Water Only Hair

Hello dear readers,

I have made the decision to start a Water Only journey after my success over the last 6 months going No Poo which you can read about here. I love my no poo hair and the ease it has brought me, I only have to wash my hair every 10 days with Baking Soda and Apple Cider Vinegar, but I'm after something even easier!

So it's been 15 days since my last wash (bs and acv) and I have water rinsed my hair twice since then. The good news with WO is that you can do it as often as you like, everyday if you want! I'm aiming for eventually once a week.

Here is how it looks today:

It's so big and bouncy, my hair has never been this big and bouncy in all my life. It feels slightly oily which is to be expected for a while, but I like it!

I will keep updating throughout this journey and let you all know how it's getting on!

Are you a no pooer? Water only? Thinking about it? I would love to hear from you in the comments.

Rye Flour as a Shampoo

So I have been no poo now for over 3 months, I love it. I seriously will not be going back to using shampoo and conditioned ever again. So up until now I have been a regular user of baking soda and either distilled white vinegar or apple cider vinegar. While that was working for me, I felt like changing it up a bit and I have heard some amazing things about Rye Flour.

I picked it up in my local Holland and Barrett for £1.69 for 500g but you can get it cheaper elsewhere it was just easiest for me. So what do you do with this lovely stuff I hear you ask? It's really simple, you can use one of two methods.

Method 1
Take 3tbs of Rye flour and sieve with a very fine sieve or tea strainer to get most of the bits out (or you will be picking them out of your hair all day)
Add just enough warm water to make it a Shampoo consistency

Method 2
Put 3tbs into a sock and tie it off
Soak overnight in about half a cup of water, squeezing a few times in the morning to get all the good stuff out
(with this method you get a Shampoo like consistency, no lumps, but some people say it is less effective at cleaning without the bits in).

Currently I use method 1 but will be trying method 2 soon just for comparison. You just use the Rye flour shampoo as you would normal shampoo, and just make sure you scrub around the roots very well. It's not too important to use on ends as as you rinse it will run through to ends.

Now, some people like to follow with ACV/DWV for detangling and dry ends, but it is not necessary. Because Rye flour is totally pH balanced at 5, it makes it a perfect match for your hair. It also contains lots of amazing minerals and vitamins. I did use ACV on my lengths but only a very small amount to prevent dry ends.

So there we have it, a pH balanced all natural no poo alternative to shampoo. Here is a picture of my hair after washing with Rye flour. Bear in mind that I went 12 days without washing my hair at all before using it so it did an amazing job at removing all the oil and gross stuff out of my hair. The only draw back was combing out the bits that were left behind but it's livable.

So, yea, the picture. Happy no pooing folks. Have you used Rye flour? Let me know!

Soapnuts

Upon my no poo journey I keep hearing one word crop up: soapnuts. So after a bit of Googling and talking to the lovely ladies on the no poo/low poo Facebook Group I decided to give them a go. Here is a little bit about them:

Soap nuts are a completely natural fruit that grows in India, they aren't really edible so the locals dry them out and use them for cleaning. Because they contain saponin, a sort of natural soap, they make a great great cleanser. They can be used for :

• Washing clothes
• Washing hair
• Dish washing 
• Washing body 
• Bubble bath 
• Nappy cleaner for reusable 
• Baby bath
• Household cleaner 
• Hand wash

And much more, they really are fabulous.
So here is what they look like:

 They are slightly sticky to touch which apparently is the saponin. Now, you can use these on their own as they are in a muslin wash bag. You need about 6 for a load and all you do is put them in the drum with your washing and away they go. If it's a cold wash though you do need to soak them first. The best thing? You can reuse a bag of soapnuts around 5 washes, or until they look pale. Once they look pale you can then make them into a liquid (how to underneath) and use to water plants/wash car. Then, when you are done, compost them or distribute the shells into your plants.

Here's the best bit, you can make these bad boys into a liquid to use all around the home, you can do freeze it into ice cubes trays and use in the washing machine too (use 2 per load into the drum) or you can store in an airtight container in fridge for about a week.

You use about 2 nuts per 1 cup water and all to you do is boil for around 30mins or until it's a nice amber colour. Some people suggest to boil until they are almost white to get the most saponin but be super careful because it boils up quickly and will froth over if not watched. Here is how it looks boiling:

Out of 6 shells I managed 48 ice cubes, a full jam jar plus 200ml left over for cleaning with. I am truly amazed at the power of these little nuts of joy. Have you tried soap nuts? What do you think? 

Day 3 Hair

So it's been 3 days now, Wednesday I washed my hair with bs and acv and wore it down, Thursday I wore it down and did absolutely nothing with it not even brushed and today, well today it's still down and still looking great! All I have done is brushed and tipped fingertips into cornflour and rubbed into roots as a natural dry shampoo and it's worked wonders. Here's the pic :

Now before you think ugh that looks greasy, it really isn't! My hair is so incredibly shiny from roots to tips it looks amazing even my grumpy manly partner has noticed how awesome it looks.

9 days no poo and never looking back!