Two Years Without Shampoo
I stopped using shampoo (and conditioner) two years ago.
Quitting mostly happened by accident, but now that I’ve seen just how unnecessary shampoo ever was to my hair’s health and appearance, I don’t see myself ever going back.
I explained how this experiment started and some of the initial results in my first post, and now that it’s been two years I wanted to expand more on what I’ve learned and seen related to not using shampoo. Luckily, at least a dozen of my friends have tried this as well since my first article, so I have a bit more data to reference.
How to Quit Shampoo
Quitting shampoo is fairly simple… you just stop. I know it’s tempting to think you need special products, or natural remedies, or a shaman to come bless your hair or something, but you don’t. You just stop using it.
The hard part is the adaptation period. Depending on how long your hair is, how good your diet is, how well you’re sleeping, how naturally oily your hair is, and other health-related factors, your hair could take anywhere from one week to over a month to adjust.
During that time, your hair gets oily, flat, greasy, smells bad, your scalp gets itchy, and you’re generally not all that pleasant to look at. This is why most people give up. You’ll get self-conscious around one week…