First 'real' shampoo wash in 8 months

[EmiliaF]

I just have to tell this story because it's so ridiculous and proves that I am now a true LHCer.

I have joined TLHC in December, started experimenting with CO washes before switching to oil shampoo (organic mild shampoo + oil) and finally settling into a 'WO plus the occasional baking soda/ACV'-routine.

Then yesterday, someone posted this article about smelly hair syndrome and this article described how fungi can not only live on your scalp but also grow inside of the hair. It was in the middle of the night, I had just finished a 10-hour-study-marathon and had had too much coffee, so my natural reaction to this was to immediately jump out of bed, grab the first SLS-shampoo available and wash my hair twice with it... :shocked::shocked::shocked:

Once I was done with that, I noticed that my hair felt like there was plastic on it, looked at the bottle, saw all the cones and polyquaterniums in it and freaked out AGAIN. :rolleyes:
So at 2am I ran to the bathroom again. This time with baking soda and ACV and washed again to try to get that stuff out, because there was no other shampoo without 50 million chemicals in the house. :justy:
Of course, it didn't really wash out with that, so today I spent the entire day freaked out by that plastic-y feeling of my hair and was just now able to wash with an organic shampoo with coco-glucosides and no other plastic stuff in it. Twice.
So after having been washed five times in the past 6 hours, my hair is not too happy.

I learned, I will NEVER use 'regular' shampoo again :cool:

Does anyone else have freak-outs like that (please say yes)?
Did anyone ever notice this plastic-y feeling after using only organic stuff for a while?

[pixiedust]

Hahaha, been there (:

I usually CO with herbal condish, and every once in a while shampoo with herbal poo. then i do an herbal rinse, but I just recently used a shampoo I had laying around without realizing it contained some sort of msejrejwhtdsgfazaxazone (cant remember, hah) and my hair feels pretty terrible :l

[ratgirldjh]

oh yes!
I've been there!

Usually I wash with soap and an ACV rinse - and only once a week at the most.

I'm sensitive to chemicals and actually allergic to many ingredients in conditioner and even though I know this I sometimes just have to try something new... and most of the time end up running back to the bathroom to re-wash my hair with my soap!

Also I recently cut my hair and although the stylist did a great job and let me wash my hair at home first - he couldn't resist putting in a TINY amount of an un-scented 'all natural' mousse...

Well, it must have been full of silicone! It still hasn't come out of my hair!!! lol

I'm hennaing today because I need to and hopefully the mousse will come out... ;)

Rest assured you are not the only one who freaks out like this! After doing WO for about 3 months once I suddenly got the urge (much like you!) to wash my hair with something else and did CO. Evidently my hair was very dirty (it is dusty and smoky here a lot) and the water ran very dark - so I freaked and did it several times!!!

Not only was my hair 'too clean' lol - but it was coated in the conditioner that wouldn't really come off (i could feel it) and my hair was a fly away dry mess too! Instant build up!!! lol (at least i wasn't allergic to the conditioner!)...

So I washed with some soap that I was not allergic to and then I had dried out hair...

Moral of this story: STICK TO WHAT IS WORKING (tells self) and don't get the sudden urge to try something new in the middle of the night!!!

:D

[Amber_Maiden]

Hehe.... I ONLY wash my hair with organic CO now. I haven't washed my hair in a month with shampoo.... What is this article you are talking about??? I'm scared!!!!

[EmiliaF]

This is the link to the thread with the article:
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=74396

:scared:

[dragonchickx]

HEHE the other week I bought the suave shampoo instead of conditioner and I wound up putting it ALL over my ends!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I freaked out for sure and conditioned them with some stronger stuff... they have recovered I think..

[Signe]

if you are worried about fungi, do the occasional ACV rinse...it is anti-fungal, and not as harsh on your hair!

[gthlvrmx]

how is an ACV rinse anti fungal? The slight acidity?

[Rain76]

Personally, I cannot understand the desire to NOT wash your hair. Hair was meant to be cleaned & washed on a fairly regular basis, just like the rest of your body. I wash mine every other day, as to not dry it out. It isn't natural to not clean your hair & scalp. Cleanliness is all part of being healthy. This isn't meant to look down on anyone, just giving my opinion.

[PolarCathy]

Personally, I cannot understand the desire to NOT wash your hair. Hair was meant to be cleaned & washed on a fairly regular basis, just like the rest of your body.

Yes, with water. I don't think there were shampoos with detergents, conditioners and lotions sold in supermarkets when we came off the tree. ;) (Btw when I was completely water-only I washed my hair every third day or so, not that I had to but I did anyways. I think that's about what was meant by evolution, mother nature, you name it.)

I know there was no pollution either, still, I can't think of any other argument supporting the use of shampoo which is an industrial-strength cleaning agent. I rather wash my car with that.

Just another opinion.. :cool:

[sycamoreboutiqu]

>> Hair was meant to be cleaned & washed on a fairly regular basis,<<

I think I would have to disagree with that assumption. Modern day people think this way, but I don't think nature really intended for us to be washing with chemicals in heated, chlorinated water (and if you lived in the woods like most of our predecessors, that would be an impossibility anyway).

I think nature has provided a pretty circular method of maintaining life and organic systems - but we choose to mess with that system for the sake of "cleanliness" (associated with being more devout).

I bathe daily just like everyone else (the hair is a different animal though) but I don't think any part of our bodies were "intended" to be washed to the extent that most of us do.

[Jimothea]

"Does anyone else have freak-outs like that (please say yes)?
Did anyone ever notice this plastic-y feeling"

YES! Not before I started frequenting here though, lol. I CO and went on a family visting trip for the holiday. Camped at this great park--with fabulous bathrooms. One time I forgot my wash products and only had my clothes, but it was too hot and gross to go back so I thought, hey--what can one wash with regular soap hurt? (from the shower stall soap dispenser thing)

Ewww...My hair squeaked as I washed. Like a mouse. Literally like a mouse, like a rubbery, high pitched, dying-tiny-animal kind of sound, bleh! I mean it was literally animalistic or something.
*shudder* LMOA.

It went so far beyone that whole "squeaky clean" thing we're told to aim for that it wasn't even funny...then it dried all wonky, and I threw it in a braid and prayed it would be better the next wash. LOL. That'll teach a girl. I think I CO'd like three or four times each following wash, with leave-in, and it was FREAKING effing hot out, so that meant regular cleansing, and then when did an SMT when I got home, just to cover my bases.

Never hurts to be paranoid, right???

[DoubleCrowned]

>> Hair was meant to be cleaned & washed on a fairly regular basis,<<

I think I would have to disagree with that assumption. Modern day people think this way, but I don't think nature really intended for us to be washing with chemicals in heated, chlorinated water (and if you lived in the woods like most of our predecessors, that would be an impossibility anyway).

I think nature has provided a pretty circular method of maintaining life and organic systems - but we choose to mess with that system for the sake of "cleanliness" (associated with being more devout).

I bathe daily just like everyone else (the hair is a different animal though) but I don't think any part of our bodies were "intended" to be washed to the extent that most of us do.

I'd like to add that skin--and the scalp is skin--has an acid mantle that protects it from invasion of harmful bacteria and fungi. Soap destroys the acid mantle along with bacteria, both good and bad. This sets up a perfect opportunity for bad bacteria and fungi to move in.

Of course, a healthy diet goes a long way in maintaining the balance of the skin as well. Artificial ingredients have to be treated as toxins by the body, and one way the body rids itself of toxins is through the skin.

[Rain76]

That is fine to disagree with my statement. I do think that most shampoos are too harsh, so I use Aubrey Organics shampoo, which is 100&#37; natural. If I don't wash my scalp every other day, it just feels dirty. I guess people with dry scalps could get away with not washing. Also, hair holds odors (especially for people with oily scalps), so when someone smokes, you walk into a restaurant, or you are at a gas station with gas fumes everywhere, it all gets into your hair & clothing & makes you stink.

[Wavelength]

...but I just recently used a shampoo I had laying around without realizing it contained some sort of msejrejwhtdsgfazaxazone (cant remember, hah)...

The "scientific" term is omgwtfbbqcone. ;)

[Lianna]

I only "freaked-out" when my hair growth slowed down to below average when I wasn't cleaning it enough. Some people need more cleaning than others, being with gentle or not so gentle methods.

[Thinthondiel]

Did anyone ever notice this plastic-y feeling after using only organic stuff for a while?

I'm not sure if I understand what you mean by plastic-y, but I think my hair feels slimy whenever I use coney conditioners (while it's wet, not when it's dried). I hate that feeling. I can't believe I didn't even notice it back when I only used coney conditioners. I mostly use organic stuff these days and try to stay away from cones, because if I use cones I have to use SLS to get them out, and SLS makes my hair dry and frizzy.

[EmiliaF]

Personally, I cannot understand the desire to NOT wash your hair. Hair was meant to be cleaned & washed on a fairly regular basis, just like the rest of your body. I wash mine every other day, as to not dry it out. It isn't natural to not clean your hair & scalp. Cleanliness is all part of being healthy. This isn't meant to look down on anyone, just giving my opinion.


That is fine to disagree with my statement. I do think that most shampoos are too harsh, so I use Aubrey Organics shampoo, which is 100&#37; natural. If I don't wash my scalp every other day, it just feels dirty. I guess people with dry scalps could get away with not washing. Also, hair holds odors (especially for people with oily scalps), so when someone smokes, you walk into a restaurant, or you are at a gas station with gas fumes everywhere, it all gets into your hair & clothing & makes you stink.

I have had really oily hair for the past 9 years, because I cut my hair very short in 2002 and had to wash it every day to be able to style it. I kept washing it every day until 6 months ago because my scalp got so used to the daily washing, that it produced a lot of sebum. Using organic shampoo/CO-ing for a while and now only using baking soda, helped with this. My scalp with feels really dry for a day after washing now and only goes back to feeling 'normal' after 2-3 days.
What I want to say with this, is that your body (or at least my body) adjusts to over-washing as well as less-washing. This is the explanation for my 'desire to NOT wash (my) hair'.
If my hair smells like cigarette smoke or something else, I will of course wash it. I don't like to walk around with smelly hair :p

[pepperminttea]

If I don't wash my scalp every other day, it just feels dirty.

It doesn't produce sebum just to annoy you, it does serve a purpose. ;) Sometimes I think half of transitioning to stretching washes is changing your perception of cleanliness. The squeaky detergent-kind of clean certainly doesn't strike me as "natural," and organic shampoos can be just as harsh and stripping as typical supermarket sulphate shampoos. :shrug:


The "scientific" term is omgwtfbbqcone. ;)

:rollin:

[DoubleCrowned]

That is fine to disagree with my statement. I do think that most shampoos are too harsh, so I use Aubrey Organics shampoo, which is 100% natural. If I don't wash my scalp every other day, it just feels dirty. I guess people with dry scalps could get away with not washing. Also, hair holds odors (especially for people with oily scalps), so when someone smokes, you walk into a restaurant, or you are at a gas station with gas fumes everywhere, it all gets into your hair & clothing & makes you stink.

Being chemically sensitive, this is something I must pay attention to, because I can be made sick from odors clinging to clothing...or hair, even if it is someone else's hair or clothing.

It just now occurred to me that, now that I wash my hair with water only, odors do not cling to it like they used to. I remember that freshly shampooed hair always seemed like a magnet for odors. After being in pollution with shampooed hair, I would have to wash my hair again in order not to get sick from it. Could it be that removing the hair's natural coating--its natural defense--actually makes more likely to hold odors? Could it be that adding a synthetic coating to the hair actually compounds the problem?

Thinking further along these lines, have you ever noticed how synthetic fabrics hold odors more and longer than natural ones? There are charts on line showing how long germs survive on wood, cork, linen, wool, and other natural fibers compared to plastic, polyester, and other synthetic fibers. Germs actually thrive on the synthetics but not on the natural fibers. Bacteria added to linen, for example, are gone by the next day.

These are just my observations--food for thought; not intended to criticize anyone's hair cleansing routine.

[EmiliaF]

Being chemically sensitive, this is something I must pay attention to, because I can be made sick from odors clinging to clothing...or hair, even if it is someone else's hair or clothing.

It just now occurred to me that, now that I wash my hair with water only, odors do not cling to it like they used to. I remember that freshly shampooed hair always seemed like a magnet for odors. After being in pollution with shampooed hair, I would have to wash my hair again in order not to get sick from it. Could it be that removing the hair's natural coating--its natural defense--actually makes more likely to hold odors? Could it be that adding a synthetic coating to the hair actually compounds the problem?

Thinking further along these lines, have you ever noticed how synthetic fabrics hold odors more and longer than natural ones? There are charts on line showing how long germs survive on wood, cork, linen, wool, and other natural fibers compared to plastic, polyester, and other synthetic fibers. Germs actually thrive on the synthetics but not on the natural fibers. Bacteria added to linen, for example, are gone by the next day.

These are just my observations--food for thought; not intended to criticize anyone's hair cleansing routine.

Interesting! I washed my hair with baking soda and ACV on Saturday because I went out that night. I was sitting at a table with five smokers so at least one of them was smoking at all times. I was sure that I would have to wash my hair again the next day, which annoyed me tremendously :mad: But no, no smell at all!

[Henrietta]

Yeah... Freaking out... Sounds like me. When I discovered cones and I found tons of them in my every product I hardly spelt until they were all finished and I bought cone free ones. And a few months later I went back to cones anyway :D