Dry shampoo

Beginning no poo is hard.  It does get better though.  Its important to wait at least four full days between BS washes though, and remember to always use your vinegar rinse after BS.

Your hair is behaving the way you trained it.  If you were washing more frequently, you trained it to produce sebum more frequently.  If you can get through the oily days you'll train your scalp to realize it doesn't need to produce as much sebum because it isn't being stripped as frequently and the sebum production WILL slow down.

As well, if you're brushing with a BBB or bamboo comb, and scritching, massaging & preening (see files), you'll be moving the sebum from your scalp and down the length of your hair and hydrating your hair with your natural sebum.  This is by far the best way to handle too much sebum.  Using a dry shampoo is great if you have a big event or if you're dying to wash and just want to wait one more day to stretch your washing out past the 4 days, but understand that using a dry shampoo is equivalent to washing because it absorbs sebum (removing it).

Use a dry shampoo with caution at this early stage (in a salt shaker is easiest to apply to the toots) but keep some handy for those special occasions :)

Just like fingerprints, everybody's hair is different.  As women, our hormones fluctuate daily, our food intake and the weather, temperature and humidity all fluctuate hourly - all of this affects your hair.  We have to figure out what our hair likes ON it, when, and how much to make this no poo thing work.  We also need to recognize that our ends may have different needs that our scalp and adjust accordingly.

When you consider that in the 1800s a bath was a luxury.  Brushing ones' hair, keeping it braided, in a bun and most times covered were the norm.  It wasn't until the 1800s that we started getting creative with styling methods and likewise, brainwashed through marketing.

Having said that, what we think feels "dirty" or "looks oily" is really a socially constructed concept of beauty. 

As Queen Elsa says "Let it Go... " The oil never bothered me anyway

I'm kidding about breaking into song, but seriously, the lifestyle choice we make to go no poo comes with the responsibility that we have to pay attention to our hair's needs.  We use hand lotion... Likewise, we need to deep condition our hair - that's the responsibly part - listening to our hair's needs and fulfilling them so our hair can be fantastic and fabulous!

In the meantime, like the chicks in the 1800, brushing is a cleansing practice - no matter what wash method we use, and remember... washing less will train our scalp to produce less oil - a proven fact!