Only Wash with Water?

Why would anyone want to do that? Why, for beautiful, shiny, strong, self-cleaning hair of course. Well, supposedly...

WHAT I"M DOING:
So I decided to start a 3 month experiment where I'm only going to wash my hair with water.

Why 3 months? In this article I read (which I talk about in the next paragraph), it took the lady a month for her scalp to adjust. But she had dry hair, and I have a super oily scalp. So, 3 months it is. I wrote a little bit about this in my intro message here:

Hey, My name's Jessica. This seems like a great place to learn how to take care of my hair since I'm trying to grow it out.
I also thought I'd join 'cause I'm trying an experiment on my hair where I'm only using water to wash it (now you think I'm crazy right?). I read this article about a lady who hadn't washed her hair for 11 yrs and supposedly it be came self-cleaning and beautiful so I thought why not try it? I don't mind looking like a bum in public so it shouldn't be too hard.
I was searching on this board to see if any one else had tried it, and I couldn't find anything so I thougth I'd start a thread to share my own experience. I think I'll put it in the alternative hair care section if you want to follow my experiment.
    Anyway, it's nice to meet everyone. From what I've read you guys seem friendly and helpful.

HOW IT WORKS:
So the logic behind this is we're sort of in a viscous cycle with our hair where we strip our hair of it's natural oil with shampoo. Then we use conditioner to imitate our natural oils. Well that seems sort of silly to me. I mean, sebum was made for our hair, so I'm sure it's good for us. But, you might be asking, won't that lead to nasty, dirty hair?
While the scalp is balancing out, the hair will probably be super greasy at first, and I'm sure that will attract dust and whatnot. But once that's done with, the sebum will actually create a slightly acidic environment that prevents most bad bacteria from being able to thrive while allowing the good ones to live. When we wash our bodies with soap, we may kill the bacteria that's on our skin for the moment. But bacteria is everywhere and it's soon back on our skin in no time. So our natural body oils are actually very important in keeping those bad bacteria at bay. That's why not shampooing the hair will actually make it cleaner!
Wooh, thanks for reading all that. Now... to the actual experiment.

THE EXPERIMENT:
So far I'm on day 9. I have really oily, straight, blonde hair. So I usually have to wash my hair every day if I don't want it looking oily. I don't use shampoo though, I've been using conditioner only to wash my hair for the past half-year (if you want to know how that works you can ask me, but I think this post's pretty damn long already).
I've been washing my hair in the shower everyother day with luke warm water and ending with cold. I've also been combing my hair with my horn-comb twice a day, massaging my scalp and using my fingers all to pull the oils down.
Needless to say my hair is pretty damn greasy. I wear it up, so it looks alright in public. The sebum's not all the way down my length yet(hair waist-length), so I've been lightly oiling the ends with cocnut oil when they feel dry so I can comb easier without ripping my hair out.
Oh, and the water here is medium-soft. I think that would be an issue cause when I lived wher there was hard water, it caused alot of build up in my hair, which I think would make it hard for someone trying to do water only washings with hard water.

That's it for now. If anyone else would like to join in, feel free. It would be interesting to see other's experiences (and what works and what doesn't).

Thanks for reading. Hope you found this at least somewhat intriguing.

Edited to add link to the article: http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30000-13291687,00.html
Sarsvati2007-04-17 13:41:47

So I'm on day..15 now.  Just going into week 3. My scalp hair is pretty much just as greasy as it's been since about day 3, but the oil is slowly moving down the length.

ON the days that I water wash my hair, my bangs and scalp look pretty good for half the day, only slightly oily. I saw a friend who I hadn't seen since starting this, and she couldn't even tell I hadn't washed (hair was up, but bangs were down).
IF I comb my hair after showering though, I brush the oil right back in 'cause my comb has so much sebum on it.

My length is getting so much softer. Especially the nape hair underneath, which usuially is coarse and tangly. After fingercombing my hair, I can comb through the whole length with a fine-toothed comb and not not have it tangle or rip. Woohoo!
OH and I pretty much have no more flyaways! I use to get a lot.

I feel like I'm kinda talkin to myself here, but oh well, I guess people don't post in this section alot.
Anyway, I found another interesting news article about a water only experiment.

If you're interested: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/femail/article.html?in_article_id=394226&in_page_id=1879

3 full weeks into it now.
I went surfing yesterday. My hair still felt soft afterward, and once it dried it looked like the day after a condition wash (which means good enough to wear down, but just barely).
The oily look now extends to 3in below the shoulder. But when I wring my hair out in the shower, it feels waxy-like all the way to the tips. That must mean all my hair is coated at least somewhat, whic hwould explain why it feels so soft now , woohoo!
Oh, and I've been getting a bunch of greasy lint stuck in my combs.
I pretty much have no flyaways now.
When ever I touch my hair my fingers feel oily. It also feels heavy when I touch it.

I'm still goin' strong and I have no intention of caving in.
On to week 4!....

your brave to be trying this. I would never be able to go more then 3 days without washing my hair. I feel like trying this experiment. well good luck . I hope you keep telling us about your experiment.

[QUOTE=lola32]your brave to be trying this. I would never be able to go more then 3 days without washing my hair. I feel like trying this experiment. well good luck . I hope you keep telling us about your experiment. [/QUOTE]

Thanks! And thanks for responding. It's good to know someone's interested. I'm not so brave - I was already used to my hair looking greasy half the time, 'cause I was trying to stretch out washing times. Plus there's not cute guys in my classes right now, so it's the perfet time!

Hey, if you do end up trying this too you should post your experiences here. It'd be helpful to see what works for others, since I don't really know what I'm doing right now.

Thanks for the encouragement

On the days I don't water wash my hair, it looks horribly piecey and greasy. Nasty. I look like a greaser if I comb it straight back .
I'm starting to get worried about pulling my hair out because when I rinse it I pull on it for about a minute straight to move the sebum down. And I also pull the oils down once or twice  a day before combing. Afterwards my scalp at the back of my part feels sore.
I might just be paranoid though because in reality I'm only losing ~30-40 hairs a day. And it would porbably be less than that If I didn't get impatient while brushing sometimes and rip through some of the hairs. Not counting the hairs I rip out, I'm losing ~20-30 a day.
That's not bad. So, we'll see...

I'm shocked! Sarsvati2007-04-21 12:36:06

4 weeks today.

I probably should've combed and rinsed my hair yesterday. because just leaving it, it only stayed nice about half the day.

It looked real nice today after rinsing it.  Icould've worn it down and it would've looked normal.

My hair has been a couple shades darker since starting this. Sometimes I think it looks dull, other times I think it suites me and looks nice. I don't know what the hell I think.

I 've decided to only comb my hair once a day now, before bed. I don't want to be pulling my hair out with too much combing.

Sometimes I'll go to put my hair in a braid and be shocked by the softness. I'll have to run my fingers through it for a bit.

I got pretty excited the other day when I measured my hair, which usually grows 1/2" per month, and found out it had grown almost 1/2" in just 2 weeks! I had gotten my hair cut  2 weeks ago, so eirther the growth's because of that or this experiment. 'cause I haven't done anything else different. I think it's probably from all the scalp stimulation of the brushing.

That's it for now.  Feel free to post in here if you have something to say.

2 things I realized I've forgotten to mention:

Minor setback: I went to get my hair cut last wednesday, and it was store policy that they shampoo your hair beforehand (hygenic reasons or some bull$**). So  I let the lady shampoo since she really seemed to know what she was doing and exactly what  I wanted. So I have to start over. And after a whole month! damn
What I noticed after the shamp: my scalp hair felt light, airy and silky, not heavy anymore. The ends felt silky too, but it was drying to run my fingers through them. and the sunbleached parts were dry and tangly again. Before, my ends felt soft and silky, but it was similar so running your fingers over a very soft and smooth candle: it was moisturizing, not drying. Bad anagoly, but its hard to explain. The length also felt much stronger and protected before, now it feels fragile and exposed. Basically, the length was much better off beforehand in every way. And the scalp felt better after the 'poo (except I did notice that my head got colder more easily after the 'poo).
Now it's day 4. Yesterday it had started to look oily, but still felt light and freshly 'pood. this morning it looks freshly pood (which is amazing considering my oily history), but it is just starting to get some of that weight back.

I'm going to stop posting my progress. There doesn't seem to be much interest, so I figure one more post at the end of the 3 months should be enough.
So, see you then...
Sarsvati2007-04-29 14:10:27

I just wanted to popo (lol, i meant to write pop) in and say that doing it this time around with bangs makes it so much easier! I shampoo the bangs, so I can get away with wearing it down and not looking greasy at least part of the day I  rinse.
 And my hair is adjusting more quikly this time around.
Sarsvati2007-05-08 13:43:10

This is an interesting experiment.. I am curious to see how it turns out.. Divavocals2007-05-10 19:16:37

 Why are you cutting your hair? How does your hair smell?

[QUOTE=MSHONEY]I think water washing is a more natural way, the way God intended for us to care for our hair but I think our chlorinated water makes it harder to do. I think natural water like lake,well etc. has some type of properties made to cleanse our hair and bodies. Have you ever noticed how soft your hair and skin feels after you've swam in a lake or river? They have a silky feel to them. [/QUOTE] ITA.. A water filter helps.. I have a shower filter to help keep the city chemicals off of my skin and hair.. Someday the hubby & I want to invest in a home filtration and water softener system for the house..

ONE DAY MY HUSBAND WILL INSTALL THE WHOLE HOUSE FILTER I BOUGHT THREE YEARS AGO!! I want a water softener system too. They're about $400 up at home depot.

Wow, I decide to stop posting and suddenly I get some replies!  That cracks me up.

DivaV- I'll definitely let you know.

MSHoney-
[Quote=MSH]Why are you cutting your hair? How does your hair smell?[/Quote]
I should've specified- I didn't cut all my hair, just my bangs which were half grown out. Still waistlength!
Personally, I've not noticed a smell. I asked my sister and a couple of my friends to smell my hair, and they've all said it has a "hair" smell to it. You know how the scalp smells a day after washing if you get your nose right up in there? That smell. I wouldn't say it's good or bad, it just smells like hair, and they all seemed to have that impression too.

[Quote=MSH]I water washed my hair for a week and it did feel and look better. I have/had dry hair especially before I cut it all off. When I water only wash it I notice that I don't need to add oils or mosturizers to my hair.[/Quote]
I'm sorry you had to cut it all off! That sucks.  I'm surprised you experimented with this too though. That's awesome. Do you have any tips? It sounds like water only was working for you. Why'd you stop? (Actually I can imagine it would be hard to get used to something so out there right away. I sort of eased into it by stretching out CO washes, so I was already used to greasy hair). Do you think you'll try it again?
My hair definitely feels stronger and more moisturized with WO too. And just last weekend (when I was 2 1/2 weeks into it) a couple of my friends who knew I was doing WO asked me if I was still doing it didn't look like it was greasy. woohoo! I had just water washed my hair that day and 'pooed the bangs.

[Quote=MSH] I think water washing is a more natural way, the way God intended for us to care for our hair but I think our chlorinated water makes it harder to do. I think natural water like lake,well etc. has some type of properties made to cleanse our hair and bodies. Have you ever noticed how soft your hair and skin feels after you've swam in a lake or river? They have a silky feel to them.

  I had to cut my hair because it was super dry which caused breakage making it super short in areas( especially the sides and very back of my head ) because of hormonal stuff, I have PCOS. Plus after decades of relaxing my hair I wanted to see what my REAL hair looked like. It's curly and wavy but I'm still having issues with the sides and back, poofy and bushy because of the dryness. I'm trying to get it healthy like the rest of my hair.

Well  I hope you find a hair routine that works for you. Even if you don't go WO completely, I'm sure stretching out the washing times will help your dry hair immensely.
If you get a filter and start doing that, I hope you'll let me know how it works out.

So I went swimming in the ocean last saturday. Even though I rinsed my hair before I got in, it felt really sticky when I rinsed it right afterward. It continued to feel sticky (like there was alot of build up) for a couple days. I didn't even want ot comb it cause it was too sticky and i didn't want to rip it. So sun. and mon. I just rinsed it, trying to get the build up out. I helped enough to be able to comb. After 2 more days of combing (and alot of gunky build up on my combs) and 2 acid-rinses, it was finally soft and shiny again. After 4 days!

Hi Sarsvati. Do you think the ocean water caused the stickiness, maybe the high salt content or seaweed in the water nearby. Have you tried oatmeal (not the instant stuff) to remove some of the oil in your hair. You supposedly take some of it (dry out the box) and rub it through your hair. Let's search here and the web to see if we can find some info on it.

Well the water I went swimming in is somewhat polluted, which is why I thought the stickiness was build up of whatever gunk was in there. The reason I don't think it was salt is because salt is water soluble, so that should rinse out just fine with water. The acid rinses (I put some lemon in distilled water) and the combings did the trick, and my hair is back to normal. 

SO I had to start over again. And I had gone 2 1/2 months!I had to 'poo cause I did a week long fasting retreat and one of the ways you get rid of toxins is through your scalp and some of those toxins are fat soluble and don't wash out with just water. woo, I gotta say my hair smelt HORRIBLE during that week. I was relieved to find out it was from all of those toxins and that's not how hair normally smells with only water. But my sister did say that every now and then I would walk by her and she'd get a whiff of "dirty hair". But that may just be because I would let it get greasy when I was just hanging around the house. When I would go out i would comb it and wash it first so I wasn't greasy looking and hopefully not smelly either. I had to wash my hair 3 times total because while I was out in utah visiting my dad I went ot a pool twice and had to shampoo the chlorine out. So now I'm on day 3. Washing reminded me of the 3 things I missed about shampooing - having pretty smelling hair, not having to worry about if my hair is going to look greasy or presentable the next day or even that evening. and not having oily fingers whenever I touched my scalp. That didn't bug me so much, but I knew noone else would be able to touch the hair by my scalp and not be grossed out. I did buy some amber scented perfume oil to rub in my hair. but I wouldn't be able to put that on the scalp, just the ends. Sarsvati2007-07-16 13:35:34

I rinsed my hair last night and today it looks freshly washed. And since I've been oiling the ends and not washing it, it's starting to feel real soft and look shiny again.
So even if I do go back to washing, I'm definitely going ot stretch out my washings alot.

has your hair grown faster using this water only test? i am curious. i think i might give this a go, my hair is damaged from chemicals and  nothing i have tried will give my hair the moisture it needs so badly except for at the crown  where my natural oils are. I have had a serious trim to try and remove  the left over bad parts but miss the  hair length i once had..