Stop Shampooing your Hair?
Would you try going without shampoo and other hair products? What if doing without modern shampoo was the real way to great, healthy (not just healthy looking) hair?
What's the longest you've waited to wash your hair? I've gone without washing mine for a few weeks. You can build up the time by washing your hair less often. The scalp does not get oily or greasy for quite awhile. Unless you get rained on or somehow messy, your hair can remain unwashed for quite awhile and still look good. For me, the hair itself began to look greasy before my scalp did. I've noticed shampoo needs a first and a second wash to really 'clean' my hair. Afterwards it is a scraggy mess unless I comb it out (I have a great wooden comb I bought from Amazon years ago) while my hair is still pretty wet. If I let it get too dry it is much harder to comb and being curly it looks like a heap of straw on my head, even though it is longer than shoulder length.
Brushing hair used to be something women (people with longer hair) did everyday, more than once even. In school (1970's) girls would carry a comb with them and brush their hair to keep the style. If you've seen movies from the 1900's, people did carry a comb and did use it often. Combing and brushing also help move the hair oil away from the scalp and down the hair to the ends which tend to dry out and split as they grow longer. So brushing and combing hair was good for maintaining a style and keeping hair healthy. Plus, think of all the hair products you can do without.
When you do wash your hair, with shampoo avoid shampoos that contain sulfates and silicones. They strip your hair of natural oil and healthy stuff (for lack of a better word). They can also irritate your scalp, especially if have eczema/ sensitive skin.
Instead of regular washing, women practiced a daily ritual of brushing. Brushing allowed the natural oils produced by the scalp to travel along the length of the hair, giving it a natural shine and keeping it healthy. This routine was seen as essential to proper grooming, and many women considered their hair one of their most valuable features. In a time before modern shampoos and conditioners, patience and consistent care with a brush were the keys to maintaining beautiful hair. - I lost track of the source for the above paragraph.
Synthetic shampoos were introduced in the 1930s. Daily shampooing became the norm in the US in the 1970s and 1980s, but hair washing is 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", not to "beautify the hair". - Wikipedia
YouTube - Why medieval people didn't wash their hair, and how it stayed clean | Historical Myth Busting
This hair treatment is simple, cheap, and fast — my kind of beauty routine. All I have to do is wash with water, then brush my wet hair with a washcloth 100 strokes each side. This moves the oils from the scalp, spreading them evenly across the hair. Miraculously, within two weeks, my frizzy ends became less flyaway. My hair began to shine again, getting wavy instead of bushy. And, since the oils weren’t massed near the scalp, my hair didn’t droop, limp and greasy.
The more I used this washcloth process, the less I needed to shampoo (winnowing down gradually to every week, then every few weeks). After a month or two, I found I could stop shampooing entirely — except in rare circumstances, like that time I sanded drywall and appeared to have been dragged in from an archeological site.
Before you mutter anything about what a big fat liar I am, take a look at a book of old photos — maybe one featuring daguerreotypes from the turn of the century. As you peruse the photos, consider this: the first commercial shampoo wasn’t even invented (right here in Springfield, actually) until 1930: Breck. Before that, people didn’t rinse their hair more than a few times a year. Although soaps gentle enough for personal hygiene had recently been invented, they definitely weren’t used on hair. Sure, some historical photos might get retouched, but not a photo of a Yakama Native American, her hair thick, lustrous, and definitely not oily. And not a daguerreotype of an Irish maid, her curls vibrant even in black and white.
The above quoted content is from - The Boston Phoenix - The No-’Poo Do - Audrey Schulman
Ancient Egyptians, renowned for their focus on beauty and cleanliness, were the first to use a formula of animal and plant fats mixed with alkaline salts to create the world’s earliest known form of shampoo.
Fast forward to middle ages when Europeans were known to employ animal fats while warming themselves by fireplaces for caring their tresses! Women used boar-bristle brushes made from animal hairs that helped distribute scalp’s natural oils down through strands – ensuring smoother look & reducing breakage at same time.
In Ancient Egypt, for instance, people used castor oil as an effective treatment towards enhancing hair growth. Egyptians also shaved their heads regularly to maintain cleanliness due to the hot climate, wearing wigs instead that required diligent grooming daily with special combs made from wood or ivory.
Moving toward Asia – India specifically — has given world one of its most impactful beauty practices – Ayurveda. This 5000-year-old practice considers the health of your scalp and uses oils integrated with herbs such as Amla and Bhringraj — known for preventing premature greying—alongside coconut oil renowned worldwide today for stimulating healthier locks.
Quoted from History of Hair Care: A Glimpse into Ancient Traditions and Practices
- The Daily Mail, UK - Could you Survive without Shampoo? - Helen Drake