to cover it. Place a hair elastic over the doughnut and next to your head to secure. You will now have some loose ends. Leave sticking out, tuck in, or wrap them around the bun and secure with clips or pins as I have done.

With JJ on stage after the show

This was my hair after a rehearsal and two shows. It stayed perfectly in place! 

Get down in da house!

PS. I am still not using shampoo. It's been over 2 months now. I'll post an update soon.

The hair experiment - 5 weeks in

It has now been five weeks since I began The Hair Experiment. 'What is that?' you may ask. Well, in the interests of health, skin problems and just to satisfy my curiosity, I've given up shampoo. For the last five weeks I've been washing my hair with water and rinsing with a very dilute vinegar solution, which I then rinse off with water.

As I explained in my last post, the first two weeks were completely problem-free. No greasiness, just soft, clean hair. Since then, things have pretty much continued the same way. In the third week I could feel a bit of oiliness near the roots, but it wasn't visible, at least not to me peering in the mirror. By Week 4, this had gone and my hair looked like this:

Inspired by these exciting results (yeah, ok I have no life!), I decided to see what would happen if I stopped the vinegar rinse and just used water on my hair. I did this for a week, 'washing' every three days as usual. By the end of the week, there was some visible oiliness near the roots. The next day I did the vinegar rinse again and all is well :)

This is what my hair looks like now, five weeks into the experiment:

Pretty amazing hey? That's five weeks using nothing on my hair except water and dilute vinegar - no shampoo, no conditioner, no dye, no sprays, no hair products whatsoever!


My hair is clean and soft and my scalp dermatitis has definitely improved. The experiment will continue...

Out of interest, my niece, aged 6, has also never had her hair shampooed. I wanted to include some pictures of her beautiful, long hair, just to prove all those baby shampoo ads wrong ;)

Gorgeous.

So there we are. So far, the experiment is a success and all is hairpy and hairlthy (sorry!). I wonder what the next month will bring.

I've had quite a lot of interest in my hair experiment, both on and off the blog and I know some people are even giving this experiment a try. Good luck and I would love to hear updates from you all.

Update: people have been asking me exactly how I 'wash' my hair. I wet it completely in the shower and give the roots a massage with my fingertips. Then I pour a dilute solution of vinegar and water over my scalp (1-2 tablespoons white or cider vinegar in 1.5 cups water), massage again and rinse with water. I do find that my hair can be a bit tangled and difficult to comb out after washing. This is not a huge problem, but I may try using conditioner in the ends to see what happens.

The hair experiment

Hair. I have lots of it. I spend minimal time on my hair, which would probably shock most hairdressers! I wash and condition it every three days, brush it and leave it. No dye, no hairdryer (except on really cold days) and just the odd splash of moroccan oil.

Until six months ago I always used shampoo from the supermarket. I tried various brands but was never really happy with the result. My hair grew to a certain length (see picture below) and then stopped. I think it was being stripped of its natural oils and was just not in great condition. On top of that, I have a condition on my scalp and face called seborrheic dermatitis, which causes sore and flaky skin. Cheap shampoo just makes this worse and I was always on the hunt for shampoo that didn't aggravate it. I only ever use water on my face as any kind of soap brings me out in red welts!

Then, by chance, I found myself in a shop that supplies shampoo to hairdressing salons. I talked to the lady there and she recommended a shampoo and conditioner called Nak Nourishing. I bought some and was amazed at the difference it made to my hair. It was softer and smoother and it started to grow again! This picture was taken a couple of months after I got the Nak (pun intended:).

The Nak was also gentler on my skin, although the dermatitis was still there. So, if you are still with me, this leads to my revelation and my experiment:

I've given up shampoo. Completely.

There, I said it. Not washing, just shampoo. I still wash my hair every three days, but now I just use water and a dilute vinegar solution (one capful of vinegar per cup of water). It is an experiment as I only gave up shampoo two weeks ago and if I start to look like a bag lady (friends, I need you to be honest with me on this), I will go back to shampoo. But so far there is no greasiness and the dermatitis is getting better. Yay. I think using the Nak shampoo for six months probably eased my hair into not needing shampoo as it was so much gentler on my hair than the supermarket brands.

If this works out I will be so thrilled. I live my life trying to keep things as natural as possible and this fits in perfectly. I have never used shampoo or soap on my children (apart from washing hands and the odd smelly bit) and they've always had lovely skin and hair. I limit the use of chemical cleaning products. We eat a very healthy diet with the barest minimum of processed food. If I can, I make my own (bread, yogurt, cakes, even the dog's food!) and I grow fruit, herbs, bean sprouts and sometimes vegies too. I would love a bigger garden to grow more food. I always research medications and vaccines and make a careful decision about whether to give them to myself or my children. Mostly we try to avoid them! However, I am a research scientist with a strong medical background so I (kind of) know what I'm doing. And, I can't write this list without including breastfeeding. A subject (literally) very close to my heart as I have studied it in depth and am still amazed at how the body can produce this living substance which is always changing and responding to the needs of the baby.

Well, I ended up saying quite a bit more than I intended, but hopefully it's interesting to someone. Anyway, back to the hair. So far, my experiment is going really well. I will post updates now and then to let you know how it's going and whether I stay off the shampoo and conditioner. I'd love to hear your thoughts. Has anyone else tried this (there's not much out there on the internet) or do you think it's disgusting?!!

The Hair Experiment - no shampoo for 1 week (with my son and baby niece)

The Hair Experiment - no shampoo for 2 weeks!

It's nice to do a bit of science :)