When I tell people I haven’t shampooed my hair in over a year, I usually get the same shocked facial expression along with slight disbelief. But, it’s true, I shampooed it less than 10 times in the course of a year and my hair has never looked better. My hair is naturally very thick, and curly and growing up I never knew how to handle it or take care of it without looking like I had a giant frizz ball on top of my head. Until my freshman year of college, when I had finally had it with all the damaged, split ends and the constant straightening. I went on youtube and started to watch videos of other girls curly hair journeys and became so inspired I started a entirely new hair care routine the very next day.
I learned an extensive amount about how to care for curly thick hair, but one of the very first things I had to except was not shampooing my hair consistently anymore. Generally, if you aren’t paying attention to the ingredients in your shampoo, they can contain sulfates and parabens which are unnecessary chemicals that strip your hair of the natural oils that it needs. So my first step was to not only cut out those chemicals but also shampoo altogether.
To be honest the first week was rough, I was only conditioning my hair with organic products and I also stopped toweling drying my hair too because it causes frizz. After about the second week, there was a noticeable difference in the softness of my hair and I definitely had less frizz, so I kept at it and eventually fell into a routine. That routine has now lasted me a year and as I said before, my hair has never looked better.
October 8th 2015
November 11th, stopped using shampoo
June 2016, 7 months no shampoo no heat
I feel so much more confident wearing it curly and out and rarely straighten it anymore either, because heat damage will always kill your hair. I’m glad that I learned how to embrace my natural curly hair, and sometimes it can be necessary to shampoo, but definitely not as often as you think. Ultimately it depends on your hair type as well, but the “no poo” trend has really worked for me and I get compliments on my hair all of the time.
If you do tend to wash your hair a lot just take caution and be aware of the ingredients your putting into it, because that is what will make the real difference.