Shampoo Only thread

[eadwine]

I was looking for this, seems there is a reaaaaally old thread on this, back in 2010 or so, I googled it but can't haul the thing up for the life of me so.. new thread it is.


I recently discovered this one from someone suggesting it (sorry I cannot remember your name :( ) and as a wavy/spirally (don't know what to call myself yet) I found that only using shampoo works much better for my hair than shampoo and conditioner for instance. Now there is a discovery, after going my whole life "shampoo conditioner".

I do two shampoo runs in a wash, usually. I start out oiling heavily before washing, preferably sleep with it overnight. I then wash the hair thoroughly with shampoo, once or twice depending on the amount of greasy, and then I use the poo as a conditioner to get the last bits out, so I put it in the hair, and bun it for a bit while doing the rest of the wash routine. Rinse it out, done.

I scrunch a bit, then plop for about 20 minutes, after which my hair goes up in claw clips to the point where it is mostly dry, then take them out and air dry.


Who else does shampoo only? Just wondering because I cannot be alone in all this conditioning world ;) :lol: I want to hear your experiences :)

[Othala]

I tried using only shampoo last summer and managed about 5 weeks without oils and conditioners, washing just once a week and scritching/massaging/preening to get my sebum to move down the hair shaft.

My scalp loved it, my hair (especially the ends) really suffered. I was using a mild, sulphate-free shampoo (diluted John Masters Organics Lavender Rosemary shampoo).

For people who have a good sebum production I would think this would be a good, minimalistic routine, but for someone with an under-production of sebum, or the waxy (as opposed to runny) type of sebum or dry/damaged hair, I think it might make matters worse.

[Mimione001]

I have found that shampoo without using conditioner is working for me too. My hair seems to have more "strength". With conditioner my hair is soft but the waves don't hold very well.
I will try this again!
do you use a sulfate- or sulfatefree shampoo?
And do you use a leave-in or a bit of oil afterwards?

[eadwine]

I don't use any product afterward. I DO use a heavy coconut oiling the night before (I sleep with oiled hair). I expect when I feel my ends getting dry I will use a wee bit of coconut oil on them, it has always worked in the past that way before so I am not worried about things getting dry.

"With conditioner my hair is soft but the waves don't hold very well." They do hold for me the same as without the conditioner, the difference right after washing is negligible, but when I take the hair out of its first bun is where the difference really shows. My hair likes being a bit wild I guess, and I like it that way too ;)

Hmm.. I have no idea on the sulfates poo.. lessee.. *goes grab bottle*

Oh yeah.. out of the first three ingredients, numbers 2 and 3 are sulfate. Does that explain why it washes out the coconut oil so easily? :)



I am just at the start of shampoo only, it never lasted longer than 3 to 4 days, but now that I know that this is what my hair likes best we are rolling into a longer lasting routine. Wait and see what will happen in the longer run :)

[Othala]

Ah, I see, eadwine, you do a heavy overnight oiling and then shampoo off and do not follow up with conditioner. This is something that is practised all over India and it seems to work very well.

When you wrote "Shampoo only" I thought you meant nothing else at all.

[eadwine]

Ahh.. what should I call this then instead of shampoo only.. Oilpoo thread? :lol:

Obviously it works well in India, those people have great hair! :) Thanks for letting me know; I didn't know about the fact that this method is being used there. :)

[ErinLeigh]

This should interesting experiement for you. I canont wait to see the results. I did notice from your pics on other thread that your hair seems to have more defined fuller curls in the "no product" picture you posted of the spirals.

I wonder, if anyone found hair feels drier without conditioner, what would be the effect if you conditioned..let it sit for 3 minutes..then shampooed. Would that help detangle, keep moisture..but then leave hair product free and fresh for the curls? Has anyone tried it backwards? I remember seeing an article about it somewhere but never a thread here. Is it the conditoiner after washing that keeps the curl from its full glory, or would it still be limper curl from conditioning before washing since hair is still getting that conditioning softness to some degree? gah I wish my own curls and waves would hurry and come back so I could do my own testing. :(

[StellaKatherine]

I use conditioner on my whole hair first, then shampoo only scalp and roots of my hair and then put conditioner only on my ends and the lenght but not to my scalp. My hair seems to like that one. Hm, only shampoo i used when i was a child. So long ago :)

[Mimione001]

Thanks for looking at your shampoo bottle :)
I am definitely going to try this. Still looking for a good routine (already tried nearly everything suggested on this forum) And most things are to much for my fine hair.
I really like coconut treatments for the nights, so i don't see any problems. And yes is really think that washing with sulfates makes is easy to wash out.;)

[duchess67]

Othala, I am originally from India. That's how most of us used to care for our hair while growing up. After moving abroad I started using conditioner. I started losing hair a lot, didn't attribute it to conditioner. Once I realize conditioner was the culprit, I quit. But recently after reading several posts here on LHC I started using conditioner, sulphate free one. My hair became so slippery and velvety, don't quite like the feel of it.

Thanks eadwine. I am going back to shampoo only. All these experiments are creating havoc on my hair. Should have stuck with what worked well. Lesson learned.




Ah, I see, eadwine, you do a heavy overnight oiling and then shampoo off and do not follow up with conditioner. This is something that is practised all over India and it seems to work very well.

When you wrote "Shampoo only" I thought you meant nothing else at all.


Ahh.. what should I call this then instead of shampoo only.. Oilpoo thread? :lol:

Obviously it works well in India, those people have great hair! :) Thanks for letting me know; I didn't know about the fact that this method is being used there. :)

[lapushka]

I think it does matter whether your shampoo has silicones in, because if there are silicones in there, that might provide enough "slip" that you don't actually need conditioner. And of course there's an oiling going on pre-shampoo, so it's actually not shampoo only but rather more of a CW routine (you condition with the oil pre-shampooing - it's kind of a deep treatment). :)

Do you use oil *every* time you shampoo? Or...?

[Toffeemonster]

I always just used shampoo without conditioner, out of sheer laziness, I never considered it a must do. I also oiled before shampooing a fair few times, which left my hair nice and soft. I think doing a pre-oiling is probably much more conditioning than using an actual conditioner, I think it'd be considered a deep conditioning treatment? If you didn't do that you'd probably find your hair would get dry and brittle from shampoo only. My hair was always very dry and puffy with shampoo alone, co-washing works better for me because it's equally lazy but not as drying hehe

[eadwine]

ErinLeigh: I did the 3min condition in that test, so.. :)

Mimione001: thanks for confirming on the sulfate :)

duchess67: yes, that is what my hair was like: soft like velvet. It is nice when you are going for the 1b look but that feel and slip is making my curls go frt. I hope you can get back to the shampoo only and oiling before without issues. How much oil did you use back when? Can you tell me more about this?

lapushka: I do think it has silicones in it. Argh I got sick and tired of looking up the ingredients, here is a picture of the list:
http://i1145.photobucket.com/albums/o518/eadwine/Haarspul/poo.jpg
I don't or barely use coconut oil if I have to work the next day and it needs washing, then it is on the hair only very briefly. I don't know if I will be doing this every time, it really depends, but I can do a good treat on weekends :)

Toffeemonster: Ahhh.. so one could view pre-oil as a condish then.. hmm.. and indeed the amount could also make a difference, definitely :)

Waiting for duchess67 to tell me more on this :)

[lapushka]

lapushka: I do think it has silicones in it. Argh I got sick and tired of looking up the ingredients, here is a picture of the list:
http://i1145.photobucket.com/albums/o518/eadwine/Haarspul/poo.jpg
I don't or barely use coconut oil if I have to work the next day and it needs washing, then it is on the hair only very briefly. I don't know if I will be doing this every time, it really depends, but I can do a good treat on weekends :)

Ahhh.. so one could view oil as a condish then.. hmm.. and indeed the amount could also make a difference, definitely :)

Waiting for duchess67 to tell me more on this :)

Yes, it has a few silicones + mineral oil. Ooh, looks like a nice shampoo (but I use shampoo without silicones religiously). Oil pre shampoo is like a deep "treatment", it makes the hair nice and soft, so you might not totally wash it out with shampoo, depending on the amount you use. But since you use only minimal amounts of oil, it (I'd say) barely matters.

[eadwine]

Oh this last time I used a mass. Pre oiling here goes in tablespoons Lapushka, not in 10ct pieces :lol:

[lapushka]

Oh this last time I used a mass. Pre oiling here goes in tablespoons Lapushka, not in 10ct pieces :lol:

Hahaha! ;) (bit of an inside joke here, you guys)

[kganihanova]

This should interesting experiement for you. I canont wait to see the results. I did notice from your pics on other thread that your hair seems to have more defined fuller curls in the "no product" picture you posted of the spirals.

I wonder, if anyone found hair feels drier without conditioner, what would be the effect if you conditioned..let it sit for 3 minutes..then shampooed. Would that help detangle, keep moisture..but then leave hair product free and fresh for the curls? Has anyone tried it backwards? I remember seeing an article about it somewhere but never a thread here. Is it the conditoiner after washing that keeps the curl from its full glory, or would it still be limper curl from conditioning before washing since hair is still getting that conditioning softness to some degree? gah I wish my own curls and waves would hurry and come back so I could do my own testing. :(

I do this. It works out really well.

[Beborani]

Both othala and duchess must be younger than I because when I was young no one used shampoos, only ritha or shikha after oiling. Then shampoo started making inroads through commericals with promise of shiny straight hair and I longed for that magic product but wasn't allowed until I went away to college and it became a necessity (very very rare those days for girls to go away). My hair just got frizzy with shampoo but I was going for that look those days after years of slick oiled braids.

When middle class india started transitioning to shampoo slowly they kept the preoiling before shampoo but substituted ritha and shikha. The shampoo manufacturers did not sell conditioners so we did not use them but I learnt about them from my friends from 'abroad'--used it and loved it. i have been taking loads of conditioners back to India for family until recently--they finally sell them there.

That said most of India especially traditional women do not use shampoo or conditioner--it is still too expensive and luxury item. Shikha, ritha, chickpea flour, moong flour are few of washing materials I know and I am sure there are lots more depending on region and local availability.

Also post wash oiling is nearly a must amongst most Indians, epscially those with long hair.

[eadwine]

Thank you for that insight, super interesting :D

I don't think I can go THAT natural, I wager shikha and ritha and such are harder to work with than the shampoos are.

[duchess67]

Beborani, you summed up it so nicely. I wouldn't have been able to explain it so well. eadwine, now you must have an idea how it was in India back in those days when I was younger. I started using shampoo while in college just like Beborani. While in school I used other stuff that Beborani mentioned sometimes I remember using soap even. But no harm was seen on my hair back then.



ErinLeigh: I did the 3min condition in that test, so.. :)

Mimione001: thanks for confirming on the sulfate :)

duchess67: yes, that is what my hair was like: soft like velvet. It is nice when you are going for the 1b look but that feel and slip is making my curls go frt. I hope you can get back to the shampoo only and oiling before without issues. How much oil did you use back when? Can you tell me more about this?

lapushka: I do think it has silicones in it. Argh I got sick and tired of looking up the ingredients, here is a picture of the list:
http://i1145.photobucket.com/albums/o518/eadwine/Haarspul/poo.jpg
I don't or barely use coconut oil if I have to work the next day and it needs washing, then it is on the hair only very briefly. I don't know if I will be doing this every time, it really depends, but I can do a good treat on weekends :)

Toffeemonster: Ahhh.. so one could view pre-oil as a condish then.. hmm.. and indeed the amount could also make a difference, definitely :)

Waiting for duchess67 to tell me more on this :)

I used a lot of oil in my younger days. Nowadays I measure, almost 4 tablespoon of oil, I literally soak my hair in oil. Then shampoo it out. If I feel like pampering my hair I still use Indian herbs that Beborani mentioned.


Oh this last time I used a mass. Pre oiling here goes in tablespoons Lapushka, not in 10ct pieces :lol:

Exactly this :D


Both othala and duchess must be younger than I because when I was young no one used shampoos, only ritha or shikha after oiling. Then shampoo started making inroads through commericals with promise of shiny straight hair and I longed for that magic product but wasn't allowed until I went away to college and it became a necessity (very very rare those days for girls to go away). My hair just got frizzy with shampoo but I was going for that look those days after years of slick oiled braids.

When middle class india started transitioning to shampoo slowly they kept the preoiling before shampoo but substituted ritha and shikha. The shampoo manufacturers did not sell conditioners so we did not use them but I learnt about them from my friends from 'abroad'--used it and loved it. i have been taking loads of conditioners back to India for family until recently--they finally sell them there.

That said most of India especially traditional women do not use shampoo or conditioner--it is still too expensive and luxury item. Shikha, ritha, chickpea flour, moong flour are few of washing materials I know and I am sure there are lots more depending on region and local availability.

[Beborani]

Eadwine yes, it was a long project that involved another adult or two. That was the excuse I gave when I went away to college.:)

Duchess-yes I recall using soap occasionally but it caused lots of tangles and required even more oiling--the thing I detested then. :)

[eadwine]

Thank you so much again :)

How much oil was used there? I am trying to determine if I should maybe use less or if my amount is ok :)

[duchess67]

Sorry eadwine, I was editing my previous post. You must have missed what I wrote. Ever since I started using Neelibhringadi oil I started measuring it out, around 4 tablespoon of oil is what I use.

[eadwine]

Ah thank you! I think that is about what I grabbed, maybe a little bit less. I will start measuring as well, makes it easier to determine which way I need to go.

Do you notice when you over or underoil? If so.. how?

Post wash oiling is a no go for my hair, it'll become a grease mop then :lol:

[Beborani]

Eadwine, according to my grandmothers prewash oiling must be so much that it should drip--on my hair back then it was loads. My mother felt it was too much and too expensive to wash so much down the drain and would apply just enough to coat all the hair and bit extra on scalp for massage. Now I follow something between my mother and my grandmas. I also cowash exclusively--no shampoo has touched my head in months and I love it, a lot depends on hairtype. My husband with fine straight hair never uses conditioner.

[eadwine]

Wow.. drip.. noooo it's not dripping. Just enough should do the trick, last time I used a bit more, might have been a wee too much. That helps.. don't have to measure then.. I can feel the difference :D

Wow.. drip.... how long did it have to be on the hair then? The whole night?

[duchess67]

You can leave it on for as many hours as you want, but I prefer to wash it off after 2 hours or so.

[eadwine]

Ahhh thank you :) So I can do a short oiling too, of like an hour or so, when I don't have much time to spare, and it will still work :)

[duchess67]

Yes, you can eadwine. I've washed it out in an hour when I am in a hurry.

[Beborani]

No, just 30 min to an hour. We were also expected to oil our body on these "oil bath" days but that would happen later in the bathroom (for obvious reasons) except when we were children. These oil baths were taken very seriously and happened only on certain days of the week (friday and tuesday) especially in the south--so you could see all the school girls with freshly washed hair in slightly loose braids or cage braids and jasmine flowers their hair. Other days it would be in tight two braids.

[eadwine]

Oh wow.. no way then to go a time without washing I bet.. people would know!!

[Beborani]

Yup! This thread has changed direction into cultural history, sorry Eadwine. And if you washed on off days it meant you just had your period. Yes, everyone on the street would know that too. And if you were a married woman, the neighborhood busybodies would ask if you're pregnant if there were no off day washings for a while--the phrase was "are you bathing"--which was a mystery to me throughout childhood.:)

[eadwine]

Oh I don't mind.. I find it highly interesting :)

Oh man.. I can imagine being glad to be out of that particular part of the culture!

[duchess67]

eadwine, please don't think all over India it's the same. India is a vast country with drastically different culture. It's not at all like that where I come from. I've never heard these type of incidents mentioned by my mother or even by my grandma.

[eadwine]

Are those regions the more strict ones maybe.. kind of like ... a bible belt? I am trying to find something to compare it with that rings a bell :lol:


How was it where you were?

[Beborani]

I agree with duchess--things are different in different parts of India. Not bible belt exactly but traditional life all over was different but oppressive in different ways. This refers to one south indian region which is culture of my origin while I grew up elsewhere where practices were different.

[eadwine]

Thanks for explaining :D

It may seem weird, but I just find this intriguing knowledge :)

[Nadine <3]

The culture in this thread is interesting! I dig it.

When it's really humid I don't condition and my hair likes that. If I condition in humidity my hair is a stringy, greasy mess of yuck. I just scrub my scalp and be done with it. If my ends look a bit dry I use a little coconut oil or conditioner on my braid tassels the night before I wash it. Works really well for me and I get loads of volume this way!

[Beborani]

Staying on hair, currently the best hair I see are on women from Bangladesh who work as housemaids in cities--their hair is rolled in a bun so you wont know but when they take it down to adjust--oh my. They have minimum resources, surely dont use shampoo and I cannot quite understand their language to know what exactly they use but they are doing something right. Unfortunately culture cannot be reduced to one paragraph and a lot of these practices can be understood only if you are an insider or have very close connection--I had friends from various cultures in the cities but could rarely figure out what exactly someone else used as people are shy to share.

[eadwine]

Some things are just meant to remain mysteries :D

[Aderyn]

I've done shampoo only three times in my life.

Two prior to knowing about LHC:
From when I was in elementary to middle school/high school I used only shampoo. I did use a tiny bit of spray in conditioner to detangle (probably had silicones). Just used generic kids shampoo at the time.

When I was in high school, I went for about a year or so with using just Shikai shampoo (gentle shampoo), and no other products in my hair.

After knowing about LHC:
Have gone for about a year (around May 2013-about a year later) with using only a shampoo bar. Maybe throw in a tiny bit of coconut oil here and there, but rather minimalist. My hair did quite well with that.

Conditioner just makes detangling in the shower so much nicer, though, so I doubt I'll be going shampoo only again.

[ARG]

This thread is SO interesting. I've definitely enjoyed reading the replies and learning.

I've only done Shampoo Only sporadically, mainly when I'm home alone and the newborn woke up screaming so I'd rush out of the shower without bothering to condition. The results weren't horrific, but I did notice my hair tangled a lot.

[eadwine]

That is the interesting part.. I hear people having tangling hair, however I don't. Would that be because of the oil treatment before shampooing?

[duchess67]

Awww ARG, you have a baby, so sweet. Congrats! I sill remember vividly how hard it was to manage everything after having a baby.

It was to avoid tangles that we oil our hair thoroughly before washing.

[eadwine]

Tadaaaa that IS it then.

Because when I have it washed out and the shampoo in I can simply detangle as if there were conditioner in the hair, no difference at all.. hardly anything that knots.

[Beborani]

Eadwine in your particular case your shampoo contains silicones and mineral oil, so it looks like a conditioning shampoo. That is the magic and perhaps your hairtype. Preoiling actually avoids hygral fatigue that can be a problem with very heavy long hair. My hair will always tangle but curly Girl creates neat little clumps that in itself can be viewed as tangles or pretty curls--I choose to go with latter. But once it forms those clumps it stays and doesnt tangle more even if i wear it down endlessly. Not sure if you are talking about that or just that your individual strands are smooth--that would be your hairtype.

[eadwine]

So I am quite lucky with the shampoo as well. Lucky combo then is what this boils down to for me :)

All I have to figure out is the correct amount of oil (simply put: do not put too much on my hair, enough is enough) and the clippies time.

The snood has been ordered, if that happens to work the hair will no longer dry up in the clippies but down and supported by the snood. Much more air with the hair, which is a good thing :) Let's hope that works ;)

[ARG]

Awww ARG, you have a baby, so sweet. Congrats! I sill remember vividly how hard it was to manage everything after having a baby.

Thank you! She's almost two now, and her schedule is a little less unpredictable. I'll probably be back to shampoo only come this Christmas when her sibling gets here.


That is the interesting part.. I hear people having tangling hair, however I don't. Would that be because of the oil treatment before shampooing?


Eadwine in your particular case your shampoo contains silicones and mineral oil, so it looks like a conditioning shampoo. That is the magic and perhaps your hairtype. Preoiling actually avoids hygral fatigue that can be a problem with very heavy long hair. My hair will always tangle but curly Girl creates neat little clumps that in itself can be viewed as tangles or pretty curls--I choose to go with latter. But once it forms those clumps it stays and doesnt tangle more even if i wear it down endlessly. Not sure if you are talking about that or just that your individual strands are smooth--that would be your hairtype.

I used a volumizing shampoo back then, and it was cone-free, which is what I suspect caused the majority of tangles when I was unable to condition with the coney conditioner I used. But now I know, and with the new baby arriving, I'll just make sure to pre-oil.

[bunnylake]

This also works for me! But I don't even use a pre-poo oil treatment at all. I only shampoo-only once in a while, otherwise I do use a very small amount of very light conditioner just on the very ends of my hair. Every once in a while I use a light serum on my ends after I shampoo only just to be able to comb through it. I find that conditioning too much weighs my hair down. My scalp produces a lot of sebum and my hair is rarely ever dry.

ETA: I wash nearly every day with a sulfate shampoo, no or minimal silicone in my other products. I know this routine would wreak havoc on some people's hair but it works the best for me!

[lapushka]

I could do shampoo-only (no pre oiling) when I was a teen (there was no conditioner on the market then). My shampoo was full of silicones, though, which was definitely necessary! My hair was also much shorter than it is now, so length has something to do with it as well. I mean, when I had a bob, I could definitely forego conditioner.

[Lindenare]

My hair seems to like shampoo-only as well. I don't pre-oil, though I might try it, as I've never oiled my hair and I'm curious if it would make a difference. On the other hand, my hair seems happy without it. I condition very rarely, only as needed, and always rinse afterward, as more regular conditioning (and most leave-ins) leaves my hair feeling waxy and coated.

[eadwine]

I do know now that I used a little too much oil last time. Yep my hair CAN have too much. It gets stringy easily, which is when I know: too much. Stringy does not equal clumpy :lol: I need to pay attention next time to simply use just enough, that is enough. I can always add later. That is one thing with oil treatments: once washed it does not wash out MORE if you catch my drift. Ah well.. next wash day is Thursday (I am flying to Britain on Friday the 13th hahaha adn I want it clean then of course) so I can just minor oil Wednesday :)


I sure am loving the simple routine. No fussing about with bottles and stuff, just wash and done :D

I do miss the smell of the leave in at times ;) That did smell yummy haha

[Beborani]

Lapushka--where do/did you live with no conditioner in the market presumably in the 80s. i thought it was unique to India. I do recall one shampoo marketed as condiitoning and liking it those days--probably contained silicones.

[leilani]

I think this might be quite fine for me! I've been shampooing twice, no conditioner, and then sealing with a drop of oil on damp hair after I get dressed. It's impossible to dangle while wet so I don't touch it until it's dry and comb it- then it's super silky and tangles are not a problem.
The advantage is that hair is shinier & more voluminous. And I don't seem to need more slip, unless I wanted to detangle while wet, but I'm patient .
No silicone or prepoo.

[GetMeToWaist]

I wonder if this works more for straight hair or curly hair? I used to do this when I was younger and it straightened my curlyish hair a lot.