Everything You Need To Know About Whether Women Can Use Men’s Shampoo
Everything You Need To Know About Whether Women Can Use Men’s Shampoo
Most people have been there, you’re enjoying a nice hot shower and want to wash your hair. That’s when you realize you have no shampoo left. If you’re lucky you have two options.
Use the man’s shampoo in the showerGet out of the shower and check your cupboards for another bottle of shampoo
Let’s face it, number two is never an appealing option!
Youtube recommended video: can my hair handle a month without shampoo?
Me, who hasn’t used shampoo for 6 years: well golly gee, I dunno
IKR
What irritates me about these things - and those journalists who write articles on it going ‘Can I not wash my hair for a month?’ - is that almost all of them miss the point and none of them transition it properly, so they end up with a dirty and horrendously matted fleece and conclude that it’s just not possible, and like
I am now three years without shampoo. My hair, which I always wanted to grow super long my whole life but could never get past bra strap length without it snapping off, is now to my tail bone and thick and glossy. I no longer get scalp issues like dandruff. It curls almost without frizz. It’s great.
But I did have to transition it??! I didn’t just stop washing it Jesus Christ
Would either of you mind explaining how? I’ve tried before and I’ve tried looking it up, but the most useful things I’ve ever been able to find are along the lines of “replace your shampoo with this super awesome super expensive non-shampoo-thing” or something
Couple of reblogs/replies have asked, so I hope Elanor doesn’t mind me replying on this version!
Firstly, the following applies only to hair types 1-3. If you have coily/kinky hair, get advice from someone who knows type 4 hair, which I do not know that the same methods would work for (I have 2b, though it looks a little straighter as it’s weighed down by the thickness/length)
Secondly, I’m afraid you will need to buy something. Specifically a boar bristle/synthetic equivalent hairbrush (these can range from Very Expensive for all natural recognised brand to a tenner nylon version from Boots. I just bought a new one for £20 which is boar bristle and bamboo with some longer, stiffer nylon bristles. I recommend getting one with both kinds of bristles if your hair is thick). If you have type 2-3 hair, you will also need a means of detangling. A wide-toothed comb is ideal, preferably wood to reduce static
Brush your hair morning and evening with the bristle brush. This cleans out grime and redistributes oils along the length of your hair, and gradually reduce how often you wash your hair, going from (idr how often people shampoo? biweekly?) to weekly to every other week, a couple of months at a time. Your hair needs to learn it doesn’t have to produce as much sebum as it has been doing. You may find you still need to condition. You can do this with normal conditioner, hair masks, or coconut oil. There will be a bit of a process finding out what works best for your hair. Use the detangler before brushing
Honestly at this point the only time I deliberately get my hair wet is when I dye it, and I think it’s looking pretty good, don’t you? (And I’ve stopped getting split ends)
(ignore the frizz, we’re at 80% humidity here. If you still want it to smell nice rather than just of hair you can add in some non-alcohol-based perfume. Hair perfume is great and lasts ages because it evaporates slower that when on your skin. I like to just put a touch on my ends every few days)
I shall add to this to provide an Alternative Method!
I use a method known as CGM (Curly Girl Method - it’s a deeply stupid name). The bare bones of it is that you cut out shampoo entirely, and stop using any conditioners that contain either silicones or drying substances (those can include certain alcohols, for example). Hilariously, this often means you actually use much cheaper conditioners, because the lack of fancy substances brings the price down. In the UK, Sainsbury’s own brand apple conditioner works, for example, and costs less than £1 a bottle. You can find lists of CGM friendly products wherever you live online, though.
Anyway, yeah, let’s say your normal routine would be to wash with shampoo, condition, and brush every day.
With CGM, you wash with a combination of Increased Elbow Grease and conditioner. It’s called cowashing. You put the conditioner exclusively on your roots, and then scrub with your fingertips for a bit. Basically, it’s mechanical cleaning instead of chemical - like scrubbing food off a plate, using a bit of washing up liquid to lubricate, rather than dunking the plate into a vat of acid to burn off the food. Your scrubbing removes the oil and dirt from your hair, and the conditioner both reduces damage by making it slippery and also collects all that dirt. Then you completely rinse it clear.
After that, depending on your hair type, you do a conditioning round. My husband has straight hair so doesn’t bother. I have curly hair, so at this point I switch to something more nourishing like Faith In Nature and whack that in.
Crucially, this is literally the only point I brush it. Soaking wet, full of conditioner. And I very gently detangle with a wide toothed comb, or even my fingers.
(Then I scrunch it to start the curls forming, rinse it all out while still scrunching, and then scrunch in a gel; but that’s not relevant to the question, it’s just how my routine goes.)
Anyway, the lack of sulphides and other harsh cleansers means your scalp stops panicking that it’s being dried out, and it ‘transitions’ to a state where it no longer over-produces sebum (this is also why it helps with dandruff for most people - no more cycle of harsh drying followed by clogged pores). For me, this transition phase lasted a week. It felt a bit greasy during this time, but after that week, it was fine. That’s fairly normal. Some people can rarely take up to six weeks, but most are like me. My husband had a delayed transition during his third week, but again, it lasted… I think maybe 10 days?
There was also a second, longer transition phase where the silicones that had coated my hair for years slowly fucked off, which meant the strands could slowly start taking in water again. Once that happened I got really good hair, here’s a pic from a year ago for reference:
It’s longer again now, as I say. ‘Tis a mane.
In any case, a friend of mine followed this method for a year, and then transitioned to using water only, no products. She now uses a bristle brush as described above. Nothing more.
That’s the bare basics! There is more to it, especially if you’re specifically doing it for curls, which are an art and a science. But that’s how you transition your hair to no shampoo.
The stereotypical selfie that all photographers take. And I did mine here in 2008. #nikon #d90 #selfie #photographerselfie #mirror #reflection #puffer #lightmodifier #hashtag #bmx #shampoo #fructis #strobist #powerwheels #nonsense #hashtagparty #batman #spiderman #saskatoon #calgary #tokyo #japan #asia#yokohama
• Use only raw honey. Regular honey is processed with damaging levels of heat and is actually cut with corn syrup. I recommend making it on a “single serving” basis, so just mix up a little bowl of the shampoo before you plan to use it. Here’s the basic ratio, but you can adjust it as desired: 1 Tbs. raw honey and 3 Tbs. filtered water. If necessary, slightly heat the mixture over very low heat to help dissolve the honey. Yes, this is really watery… that is how it is supposed to be.
• If desired, add a few drops of essential oil. To the mixture above, I add about 2 drops of lavender essential oil, 2 drops of rosemary oil, and 2 drops of carrot seed oil. The essential oils add a light fragrance and also help with any flaky scalp issues. The carrot seed oil, especially, is very nourishing to the hair.
• Wet hair, then massage a few tablespoons of the honey shampoo on the scalp. Massage well to distribute over the scalp. Don’t worry about getting the mixture on the ends of the hair, just the scalp area. Rinse well. No need to follow with any conditioner.
• If desired, you can follow with a DIY apple cider vinegar rise.
Why Wash Hair with Honey Shampoo?
• The pH of the scalp is between 4 and 7, and the pH of honey is about 4. The slightly acidic nature of the honey balances the scalp and fights dandruff.
• Raw honey is naturally antibacterial and antifungal, so honey washing can help treat a bacterial/fungal issues on the scalp.
• Honey won’t strip the scalp and hair of the protective oils. As a result, hair will be less oily over time because the scalp will stop over-comensating with oil production (which happens when shampoos strip the scalp of all oils).
• Honey moisturizes the hair, and, since it doesn’t strip the hair of natural oils, hair will be softer with less frizz.
• You will be able to go longer and longer between washings as your scalps oil production normalizes.
Q - Let’s talk about hair. How often do you wash it?
Nuria - Since I’m using ROWSE’s solid shampoo I feel my hair is more healthy and I don’t need to wash it every day anymore, I usually do it every 2-3 days. Having very thin hair, I thought that I needed to wash it every single day, but now I’ve understood that I was feeding my hair with chemical products that created this need that I wasn’t aware of.
Q - How do you take care of your skin and hair when you’re travelling?
Nuria - I help my skin with extra care, especially while I’m on the plane and my skin gets stressed and dehydrated. I always carry a plant-based oil to moisturize my face, hands and lips. Spraying some floral water to rehydrate the skin is really helpful too.
*You have to respect how she has masteres skin-care and natural beauty with Beauty. I am all here for it!!!*
I often overlook Poundland as a place to shop for my beauty essentials, mainly because of the failed ‘full face of Poundland makeup’ YouTube videos I’ve seen! It’s never been my first port of call when it comes to buying beauty products. However, I visited one of the stores in my hometown (to pick up snacks, naturally) and stumbled upon some goodies!
The nice people at @hellohibar sent me a care package of their eco-friendly plastic-free shampoo & conditioner bars to encourage me to wash my hair. My curls are happy. Thanks HiBar!
