In case you don’t know, there are a large number of people on the internet giving up shampoo. They claim that shampoo is the problem, stripping your hair of oils and then adding them back in. If you just give up shampoo, your hair will regulate itself, just like the hair on all other animals.
I decided to give it a try, mainly to get rid of one more small thing in my travel bag.
My hair revolted from the beginning. At first it just looked a little bit oily, but soon it became stiff. I could shape it in any way and it would stay there. It was tangled enough that I couldn’t run my hands through it.
A week or two in, it was looking less oily, but still stiff. No one noticed or said anything, so I figured that even if it was a little bit weird, it was still working.
Then, over the next few weeks, it returned back to normal. It’s been two or three months since I’ve used shampoo, and I don’t think anyone would be able to detect anything being different. I do wash my hair, of course, just with water. I massage my scalp and agitate my hair with my fingertips like they do in salons.
One interesting data point is when I visited the island and didn’t shower for a week. Usually my hair gets really unmanageable when I do that, but this time it was pretty much fine. Even without washing with water, my hair was okay.
If you’re a traveler, I think this is worth trying. Great hair, one less 3.4oz bottle, plus a little flexibility if your itinerary causes you to skip a shower or two.
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Photo is a cool path in Horta, Azores
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