Saving money on shampoo

Austin_Allegro_2

According to my father (born 1930) he never had shampoo until the seventies, and just used soap before that.

Is there any real need for shampoo, or at least anything other than the cheap stuff?

I've always been suspicious of the pseudo scientific claims about shampoo 'nourishing' the hair etc, because isn't hair dead anyway?

I normally buy a hair thickening shampoo (I'm going bald) but wonder whether its worth it.

I do find conditioner and a good hair wax makes a difference however.

Any thoughts?

Lillibet_2

My husband, who has short curly hair, doesn't use any shampoo or soap, just rubs his hair with water when under the shower or in the bath. He stopped using shampoo 3 years ago, for the first few weeks his hair was quite greasy, I think it was restoring the natural balance & condition. Now his hair is the softest I have ever touched, never gets greasy or dandruff & before anyone asks, no it doesn't smell.....ever, or leave greasy marks on the pillow cases etc!
I wish I could give up shampoo too but I use styling products on my shoulder length hair & I am not convinced my hair could retain the natural balance with unnatural products in it. Hubby doesn't use any products & never uses a hair dryer (ahh, the advantage of being a man!), he only gets it trimmed about every 10 weeks but never gets split ends. He does have a receeding hairline, this was well underway before he stopped using shampoo but if anything the rate of receed seems to have slowed over the last 2 years, certinaly doesn't seem to have got any worse but I'm not sure if thats down to not using shampoo or just good luck ;D!
HTH

Austin_Allegro_2

Lilibet - this is very interesting.

I've heard this theory about not needing to wash one's hair, but it was always expounded by crusties who seemed to have manky hair!

It does seem daft to wash one's hair every day and then have to rub wax in to make it look shiney!

I do use a hairdryer though, as I've got thinning hair and blow drying definitely bulks it up.

Lillibet_2

Not sure where I picked this up from but I understand hair is actually self cleaning, hence when it gets greasy it is trying to wash out all the unnatural styling products & polloution etc that we put in it. Shampoo will clean hair but in the process strips hair of its natural essential oils then adds synthetic ones instead. If you let hair take it's natural course it will do the job of shampoo for you but it might be a bit unpleasent for a few weeks getting there!
Soap will clean your hair but also strip it of it's natural oils, it may not replace those oils though as it isn't designed for that job. Also soap leaves hair matt, not shiny.
HTH

MATH

I wouldn't use soap on my skin or head (no hair). I have noticed that my daughters very long hair is much easier to brush and more shiny with a better shampoo also stops the roots becoming greasy which the cheap ones don't. The boys use cheapo cos they smother their hair in styling paste for 'bed-head' anyway.

I've also heard that hair balances itself it not washed but wouldn't want to go through a couple of weeks smelling like a sheep to get there.

Austin, forget thickening serums and blow drying, shave it all off. Bald men are more sexually attractive to the ladieeees you know. :oAsk Mrs Man ;D

16011996

the new boots basics range is fab, the shapoo leaves my hair really clean and i like the conditioner on my daughters bum length hair.

Cullumpster

Austin, forget thickening serums and blow drying, shave it all off. Bald men are more sexually attractive to the ladieeees you know.  :oAsk Mrs Man ;D

I'd deffo agree with that ;D ;D

Bit of bruce Willis never did me any harm ..........Yummy ::)

Austin_Allegro_2

At the moment my hair's just a bit thin, but when it gets to the stage of needing a combover I'll shave it off! :-/

16011996

not a hair piece for you then?

littleangel

The theory is that the more you wash (shampoo) your hair, the more oil it produces to replace the oil you've just washed out of it. So the less you wash your hair, the less oil it produces and hence the less you need to wash your hair. I'm not sure if the whole self cleaning thing actually happens in the end, but you can gradually extend the number of days between washes without having to go through horrible greasy phases. I've got long hair and only wash it once a week now (unless I've been out somewhere smoky, of course) - the benefits being that I save time in the mornings and money on shampoo!

Caterina

Haven't you seen Kim and Aggie in the Too Posh to Wash prog on TV when they were trying to get the posh crusty to cut and wash his dreadlocks?

He was saying that about self-cleaning hair etc but apparently he smelled like a goat!

I use a small amount of shampoo on my short hair and only once (unlike the advice on the bottle that tells you to repeat...) and my hair is clean ok.

Also diluting conditioner with water in a separate bottle makes it go a lot further.

I am trying to buy only organic and non heavily perfumed products because I have read so much about the damages that cosmetic products do to people (hormone disruptors, carcinogenics and wotnots.....) and the stuff I am using is VERY PRICEY so I use it with extremely frugal care!

Caterina