I don't use any products on it. Just the bit of shampoo and a boar-bristle brush to spread the oils down from the roots. Wash it maybe once or twice per week.
My hair is water-resistent, like lambs' wool. And it's rarely very frizzy. If it starts to frizz, I tie it up in a tight bun for a bit, and it smooths back out. Weird, but cool.
Was thinking about dumping shampoo, entirely, and switching to conditioner-only washing, but I haven't yet made the jump.
i recently ditched the shampoo, and the soap. now mainly just scrub with a plastic scrubby thing. one of those boar bristle brushes sounds like the exact thing for washing the hair, it won't pull at the knots but lets you massage the scalp and with the warm water softening the oils help spread it better.
i'll have to make a mental note to visit haircare specialist shops next time i'm in town to find a nice brush for that. i might experiment with the bamboo bristled detangler brush i have in the meantime.
I tried not washing it at all, just scritching and brushing, when we lived in the States, but the transition is 🫠. And it takes up so much time.
And I complely gave up, when I started working at a bakery, as the flour got everywhere, even with a head scarf.
I only use soap on my hands.
I just use rough washcloths, otherwise, and scrub hard with warm water. Cured my chronically dry, itchy skin. Friction is enough, for most parts of the body, but hands can get gross. Using brushes to scrub hands, instead of soap, is pure torture. I know people who scrub their hands with brushes and then rinse with vinegar, just to brag that they don't use soap, and it's masochistic. 😂 Burns like a mofo.
yeah, i used micellar water to get me through the transition, my hair is a lot better now but i need a better brush. also, yeah, soap on the hands is essential, much of the time the gunk on it is oil so it has to be done.
Well, you can also wash with oil and extremely hot water, but that will dry your skin out worse than soap. Tried oil-washing my face, once, and it felt like paper, afterward. 😱
yeah, i'm just gonna get a nice brush, and try the bamboo detangler thing
last time i was doing this i was a "feral" living in northern NSW going to rave parties, i even started to dread them up but i don't like dreads actually.
but for sure, not using soap my skin feels a lot better. in actual fact i think my skin is now cleaner, but the thing that i think is more important is that the pH is normalising and yeah i get less itching and all that. industrial soap industry is actually just a part on the edge of the bomb making business. if the soap hasn't had its glycerine removed it works a lot better. i used to use Dr Bronners but trying it again a couple of years ago it was not the same soap i remember from my 20s. at all.
anyhow, like my body piercing trainer said, the most important thing is blood warm water and friction, soap is only really necessary to make skin clean enough to pierce if it's really gunked up with oil. of course generally you then use alcohol to swab the spot but as i've also heard from other people explaining, the whole thing with blood pressure and the natural physics of our skin, it's made to put up with lacerations from time to time, they can't really be avoided. the blood pushes most of the infectious material out of the wound as long as it's open and wide enough, all you have to do is wash it and then keep it a bit damp in the first few days and it does the rest.
in fact, as a kid i got a lot of mild lacerations, sometimes quite severe, from skateboarding. i never did anything about it, except if it wouldn't stop bleeding. healed up just fine in a few days and then itchy and scabs fall off.
i wouldn't advise this in general, really you should always wash a bleeding wound thoroughly, and apply disinfectant, and seal it up and bandage over it. plastic is actually better, doesn't stick to the blood, but after giving myself a good minor vein cut last year i always keep bandages, band-aids and gauze and antiseptic cream in the house. on that occasion i had to rip up a shirt and use plastic while i went to pick up those supplies. it was pretty bad, i was starting to go into shock from the blood loss.
so i make it a rule now. in fact i really should make a small pack for my backpack when i go on big walks. just haven't really been fit enough to tackle the terrain here, most places i ever lived were not nearly as rugged.
Oof. That's scary.
yeah, it was more scary for the fact i was alone. i really went to town on the supplies also, made sure i'd never be wondering what to do about it.
it happens so infrequently that it's easy to be complacent, and that experience told me it could be deadly, if i'd not stopped the bleeding and lost consciousness, nobody was coming.
yay, i have everything i need to deal with minor potentially life threatening cuts and lacerations, including antihistamine and paracetamol, scissors, gause, bandages, antiseptic creme, and plain band-aids. the top cover of the bag is perfect for it.
I did co-washing for years, but now they make shampoos without silicates, sulfates, and parabens. It helps keep the natural texture and also helps my scalp stay cleaner, I had trouble with dandruff when only co-washing.
Yeah, that's my fear. My hair really is deep black and every little flake can be seen from a mile away. As if it has its own personal spotlight. 😂🙈
And the water here is so hard.
I just keep the shampoo to the roots and scrub the roots and then rinse, and that's enough. I don't have a soap-phobia, or anything.
