Do you need to use shampoo ?
I have not not used shampoo on my hair since last 1 year and few months.
By shampoo I mean the commercial liquid packed in good looking bottles. The one that has a huge brand name and a price tag.
I know this would surprise you.
The thought of not shampooing hair everyday takes many by a surprise. So, I am sure that people who are regular with daily schedule of shampoo would be aghast by my admission.
Should you use shampoo everyday
There is already a lot of debate on how often should you shampoo. Most of the hair stylists would recommend everyday. This should make sense as the hair shampoo manufacturers advocate the same as well.
The dust, dirt, oil secretion glands and a whole lot of reasons make their list. Though these factors do determine how often should we wash our hair. But they do not control our choice or the medium of cleaning hair.
This means that though you should wash your hair. But the choice to wash your hair should no limit to chemical laden commercial products.
You’ll never use shampoo again
Did you ever flip your current favorite shampoo bottle to check out its ingredients ?
Most of them will be unfamiliar to you. The long list is a chemical synonym of potent toxins and cancer causing ingredients.
Leave all the elements of long list aside. Even if you google on SLS and artificial colors and fragrances, you will freak out.
If these chemicals fail to give you any dreaded disease in the long run. For your god sake, do not consider them safe. They are quite capable of giving skin allergies as a mild after effect.
I know you might laugh at that. On that note, I ask you to scratch your scalp. If no white powdered stuff gathers in your finger nails, then do not read any further.
I knew your hands will not come out clean. The white dandruff like stuff is the skin allergy. Now decide whether do you need to use shampoo ?
Should I use shampoo in moderate amounts ?
I know that you have grown little skeptical about the insides of that bottle. Well, there was never a genie inside it. All that was there was a cocktail of detergents + cheap aromas disguised as a hair cleaning product.
But does that mean you will never use shampoo ? Well that depends on how much interference you allow others to make in your life.
It is not an easy path to do the no poo mode of living. Along with few life style changes. You also get to adjust with discrimination and bias.
The moment you disclose to your social circles that you have stopped using shampoo. People begin to view you as unhygienic and weird.
Sure no poo doers are weird like me. Though the unhygienic part is untrue.
The stuff that no poo involves makes the hair and scalp squeaky clean. Though it never gives out a frothy lather. The one which we as consumers have accustomed to consider the unit of cleanliness.
The stuff that no poo involves makes the hair and scalp squeaky clean. Though it never gives out a frothy lather. The one which we as consumers have accustomed to consider the unit of cleanliness.
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Shampoos you should never use
It takes a whole lot of mental strength to make the shift towards a no poo regime.
If you cannot switch over to make that change. It is better to not think about it.
But if you are someone sitting at the fence. Then low poo is worth giving a try.
As the name suggests, low poo philosophy lies between no poo and commercial hair care.
Products in low poo are not crunchy. Neither they are a complete chemical toxic gunk.
Castile soaps made out of pure oils are the main base of low poo products.
Hence, low poo provides a convenient path for anyone not too brave to take the no poo route. Also, they best suit the ones who are not so gung ho on the salon products by fmcg goliaths.
In any case, if you are a strong proponent of commercial hair care products. Or if you consider the entire no poo movement as crass. Then also, limit your usage of hair care products as much as you can. You can do that by reducing their frequency.
Instead of washing your hair everyday. You can wash every alternate day.
If you have the habit of washing every other day. You can then switch to a hair wash every second day. I hope you got my point.
Ditto goes for the other associated hair care products. I mean the conditioner, hair serums, leave-in conditioners, mousse et al.
Moreover, stay away from salon products as much as you can. They are the extremists of sorts for hair damage, if I can use that simile.
I know that professional hair stylists like mine would ban me from their salons for that comment.
All respect for those professionals certified by their respective brands. But I beg, borrow and steal to differ from them. If at all the products that they prescribe were as potent as they claim. I am sure their innocuous customers never would have switched brands. Nor there would have existed brand wars between major fmcg shampoo brands.
One or at the most 2–3 brands would have dominated the entire hair care market. But we all know that that is not the case.
It is a fun fact to observe that companies have dozen brands of shampoo within their own hair care segment kitty. That makes me wonder if not that leads to brand cannibalization ?
Anyway, they are good at their job of brain wash. I hope they were as good at cleaning the mane as well.
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Should you wash your hair everyday ? If yes, then with what or what not?
Image Courtesy : Pixabay
