Day Eight: Sayonara Shampoo

When I was hanging out on the TalkPsoriasis discussion board yesterday (because I do fun things like that in my spare time), I asked the other members of the group about scalp psoriasis.

I used to suffer from it in a bad way back in the day, but it went away for years without a peep.

And then of course, it reappears randomly, about six months ago during a bad flare-up.

I tried a bunch of coal tar and salicylic acid over the counter shampoos, a few natural, organic type products, and pretty much just gave up when nothing seemed to make it budge.

I hate using ointments and creams in my hair too; so messy and sticky and greasy and just ugh. It sucks. So that was kinda my last resort.

But apparently, I wasn’t at my last resort, I was just in the ‘putting up with it’ phase, because I’ve pretty much let it go unchecked for months now. However, that’s not ideal. I don’t enjoy having an itchy dandruff-esque head. I’d rather just concern myself with having pretty, bouncy, shiny beautiful hair, thankyouverymuch.

So, I asked the TalkPsoriasis bunch. What did they think had triggered my scalp psoriasis, and what could I do about it?

Lanie, a contributor to the discussion board mentioned her method of calming her scalp psoriasis; no-poo.

No-poo, as in no shampoo.

When her scalp is flaring, she switches out her normal sulfate-free shampoo and conditioner for a concoction of household items that soothes and clears her scalp.

Well, what have a got to lose right?

I tried Lanie’s no-poo recipe last night to wash my hair, and while it’s early days, my hair surprisingly doesn’t smell like vinegar, isn’t greasy and is actually kind of amazing.

It’s shiny, smooth and soft. Uh, that wasn’t meant to happen. (But it turns out apple cider vinegar is great for getting rid of residue in your hair and restoring the natural shine – so I shouldn’t have been so surprised!)

My scalp feels OK – it’s probably a little too soon to tell, but wow, my hair feels awesome!

If this is what no-poo can do after one wash, what have I been doing wasting money on fancy schmancy shampoo all these years?

Here’s Lanie’s recipe:

2 tablespoons of Baking Soda in a cup of water (pour that over and massage it in, leaving it on for a few moments)

1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar in two cups of water (pour that over and massage it in, leave it on for a few too)

Then rinse it all out with cool or lukewarm water.

I added some Hawaiian Silky Miracle Worker 14 in 1 spray (LOVE that stuff for my hair) to the ends before leaving it to dry naturally, and the results I got were definitely enough to make me want to stay away from my shampoo for a little longer to really test it out.

I’ll keep you updated! And thanks Lanie, for the tip!

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