Advice for traveling and no-poo?? Not sure if water is soft or hard in Croatia...

[piney674]

Hello! I'm traveling to Croatia tomorrow for 6 weeks, and it dawned on me that I have no clue if the water is soft or hard there. Can't seem to find out online :( What should I do if i encounter hard water? Any tips??? How do I know if I have encountered it? I'm on week 7 of no-poo, with no subsiding of oil production in sight :'( so i don't think it being ''gunkier'' would help determine if it's hard, it's as gunky as can get. but I want to continue, thinking maybe it is just taking very long for my hair to adjust ( I hope ). So I don't want to have to go and shampoo my head.

Also, I read so many things about absolutely not shampooing your hair during no poo transition..how far back can this possibly put you? Even a really diluted shampoo rinse? Some days my hair is just not having it and I know people ween off of shampoo so what's the odd result that washing it lightly once every month would do?


Thanks :)) I just don't want to walk around with a hat the entire time haha :):p

[alexis917]

I have never tried no-poo. You mean water only, right?
Be sure to check out the no-poo thread- sorry I couldn't be of more help.
That said, if you encounter hard water, ACV rinses seem to cure it.
I see people suggest using ACV to prevent hard water residue often in the shampoo bar thread.
I'm sorry I couldn't give you more advice! I wish I could travel!

[piney674]

Well water mainly. I've used conditioner a few times to get out major oil buildup without drying out my natural oils too much like with shampoo. Otherwise just rinse in cool/warm alternating water with high water pressure. Hmm I'll look into the ACV. Anytime I've used it it made my hair very lank, even in higher dilutions. Maybe it'll be better there..

[Firefox7275]

Hello! I'm traveling to Croatia tomorrow for 6 weeks, and it dawned on me that I have no clue if the water is soft or hard there. Can't seem to find out online :( What should I do if i encounter hard water? Any tips??? How do I know if I have encountered it? I'm on week 7 of no-poo, with no subsiding of oil production in sight :'( so i don't think it being ''gunkier'' would help determine if it's hard, it's as gunky as can get. but I want to continue, thinking maybe it is just taking very long for my hair to adjust ( I hope ). So I don't want to have to go and shampoo my head.

Also, I read so many things about absolutely not shampooing your hair during no poo transition..how far back can this possibly put you? Even a really diluted shampoo rinse? Some days my hair is just not having it and I know people ween off of shampoo so what's the odd result that washing it lightly once every month would do?

Thanks :)) I just don't want to walk around with a hat the entire time haha :):p

Agree what do you mean by no-poo: that includes conditioner washing, water only, baking soda and vinegar etc? ETA we cross posted, you are not massaging with water only? Shower water beating down could damage your hair more than massage and won't hit the hair evenly.

You can shampoo during the transition, just use something gentle/ non irritating/ non stripping, ideally pH 4.5 to 5.5 a surfactant like one of the glucosides or betaines. Research suggests sulphates are thinning and stripping at concentrations as low as 1%, other surfactants like the olefin sulfonates are also highly irritant. If you have reactive skin it could set you back a long way, my skin really doesn't like a single exposure to sulphates and my hair becomes much less manageable with a sulphate free shampoo, but YMMV. Some people do better with proper washing, it's quite possible for your scalp to be irritated by your own sebum.

http://www.thenaturalhavenbloom.com/2012/06/are-sulfate-free-shampoos-really.html
http://www.eczema.org/aqeous

If you encounter hard water just do a dilute white vinegar or lemon juice rinse, you should be able to get hold of those.

[Adelynd]

I am no longer W/O (mostly because I like to wear my hair down and, even after fully transitioning, did not like the way my hair felt/moved as much on a W/O routine) but I remember it taking months to complete my transition. Probably more than six months... I don't know anything about the water in Croatia or whether a single shampoo will set you back, since I stayed away from it the entire transition. My point is that your transition is more than likely not just right around the corner and may be several more months so, if this is a once in a lifetime trip and you don't want to look back at your pictures and hate your hair or you feel uncomfortable traveling with greasy hair... then do what you feel you need to do to enjoy your trip to the fullest and worry about the transition period when you get back. I know that may sound crazy because I know what you've had to endure with 7 weeks of greasy hair and how it affects your everyday life, but my advice is still not to let the W/O routine ruin your experience, especially since you may find that your hair prefers an alternative routine in the long run. If it were me and I really wanted to wear it down for the trip, I would shampoo it with super diluted shampoo and concentrate on the length more than the scalp. Or you could use eggs if you're worried about finding cone-less shampoo (though I find that eggs almost completely strip my hair of sebum, while diluted shampoo is a bit less stripping) and enjoy my vacation! Have a great trip! Oh, and don't get discouraged with W/0! I'm still really glad that I tried it. It was quite an experience and it left me with really low-sebum production, even after starting more traditional practices again.

[piney674]

Agree what do you mean by no-poo: that includes conditioner washing, water only, baking soda and vinegar etc? ETA we cross posted, you are not massaging with water only? Shower water beating down could damage your hair more than massage and won't hit the hair evenly.

You can shampoo during the transition, just use something gentle/ non irritating/ non stripping, ideally pH 4.5 to 5.5 a surfactant like one of the glucosides or betaines. Research suggests sulphates are thinning and stripping at concentrations as low as 1%, other surfactants like the olefin sulfonates are also highly irritant. If you have reactive skin it could set you back a long way, my skin really doesn't like a single exposure to sulphates and my hair becomes much less manageable with a sulphate free shampoo, but YMMV. Some people do better with proper washing, it's quite possible for your scalp to be irritated by your own sebum.

http://www.thenaturalhavenbloom.com/2012/06/are-sulfate-free-shampoos-really.html
http://www.eczema.org/aqeous

If you encounter hard water just do a dilute white vinegar or lemon juice rinse, you should be able to get hold of those.

I am mainly water only. I do a conditioner wash every 2 weeks just to get it light and fluffy instead of gunky. Hm I didn't think the scalp massage setting was too harsh, I'll take that into consideration. I used to massage/rub my scalp for 15 minutes while alternating water temperatures but found that this water setting pretty much did the job for me.

I use Shea Moisture olive and marula shampoo, it has no sulphates or parabens and all the yucky stuff. still leaves my hair so squeaky clean so I dilute it like crazy..

Thanks for the tip I can definitely get a hold of some lemons!

[piney674]

I am no longer W/O (mostly because I like to wear my hair down and, even after fully transitioning, did not like the way my hair felt/moved as much on a W/O routine) but I remember it taking months to complete my transition. Probably more than six months... I don't know anything about the water in Croatia or whether a single shampoo will set you back, since I stayed away from it the entire transition. My point is that your transition is more than likely not just right around the corner and may be several more months so, if this is a once in a lifetime trip and you don't want to look back at your pictures and hate your hair or you feel uncomfortable traveling with greasy hair... then do what you feel you need to do to enjoy your trip to the fullest and worry about the transition period when you get back. I know that may sound crazy because I know what you've had to endure with 7 weeks of greasy hair and how it affects your everyday life, but my advice is still not to let the W/O routine ruin your experience, especially since you may find that your hair prefers an alternative routine in the long run. If it were me and I really wanted to wear it down for the trip, I would shampoo it with super diluted shampoo and concentrate on the length more than the scalp. Or you could use eggs if you're worried about finding cone-less shampoo (though I find that eggs almost completely strip my hair of sebum, while diluted shampoo is a bit less stripping) and enjoy my vacation! Have a great trip! Oh, and don't get discouraged with W/0! I'm still really glad that I tried it. It was quite an experience and it left me with really low-sebum production, even after starting more traditional practices again.

Yes it can be so frustrating..The thing is, I feel like there is a difference between sebum and oil/grease. i DO get a sticky substance that I call sebum, and then I also get a soft oiliness that runs down my entire hair shaft within hours that I would call oil. So I'm really hoping that the oil production stops. Sebum doesn't spread so easy so I honestly don't mind it.

I get what you mean, and you're right I really don't want to look like a hot mess, there are so many gorgeous site seeing spots and I can't imagine hundreds of photos of me in hats instead of long flowy hair!

Thanks so much :)) Definitely not freaking out like I was about this whole situation. Between packing and planning...I completely forgot about my stupid hair! haha <3

[jeanniet]

Personally I would bag the WO for your trip, and restart as needed when you get back. This is because a) many members here try WO and give up on it at some point; and b) you don't want to spend your special trip worrying about how your hair looks or what you need to do to it. You don't want to drive yourself crazy doing WO, only to come home and decide later on that it's not working out. You can always start it up again when you get home. I'd do whatever routine you already know works, whether that's S/C, diluted shampoo, CO, or whatever. I'd also get some citric acid powder and bring that for your trip. It's easier than ACV and IMO works better anyway. 1/4 teaspoon per gallon of water as a final rinse, and your hair should be OK.

[piney674]

Personally I would bag the WO for your trip, and restart as needed when you get back. This is because a) many members here try WO and give up on it at some point; and b) you don't want to spend your special trip worrying about how your hair looks or what you need to do to it. You don't want to drive yourself crazy doing WO, only to come home and decide later on that it's not working out. You can always start it up again when you get home. I'd do whatever routine you already know works, whether that's S/C, diluted shampoo, CO, or whatever. I'd also get some citric acid powder and bring that for your trip. It's easier than ACV and IMO works better anyway. 1/4 teaspoon per gallon of water as a final rinse, and your hair should be OK.

Ah I wish I knew sooner that I was going, but I really don't want to give up now especially since I'm at 7 weeks. The reason I started no-poo, aside from not wanting to put so many chemicals on my head, was to hopefully alleviate all this grease production. Stopping now will bring me too far back and going again for 2 months not knowing that it will even work is too much. I'm giving it 4 and if it doesn't begin to let up I'll stop :) I'm going to try the very diluted shampoo I think and try not to get it on my scalp so much. Thanks for your input :))

[BlazingHeart]

What about just doing more frequent CO'ing during your trip? It won't reset you as much as using shampoo would, but you said it still makes your hair light and fluffy. Perhaps you can think of it as balancing your concerns here - avoiding things that will cause more oil production and wanting your hair to look and behave a certain way.

[Flor]

I'm not ready for the complications of going no-poo cold turkey, so I'm just trying to extend periods between shampoo-bar washes. I have just gone a week without shampooing for the first time since I was 10, probably. I felt like I could still manage a few more days with water-only, but thought I'd try something else. I did an egg yolk/natural yogurt (no sugar, no add-ons, no flavor) mask. Left it on for 30 minutes under plastic wrap and winter hat (for extra warmth). Washed it off same way as I do WO rinses (cold-warm-cold, ACV, cold water) and my hair is perfectly clean, as if I shampooed it! And it smells like fresh yogurt! I tried using whole eggs or egg whites before and hated it! They would "cook" even with the coldest water I could stand, and leave my hair smell very eggy. But I thought it was best, because egg whites would have more protein. WRONG! Both egg yolks and egg whites have exact same ammount of protein, but yolks have added benefits of conditioning fats.

I cannot see how this mask could possibly be more disrupting to oil production than plain water. There's no chemicals in it, it's completely natural and it can't be drying by definition. It does seem to cleanse the excess oils off pretty well though!

[Firefox7275]

I'm not ready for the complications of going no-poo cold turkey, so I'm just trying to extend periods between shampoo-bar washes. I have just gone a week without shampooing for the first time since I was 10, probably. I felt like I could still manage a few more days with water-only, but thought I'd try something else. I did an egg yolk/natural yogurt (no sugar, no add-ons, no flavor) mask. Left it on for 30 minutes under plastic wrap and winter hat (for extra warmth). Washed it off same way as I do WO rinses (cold-warm-cold, ACV, cold water) and my hair is perfectly clean, as if I shampooed it! And it smells like fresh yogurt! I tried using whole eggs or egg whites before and hated it! They would "cook" even with the coldest water I could stand, and leave my hair smell very eggy. But I thought it was best, because egg whites would have more protein. WRONG! Both egg yolks and egg whites have exact same ammount of protein, but yolks have added benefits of conditioning fats.

I cannot see how this mask could possibly be more disrupting to oil production than plain water. There's no chemicals in it, it's completely natural and it can't be drying by definition. It does seem to cleanse the excess oils off pretty well though!

Everything on this green earth is composed of chemicals including eggs, there are plenty of natural cleansing agents for example the saponins in soap nuts and soap wort.

Lecithin (yolk only) is an good emulsifier, that is how egg works to bind oil and liquid in homemade mayonnaise or hollandaise sauce, and how the fatty acids and water in the yolk remain mixed. Some of the proteins in the yolk are polar so can act as emulsifiers but AFAIK albumin proteins are poor. The lactic acid in yoghurt is a very mild keratolytic so may loosen dead skin, and milk proteins are weak emulsifiers.

Egg cannot denature in cool water, it can denature if you expose it to acids, e.g vinegar, and the higher the temperature the less acid is required. Or did you use the heat of your head then? If your hair smelt egg chances are you didn't rinse/ massage as well as you believed so the albumin may have denatured on contact with your vinegar rinse. Part of the reason the honey is used is it increases the temperature at which the egg protein denatures, plus honey is a weak emulsifier.

HTH.

[Flor]

Wow, that actually was very helpful! Thank you! I hope I understood everything right, there were a lot of new words there for me :)

So egg yolks make it possible for the oils to bind with water? That explains it! I really didn't expect my hair to get clean after this mask, I thought that if anything it would just add more deposit to it, but since I was thinking of washing it anyway, I thought I'd experiment a little.

It could have been the heat of my head or I didn't wash it off well enough before the ACV rinse (or both!), when I was using whole eggs before. But I really had half-cooked egg white bits trapped in my hair afterwards. I couldn't get them out with plain water or combing, had to shampoo. Still the smell lingered for a while.

The egg recipes I saw did mention honey! I didn't have any in the house, but I'll try adding it next time.

So it's not exactly neutral to hair oils, but I take comfort in the fact that it's mild "shampooing".

[stachelbeere]

Hello! I'm traveling to Croatia tomorrow for 6 weeks, and it dawned on me that I have no clue if the water is soft or hard there. Can't seem to find out online :( What should I do if i encounter hard water? Any tips??? How do I know if I have encountered it?

Hello, WO + acidic rinse person here, living in a hard water area :) I've been doing it rather successfully for over year now.

check out the faucets and water boiling kettle where you'll be staying, you might be able to see water splashes that, after they dried, left some kind of sediment. Well, it really depends where you'll be staying. Or just ask someone at the reception? IDK.

when you encounter hard water your hair will feel waxy - basically, you'll have problems combing your hair, it will be really tangly and well, waxy and gross-feeling. especially in the nape and crown area.
there are chances that for some reason a diluted ACV rinse will make your hair oily, I've heard reports about that. some people were successful with white vinegar. Maybe ACV will work for you, maybe not :/

I use anything acidic, I like to experiment. For example, I am currently using white wine (I'm not that posh, the wine was just a bit - well - it tasted like cork ;) it works fine as a rinse though and smells unexpectedly amazing hehe)

you could try lemon rinses - lemons are very acidic so dilute a given amount in cold water. Preferably boiled water to get rid of some of the minerals. keep in mind that a lemon rinse might lighten your hair if exposed in the sun.

other options are:
teas rinses (black tea, green tea)
coffee rinses
any vinegar that exists (I was also successful with overly fermented kombucha, it was more like 'kombucha vinegar')
fruit juices (I'm not really experienced with those, freshly pressed orange juice wasn't that great in Lisbon, Portugal)

dilute a given amount of acidic liquid in cold water. I can't really tell you the proportions, it really depends on the hardness and your hair. but it should be roughly in the proportions of 1:5 up to 1:1.

oh, some people had success with apple sauce, never tried it though ;)

If all else fails and you don't want to use shampoo wash your hair with one or two egg yolks + acidic rinse, works every time.

good luck and have fun in Croatia :D :D :D