No 'poo (no, its not a constipation thing)

Remember here when I whined endlessly about the nastiness that had overtaken the back of my head. Well I did some (more) searching and found Miss Brown had a strikingly similar ailment (great minds...) despite her hair being enviably curly and thick while mine is n fine, unruly class of semi-waviness. I ended up doing what her stylist did - shampooed my hair three times in one shower (finally, I can follow the lather, rinse, repeat portion of the directions instead of asking why that's even there). My hair returned to looking like this:

But then, THEN, I suddenly began to produce copious amounts of oil along my hairline and part. I could easily begin to maintain my own car with the quarts I am producing each week.  I am a working mom and wife with a serious blog-reading habit. I do not have time to wash my hair seven days a week and heat style it at least five of those days.  I just don't. My husband, probably tired of hearing me complain, suggested it was my shampoo so I logged into the Dooce community where I had previously seen a question about selecting shampoos that smell yummy and found this discussion instead.

Hmmm, thought I.  Perhaps it is not my shampoo. Maybe it is just shampoo that is causing me so many problems. I have, bringing us back to my post title, decided to throw my hat into the "no 'poo" ring. There is plenty of info to be found and read by typing "no poo" into the Google search engine, but it all boils down to a few main points:
1. Shampoo, especially sudsy lather, as a daily necessity is pretty much a myth perpetuated by the marketing world.
2. A person's hair and scalp can become cleaner and healthier through regular rinsing and massage with the optional help of baking soda, conditioner, vinegar, and various essential oils.
3. A number of shampoos contain ingredients that are bad for the body and bad for the environment.

It seems a lot of people have had great success with giving up shampoo and a few others have found it is not for them.  However, nobody has found themselves actually hurt in some way by their going no 'poo so I figure it can't hurt anything except my vanity. Like so many others I'll keep track of my experiment and let you know how it goes.  Feel free to weigh in.

My shampooed and styled hair just hours before the experiment began: