the no 'poo method


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Traveling somewhere with hard water
laceyanklesocks wrote in no_poo
Hi everybody!

I've been 'poo free for about a month, and I'm finally leaving that dreaded transition period. I use the basic tsp baking soda per cup of water to wash and a quick acv rinse every other day or two. My hair is feeling amazingly soft and shiny. However, I'll be traveling to Los Angeles next week, which I know has pretty hard water, especially compared to Portland, where I live.
Now, I'm wondering if I should just go low poo for my week long trip, since I've heard that no poo has a lot of difficulties with hard water, and I don't know if I'll be able to boil all the water I need to wash my hair. If I go low poo for a week, will it derail all of my progress? Or should I just risk it and keep no pooing in the hard water, and hope for the best? Any recommendations for low poo products would be appreciated, if anyone thinks that's the path I should take.
For reference, I have waist length wavy hair that is fine but abundant.
Thank you for any advice!

I don't know your exact situation, but this might be a good chance to try to stretch your BS washes out to weekly? Bring along a good dry shampoo or witch hazel and go WO for the week. Or find a nice conditioner and go CO.

I've been no-poo for over a year, and the last time I had to use real shampoo, I went super low poo (I mean, barely any), and my hair was so dry and staticky. It was awful.

Hope this helps.

Thank you for responding! I think I'm going to try going as long as possible without washing while I'm there, but I'll bring some low poo shampoo if it gets really bad. Hopefully it won't make my hair dry and staticky, though!

It's just a week so your hair won't even have time to adjust to the hard water, whether you're using low-poo suds or boiled baking soda or whatever. I agree with the comment above about stretching out the washes: see if you can manage a boiled bs wash just the once while you're there, and in the meantime use light dustings of cornflour, brushing with combs and bristle brushes, loads of hairpins, and head bands.

An easy way to push your wash day further along is to braid your hair on the end of your second day when your hair is starting to get oily, try to keep it braided for as long as you can take it (so maybe even all the way through your third day too), and let it down for the fourth day with a little cornflour up on the crown if it's looking too greasy there. I find that the braiding keeps the hair cleaner for longer and gives it volume even though it's a little oilier than I might like. By the end of day 4 you can do your usual wash, and repeat till day 7.

Thank you so much for this advice! I'm definitely going to try not washing as long as possible, and hopefully I'll be able to manage with a single bs or low poo wash. That braid tip sounds like it'll work, I've braided my hair just to keep it out of my face and I've noticed my hair gets less greasy when I do.
Thanks again!

There's a few things you can try. I have moderately hard water.

While I found this didn't work for me in the long term, I did have good luck with lime rinses the first couple times I tried it. I did about a tablespoon of lime juice to about 1.5-2 cups of water. Squirt it in there, give your scalp a good rubbing, and rinse well.

Alternatively, you could look at an all natural shampoo bar. As long as you make sure it doesn't contain SLS or other sulfates, it won't make you backslide on your progress through transition. I just switched over to using these, and my oil production has stayed the same. You can find these at your local co-op, or online, and you can use it on your skin too, so it won't just go to waste if you go back to your present routine.

Or you can just plan to see how long you make it without getting your hair wet. Lots of brushing may help. If it just gets awful, just about anywhere will have limes or lime juice. Alternatively, a bit of cornstarch or cocoa (depending on your hair color) works to absorb oil as a dry shampoo. Just take the smallest pinch and rub it into your roots.

None of these things require any real prep. Bottle, water, lime. Or just soaping your hair. Or spending 30 seconds rubbing in a dry shampoo. These are easy-peasy things to have on a trip.

Couple things I wouldn't suggest:
1. BS. It is extremely hard to get it all out with hard water. I've been there and done that, and it was an unholy nightmare. Greasy and dry at the same time, and my scalp felt like hell.

2. Water only. Going water only with hard water tends to result in the "waxy" feeling as the minerals from the water deposit in your hair. There's stuff you can do about this, but for a short trip, it's not worth the effort.

Edited at 2013-06-13 06:03 am (UTC)

This is so helpful, thank you! I was able to find a shampoo bar but I think I'll just try to go as long as possible without washing while there, and only use it if I need it. You've certainly made me reconsider using any bs while I'm there! I think I'll try the lime juice method; I've done a few lemon juice rinses and liked how they worked for the short term.

Glad it helped!

As I understand it, lemon and lime juice work pretty much the same. I just used lime because that's what I had on-hand.