So, those of you who see me often may have noticed I have very long hair and a permanently pissed off scalp. The medical shampoo I used for years to control my raging flaky-angry-bleeding-erupting scalp was withdrawn without reason a few years ago, and I have been searching for an alternative. I even started beyondpolytar.net. While I am looking, I thought it best to find something better than what I was using before (which was pretty toxic). I would like something cheap, simple, vegan, crazy-toxic-junk free… and of course effective.

I read a great blog on the Centre for Alternative Technology website about giving up shampoo, and so far it’s going well. Here’s what I have been working on…

Brushing

I can be lazy about this as the best of times, working from home and being a bit Presbyterian about vanity anyway. Even when I do brush, I carry on till my hair is not tangled anymore, and then move on to something more interesting. Turns out if I brush for an extra minute or so, my hair changes totally, it gets a natural shine and looks great. This is a key part of going no-poo, according to the experts. I am saving up for some nice new natural hair brushes (vegan of course)

Cleaning

I started out using bicarb for the first few washes, this seems great but there are some people saying it is to alkali and can damage your hair and scalp in the long term. I am going to cut back on this and try more acidic things like lemon juice, which can help kill any bacteria on the scalp too.

Conditioning

Apple cider vinegar makes hair amazingly soft, but my hair got a little greasy. Think I will just do this on the ends of my hair.

Anyway, I will keep on updating and see how I get along.