[Sombra]

Well my verdict is, it's too expensive for a large family, as you have to use too much to move it through the amount of hair we have (I have boys with long hair) and yes, it does not remove enough of the natural oils for my liking.. if I'm going to clean my hair.. it's not dirt and dust I want out.. the water alone can do that.. it's the oils in my hair. My hair is very thick and I can feel it right now. I washed with soapnuts the last two times.. yesterday was the most recent, and my hair is thick and heavy with oil.. not greasy.. it doesn't have that wet look, but I can feel the heavyness. So even with LOTS of the soapnuts shampoo, I don't like the outcome.

As for clothes washing... sorry - my diapers are all mustard stained. The soapnuts did not remove the stains. and as for washing dirty panties (that have been pooped in).. well, again, there are stains - I can't tell if they are new stains or old.. but maybe there is less smell than with my old detergent. But my supplier has gone out of business.. so it's a mute point now.

[kbl]

Sombra, on Sep 21 2008, 10:34 PM, said:

Well my verdict is, it's too expensive for a large family, as you have to use too much to move it through the amount of hair we have (I have boys with long hair) and yes, it does not remove enough of the natural oils for my liking.. if I'm going to clean my hair.. it's not dirt and dust I want out.. the water alone can do that.. it's the oils in my hair. My hair is very thick and I can feel it right now. I washed with soapnuts the last two times.. yesterday was the most recent, and my hair is thick and heavy with oil.. not greasy.. it doesn't have that wet look, but I can feel the heavyness. So even with LOTS of the soapnuts shampoo, I don't like the outcome.

As for clothes washing... sorry - my diapers are all mustard stained. The soapnuts did not remove the stains. and as for washing dirty panties (that have been pooped in).. well, again, there are stains - I can't tell if they are new stains or old.. but maybe there is less smell than with my old detergent. But my supplier has gone out of business.. so it's a mute point now.

Thanks for your reply. It helps to know anothers experience. I am working on a project that will be presented to the public, and not everyone has hair like mine.
The company I had purchased my soapnuts from did say that it would not remove stains, but hey, most natural detergent doesn't either, so I was not to concerned about it.
Perhaps you will find something better. I have yet to get the chance to study saponins in my area, so who knows what I will discover next. =)

[kbl]

Okay, just to give a review on soapnuts for shampoo.
You ladies may have long since grown bored with this topic. However, I like to keep it going with any new updates or discoveries because I was blessed to be able to follow someone else's thread (somewhere else)for a long time seeing the results that helped me decide to do this in the first place.

So here is the review:
It actually made my hair oily. I made some shampoo from my soapnuts according to the directions that came with them. I used it for awhile (about a month) to get a fair result. I had to use other shampoo once a week to cut the oily buildup.
For me, plain water works the best. I use a tiny dab of shampoo once a month or so only on the crown of my head. I have never been so pleased with my hair.

It seems weather you have thick straight hair (Sombra)or wavy fine hair (Me), soapnuts does not work as a shampoo!

[Prvbs31Mama]

I've been slowly phasing out hair washing...lol I'm down to once a week but have been using ordinary shampoo....I would love to get to a no chemical state though...what do you all use to wash your body? I have norwex body cloths but haven't used them for any length of time to see if it's worthwhile...

[kbl]

Here is my final update and maybe a little vent.

I have been doing this since march 2008.
I have really liked my soft curls that stay in place. I did not like my hair going frizzy and wild after doing the occasional deep cleansing.
With all the wonderful positive results, I have discovered one big problem. I seem to be more prone to split ends.
I do not color, tease, hot curl or blow-dry my hair, so I can not attribute it to any of those things.
I have been growing my hair out to one length for years in the back (I cut the bangs and sides short every month).
I now have hair sticking out everywhere from top to bottom. I thought, oh this is new growth, yippee. After closer examination,
I found it was split ends, broken and tweaked.

I will not rule out 'no shampooing' completely. It may have something to do with my hard well water. I especially notice a difference
in the winter when the water level changes, so that may have something to do with it. I will go with once a week shampooing for now
and maybe try it again in the future with a different water supply. For now I have to find a good stylist to cut my hair in cute layers to
stop the receding of the split ends. I am trying to convince myself that it will be cute and that I will like it, instead of crying that
my hair is gone and my time is wasted.

So while it seemed a very good long term option, it had some bad effects for me. For those of you who cut your hair frequently, split ends should not be a problem.

This post has been edited by kbl: 01 December 2009 - 07:24 PM

[bydesign]

My oldest daughter has been 'poo free for some time now. Several months, but less than a year.

Her hair was extremely oily, she had to wash it twice a day when she was using shampoo.

After the detox, she went to just washing with a bit of baking soda in water about twice a week. And now her hair isn't oily any more. I guess it was the shampoo making her scalp secrete all that oil. And the shampoo caused dirt to stick to her hair, too. Also, after 20 years of thinking she had straight hair, she found she has nice wavy hair.

I may try it. I'm worried about the split ends. I would try to keep the baking soda off the strands and just on the scalp.

[kbl]

bydesign, on 02 December 2009 - 05:01 PM, said:

My oldest daughter has been 'poo free for some time now. Several months, but less than a year.

Her hair was extremely oily, she had to wash it twice a day when she was using shampoo.

After the detox, she went to just washing with a bit of baking soda in water about twice a week. And now her hair isn't oily any more. I guess it was the shampoo making her scalp secrete all that oil. And the shampoo caused dirt to stick to her hair, too. Also, after 20 years of thinking she had straight hair, she found she has nice wavy hair.

I may try it. I'm worried about the split ends. I would try to keep the baking soda off the strands and just on the scalp.

The difference without shampoo is indeed wonderful. And yes, it is the shampoo causing the increase of oil production.
I never used the baking soda. I read that it can cause breakage if you do it too much because it alters the ph balance.
Maybe your daughter is using it just right in regards to frequency and amount.
Does she have split ends?
I have been washing my hair once a week for the last three weeks. Ugh! I don't like how it looks and feels. Even though I put coconut oil in it and did a vo5 hot oil treatment, it is still dry and rough. I really need to find another way of doing this because I will not go back to daily or EOD shampooing. And I certainly do not want to buy all those expensive products to make my hair look like it did while no pooing. Not only is it a poor use of money, but I don't want all the chemicals.
I spoke with a stylist friend last night and she agreed that I needed to chop my hair, so today I will do it.
I have almost convinced myself that I want it cut short in layers. It is a little easier to take when you really know you need to do it.

[kbl]

By the way,
I am still doing this.
I decided that I over reacted about the split ends. It is unusual to go that long not even trimming your hair.
I purchased a boars-hair brush and have found that it distributes the minimal oil nicely, but it probably had something to do with the split ends as well.
I still use the brush but, I just am more gentle with it now.

I also finally tried baking soda and vinegar. Can't say it thrilled me. I can see the reason people like it though. However, I get nearly the same results with the water washing (each shower) and a dime size amount of shampoo at the crown once a week.

This is crazy, but I also tried dirt...mud. The curls were amazing! I had a very difficult time washing the itty bitty granules out though. I could not stand the grit on my scalp so I did a full wash later that day. I will try again someday with a different type of dirt, perhaps clay. I will be trying rainwater next, finally. Our water is hard.

I will be continuing this thread on my webpage www.homesteadhygiene.com

This post has been edited by kbl: 22 July 2011 - 06:04 PM

[bydesign]

I have stopped using shampoo. I don't even know how long it has been. Maybe 9 months now?

It took nearly a month for my hair to stop being greasy looking. Now, I love it. I use a bit of baking soda dissolved in water in a squirt bottle about a once a week. Otherwise I just use water.