​Hey Everyone!

Today I am making Cedar Hill Homestead’s first blog post to begin a series on the “no-poo” method and our hair care products. I’m going to break down the process of switching to the “no-poo” method and using truly natural products. You might be using natural shampoos and conditioners at home and that's lovely, but there is a difference between truly plant-based and just naturally derived ingredients. We're going to get into all of it!

I'm going to start by explaining the “no-poo” method and then talk about our products. We have an IGTV video about switching to our hair products, I just feel like there are some things missing because we still get a lot of questions after folks watch the video. So, I really hope that this clears some things up! I will say that before sitting down to write this post, I had no idea that people were unaware of the transition process to “no-poo” and the fact that our products are not a substitute for shampoo and conditioner. 

The “no-poo” method is very different from the “normal” hair routine of using shampoo and conditioner. The goal of the “no-poo” method is to actually use nothing but water on your hair. For some people that sounds gross. It especially sounds gross when you think, “But my hair is dirty”, or “I sweat”, or what have you. I'm with you on that. I do trust my hair's natural process at this point, and I think that I probably could use nothing, but I really like using our rinse. I like adding things to my hair. Still, the true goal for a lot of people with “no-poo” is just water. It sounds wacky now but, once you switch over to using something like our hair rinse, your natural hair texture and sebum production achieves a homeostatic state and you probably wouldn't think a water-only hair care routine is that far-fetched. Your hair will naturally produce the oils that are needed to keep things moisturized, healthy, shiny, and strong.

With the transition period and the day-to-day implementation, this method might not be a great fit for everyone. Not because it won’t work, but because it’s different. 

The “no-poo” method is for you if…

• you are interested in a minimal hair care routine, 

• you are interested in growing your hair strengthening your hair, 

• you feel like you can't find the right hair products for you,

• you're just on that natural path of wanting to regulate and support the natural systems of the body, 

• and you care a lot about our planet and you don't want to be putting things down your drain that are then going back into your drinking water.

That last one is a big one for me. All the stuff that's in conventional shampoos and conditioners is not reef safe or safe to wash off when you go swimming in a river or canoeing. Think about that in your drinking water. Yuck. 

The “no-poo” method is not for you if…

• you are not down with a transition period, 

• you definitely can't go a couple weeks with your hair trying to rebalance its sebum production and maybe looking a little greasy, 

• and you absolutely need to have that super slick feeling and look. You know what I’m talking about, that conditioner-commercial, hair-flip hair. 

We’ll go in-depth about what to expect for the transition period a bit later; but, just like switching to natural deodorant, it tends to get worse before it gets better. It’s going to take some time to “ask your hair for forgiveness” as I like to phrase it. Your body has been thrown off for years, or maybe even your whole life depending on how long you've been using shampoo and conditioner. Shampoos and conditioners haven’t actually been moisturizing or strengthening your hair. Conditioner utilizes conditioning agents that are only coating the strands of your hair to give it that detangled, slick, loose feeling. There are some products we'll talk about that can give you something similar, but we are working on returning to our hair's natural texture and supporting that.

So, I'm sorry, but not many people's natural texture is that slick, shiny, separated hair. I do know there are a lot of folks out there with naturally straight hair and some folks whose natural straight, fine hair texture does have that slick feeling. Reality is, a lot of people with pin-straight hair don’t have the slick texture. Even if you’ve historically had silky locks, you might just think that it’s your natural texture because of the products that you've been using. Personally, I think hair looks better with some texture, but I know that's not some people's flavor. If it’s not yours, odds are the “no-poo” method probably isn’t for you and that's fine! Better to find out now. 

If you feel intrigued, keep an eye out for Part 2 where I dive into my personal hair care journey away from conventional products and care.