Well, Capo got me on a no-poo experiment so I thought I'd start a thread where we (and anyone else) can discuss natural hair and skin care, as well as cleaning products etc. Boys are welcome!

As per Capo's links, I am washing my hair with a mixture of baking soda and water and then rinsing with vinegar and water. This is Day 2, I didn't wash today and am a little slick. Apparently this is normal and will rectify itself. The day I washed, my hair was really nice - I was surprised. The curl was much better than usual.

I've already reduced my face regimen to Burt's Bees tomato soap and coconut oil. With a good diet, you just don't need all the bells and whistles! This from a former product junkie...I bought everything and then some.

I also use a mixture of vinegar and hydrogen peroxide 3% for any surface that needs a good cleaning, and baking soda or Borax for scrubbing (sinks, bathtub).

Anyone else going more natural with their daily use products?

what are you brushing your teeth with?

A fluoride-free "natural" toothpaste, Nature's Gate.

The hair's a little slick today! I'm going to stick with this though and see if things improve.

I have been poo-free for 2.5 weeks now. I am just using baking soda for washing and apple cider for rinsing. The first week the hair gets oily then it settles down in oil production. My hair was a dry frizzy mess, now it shines, frizz free and I am getting comments from people on how nice it looks.

you can put a beaten egg in your hair for a conditioner or if your hair is dry mayonaise (has oil in it)

Diane

That's good to hear! My hair always looks dry at the ends, but gets oily at the scalp. I'm hoping to reach some sort of middle ground with no poo! Frizz-free would be fantastic.

waywardsis, I had that experience with no-poo where the hair ends seemed kind of dry but my scalp was kind of oily. I think you're supposed to brush your hair through from scalp to the ends of your hair to distribute the oil throughout your hair.

I had a slight problem with dandruff after not shampooing every day, but the BS and BCV mix as well as combing my hair daily eliminated it fairly quickly.

As for washing clothes, I tried putting 1 cup baking soda in during the washing cycle and 1 cup apple cider vinegar in the rinse cycle to wash my bedding, and it seems like I could still sort of feel the baking soda on the sheets (and when I woke up, my eye corners had accumulated a little bit of the BS, so I'm going to try a borax solution next time.

I've noticed that I hate all artificial fragrances now. I can smell something 'fruity' or perfumy and it smells completely gross/irritates my nose, mouth, and nasal tract.

Another thing is that I had dry arms yesterday and I tried rubbing some leftover lard grease from my plate on the dry area on my arms, and today my arms feel smoother and not oily. I like coconut oil, but it seems that it gets me so oily/shiny that I don't want to put it on my skin if I have to go to classes or out in public.

I put it on before bed. By morning its all absorbed. I haven't had any trouble with build up on my sheets that I've noticed.



Yes, use a wide back brush with a cushion and metal pins with plastic tips. I've had the best luck with those. Traditionally, people used boar bristle brushes which distribute the oil better, but I haven't had any luck with them, and I don't feel they stimulate my scalp properly. YMMV

You might try baking soda for laundry again, but a much lower concentration.

You might also try disolving a bar of all natural soap in water, then adding that soap to the laundry. That's what they used to use.

Recently, well for the past 6 months, I've decided to let my hair grow. I've never really had long hair before, so this is a very new thing for me. Being a guy, I'm a little self conscious about it.

I too wanted to try not shampooing everyday after reading the posts, but I have only seemed to manage going without about 2 days a week for the past two weeks. Even so, I have noticed a difference in the manageability and texture of my hair. I'm not using BS or vinegar, but instead, I'm taking hot-water-only showers on those days that I don't shampoo. My skin really loves it as well. And I can relate to the fragrance thing. Ugh, really dislike perfumy smells.

I think most of what is keeping me back is a mental thing. Now that I'm getting long hair, that makes me self-conscious enough. I'm afraid of what the boss will say if I look "greasy" as well!

Here I am going on about this like... an effeminent man! (But I assure you I'm not...)

I use mud instead of foundation. Leaves me with a rich, dark loamy complexion. I got from anglo-saxon to insane druid with just one application!

You use mud? Why?

Mud, if mostly clay minerals, draws oils and dirt out of the pores. If it consists of fine silt particles, it would be mildly abrasive. Typical muds usually consist of both.

Loam, incidentally, is soil composed of roughly equal amounts of sand, silt, and clay and would be quite harshly abrasive because of the sand, but that may be what you need for that Druid look! LOL.

Now, do you wash the mud off or go around town with a mud face? If so, does it look something like this?:


or this?:

Hey that's the look after hunting for me. I don't fear dirt!
Mud masks have been around for a very long time they have a drying effect
on oily skin and cause large pores to shrink up a bit. The over all effect is to tighten the skin up a bit and clear away old dead skin.
Diane

Someone finally caught on to the joke.

It was a good joke, but is also true (if you wash off the mud when you are done, so as not to look like a Druid). Why pay big bucks for a "mud mask" or "clay mask" when you can make your own. I teach a soil science module where we get different kinds of mud and loam all over our hands, and even the guys notice how soft and hydrated their hands feel afterwards. If you are worried about bacteria or whatever in your soil, you could bake or freeze it before applying it to your face.

I have inhalant allergies & have been using baking soda, borax, vinegar & ammonia to clean the house for years. I think baking soda works better than commercial cleansers and it doesn't scratch anything. It may not be Paleo, but Kaboom is the only smell-less & superb toilet bowl cleaner that I've ever found - it works better than any of the noxious-fumed cleaners.

I haven't gone poo-less yet, since there is one shampoo I tolerate (Aussie Naturals) without itchy, streaming eyes and nose followed by a headache, but may try it.