emmylel

Hi. I am attempting to go no poo...and I feel really good about it. So, if I chronicle my "events" of the past few weeks, can I get some advice?

I started no pooing three weeks ago tomorrow. My hair is fine, but there's a lot, and it definitely has plenty of body. I started out with BS/ACV. The ACV made my scalp and hair oily and super stinky. I tried BS/WV and my hair still stank and my scalp was still oily while my hair got super crunchy. I was almost to the point of gagging because of the smell. Don't get me wrong, I love vinegar but the constant smell was too much and it made me paranoid to be around people. Then I purchased Burt's Bees Conditioner and tried to do a CO wash, thinking that it would clean my hair and condition it....like the other CO'ers said it does. My hair became a waxy mess. I tried brushing, doing warm water, cool water, anything. Then I read that WV works so I tried that. The wax went away, but my scalp was still so oily and my hair crunchy. One day last week(Thursday) I broke down and decided that I HAD to wash, so I bought a shampoo bar from the local co-op, but I live with hard water so I figured I would applesauce it up and see if that helped break down the wax that builds up in the hair that was mentioned on the box about using bars in hard water areas. It worked fairly well, but I strained the sauce and still didn't get the bits out enough to not have some in my hair afterwards....is cheescloth best for this? I used a sifter, but I was definitely an apple-y person that day. I'd still like to get away from shampoo bars, though. So, I had a job interview Friday and I washed my hair with the bar and didn't use any rinse after. My hair was kinda crunchy at first, but I've been brushing my hair like mad. It's gotten oily, but seriously, I've been brushing like 5x a day. So, I wake up this morning, Monday, and see that my hair just doesn't look as oily as it did. I still feels it a little(not as much as even yesterday), but it looks better.

I never did get that slippery feeling from the BS that everyone talks about. I was afraid to go too high with the ratio because of gunky build up and the fact that it was already getting pretty crunchy. So, I'd like to steer clear of BS. I don't want to buy distilled water to go no poo because think of all the plastic jugs.....ew, bad. I want to try tea rinses, but I'm allergic to caffeine and I don't know which herbal teas to try...I've read about chamomile and hibiscus, but are there any other options? I think I'll try flaxseed because I just happen to have some. I'm just getting antsy because I was trying to go no poo while my man was out of town (he comes in tomorrow and leaves in a week again for another month and a half) and he wouldn't have to deal with detox too much. I know I can't rush this and can't find all the answers instantly......just need to give it more time.

Thanks so much in advance for any suggestions!