My year shampoo free

One year, 12 months, 365 days.
How many products do you buy in this amount of time? 
Let's do some math:
Personally, a 300 ml bottle of shampoo would normally have lasted me on average one month making it a 12-bottles buy every single year. I am 27, so over my life I would have bought 324 bottles..(Okay, unrealistic if you count my toddler years, but you get the gists).
A quick online search showed me that I was not the only one using quite considerable amounts of shampoo, and resulted in finding that the average person would buy 8 bottles of shampoo a year. You do your maths. 

First of all, think of all the money spent on shampoo (assuming medium quality shampoo
costs around £3-4 per bottle, buying 8-12 bottles would mean a £30-40 per year spend
just on one product, just saying...). 
Secondly, and perhaps most important, think of all the bottles going to waste! 

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Let's make the math easy and consider 10 bottles per person every year, that makes it 300 + per year just in your university class or school class, multiply that for all the school or uni, or office, multiply that for all the school and universities and offices in your city, country and you will realise just how big the waste is!

So what can we do?

First of all if you have any shampoo bottles left in your house, you can start by making sure those are recycled properly (rinsed, cap separated from bottle if they are made of different materials).

Another choice, that doesn't require too much of a lifestyle change is solid shampoos: they tend to last longer, they don't have any plastic but..there is a catch! Many of them still contain chemicals such as Sodium Lauryl Sulphate, which is a probable carcinogen... your choice but not for me thanks!
 
Another option, popular with many going no-poo is DIY: there are many "recipes" out there to make your own, with trial and error depending on your hair type, from bicarbonate based, to vinegar, camomille tea.. but they require time and preparation. And as I said, trial and error, which may make you end up with a very bad hair day. Make sure to try at the weekend or invest in a good hat....just kidding!

The third option, which is my personal choice is...well...NOTHING!
I am going to let you in on a little secret: I can be lazy at times. Well, I also have a very busy life, like many of you, so no, I don't have time to make tea and let it cool down before a shower. When I am lucky to have shower time, these days is  a 10 min max, in and out. Which is another reason why I love my shampoo-free choice!

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In all honesty, my shampoo free experience all started as a bit of a mistake:
I ran out of shampoo and had no time to buy a bottle between
uni and swimming for a few days in a row...
so I started rinsing them with warm water after my swimming sessions
and i noticed they were no different than if I washed with shampoo.
So i decided, this time actively, to go away on a surf trip weekend
without any shampoo and see. Perhaps the seawater helped, but after
4 days of surfing and only rinsing afterwards my hair were great.
I continued my journey, and rinsing after rinsing I decided to
ditch the shampoo in the long run. Nobody noticed, people look at me
in disbelief when I tell them, and most recently my boyfriend smelled
them and said "but if you don't use shampoo how come they don't smell?". Yes people, nature is amazing and my scalp is cleaning itself out, no
excess oil - which makes sense, if you don't strip them of their natural oil with shampoo or other methods, the scalp will not produce more oil to compensate!
And best of all - no more dermatitis and scalp flakes! And less hair loss!

Good tips:

- Scalp massages are great, both in the shower if you have time, or before/after, in the evening..whenever! They will improve circulation and move some of the natural oil down the length of the hair, so if you have long hair you won't have to worry about those dry ends

- Some oil on the ends if you have longer hair may be needed. I try to use less products as possible, which means no conditioner either, but once a week or every two weeks I add some coconut oil on the ends overnight before a morning shower. Be careful not to overdue it. You can add some essential oils of your like to the coconut oil as the oil tends to smell a little. 

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