Man shows the health of his hair and scalp after not using any shampoo for 7 years
Man shows the health of his hair and scalp after not using any shampoo for 7 years
In summary: He stopped washing his hair with any products and started using just cold water, in an effort to help with his dandruff problem. Overall seems to have worked for him. Seemed mildly interesting to me.
Not actually NSFW, but I tagged it because the thumbnail is a close-up of some pretty severe dandruff, and there's a few seconds of video in the middle where he shows the condition of his scalp before quitting shampoo. Just thought I'd mention, in case that makes you squeamish.
So admittedly I haven't watched the video.
But it sounds like this guy has a sensitivity to SLS - Sodium Lauryl Sulfate. It's a cleaning agent in a lot of shampoos that can lead to skin dryness and irritation - aka it can cause dandruff.
Cutting out that chemical by not shampooing anymore would help... but also these days most (more expensive) shampoos have dropped SLS as an ingredient because it's a skin irritant for most people. So he probably could have just switched to a different shampoo.
If I remember correctly, SLS contributes to a good lather: the shampoo getting foamy so it's easy to spread around your whole head/all your hair if it's long. So SLS-free shampoos are a bit less foamy. My hairdresser recommended that, on wash days, I shampoo twice with my SLS-free shampoo to get a more thorough clean. However, I do not wash daily; I wash my hair every 3-5 days depending on how much I've exercised and whether I'm home or in the office on days 4/5.
He says he was using Head & Shoulders prior to going water-only. I'm not sure if H&S has SLS or not, but I've not known H&S to lather up that well, so I would assume it probably doesn't.
Google tells me yes H&S does use SLS in the US, confirmed here On their US website
I did see a Reddit thread as a search result that says H&S dropped SLS as an ingredient in Europe - the thread was from 11 months ago, but I also didn't open it to check the details. And I haven't watched the video so I don't know what region this guy is in.
Edit: rechecked the post and it looks like this guy stopped shampooing 7 years ago (so before H&S dropped SLS in Europe.) From my memory as a long-haired woman/regular consumer of haircare products, I would say concern over SLS started within the last 10 years. So potentially this guy in the video was making his decision to stop washing right around the time the industry was becoming aware of the risks of this ingredient. But again, that's all conjecture based on my experience as a mildly informed consumer of haircare products lol
SLS also makes toothpaste foam, but gives dinner people canker sores. It's in most toothpastes.
I don't use schampo, just wash my hair with water. Is this very uncommon and everyone uses shampoo frequently?
I wonder how many people need that and how many just do it because that's what they started doing.
As he points out in the video, people that use shampoo regularly will quickly get very greasy hair if they don't wash their hair with shampoo in a while. In my experience, it's directly related to how often you use shampoo- I only use shampoo about twice a week now, and my hair gets less greasy than it used to when I used shampoo more often.
Occasionally I have tried doing this, but it never ends well for me. My hair doesn't get crazy greasy if I don't wash it every day, but I do develop a lot of dandruff if I skip washing days too often. I have the opposite pattern of the person in the video. Reducing the number of shampoo sessions I get without fail causes me to develop dandruff.
Also, this past year I have picked up running. If I didn't wash my hair after my runs, I'd probably smell disgusting in no time.
I don't think there's a one size fits all solution for everyone in these sorts of things.
I'm not a doctor, but something just hit me.
We use soap when washing to remove debris and microbes from our skin, largely to prevent infection and illness.
Presumably, the same idea is applied to hair. However, a single strand of hair has an absolute crap load of nooks and crannies for microbes to live in.
Sebum, the waxy substance that makes our hair and skin "oily" is a defense mechanism against microbes by creating a sealed surface (though some types break it down and create odors). Soaps denaturize this substance, and then rinsing it off removes this protection.
This sort of says to me that this guy also highlighted a question of mine I've wondered. Without a specific need to disinfect hair, or remove the built up odor, why the fuck would we want to destroy that wax we evolved to protect our hair?
So unlike hand soaps etc, shampoo is not trying to sanitize your hair. Washing is to remove dirt and grease, not necessarily kill microbes.
Yes sebum is beneficial to the scalp. And yes stripping too much sebum from the skin (washing too often) can lead to dryness and irritation and dandruff symptoms.
But dandruff can also be caused by fungus and bacteria, see the "Causes - > Microorganisms" section of the Dandruff Wikipedia article. The fungus mentioned here specifically feeds on sebum, so not washing enough to remove that sebum can cause that fungus to thrive.
So yes washing too much can cause dandruff, but so can not washing enough (I linked this interview with a dermatologist in another comment, they say the same thing here.)
There isn't a one-size-fits-all answer here. But doctors do recommend washing your hair regularly - how regularly depends on a variety of factors.
Fungus. I hate fungus. I know we need it for antibacterial purposes and for trees to even survive, but did it have to be gross.
That's how it works. There's another layer to it though. We have symbiotic relationships with microbes and bacteria that live on our skin and in our pores. They swim around in the oil and they eat our dead skin and they manage all the stuff on our skin. When a foreign pathogen or microbe shows up not only do they have to make their way through all the protective oily waxing stuff but they also have to fight our little army on our skin before it ever even gets to us. By using soap you're killing everyone on your skin and removing everything leaving your bare skin with zero defense. We evolved to have the oils and the bugs on our skin and it's a great system. I'm pretty sure soap salesman just started making up lies in the Victorian era and beyond and everyone believed it an internalized it.
Jesus Christ the uninformed comments in this thread. Are you seriously saying soap is bad?
You do understand the benefit of removing viruses from your hands, right?
Washing with soap and water is one of the key public health practices that can significantly slow the rate of a pandemic and limit the number of infections, preventing a disastrous overburdening of hospitals and clinics. Source
I can only hope you were only trying to reference scalp care rather than the benefits of soap as a whole.
But either way you're wrong.
You are correct about how our skin has these natural defenses that are much more sophisticated than most people are aware of, but semi-regular hygiene is still important to clear off the debris left behind by this ecosystem, as has been known for some thousands of years. Once every couple days to a week is ideal for most people depending on factors such as humidity and personal biology.
Exposure to "everyday contagions" can greatly strengthen the immune system without making us sick as well, but not always, and the behavior of primates and young children eating their little green nose warriors is actually believed to have evolved for this benefit. Exposure has become more of an issue as civilization has grown in size though, and contagious diseases are being spread simultaneously from multiple points in the global population with more opportunities to find their way into that circle.
If you have a lifestyle that involves regular contact with other people, you may want to be washing your hands frequently.
I use shampoo very rarely these days and just wash with conditioner once or twice a week. It's amazing that people were convinced to use shampoo and all the after-products in the first place. I suppose it's like the "most important meal of the day" nonsense with cereal - advertising with a bit of social dynamics and zero science behind it.
Co-washing only (washing with conditioner and skipping shampoo) is highly recommended for folks with extremely curly hair.
I tried it with my largely straight and thin hair and it was a disaster for me. But different hair textures require different solutions.
Re: "all the after-products" Again, different hair types require different solutions. A heat protectant product (applied on damp hair after washing and before drying and styling) is really important if you're using heated styling tools for straightening or curling your hair. Even moreso if you're also coloring your hair, which can make your hair more susceptible to heat-based damage. Additionally, for certain hair types and cuts, styling products are absolutely necessary to achieve the look you're going for. My hair won't hold a curl without adding product to it before styling.
As I say on another comment on this thread, my hairdresser does recommend that I shampoo twice on wash days to ensure I remove all the dirt/grease/styling product. Shampooing once (with my SLS-free shampoo) wasn't getting my hair clean enough.
So yes, including after-care products in your routine may necessitate different cleaning steps compared to someone who isn't using the same products. But again, what you are doing with your hair and the type of hair you have also influences the types of products that are valuable for you to use (shampoo, conditioner, and aftercare.)
All that said, claiming that haircare is all advertising "with a bit of social dynamics and zero science behind it" is misleading, uninformed, and incorrect. 😘
Since you sound like you want science, here's an interview with a doctor of dermatology.
I have met two people who used water only on their hair, never washing just rinsing, no conditioner no products. Both had the same sort of hair, curly, fine textured (thin individual hairs) medium density and they did fine. Their hair looked great.
My hair looks exponentially better weighed down with conditioner and with some styling gel, and I honestly enjoy styling it, so I wash mine. Same with skincare, I had to avoid everything but water for awhile in my 20s (got sensitized) and my face didn't like that either, but was happy once I could moisturize it and wash it without it freaking out (thank you CeraVe soap that is not soap). Now I have a good routine and it's maintaining so well.
Mostly just wanted to say yes I know some water only no waste individuals and they don't stink and look normal, you wouldn't know to look at them, water is enough to clean them.
Personally, I don't use shampoo. I find that scrubbing my head and hair using my hands while in the shower is more than sufficient to clean it. Personally, though, I do still want some hair product just for its perfume, though I haven't found a satisfactory product yet.
What about a conditioner? Not sure if that would make your hair too oily if you aren't shampooing beforehand, but I imagine a good rinsing should be enough to keep it from getting uncontrollably greasy, and could also add a bit of fragrance.
What about a conditioner?
Yeah, potentially. I honestly just haven't taken a moment to research an appropriate product, yet. So, if you have any recommendations, I would appreciate them 😊
Seems like longer hair somehow does better with this. With shorter hair it seems to build up gunk on the scalp quickly and the hair doesn't wick it away at all. All for people giving this a try. I dropped antiperspirant and stunk like terrible for two weeks doing so. I no longer have any odor issues and just use a 'natural' deodorant with charcoal in it and no antiperspirant and after years of itchy armpits I wish I had done it sooner. That being said, with short hair I feel and smell So much better with a bit of cheap shampoo and it takes all of 15sec to wash my hair. Not something I have any interest in skipping and long hair is just a hassle in general imo.