Question for those who oil their hair AND don't use commercial shampoo

[Abacus]

Hey everyone! I have a question about oiling hair before cleansing. Right now in my routine, I do a hot oil treatment every week as the first part of my wash day (or I'll oil my hair and keep it in overnight, wash the next morning). But I've been sort of unhappy with my commercial shampoo options and have been wanting to try making my own shampoo alternatives. I can't really figure out which, if any, DIY shampoo recipe would be cleansing enough to remove the oil treatment sufficiently. I will say that I have quite low porosity hair, and so I find that a good cleansing about once a week is pretty crucial for me to stop my hair being weighed down.

When I google this particular question, I'm seeing baking soda followed by ACV, but I've also heard negative things about using baking soda. I'm also curious about soapnuts, shikakai, soapwort, and other ingredients, and I'm wondering if anyone has had success concocting a clarifying shampoo that is strong enough to deal with lots and lots of oil.

And if this particular question has already been discussed, let me know and I'll read that instead!

[neko_kawaii]

Do you use conditioner? Putting conditioner (diluted for even distribution works quite well) on for about 20 minutes works better than shampoo for removing oil.

[Abacus]

Do you use conditioner? Putting conditioner (diluted for even distribution works quite well) on for about 20 minutes works better than shampoo for removing oil.

Oooo, that's interesting. I use a couple commercial deep conditioning hair masks, but I don't think they're as cleansing as a regular conditioner might be. I could try it though! Thanks for the suggestion

[TatsuOni]

I CO-wash and have had great succes removing oil this way. You can also put conditioner in your oiled hair before wetting it. I know that a lot of people prefer that method.

[ChloeDharma]

Shikakai and reetha are a great combination for removing oil. I used these for a long time washing heavily oiled hair but found I needed to leave the mix in the hair for a while to really get the oil out. I usually followed up with a fenugreek seed mask as a conditioner which I think also helped.
Using conditioner has also worked well for me. In my earlier days at LHC I was a CO washer for a few years, then alternated between that and herb washes for a while. I would always heavily oil my hair before washing it and the conditioner never failed to remove it.

[shelomit]

I CO-wash and have had great succes removing oil this way. You can also put conditioner in your oiled hair before wetting it. I know that a lot of people prefer that method.

You make your own conditioner, too--or am I misremembering/confusing you with somebody else?

[TatsuOni]

You make your own conditioner, too--or am I misremembering/confusing you with somebody else?

No I don't I make my own hair masks and did make my own hair washes a year or two ago, but went back to CO-washing. I don't do heavy oiling before washes either anymore. But I used to that quite often once upon a time.

[shelomit]

No I don't I make my own hair masks and did make my own hair washes a year or two ago, but went back to CO-washing. I don't do heavy oiling before washes either anymore. But I used to that quite often once upon a time.

Whoops! Sorry ( ;

[Abacus]

All these suggestions are so great! But something kind of funny and unexpected has taken hold of my brain...asking this question to the forum has actually got me reconsidering my entire life, and I think I'm going to try WO for a few months!

I started thinking, huh, the only reason I shampoo at all is because I do heavy oil treatments, but maybe the only reason I do heavy oil treatments is because I shampoo! So I did some soul searching about my hair and my routine and I think the main reason I style my hair at all is to try to achieve spiral curls. I have hair that's somewhere in the 3b/3c zone, and I use a lot of flax seed gel, and scrunching, and finger coils to get all my curls real defined. But that's actually starting to feel like too much manipulation, and if I was just OK with having less defined curls, maybe everything would be simpler, healthier, happier, peaceful.

So I'm going to try Water Only for a while and find out what my hair texture truly wants, and see if it actually needs anything else at all.

For reference, here's me with all the gel and finger coils and everything in the first pic, and the 2nd pic is me today having done WO plus a little olive oil on my ends:

https://i.postimg.cc/brSbt0FP/IMG-20...-162652495.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/XvbQfYq6/IMG-20...-134327768.jpg

[TatsuOni]

All these suggestions are so great! But something kind of funny and unexpected has taken hold of my brain...asking this question to the forum has actually got me reconsidering my entire life, and I think I'm going to try WO for a few months!

I started thinking, huh, the only reason I shampoo at all is because I do heavy oil treatments, but maybe the only reason I do heavy oil treatments is because I shampoo! So I did some soul searching about my hair and my routine and I think the main reason I style my hair at all is to try to achieve spiral curls. I have hair that's somewhere in the 3b/3c zone, and I use a lot of flax seed gel, and scrunching, and finger coils to get all my curls real defined. But that's actually starting to feel like too much manipulation, and if I was just OK with having less defined curls, maybe everything would be simpler, healthier, happier, peaceful.

So I'm going to try Water Only for a while and find out what my hair texture truly wants, and see if it actually needs anything else at all.

For reference, here's me with all the gel and finger coils and everything in the first pic, and the 2nd pic is me today having done WO plus a little olive oil on my ends:

https://i.postimg.cc/brSbt0FP/IMG-20...-162652495.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/XvbQfYq6/IMG-20...-134327768.jpg

Your hair is beautiful in both pictures And for more defined curls. Have you tried to plop your hair?