Results of My “No Soap, No Shampoo” Experiment

I found with the no shampoo thing – the trick is to scrub your hair/head exactly as if you were using shampoo – then wash any excess grease off your hands with soap.

Hair should naturally have oils in it, but there’s also something about regularly scrubbing out any built up dirt etc that helps it keep a much better balance.

I haven’t used shampoo in almost 2 months now, & my hair is (now I check it) barely greasy at all (just a natural level). The first few weeks though, it felt a lot worse – I realised eventually that was because I was too used to it being completely stripped of oils by shampoo.

Let me describe my piano experiment.

I sat down in front of it. I pressed some of the keys — first some white ones, then some black. The sound that came out did not sound like music, but noise. The following day, I pressed both white ones and black ones together. Again, there was only noise. For the next two weeks, I ran my hand up and down the keyboard. Occasionally I would hit a note or a combination of notes that pleased me, but it certainly wasn’t anything like music.

Thus I have determined that pianos have very little do to with music, and that sitting in front of one for another week would be a waste of my time. I just don’t see the point of pianos.

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Vlad, I love your experimental curious spirit. It is really beautiful. But for someone who has been practicing meditation for 40 years like I have, your meditation experiment sounds exactly like my piano experiment. To really understand meditation, you should go to a Zen center — is there one in your town? — and get free meditation instruction from a real teacher. Then it takes some time to see that “the point” of meditation is not to accomplish anything, as you seem to expect to. But that’s one of the most common misconceptions about meditation and it’s completely understandable that you would think that way.

You don’t have to meditate. It’s fine. But what you did in your experiment was dipping a little finger into a cup of water, shaking it off, and saying, “So that’s the ocean? It’s overrated!”

Steve

How wonderful! Thank you for being open-minded and for checking out the scene at the Meditation Society. It’s really great that you did that. Like music, there are many different styles of meditation and different communities that practice it.

Your willingness to explore is really beautiful, Vlad. You seem like a great guy.

OK, I promise not to love you, or even like you very much. Is that better?

Good luck with all your experiments!

Sorry, that was supposed to read 200 years. Only the “top” end of society could really afford to regularly wear shoes before the industrial revolution, so it started as a status symbol as much as anything else.

I’ve always been quite keen on being barefoot, but I started doing it full time shortly before the Summer Solstice last year, and it got too could towards the end of October. It’s still a little too cold for me now (I only attempted restarting last week, and got numb toes.

So only around 4 months total so far.

London is fantastic for going barefoot, especially the tube! (As long as you don’t mind black soles

I tried giving up meat for two months. I did not feel better. My stomach kept churning, like I was perpetually hungry. So much for being a vegetarian.

I gave up cheese and milk and butter (as much as possible) for a month. Felt a lot better. Then decided to start again, for some stupid reason.

I stopped looking at the clock for about two weeks. But I would look at it once or twice a day, just to see if I could accurately predict the time without constant clock-watching. Turned out I could. I could almost always guess the time within five minutes or less.
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No kidding? This is actually very surprising to read that our bodies can adjust to not having soap/shampoo when cleaning ourselves. Very interesting read.

A quick note: Good luck this September on the sleep schedule, looking forward to it! I’ve seen someone keeping a log of the Everyman’s sleep schedule (I don’t know if it’s the same thing, but I’ve seen the name around Dreamviews more often than Uberman) in which every time they wake and every time they nap, they log their emotional state, body temperature, blood pressure, etc. Will you be taking any measures like those to test different aspects of the sleep schedule, or will you just be switching over to it for the sole purpose of using it?
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This is very interesting. I have a friend who is a hair stylist and always tells me I should try not to shampoo every day. She says she can go 4/5 days before needing to wash it. I go two days and I’m oily/greasy. I think because I have combination oily skin my hair gets oilier quicker. I think people who have drier skin could probably last longer (like my friend). I never connected the two b4 – sort of seems silly to me now. But it makes sense. When you exfoliate the skin you break down the skin’s natural barrier – the skin replenishes itself by producing more oil. My guess is that shampoo acts in much the same way. The more you shampoo the more your scalp is “activated” to replenish it’s barrier. If you are no longer striping it, production slows down. Taking super hot showers can also strip the skin of it’s barrier which again can rev up oil production. I wonder if you could actually go longer without shampooing by taking luke warm or even cold showers!
Anyway, very cool experiment! I hope I can try it out myself soon!

When I read your post, I thought it was an interesting experience I had to try.
So I’ve been taking water showers only since 3/24 (with soap on the armpits after an effort because they really reek).
The results are not as positive as what I read everywhere.
Here is what I am noticing after 1 week :
– Although I used to shampoo my hair every day, now that I stopped they are not that much greasy.
– Small pimples started to gradually invade my skin (ouch …).
– My private parts are starting to smell.
I think I am going to restart using soap, I will try to alternate 1 day with soap, 1 day without and see how it evolves.

Soap sure disturbs the skin’s balance, but it also makes the removal of dead skin cells and bacterias easier.

I haven’t used soap for about 15 years now, except when I moved back from Asia to Australia – a more wheat based diet, which makes my faeces a bit stickier than paper can handle (and no “bum gun” bidet here – oh I miss the feeling of cleanliness in Asia), so I use a little soap around my anus. I do use a pair of exfoliating gloves (like a loofah mitt) and scrub all over with those. I use one of those crystal deodorant rocks and have never had anyone comment negatively about my odour, hygiene or how my skin feels – even in intimate situations.
Haven’t tried the no shampoo thing though.

@Vlad Dolezal: yes of course I rubbed my skin with my hands and a wet towel. I showered exactly as I do with soap (but without soap hehe)
I just guess everybody doesn’t have the same skin

Supposedly you can use conditioner every few days instead of shampoo, and it will remove dirt and excess oil without upsetting the balance of natural moisturizing that the scalp will want to do. You could give that a shot.

I am interested to hear of your experiences.
I haven’t used soap or shampoo for years. I believe that the skin and scalp has a natural wax that protects it from weather and infection. Wild animals and birds do not wash. They preen and splash, roll and cover themselves with dust.
I remember hearing of a method of dog grooming with wet hands. Wet hands massage and stroke, removing lose hair etc. This works on the head. All my washing can be done with as little as half a pint of water. Preferably rainwater which is soft. This is very useful when traveling and I never experience the ‘can’t do anything with it’ and ‘greasy phase’ and only those moments in between when the hair was ‘manageable’. I combine it with a forward bend, head low for circulation and a good head massage. Good for the old brain!
My body is the same. I wash or bath frequently, using only my hands on my skin and sometimes a loofa or those defoliating gloves. Interestingly those gloves or loofa never get slimy; as do flannels that have been used with soap.
My intimate partner is very fastidious so is a perfect measure of my personal hygiene. He would tell me if I was smelly!
When I had small children, a Marocan friend showed me how to use the heel of the hand to rub the skin, the same method that is used in Turkish Baths and more expensive than having a soap treatment. The water would run off their skin rather like off a duck’s back.