No Poo
I know the moment you read this title, you’re probably thinking…this guy must be really constipated.
This isn’t about mine or any one else bowel movements. This has to do more with hair and a very niche subreddit that I came across and decided to try.
The subreddit is called r/NoPoo and it talks about having a shampoo free existence. I remember very vividly when I came across this subreddit I was hanging out with my then girlfriend and she was about to have a “head-bath” day. For my incel readers and those unaware, the fairer sex unlike us do not wash their hair everyday, the do it maybe twice a week and if they’re smart (or lazy, depending on how you look at it) and have a little money, they’ll go to the salon and pay someone to do it for them.
Men, on the other hand; once we find a shampoo we stick to it, which in my case used to be that yellow bottle. I swear I don’t remember the brand. I just remember the colour. Sometimes, I’d use my girlfriends shampoo which would smell much nicer. But, my loyalty to that yellow bottle was never up for debate.
I started reading about hair care and sub-consciously started looking at the hair of my friends and family, et. al. I live in Gurgaon, its the nicer part of Delhi (mostly, because its not in Delhi). The water like the air here is bad. Technically the water here is hard (contains s-block elements like Calcium, etc). My friends who smoke more than cigarettes and eat more than flightless birds have started showing their widows peak and their hair has started thinning.
Don’t get me wrong, there are more reasons to losing or thinning of one’s hair, they range from genetic to environmental. Male pattern baldness is a thing in India. People loose their hair here and than that god forsaken U-patch that gets formed. Luckily, neither of my grandparents were bald and my father also possesses a full head of hair. Greying early in family is a thing and I had my first grey hair at the age of 20, which became 20 more a week later because my partner decided to yak out that hair.
So, there I am looking at my friends’ widows peak that he’s hiding with a neatly done side parting and realising its far more prevalent in my social circle than I ever noticed. The time was now, I had to act, and I act I did. I got rid of my precious yellow bottle. It was sad and heart breaking; like losing an old friend that you know isn’t good for you. But, I knew, with my large nose I couldn’t afford to go bald. I’d never get laid again.
And on the 1st of July, 2021. I decided to go hair first into NoPoo.
That was a long and not needed introduction. But, now lets go the poo part of it.
I'm from India, we’re pagans here and we realise subconsciously that nature provides for everything inherently and since we’ve been surviving as a culture for eons. We’re probably doing something right…if I were to extend this hypothesis to hair care you’ll read blogs about aamla, reetha and all those lovely herbs but who has got that kind of time. You’ll also realise that many-an-Indian entrepreneur has tried to incorporate these herbs to shampoo and have done a good job at capturing the middle aged… ”not trying to ape the west” demography that exists in India.
However, what I took out of it was that hair washing is important and you could get creative with it and keeping my then girlfriend’s experience in mind, I’d rather not do it myself.
So, I had an objective; no shampoo, nothing that comes in a bottle anymore. No matter how they advertise it as SLS free or Paraben free, etc. No more pre packaged bottled products. (I should point out here that I’m not coocoo, nor am I vegan nor do I hate capitalism. But, I’d been using shampoo for years and my hair wasn't great; the product just didn't work for me, or maybe I didn't find the right product. But, I was done)
And then I found out about Baking Soda and “Sil-batta”. Sil batta is essentially Mortar and Pest what you use to grind stuff up and make a paste of it and Baking soda is what you use to clean pesky wine stains from couches. You make a thick paste and apply to your head and let it stay there for a bit and wash it off.
I kid you not, this worked like a charm. After my first wash, my scalp felt clean and my hair felt smoother, it felt like each individual hair and my scalp in its entirety was exfoliated and so much gunk had come out. It felt soft and clean.
I was genuinely surprised. But, then I realised that I don't want to do this. The yellow bottle was calling again. In the mean while, say 2–3 weeks later, I went for a hair cut and randomly asked my barber what my scalp health looking like and to my surprise, the guy says, not bad; a little dry but nothing to worry about. I was pleasantly surprised, because the same guy had been trying to push products for my hair for years, and close to a month of not using any product, he says it’s doing great.
Eventually, a couple of months later (after I had started added argan oil and jojoba oil to my baking soda paste) I told my barber what I do. And my ever so enterprising barber tells me, he’ll make the paste and wash my hair with it twice a week, for a nominal charge.
I had this dumb found look of utter joy and happiness.
Its been a year and a half now. My hair is more volumous, thicker, smells like a human’s head as opposed to a meadow (which in its own right is rather nice) and somehow feels cleaner.
But, far more importantly, I now; like my then girlfriend, get my hair washed at the salon, cuz, whose got the time for it?!?!
Note: I realise I didn't mention about Sebum, etc. Honestly, I really didn’t want too. Please feel free to check out the subreddit, it may help you out.