Simply put, the 'no poo movement' is ditching shampoo in favour of an alternative that is soap-free in most cases. The most popular alternative is using baking soda for washing your hair and apple cider vinegar rinse as your conditioner. For many people this works great, but...it's not idea for all hair types. I even found I had to find a different alternative as the baking soda wash was too harsh for my scalp after a period of time and was causing me to get dandruff. Yikes! Something I had never had before! Dandruff can be caused by disrupting the delicate slightly acidic pH of the scalp. Baking soda can do that as it's a salt and on the basic side of the pH scale. So what was a no poo advocate to do??? I was bummed for a bit thinking i would have to go back to conventional shampoos (organic conventional shampoos at that), especially since i was enjoying only washing about once a week rather than ever couple of days. I was happy to remember that I still have a few bars of a rosemary mint shampoo bar I had a made a little while back! Awesome! I would give this a try and see how my hair and scalp responded. Happily, it rebalanced by scalp pH and no more dandruff. I was also happy to notice that my hair was EVEN softer than using the baking soda/ACV method! Win!!
A modified 'no poo' variation:
- Wash with our rosemary & mint shampoo bar instead of baking soda. We have full bars and travel size as pictured above.
- Use an apple cider vinegar herbal hair rinse (recipe below)
- For long hair, dab your tips/ends of your hair with olive or sweet almond oil.
BONUS: You can still wash less frequently with this method similar to the baking soda & ACV method. I call this modified 'no poo' as I am using a soap, but it's a natural soap with glycerin still in the soap and no sulfates, phosphates, parabens, phthylates, propyl compounds, PEG compounds, or other nasty stuff found in conventional shampoo! Bar soap is hands down better for your hair and scalp than a liquid shampoo!
ACV herbal hair rinse recipe
- Mason jar
- Unpasteurized raw apple cider vinegar (make your own or Bragg's is a good store bought option)
- herbs/botanicals
For dandruff, oily hair or to add a bit of shine to your hair. To make: Add 1 cup of water and 1 cup of apple cider vinegar to a sauce pan and bring to a boil. Place herbs in a mason jar 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary and 2 sprigs of fresh mint. Pour hot vinegar/water mix over the herbs and cover and steep in a window sill for 1 week, shaking daily. Next, strain out the herbs keeping the liquid and you have a herbal rinse concentrate. To use: Dilute 1/4 c. of herbal rise concentrate with 1 c. water in a container. After shampooing, rinse hair thoroughly, then use herbal hair rinse. Let it sit on the scalp for 1 minute or so. Rinse hair thoroughly. To bring out blonde highlights, try this variation Make as above, but instead of steeping rosemary and mint in a mason jar, add 2 tbsp. dried calendula petals and 2 tbsp. chamomile flowers, and 2 tbsp. fresh squeezed lemon juice and let steep for 1 week in a window. Strain and use as directed above.
Tip: Some people really don't like the scent of apple cider vinegar. The herbs do add a nice scent to it and take a bit of the pungent smell of the vinegar away. If it's still too strong of a vinegar-rie odour for you, or you want something more floral, add a few drops of essential oil after you have reached the herbal rinse concentrate stage. E.g's add: 10 drops lavender, or 10 drops sweet orange and 4 drops ylang ylang or palmarosa for a citrus floral scent, or try orange and vanilla in a similar ratio.
