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.

Well, I keep my hair short, so just rinsing with water seems to work great. For awhile my hair was greasy, but now it looks better than when I used chemical shampoo. I always hated using shampoo before- I have really thick hair, and when I would strip it dry all that extra hair hidden underneath would poof out. It looked so girly and childish- didn't match my personality at all (most people think of me as the "cool tough" kid, so that was NOT cool). So even when I used shampoo I would only wash my hair once or twice a week. But using only water seems so balanced and natural- my hair is never matted down with grease, but at the same time it's never poofed out from a lack of grease (natural oils). It's right in the middle- natural, oiled but not gross and greasy, etc.

It doesn't make sense to me, the whole concept of stripping your hair of its natural oils with shampoo, and then replacing it with fake processed oils (conditioner). Why not just make use with the oils your body evolved to produce? It seems like another cultural anomaly that the personal care industry jumps on and perpetuates.

For soap I just use natural coconut oil soap right now. I'd like to try making some soap out of suet, but I don't know how well that works or anything. As long as I wash every day and rinse with soap, I never get bad BO, so I have no need for any deoderant (mainstream product or otherwise). It's only when I go a few days that I start smelling like sh$t, and that's quickly fixed by a regular shower with just soap.

So yeah my whole personal care assortment is basically just soap, a razor, and a towel (I just use soap to lubricate for shaving- I never saw any reason for shaving cream), and I feel the cleanest and freshest I've ever been in my life. If I had longer hair I'd probably use some sort of natural thing like baking soda, but I probably won't have long hair until I go primitive, so I don't need to worry about that right now.

Capo, I totally know what you mean with the whole artificial fragrance thing- my sister always douses herself and it makes me sick, I literally have to leave the room. I'd much rather prefer the natural scent of other people's bodies, clean and fresh of course, but not this whole fake fruity thing going on. We evolved natural oils and scents for a reason, and it seems stupid to mask/remove them with something totally artificial like perfume. It probably messes with lots of chemical signals like pheromones (sexual and otherwise).

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!

ROTFLMAO!! I love the insane druid look!

I remember watching Oprah ages ago when Matthew McConnahey (sp?) was on, and he talked about how he never uses deoderant or anything, and she smelled him and said he had an amazing natural scent. Oooooh, I bet he does Anyway, I am thinking about weaning away from antiperspirant - wonder if there's an adjustment period, like with no-poo? I work from home, so I can afford to reek a bit if it's temporary.

What about using something like tea tree oil under the arms? I like the baking soda idea, but not in sleeveless weather. I wonder if after a while, just keeping clean would be enough and body odour goes away?

No-poo update: I have dandruff! LOL. Still adjusting I think. Other than that, my hair is way more manageable and I don't really have to style it - the curl just sets up nicely, and holds all day. Still hunting for a good brush though.

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