Hair washing without commercial shampoo or no poo (short for ''no shampoo'') is a collective term for methods of washing hair without commercial

shampoo Shampoo () is a hair care product, typically in the form of a viscous liquid, that is used for cleaning hair. Less commonly, shampoo is available in solid bar format. Shampoo is used by applying it to wet hair, massaging the product into the ...

Rationale

Proponents of "no poo" claim that there is no medical reason for humans to wash their hair with synthetic shampoos—introduced in the 1930s, with daily shampooing becoming the norm in the US by the 1970s and 1980s. They believe that washing practices are determined by cultural norms and individual preferences, with some people washing daily, some fortnightly, and some not at all. From a clinical point of view, "the main purpose for a shampoo is to cleanse the scalp", though "most patients would disagree stating that the purpose of shampoo is to beautify the hair". They also believe that shampoo removes the natural oils (

sebum A sebaceous gland is a microscopic exocrine gland in the skin that opens into a hair follicle to secrete an oily or waxy matter, called sebum, which lubricates the hair and skin of mammals. In humans, sebaceous glands occur in the greatest nu ...

) produced by the scalp and that, in return, the scalp produces more oil to compensate, creating a

vicious circle A vicious circle (or cycle) is a complex chain of events that reinforces itself through a feedback loop, with detrimental results. It is a system with no tendency toward equilibrium (social, economic, ecological, etc.), at least in the short r ...

whereby more frequent shampooing is necessary to remove increasingly excess oils. Proponents believe that it typically takes two to six weeks to break the cycle after adopting "no poo" practices. The belief that the scalp detects loss of sebum and produces more to compensate is unsubstantiated by current science. Other "no poo" proponents avoid shampoos because their ingredients such as

sodium lauryl sulfate Sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) or sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS), sometimes written sodium laurilsulfate, is an organic compound with the formula . It is an anionic surfactant used in many cleaning and hygiene products. This compound is the sodium salt ...

can be irritants. Cost is a reason some people decide to use "no poo" techniques instead of commercial hair care products.

Methods

The purest form of "no poo" adoption is to use only water to wash hair, however there are other approaches possible by people wishing to avoid oil-stripping substances and chemicals that they consider unnecessary for the maintenance of their hair. Methods for washing hair without shampoo include washing with dissolved baking soda followed by an acidic rinse such as diluted vinegar, Also honey and various oils (such as

coconut oil frameless , right , alt = A cracked coconut and a bottle of coconut oil Coconut oil (or coconut butter) is an edible oil derived from the wick, meat, and milk of the coconut palm fruit. Coconut oil is a white solid fat; in warmer climates duri ...

) can be used. Japanese traditional hair cleansing is with seaweed powder. Following a 2007 radio interview that Australian Richard Glover held with Matthew Parris (a '' Times'' columnist "who hadn't shampooed for more than a decade"), Glover "decided to challenge his audience to go without shampoo for six weeks". Of the over 500 participants in the challenge, 86 percent reported that "their hair was either better or the same" following the challenge. Dermatologist Jim Leyden tried an experiment of paying prisoners not to wash their hair for a month to determine whether they developed

dandruff Dandruff is a skin condition that mainly affects the scalp. Symptoms include flaking and sometimes mild itchiness. It can result in social or self-esteem problems. A more severe form of the condition, which includes inflammation of the skin, ...

—and found that they did not.

References

{{Reflist, 30em, refs= {{cite news , url=http://www.nbcnews.com/id/30337386 , title=Ditching shampoo a dirty little beauty secret , first= Melissa , last= Dahl , date=April 23, 2009 , publisher= NBC News , accessdate=March 23, 2012{{Dead link, date=May 2021 {{cite news , url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=102062969 , title=When It Comes To Shampoo, Less Is More , first= Allison , last= Aubrey , date=March 19, 2009 , publisher= NPR , accessdate=March 23, 2012 {{cite web , title =From Pert: Do You Wash and Go? , work =Company Science Behind the Brands , publisher = Procter and Gamble , url =http://www.pg.com/science/pbi_pert.jhtml , accessdate =March 24, 2012 , archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20070216104007/http://www.pg.com/science/pbi_pert.jhtml , archivedate = February 16, 2007 {{cite book , title= Packing for Mars , last=Roach , first=Mary , location= New York , publisher=W. W. Norton & Company , chapter= Chapter 10: Houston, We Have a Fungus , pages= 191+ , year=2010 , isbn= 9780393068474 {{cite news , url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/21/fashion/21SKINOne.html , title=Of Course I Washed My Hair Last Year (I'm Almost Certain) , first= Anna Jane , last= Grossman , date=February 21, 2008 , work=The New York Times , accessdate=March 23, 2012 {{cite news , title=A clean break from shampoo , url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-21741394.html , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150328212001/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-21741394.html , url-status=dead , archive-date=March 28, 2015 , work=The Columbian , location= Vancouver, WA , last=Middlewood , first=Erin , date=April 12, 2009 , accessdate=August 13, 2012 , via=

HighBeam HighBeam Research was a paid search engine and full text online archive owned by Gale, a subsidiary of Cengage, for thousands of newspapers, magazines, academic journals, newswires, trade magazines, and encyclopedias in English. It was headquart ...

, url-access=subscription Hairdressing Shampoos Human hair Scalp Pseudoscience

Rationale

Methods

See also

References