No shampooing - hair is disgusting - HELP

[princess-royal]

So I've been going no-poo for about 40 days now. After a disastrous incident in which my dyed hair was almost destroyed by some super-hot straighteners, I decided to go natural. I'm a teenager with fairly greasy hair and it hasn't been too bad so far. But the top of my hair and a strip at the back is still really greasy - the grease just won't shift when I wash with water - and my hair is still as damaged as it always was, as I can't use hot oils/coconut oil for fear of making my hair any greasier. The smell is getting unbearable and it's really embarrassing. I feel very frustrated because I don't know if it's going to get any better. I used a tiny bit of baking soda, but I've been told that BS is very harmful for your hair and breaks it down because it's so alkaline. Is this true? What should I do? I have dandruff, smelly/greasy roots, and I feel dreadful.

[Mairéad]

I'm no expert in water-only, but I will say that there are other natural and non-drying ways to wash hair other than water only.

Baking soda has mixed reviews. Some really love it on their hair and other have disastrous results with it.

There are several ways to wash hair in a more natural and gentle way.
There are shampoo bars, conditioner only, herbs and rinses. I suggest you study a few on the forum.

Some one else who is knowledgeable about water only can give you tips and tricks as well if you're keen on sticking with that routine.

[peronella]

I'm working on a No 'poo transition too, I'm washing my hair about once a week, I've cut down from every day (sometimes twice!) and one thing I do is I have a spray bottle with a little bit of tea tree oil or Lavender or rosemary EO and I spritz my roots every couple days and it freshens them up, and cares for my scalp which can get a little flaky. Or, at the very least makes me feel mentally better about nit washing my hair so much while I'm in this transitional period. I dearly hope to go WO like you someday, and I hope your transition starts to go more smoothly soon. I heard it can take months.

It definitely smells nicer with the EO spritz, and lavendar, tee tree, rosemary etc have antibacterial properties. I keep them off the length as they can be a little drying, especially the tea tree. I sometimes put super diluted conditioner or oil in another spray bottle and do the length too. I don't know if this will work for you since your not shampooing at all.

When I do shampoo, I do it with a sulfate free, gentle shampoo.

[Aredhel77]

I have never tried water-only so I have no idea if this is an option for you or whether you'd prefer not to - but could you try an egg wash? It may help clean the hair better, and you can add essential oils for scent if you wanted. It's quite a gentle wash-method and might help emulsify the greasies you're experiencing. Here'e the Egg Shampoo thread, with recipes

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=40386 - scroll down to post #6 for a recipe :flower:

PS - you should still be able to lightly oil the ends of your hair if it feels damaged. Egg washes are quite effective at removing this oil too, if you work it in well into your hair and let it sit for about 10mins. Don't rinse with too-hot water.

Maybe try it, and then carry on as normal with your WO-method.

[Anje]

A solution of baking soda won't be that harmful, if you follow it with a diluted vinegar rinse.

Before you try that, though, try making a fairly strong vinegar solution (like 25% vinegar) and pour some through your hair. Massage it for a while, rinse really well. Repeat. I've found that cuts a lot of grease, and it's gentler than using baking soda.

To be fair, if you're doing a water-only routine (or at least, no commercial products), you're in one of the worst stages right now. Usually it gets suddenly better after about 6 weeks.

[Zefyra]

I tried water only too and my hair never adjusted to it. It was pretty awful.
I'll give you a few options to look into on your own...
BS is okay if well diluted and followed with vinegar or some other acid to restore the proper pH.
You could also consider using a sulphate free shampoo, there are many good, fairly cheap ones. Or else you could use a regular shampoo and dilute it 1:1 with water. I did this for a few months and it worked really well. My hair got just as clean but it was much softer and moisturized.
Another one alot of people swear by is CO washing, or conditioner only, and there is a really good thread with all the info you would need.
I hope some of this is helpful for you. It can take awhile to find what works, so dont be afraid to modify or completely scrap your routine as needed. I think I went through every possible method before I found one I liked. (Wash and condition my hair 2-3 times a week and use either coconut oil or a commercial leave in as needed.)

[Madora]

So I've been going no-poo for about 40 days now. After a disastrous incident in which my dyed hair was almost destroyed by some super-hot straighteners, I decided to go natural. I'm a teenager with fairly greasy hair and it hasn't been too bad so far. But the top of my hair and a strip at the back is still really greasy - the grease just won't shift when I wash with water - and my hair is still as damaged as it always was, as I can't use hot oils/coconut oil for fear of making my hair any greasier. The smell is getting unbearable and it's really embarrassing. I feel very frustrated because I don't know if it's going to get any better. I used a tiny bit of baking soda, but I've been told that BS is very harmful for your hair and breaks it down because it's so alkaline. Is this true? What should I do? I have dandruff, smelly/greasy roots, and I feel dreadful.

Princess-royal, to get rid of the greasies you should look into a gentle shampoo specifically for oily hair. Using plain water will not remove the grease.

Baking soda should only be used sparingly and preferably not at all. It takes too much shampooing and hair manipulation to get it out of your hair.

It's important that you deal with your dandruff/greasy issues first. Your scalp needs to be healthy.

You may like to experiment diluting your shampoo with some warm water and see how you like it.

Ditto, if you use conditioner.

Since your hair tends toward oiliness, just remember that everything you put on your hair leaves a trace..and will build up over time, depending on how much stuff you put on. I'd go easy on any leave ins or oil you might use.

[PrairieRose]

There is a WO thread that may help you through the transition. :)

[FrozenBritannia]

I washed with a mix of baking soda and hot water, and my hair and scalp loved it, but I fell off the wagon because of weather changes. The hot water dissolves the baking soda, so it is more gentle feeling. Rinse with vinegar.

if you want to stay water only, you could still try rinsing with vinegar, or doing a final rinse with scented water, like rose water, or water with a few drops of essentail oil (lavender or tea tree maybe?) and that would give a scent.

[spidermom]

I'd go with a mild shampoo (sulfate free), maybe diluted with water.

[turtlelover]

Baking soda makes my hair VERY dry and static-y -- I wouldn't recommend to anyone w/ dryness issue. I would probably recommend washing with a sulfate free shampoo instead if you get grease that CO can't remove. I agree that dirty, greasy hair is not a good look.

[spidermom]

And that greasey hair smell is not good, either.

There's a thread in the mane forum about cleansing the hair with green tea. If you're really set against shampoo (although there's no reason to be), you might want to try that technique instead.

[ladyfey]

Dandruff is usually an indication of an over abundance of yeast. An anti-fungal shampoo will work wonders for that, that would be my advice.

[Annalouise]

What is yeast and is it on the scalp?

To the OP - Madora is right water won't remove that oil buildup. I have an oily scalp and went 2 months without washing my hair and it was gross. The oil just gets more and more built up. You need to shampoo your hair. Please, do so.

[embee]

I could never have gone WO as a young woman, I was a grease ball. Plus, I would have had zits on my forehead, neck, scalp, ick ick ick. :(

That does not mean shampoo every day and blow-fry.

You might try very dilute shampoo every few days and if you have terrible static, try a conditioner as well, but again, dilute. As in, squirt some shampoo in a plastic cup, fill with warm water, and when your hair is nice and wet pour that (or part of it) on your head and work through the greasies. Make sure you wash your comb and brush whenever you wash your hair.

Not everything on LHC is appropriate for every longhair wannabe. ;) I *cannot* use baking soda: my hair gets like straw and I cannot comb it or anything - horrible. But WO or NW/SO works fine for me *now*. I am nearly old enough to be your grandma.... ;)

[perkidanman]

I had the same problem with the greasies with my hair when I went no-poo. I could never get it to look right so I ended up using the Chagrin Valley shampoo bars upon recomendation from this site. It worked out for my hair, so maybe you could try and see if that would work for you? Everybody's hair is different so you could just be a few expirements away from finding out what your hair really likes.

[pepperminttea]

I could never have gone WO as a young woman, I was a grease ball. Plus, I would have had zits on my forehead, neck, scalp, ick ick ick. :(

Agreed. Sorry OP, I know it isn't what you want to hear, but unless you have a rare dry teenage scalp (which it sounds like you don't), I wouldn't attempt WO until you're quite a bit older. I tried it when I was 19 - complete and utter failure. I had freaked myself out reading sulphate shampoo horror stories, and was determined to go cold turkey. As a consequence I spent five and a half months hating my hair, and looking like I hadn't washed it in, well, months. One of my more blunt friends asked me if my hair was "wet or just that greasy?" (She's lovely most of the time, but she doesn't know when to hold her tongue. :p ) But it gives you an idea of just how bad it looked, not just to myself but to others, despite me wearing it up 24/7. Thank god I was a student and wasn't expected to look "professional" all the time.

I did try baking soda, and it was very harsh, but at the same time didn't seem to actually remove anything for me? It just meant my oily hair was dry and frizzy at the same time - it was very odd. I read later that it doesn't work properly with hard water, which explained a lot.

I couldn't stretch washes either; the previous year I had tried to stretch it to once a week - I got maybe a day, sometimes a day and a half, before the oilies struck, despite washing my hair once a week for the entire year. It just never adjusted. Now, at 24, I can go four, five days easy, but then? My hormones were having none of it. I wish I'd just washed it every second or third day and worried less about it. I always felt less confident the further my hair was from wash day.

I guess what I'm saying is, go with what your hair seems to want you to do, not what you think you should do. :) If your scalp doesn't like sulphates, it'll let you know, and there are other sulphate-free alternatives out there, you can dilute shampoos to make them less harsh, or you could even try conditioner-only.

[Anje]

Good point, Pepperminttea.

I might have been able to do it as a teen since my scalp and skin tend to produce oil in response to too much dryness, but I know that's a bit exceptional in a teenager. When I was able to do WO with some decent success, I was about 25.

[ladyfey]

What is yeast and is it on the scalp?

To the OP - Madora is right water won't remove that oil buildup. I have an oily scalp and went 2 months without washing my hair and it was gross. The oil just gets more and more built up. You need to shampoo your hair. Please, do so.
Yeast is a type of fungus and it is normally on the scalp, but some people have it grow out of control (like me!) and a fungicidal shampoo helps like crazy. I used to get bumps on my face all around my hairline. Nizoral shampoo got rid of that problem! I'm 40 years old and water only wouldn't work for me even at this age.

[melusine963]

I agree with embee and pepperminttea that WO might not be the best strategy at this time. Even stretching washes was problematic for me at that age. There are plenty of ways you can minimise damage to your hair for now without cutting out shampoo entirely. Give it a few years of gentle treatment and you may be surprised at the difference this makes. Then, if you still want to, you can always try going WO again. On the plus side, if you decide to go to university you'll have a few more years to experiment with transition phases before anyone expects you to look professional all the time.

[dwell_in_safety]

The general rule that I found when I first transitioned to CO and started doing some internet searches (which led me here a couple months later) was that full adjustment to a hair routine without shampoo typically takes 12 weeks. My hair looked its absolute worst weeks 6-8; I always just put it up and covered it with a bandana. In the end, it paid off, and conditioner does now make my hair never look greasy (I CO wash once a week), but it took a long time to get there. At your age, as others have said, WO may not work for you. I haven't used shampoo in over four months now, and I couldn't be happier with the condition of both my hair and scalp, but it's not for everybody. I would, if I were you, look into other shampoo-less routines keeping in mind your hair type and try something different for a minimum of two weeks. If your hair still doesn't look better after one or two other routines, maybe try CWCing for several years and come back to no 'poo later. Your hair won't really suffer for it as long you're gentle. :)

[KiwiBum]

I went no-shampoo for 6 months last year, so I feel ya. I only had a problem with transitioning for the 1st week or so, but I did miss having my hair smell nice and the feel of actually washing it...

Not all methods work for everyone though. Maybe extending washes and using an all natural shampoo would work better. I currently use shampoo bars and only wash my hair once every 3-4 days, and the health of my hair has improved drastically plus it stays cleaner for longer. I use Alpenglow and Cedar Ridge poo bars. ;)

[Darkhorse1]

Dandruff thrives on oil. I would get some head and shoulders--it's ph balanced and very mild. Use this just on your scalp and leave it on for several minutes, then rinse. They just came out with one scented with green apple :D

to me, if doing something causes you more discomfort, it may not be for you.

[Charlotte:)]

Your hair can only adjust so much (some more than others). I tried no-poo for several months, and it was probably the most damaging and disgusting thing I have ever done to my hair/scalp. My hair is healthy now, because I use dilluted conventional shampoo and conditioner with sulphates and cones. 'Natural' doesn't neccessarily mean 'healthy', either. Everyone's hair is different, though, so I'm not saying that my method will be best for you, but it is something to consider :)

[HylianGirl]

I'm no expert on the subject, and I don't WO, but one thing I learned here at LHC is that changes must be done slowly, so I guess I'd suggest using diluted shampoo and try streching your wash days (once again, slowly!) Start waching each other day, then each two days after your scalp adjusted, go each three days and so on...

I have to say though, I love the CWC method! In it you first put conditioner on your length, shampoo (or use diluted shampoo) on your scalp, rinse, condition your hair again, then stay with the conditioner as you do your shower stuff, and only rinse as the last thing before you leave the shower ^-^

Since your hair is too oily, you could try that, and since you want to moisture you could try also CO (condition only) since some conditioners when used properly can remove grease =) But also keep in mind that you are still a teen, and at that age, it is normal to have oily skin and hair, so WO might not be for you yet.

[Deborah]

Honey, just wash it. :) Maybe try CO washing. That works great for many of us, and is very gentle and easy on the hair and scalp. This all started when an Australian dermatologist said on TV that shampoo is too harsh and hard on people's hair and scalp both, and that most people wash their hair way too often. He had his patients wash their hair with just conditioner, and they found that it contained enough surfactants, etc., to get the hair nice and clean, but that it did not strip the hair like shampoo. The net result was healthier hair and scalps - happy patients!

I went WO for 22 months. It was a really fun experiment, and I liked the way my hair felt, but I don't miss it. CO, when done correctly, works very well, and I like it a lot. I will never use shampoo again. It is just too harsh, and not necessary.

Good luck with whatever you do!:flower:

[silverjen]

I have done quite a bit of WO--and I agree you should wash.

I think there are two things going on here. First, sebum is a waxy substance. It is designed to sit on top of the hair shaft and protect it. This is fine for virgin hair, but not for damaged hair. I imagine your ends need moisture pretty badly, and the sebum is keeping it out.

Second, it is totally OK to do an occasional shampoo while transitioning to WO. Going cold turkey is difficult. I believe many people would have an easier time if they did intersperse a few shampoo washes in with their WO routine. The idea being to only shampoo when you need to, and otherwise follow a normal WO routine. Ideally the shampoos would become less and less frequent as your scalp adjusts.

If I were in your situation I would shampoo and do a deep conditioning treatment. Then I would experiment with following a partial WO routine. It's likely that 40 days of no poo has calmed your scalp down somewhat, and it is in fact producing less sebum than before. So, see how many days you can go WO before you start feeling greasy. Then shampoo and deep treatment again, and let that be your new routine.

As the other posters have said, it can be really hard to do WO as a teen. Noting wrong with a hybrid approach!

[Milui Elenath]

I've been WO for about 2 years now with the occasional bout with another method (and henna sometimes) and I consider it pretty sucessful for me but I will qualify, however, that my sebum production is extremely low and I had also been using natural methods for years and washing only once a week. There are others who have had success with oilier hair though it may take more time and tweaking.

In WO we rely fairly heavily on preening and scritching to distribute sebum oil and sebum wax so this might help the OP with the greasies if she isn't doing it already. Method of washing with hot or cold are also used and seem quite individual. Scritching gently is important for the dandruff - BTW I had terrible dandruff before WO and now I have practically none, sometimes products are what aggravates the scalp. You might require a rinse of some kind for the smell, or some time airing your hair loose. There are lots of options - herbal teas or vinegars even EO's DILUTED in water or vinegar.

Being a teenager might effect your transition and it's possible you may need to augment your routine with something like diluted shampoo, egg washes or Bicarb Soda during transition or even every so often. WO is so individual and personal I suggest you come over to the
WO Thread (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=3412&page=236) if you haven't already :) we're always willing to help and there is lots of information and ideas.
ETA Oh and we all believe in being flexible with WO.

[princess-royal]

Thanks for the replies everyone. Today I used diluted BS and a bit of diluted conditioner, which has masked the smell so far. I couldn't bring myself to use diluted shampoo, but after reading this thread I'm seriously considering it. I always felt that shampoo made my hair thinner and limper, but it can't do as much harm mixed with water, right?

[Lamb]

So I've been going no-poo for about 40 days now. After a disastrous incident in which my dyed hair was almost destroyed by some super-hot straighteners, I decided to go natural. I'm a teenager with fairly greasy hair and it hasn't been too bad so far. But the top of my hair and a strip at the back is still really greasy - the grease just won't shift when I wash with water - and my hair is still as damaged as it always was, as I can't use hot oils/coconut oil for fear of making my hair any greasier. The smell is getting unbearable and it's really embarrassing. I feel very frustrated because I don't know if it's going to get any better. I used a tiny bit of baking soda, but I've been told that BS is very harmful for your hair and breaks it down because it's so alkaline. Is this true? What should I do? I have dandruff, smelly/greasy roots, and I feel dreadful.

(I've read the thread, so I know I'm being repetitive, but still.)

OP, it seems to me you went from extreme damage to extreme (and not necessarily benign) neglect. After damage from dye and heatstyling, WO may not have been what your hair needed. Why add grease, dandruff, bad smell to damaged ends?

My advice: shampoo. Yep. Get the gunk out of your hair. Then use a nice, thick, moisturizing conditioner. Condition every day and do CWC every three days to keep your hair from turning into a greaseball, but keep your scalp clean. Clogged pores on your scalp can lead to shedding (they have, often, in my case) - not what you want!

Shampoo is not from the devil, not any more than baking soda. It has its uses. Just don't overdo it, and you'll be fine. ;)

[Darkhorse1]

Shampoo can't harm your hair unless you have an allergy to something in it or it's too harsh for your needs.

Sadly, you can't reverse damage to your strands, but you can prevent new damage and pamper what you have. once hair is damaged, it's damaged. You can' t reverse that.

So, focusing on a healthy scalp to grow new healthy hair would be goal 1. Then, I'd get mini trims to remove damage and before you know it, lovely un-damaged hair! :)

the smell is the oil gone rancid on your scalp. I can't think that's a good thing for your scalp, so I would urge you to use something to remove the oils.

[Sillage]

Today I used diluted BS and a bit of diluted conditioner, which has masked the smell so far.

if your hair is still :tbear: , even if you think it's "masked", please consider using shampoo. Like Darkhorse1 said, it's the smell of oil gone rancid. That can't be healthy.

[Maelyssa]

I've been where you're at In regards to severe chemical and heat damage before coming to the LHC boards. I was pretty sure my hair would break off but I managed to find a routine that helped salvage my hair.

Right now I think you really need to consider a sulfate free shampoo. They're so popular that you can find at least one kind even in places like Walmart, Target, CVS, etc. I would suggest getting a cone free kind. You may want to highly consider L'Oreal EverSleek Intensive Repair Shampoo. It's sulfate and cone free plus it has lots of ingredients like butters and oils that will help save your hair.

When you actually wash it, I suggest trying the CWC method. Basically you put conditioner on the length of your hair, leave that on then gently shampoo your scalp. It sounds like you can benefit from letting some of that shampoo go through your length as well. Then rinse. Then condition with a cone free conditioner. If you feel your hair gets weighed down too much I highly recommend either a V05 or Suave Naturals conditioner. L'Oreal also has a matching conditioner I love but it is heavy so it's up to your needs.

I think you'll really enjoy the results of a routine like this. Baking soda may be too harsh on damaged hair. A gentle shampoo and conditioner is exactly what you need right now. Good luck!

[princess-royal]

I have Organix keratin treatment shampoo - would that be okay? I'm kind of relieved that I'm being advised to use shampoo because it means that I can go back to my hot oils and coconut oil too.

[Maelyssa]

I have Organix keratin treatment shampoo - would that be okay? I'm kind of relieved that I'm being advised to use shampoo because it means that I can go back to my hot oils and coconut oil too.

Yes that would definitely. :D

[pepperminttea]

I have Organix keratin treatment shampoo - would that be okay? I'm kind of relieved that I'm being advised to use shampoo because it means that I can go back to my hot oils and coconut oil too.

If your hair's liked in the past, chances are it'll like it now too. :)

[spidermom]

You may need a trim (or a few small trims) to get rid of the damage.

[leslissocool]

I'd go back to shampoo really. Use hot oils, they totally saved my hair. I had bleached my hair 7 times until it broke, coconut and olive oil saved my hair.

[princess-royal]

The only drawback to shampooing is that my hair is always quite fine and wispy afterwards and doesn't properly cover my extension clips (which are the wrong colour thanks to my friend, who got them mixed up). When my hair was clogged up with grease it was heavier/thicker looking and covered the clips better.

[princess-royal]

I've used the shampoo and my hair finally smells nice. I definitely don't want to go near the hair salon for a while (it was their straightening that damaged my hair, and my hair is frustratingly short as it is after they chopped an inch of split ends off)

[leslissocool]

You can add oils to your hair, like coconut oil as leave in. It might help you with your extension problem.

You can also delude the shampoo with water. I wash twice a week, sometimes once a week. Why don't you try rinsing with green tea? Or using conditioner only?

[Maelyssa]

I've used the shampoo and my hair finally smells nice. I definitely don't want to go near the hair salon for a while (it was their straightening that damaged my hair, and my hair is frustratingly short as it is after they chopped an inch of split ends off)

Smart move to just let your hair be for a while. Concentrate on oils and gentle care for a bit.

[Darkhorse1]

Glad your hair smells better--maybe keep a hair journal and note when your hair starts to smell etc--perhaps see if you can stretch washes to every other day then every 2 days etc.

A bad smell is not a good thing and dandruff, which is a fungus, will thrive on a dirty scalp. healthy scalp is key for happy hair (and a happy person)

Good luck and maybe play around with things? Such as conditoner only washes to vinegar rinses---so much available to play with :)

[princess-royal]

Does anyone have any tips for making hair less silky/floaty? The one advantage of having greasy hair was that it covered my extension clips really well. Now it's a thin layer that barely covers them at all.

[ratgirldjh]

When I went WO I would find that if my hair got very greasy or dirty feeling and water wasn't helping - that if I heavily oiled my scalp (and sometimes hair too) with VCO mixed with a few drops of lavender EO and then let it sit at least several hours (longer is better) and then washed it out with water only over the next few days that my hair and scalp would be very clean after and stay that way for a while.

However this only worked for me in the summer. It is too cold here to be running around with coconut oil in my hair.

[princess-royal]

I might try putting a little coconut oil into my hair - not the roots though, because they're all natural, healthy hair that hasn't been damaged. These extension clips are very irritating. I'm wondering if there's any way I can sew them out and buy clips for brown hair instead of white blonde hair...now I also have the task of softening this oil, which has been in the fridge for a couple of months :p how soft is it supposed to be when rubbing into hair?

[Magrat]

I might try putting a little coconut oil into my hair - not the roots though, because they're all natural, healthy hair that hasn't been damaged. These extension clips are very irritating. I'm wondering if there's any way I can sew them out and buy clips for brown hair instead of white blonde hair...now I also have the task of softening this oil, which has been in the fridge for a couple of months :p how soft is it supposed to be when rubbing into hair?

Coconut oil will melt in your hands.
Take a little bit out of the jar/tub with a spoon or something, put in your palm and rub your hands gently together, when the oil has melted you can run your oily palms along the hair. Be careful to only use a little, it's easy to do again if you need more oil.

As for controlling hair, I find that a pea-sized dollop of aloe vera gel mixed with a few drops of oil (I have made a mix of avocado oil and coconut oil with enough avocado that the mix is liquid in room temperature) rubbed in my palms, then very lightly run down the outside of the lengths will make my hair nice and easy to manage without making it greasy. Different types of hair can take different amounts of oil before it gets greasy, you'll have to decide for yourself how much oil is too much.

Whether you will be using shampoo or conditioner or other treatments, remember to try and use cone-free products if you want to eventually go no poo. Otherwise you will have build-up that will be difficult to get rid of whith gentler methods.

[clichepithet]

Thanks for the replies everyone. Today I used diluted BS and a bit of diluted conditioner, which has masked the smell so far. I couldn't bring myself to use diluted shampoo, but after reading this thread I'm seriously considering it. I always felt that shampoo made my hair thinner and limper, but it can't do as much harm mixed with water, right?

'Poo with cones does that to my hair. Looks thin, super limp and greasy looking even 8 hours post wash. I avoid coney 'poos like the plague now.

I also have a greasy, dandruffy scalp. I rotate my washes with T-Gel, Selsun Blue, and a blonde color-boosting purple 'poo. There's also some COs thrown in there from time to time. I dilute my 'poo in a small nozzled bottle, much like this (http://s7d3.scene7.com/is-viewers/flash/genericzoom.swf?serverUrl=http://s7d3.scene7.com/is/image/&image=SallyBeauty%2FSBS-198080) (I got mine from Sally's). It helps ensure that what little 'poo I am using goes directly onto my scalp. I also apply that solution while I'm looking down, holding my hand along my hairline to sort of push the run-off back up onto my scalp. I don't use 'poo without conditioner already sitting on my length, either.

CWC with diluted 'poo. I cannot stretch my washes more than 4 days -- I experience serious scalp pain otherwise.

Shampoo is not the devil. Seriously. Wash it.

[Othala]

A Shikakai herbal hair wash will remove the greases and you won't be using a synthetic chemical poo.

[Avital88]

i would wash my hair with a mild organic shampoo and a good conditioner,it will probably make it look better too.

[Anje]

I would suggest trying conditioner-only washing, now that you've shampooed. There's an enormous thread on the topic, but the basic instructions can be had here. (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/vbjournal.php?do=article&articleid=18) For me, this makes my hair a lot less fly-away than it is if I shampoo it regularly; you might have more luck with it lying down a bit more and covering your clips better, without your hair getting dirty.

You still will probably have to use a clarifying shampoo on rare occasion, because for most people, most conditioners eventually build up.