Remember our posts on Body Care? (Rethinking Your Body Care, Real Food Makeup Alternatives, and 100% Pure Review) Well, we have been continuing to dig around for other options for skin and hair care. I started to play around with no poo options back in January, but the results were not fantastic:
Third Times a Charm
1) I first started out with the baking soda and vinegar no poo method (besides the short intro that I had with 100% Pure Shampoo — worked great for first week, then not so great). This worked ok once I got past the 3 weeks of the ‘I’m a hippie and look like a greaseball’ phase. But I still had this patch of waxy substance in the back of my hair. It went away after I blow dried it but was extremely difficult to brush through.
2) Then I stumbled across a local brand called Terressentials. This is a mud cleanser which is essentially mud and essential oils mixed together. It removed some of the excess sebum that coated my hair. However I think it’s meant to be used in combination with a once a week regular shampoo which I am not interested in going back to because of all the chemicals in it. Eventually the sebum returned although not at bad as with the baking soda and vinegar rinse. I may continue to use this as a weekly regimen.
3) Finally, while visiting a friend this summer I walked into a Whole Foods to stock up on food. My friend pointed out this shampoo that she was wanting to try. I looked at the ingredients and it looked clean: African Mint Extract, African Black Soap (saponified shea butter), Palm Kernal Oil, Lauryl Glucoside (which is a glucose base, likely derived from coconut), and peppermint essential oil. The brand is ALAFFIA. Now just so you’re not confused — the company has a website, but there are tons of products. I bought the Authentic Black African Soap (peppermint). The wash is made to be used as a body wash, facial cleanser, shaving soap, shampoo, and MORE. But for now, I was only interested in it as a shampoo. So I bought it and gave it a try.
Guess what freaks? NO MORE SEBUM!!!!!!!!
There is a weird film that still coats my hair slightly, but I think this is more related to what normal hair is supposed to feel like. As my hair dries that film is non existent and my hair is easy to brush through. So far I haven’t needed to condition my hair. I may want to do a vinegar rinse later if it becomes brittle, but it has been almost two weeks and it feels great with the wash alone.
I haven’t tried it as a facial cleanser or a body wash yet. That is next on my list. If it works, it would be nice to know that I only have one product to buy for all of these things. What would you expect to pay for something like this? A fortune right?
I paid $9.99 for a 32 oz bottle at Whole Foods. However, DO NOT FEAR if you don’t have a Whole Foods. I found it on Vitacost for a little more at $13.99 for that same 32 oz bottle. (They have a 16 oz for less). $13.99 is still a bargain for this stuff! I will be buying it from Vitacost after this bottle is gone as my closest Whole Foods is almost an hour away.
It Gets Better!
This shampoo is Fair Trade with ingredients from Africa.
There are two scents to choose from: peppermint and tangerine citrus
It’s handmade.
Gluten Free.
Paraben free.
SLS free.
Never tested on animals.
It has no synthetic fragrance.
My only beef? That it comes in a plastic bottle. One of the main reasons that I have been trying to make my own shampoo is so I could cut down on my plastic consumption. I will still continue to look for a homemade option, but until I find that magic combination I will be using this when I need to be seen in public. 
Ready to give it a try?
Post links to: Real Food Wednesday, Whole Food Wednesday, Simple Lives Thursday, Pennywise Platter, Fightback Friday, Whole Food Friday, Fat Tuesday, Traditional Tuesday, Hearth and Soul,
I haven’t washed me hair, apart from rinsing with water occasionally, since January, and so far it looks ok. Not bad enough for me to bother washing it again anyway and not like a grease-ball hippie! Your product sounds nice, but the Lauryl Glucoside is still a surfactant – that’s why its reduced your sebum, just depends what lengths you want to go to avoid things I suppose, I started to get suspicious that they were just replacing one surfactant (SLS) with another and wondered if the product was actually any better. Have you tried just using a nice soap?
Yes I’ve tried using a homemade soap too with same results (grease-ball hippie look)
I was a little worried about the Lauryl Glucoside but when I looked it up it is a sugar base so essentially ‘food’. But I think I am willing to live with that for the time being (til I find a homemade version) because the excess sebum was causing me to pull out more hair as I brushed it out each morning. This sounds like a decent compromise. I’m probably going to switch between that and the mud wash which is really just clay and essential oils.
Oh and the other thing is that my hair is not quite as sebum free as with regular poo. I still had some type of film that coated it. It just wasn’t as heavy. I really need something that does remove the excess sebum because it did not look good. Hanging around the house is one thing but going out in public is quite another.
Have you ever just tried using a pure Castille soap, like Dr. Bronner’s? I typically use that as a body wash/shampoo, and it works great, even on my long hair. It makes my hair feel a little “squeaky,” but it dries normally. Also, there’s a store near me that lets you bring your own bottle and refill it with Dr. Bronner’s, so I only had to buy one bottle.
Kelsie, I’ve looked into the Castile soap however there was something that kept me from buying it. I can’t remember if it was an ingredient or if it was someone else’s experience. so to be honest I’ve never tried it but I forget the reason.
Okay, before all the stuff I just wrote I want to say that finding a one-stop product you can feel good about is a holy grail, and I’m happy for you! If I had access to it, I’d try it out myself.
DynoMom has a series on natural haircare, and one of her ‘points to remember’ is that your hair does not look the way you think it does, meaning (she’s specifically talking about curly hair) that we’re so used to dry with flyaways that well-nourished looks greasy to us, but it looks like juicy, well-defined curls to other people. So if you’ve got patches, then yeah, that’s something to work on (how ’bout only combing IN the shower?), but just as a self-check: how is your hair getting sebum all the way through it? Maybe it’s not sebum, but natural shine. I have below-shoulder length hair which I wash about once or twice a week, sometimes with shampoo sometimes without depending on how my scalp feels, and that’s just because it’s gone wonky; the hair itself never gets oily now even at the temples. In fact I rub a little almond oil on my palms and wipe it through after shampooing to define the curls, and my hair drinks it up. Of course I’m not looking at your head as I write this! But this idea that everyone on TV has ten tons of gunk smeared in their hair to make it look as mine does when it’s ready to be washed was a bit of a game-changer for me, and I thought it might interest you too. Happy shampooing (or not)!
Lauren, I did read Melissa’s awesome hair posts. Unfortunately for me, I do not have curly hair but just slightly wavy. That’s significant in that curly hair needs a bit of that sebum to smooth the curls and help them lie down and not frizz. With my hair it literally does set like a patch of thick waxy grease at the crown of my head. I have been working with this since January. I have changed my expectations for what clean hair should look like. However my hair definitely needs something different. I haven’t quite found the right combination.
Thx for suggestion of combing thru in the shower but not sure that will work either. It really is so difficult to comb thru even with a pick.
Okay, a wax cap is definitely not cool; I can see how that would become a pretty high priority to deal with!
The brushing in the shower thing helps *me* at least get the loose hairs out while I have the benefit of water lubricating the procedure, and avoids the ‘electrical storm in a hayloft’ effect I get from brushing damp or dry hair. But that’s just my head.
Hair is such a lesson in zen, I find. For which Buddha, in his wisdom, invented elastics
The whole point of your post was that you’ve found something that works for you and I really, really don’t want to take away from that because it’s SO hard to find something that works for your hair, wallet and ethics simultaneously.
Lauren, I’m glad it works for you. Leslie and I have had these conversations often and sometimes what works for me doesn’t work for her and vice versa. Hair and skin types are so individual and part of me wonders whether it has something to do with our gut health too?? They do toxin scans on your hair follicles so it stands to reason that the hair might be affected by lack of balance somewhere. Which is why certain simple methods work for some and not others. (Don’t know . . .just taking a stab in the dark). I do appreciate the suggestions. My goal is to use less plastic. It has been for a while so the idea of buying this wash is a temporary one for me. I am sure that there has to be something out there that I can make myself. I just haven’t found it yet.
I am totally on board with that theory. The impetus for me to see a naturopath, which indirectly led over a couple of years to a total overhaul in our eating and lifestyle, was an insansely tingly-itchy scalp and hair loss. First thing he put me on was a parasite cleanse, vitC and probiotics, and a “no white” diet. We use an animal’s coat as a sign of its internal health, why not ours?
That’s a good point about animal coats, never thought about that . . . .
I am currently doing homeopathy and trying some herbal supplements. I also use probiotics and ferments for food. I have seen an incredible improvement (albeit subtle). Baby steps.
Great timing for this post. I just went back to baking soda and ACV a few days ago and already hate it. I know we are supposed to give it time, but I just don’t see how my hair will be clean by washing my crown with baking soda only. I use homemade body butter, coconut oil, and tallow on my skin throughout the day and even the length of my hair tends to get greasy from touching it with my hands, my hair against my neck (that has body butter on it), etc.
Anyway, I am thinking about giving this product a try but have a question. I have relatively fine hair and due to various health reasons have lost quite a bit in the last 6 months. So now I have fine hair AND thin hair and I wonder if this African Black Soap helps with volume at all. I would prefer not putting any mousse in my hair, but it looks really thin right now.
BTW, I tried castile soap and it leaves my hair horribly dry, brittle, and frizzy. You would definitely need to rinse with some kind of acidic medium afterwards from what I have read because the castile soap changes the PH of your hair and raises the cuticle or something.
Thanks!!
Kristina,
I have fine hair too and as I age it is getting thinner. Regular shampoo always left my hair limp as I think I stripped it of the natural oils. My hair dresser told me that my hair is much more full and I notice it too. The struggle I have is with blow drying. Getting a brush through it has been difficult so I was just blowing it quickly and throwing it into a pony tail.
However, with this poo I have been able to let my hair partially air dry and then I comb it through. Then I can blow it dry as normal. For me, I haven’t needed any styling products. I haven’t even used the vinegar rinse since I have been using it. Hope that helps.
I think I heard that about the castile soap as well. I just couldn’t remember what kept me from actually trying it. I just know that I didn’t.
Awesome…thank you for the reply. Next time I order from Vitacost I will try it or if I get to Whole Foods before then I will check for it there. It would be nice not to have to use conditioner or mousse since I have not really found a non-toxic mousse either.
I do need something though that won’t leave my hair really tangled so I an not pulling more out while I comb it. But I need to blow dry mine. Without blow drying it looks awful no matter what I use in it.
If I think about it when I am getting ready some morning I will take a picture of my hair.
I wish I had read this a couple days ago. I just ran out of shampoo and was looking for something better. I have also done the baking soda/ACV rinse but my hair was coated. It has been so hard to find things so I gave in and bought some aveeno shampoo and conditioner that was sulfate free but still not great. Oh well, at least I can remember this for when I run out of stuff.
And for me, although I try to go more natural with products, there are some I will not part with. One is Aquage uplifting foam. I don’t what chemicals are in there, (and I don’t want to know) but it is a fantastic product and my hair always looks awesome with it.
Ha Suzy! I used to use Aquage. I loved that stuff too! Even with the greaseball look I have found that my hair has more volume so I gave up those products. But I know what you mean about clinging to those old faithful standbys. You have to find what works for you. PS. I still use a touch of hairspray if I am going someplace fancy and I need my hair to stay in place. No biggie
I cannot wait to try this shampoo! I’ve been on the hunt for a shampoo that doesn’t make me look like “a grease-ball hippie” , and so far have been unsuccessful, so I’ll give this one a try.
My hair is wavy as well but coarse, and I could not imagine going more than a day without shampooing, since it tends to get greasy…something that happened to me after my son was born (19 years ago). I’m sure it is something in my body that needs correcting, and I am trying to work on all that, but for now, Dr. Bronner’s works great in a homemade coconut milk shampoo recipe I got from the One Good Thing by Jillee blog. I make one for the boys with “manly” EOs, and one for me with lemon or orange EO. Prior to that, I was just diluting Dr. Bronner’s with water and that made a fine shampoo too. I couldn’t live without Dr. Bronner’s; I use it for shampoo, for washing the dogs, sometimes in my cleaning sprays, etc. It’s just an all-around terrific, natural product, and I can get the large bottle (not the jug) at Trader Joe’s for $10. Up here the same size is usually $15-$16, though it does go on sale at least once a year for $9. With this kind of shampoo, my hair stays nice and clean, soft, and shiny. But, I guess I cheat a little because I use a “natural” (who really knows, right?) conditioner from Trader Joe’s too. Someday I would like to try the ACV hair rinse though.
And then before I blow-dry my hair (a necessity because I have to round-brush it or it looks horrible!) I use just a tiny dab of coconut oil and smooth it through my hair. That helps tame the dreaded frizzies, which I am all too familiar with since moving to the PNW. The trick is not using too much…some days I have just made my hair greasy all over again, lol.
Jana thanks for sharing what you use. I looked into Dr Bronners but there was something that caused me not to buy it. Curious about the coconut milk shampoo because my husband told me that they use coconut milk as shampoo in the Philippines. I just think it would be too expensive to use here since coconut milk is mic more expensive. Do you refrigerate it?
I’ve been doing the same exact routine as Jana, but I haven’t been thrilled with only the Dr. Bronner’s. At the same, I don’t want to use any chemical shampoos. The Dr. Bronner’s by itself leaves my hair a little too dry and brittle, especially when I’m visiting my in-laws in NJ where the water is hard. My hair is annoying because it gets greasy at the crown and dry at the ends, so I definitely couldn’t keep up the BS/ACV routine for more than 3 weeks (it was kind of a nightmare). It’s also really curly and fine, so it’s a very tough combination to deal with. Anyway, I’m eager to try the African Black Soap! Also, I did come across these links I pinned on Pinterest that might be of interest to you since you mentioned you want to try the coconut milk shampoo (which I’d like to try as well):
http://ashleyshomemadeadventures.wordpress.com/2012/01/24/homemade-shampoo/
http://www.thehealthyteacher.com/2010/10/04/how-to-make-your-own-coconut-milk/
http://www.onegoodthingbyjillee.com/2012/03/homemade-coconut-milk-shampoo.html
Thanks for those links Heba. I will check it out. Your assessment of Dr Bronners is my guess as to how it would work on me too. The ingredients were much the same as other brands tried (like 100% Pures shampoo). The coconut milk addition to Dr B’s might be a good option but then I am still stuck with buying a plastic bottle. My goal is to find something to make from home eventually. For now I really like this black African soap.
Nope, no need since it includes Vitamin E to help preserve it. And, you don’t make so much at a time so it gets used up fairly quickly (but will last a few weeks at least). I think I use about a cup of coconut milk at a time, and about 1/2 cup of Dr. Bronner’s (don’t quote me but it’s something like that). I’d be interested to know why you chose not to buy Dr. Bronner’s though!
I wish I could remember why. I am a big label reader and I am guessing it was something listed that I didn’t like. I have had it in my hands several times to look at in the store and I never purchased it. I will have to look up their ingredients online and get back to you on that ….
You know I guess it was the one size fits all approach. Never felt like it was really going to clean my hair and at the price that it was I didn’t want to take a chance. I just looked it up.
but it sounds like you have had to add the coconut milk to it and not use it by itself right?
Ahh, I can understand that
. But, no, I used it alone (with water added) before I discovered the coconut milk recipe, so it’s extremely versatile, and really works for lots of things! I think you can trust that it really is that good! I suppose you don’t have a TJ near you there, but look for it to go on sale at WF, which they seem to do at least once if not twice per year. Then you can stock up!
Oh, well, you do usually want to dilute it since it is very concentrated. Is that what you meant?
Yes, and the fact that many of those ingredients are in what I am already using and it has left my hair greasy on the crown. Guess that is why I was intrigued by the coconut milk
None of you has mentioned the hardness of your water. I can’t use any soap product,such as Dr Bronner’s, because my water is rock hard. Soap gloms onto the lime and calcium in the water and becomes a hard, sticky film.
I’m also curious as to how you ladies are using the baking soda and vinegar routine. I’ve used it for clarifying (removing product buildup) once a month for several years and never experienced what you’ve described.
I use 1 teaspoon of baking soda mixed into a cup of filtered water. I put it in a squeeze bottle and squirt onto the top of my head, using the nozzle of the bottle to push through the hair to the scalp and moving down to the hairline. I let it sit for a minute. I use my fingertips to smoosh the hair together from my ears upward and around the back, then rinse. Repeat. My final rinse is with 1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar mixed into a 2 gal jug of filtered water. I let my hair air dry, then use 2 drops of coconut oil rubbed on my hands to gently smooth the bottom half of my hair.
Is that how you’re doing it?
Hi Deborah,
I used the BS / ACV method for 3 months and had greasy hair the entire time. I used this everyday… and my water is hard as well. Did not work for me. Using the BS every so often to remove build up works great, but as a daily routine… not so much!
Deborah, I am on public water but I have a water filtration system. My water was chlorinated while I was using BS and ACV then I got the water filtration while still using it . . . it still caused problems. What are you using in between BS/ACV treatments? I used it every other day or every three days.
What you mentioned is exactly what my concern was with Dr. Bronners. It used similar ingredients to other things that I have tried. I think that is why I never bothered with it.
I’m so glad to hear that other people had trouble with the BS/ACV treatments! I’ve been using it since March and my hair, well, it still has the super grease look going on. And not the, “this is how my hair should look” grease. It looks like I literally have not washed my hair in months. It’s starting to make me feel like I’m not clean in general, when I know I am.
I want to like the method. In fact, I keep trying to convince myself that I can keep it up just a little longer to see if one day it will suddenly start working. I just don’t know how much longer I can wait.
Beka,
I’m positive that BS / ACV does not work for everyone. I think your water probably has a lot to do with it. Amie just mentioned using soap nuts. I’m down with that– going to figure out the process and try it!
Have you tried using Soap Nuts on your hair, body and laundry? Naturoli has the best i have found so far ( i am not paid by them for endorsing-just a fan) and they work great for all types of cleansing and leave my hair and laundry very clean. They are a truly multi purpose product!
Amie,
I use soap nuts for my laundry, but had no idea that I could use them for my hair! What do you do???
How interesting! I use soap nuts for laundry too but didn’t know they could work for hair! Please share how you make it work
Thanks!
I love NaturOli soap nuts…and the company makes a great shampoo you could buy or you can soak 3-4 soap nuts in about 4 oz of warm water for a few minutes and then swirl them until the water is sudsy then pour through your hair. I have gone so far as to rub the soaked soap nuts on my hair for more suds!! But they leave your hair squeaky clean so I often will use coconut oil on my hands as a lotion an then rub my hands through my dry hair as a nice “conditioner”. I dont care for the cider vinegar smell so I dont like to rinse with it.
I use an egg yolk mixed with a little bit of water. I have short hair and it works very well for me.
I have a question. I am Caucasian, have hard water and long hair and am really looking for something natural that will not kill my hair, make it feel yucky or sticky while washing it… using traditional shampoo I have to overload on conditioner and then use detangler to make it manageable and soft plus a small amount of leave in conditioner. Will this dry my hair and is it suitable for long fine Caucasian hair?? Sorry if its a silly question.
Laura, it’s not a silly question. I am Caucasian too and I don’t find that it dries my hair out. I don’t need a conditioner either. But if you are looking for a natural conditioner to go with this you can always do a vinegar rinse. You use 1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar for every cup of water. I add a little rosemary in the rinse to give it a nicer scent but once it dries you don’t really smell the vinegar.
Likewise I went from shampoo to ACV/BS and I did not really have very much luck. However, my quest lead me to a shampoo and conditioner line called Morrocco Method. They are 100% Raw, vegan, organic, fair trade…I love them. The shampoo is mostly made of Aloe, clay, oils, and all sorts of good minerals. Also, they have several different henna colors. Of course, red is the only pure henna color, but they mix the henna with indigo and amla to create a range from red, to brown, to dark brown. I highly recommend this company. http://www.morroccomethod.com
Candi, it looks good from what I had a chance to briefly see. I like that they base it from the Ayurvedic methods. Ingredients look clean too. What type of hair do you have? oily, dry, curly, straight? Just curious. That seems to be the most asked questions regarding the shampoo I talked about. “will it work for my hair?”
i actually use shielo’s hydrate line of shampoos (which are sulfate free) to wash my hair. It doesnt have any of those harmful ingredients. I used to have the worst hair, and now I ALWAYS get complements when using the shielo shampoo. Worth the price. . .
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