The No Shampoo Challenge - Not for the Faint of Heart

Wow. People are really up in arms over the idea of giving up shampoo.

Someone over at MSN Money spotted my post on the subject, and posted an article about it. And the comments are flying. People sound absolutely outraged. One poster had the following to say

That is seriously disgusting.

I am an exercise junkie and I'm at the gym at least once a day, and there is no way I will go to work or to bed without washing the sweat and oil out of my hair with shampoo. My hair is perfectly healthy and split-end free, plus I don't smell like stale oil and BO like the anti-shampoo people do.

In response to that I'll just repeat - water does an excellent job of cleaning hair. It washes out dirt, sweat and oil, and leaves hair looking and smelling clean. But sure, it's hard to believe. The beauty industry spends billions of dollars a year telling us all we NEED what they offer.

I'd be surprised if a whole bunch of people stopped shampooing after reading this. I'm not advocating it. I'm simply sharing the fact that I did it, and my hair looks and is healthier as a result.

I'm also curious to know if other people have tried it, and what their experience was.

I work as a marketing director, and I've done some consulting work for a couple of beauty products manufacturers - mostly skincare and anti-aging products. My work with them got me thinking about all the chemicals I use as beauty aids. Especially when I talked to the chemists who formulated the products.

I started reading labels. I started asking around. I also stumbled across a copy of "Don't Go to the Cosmetics Counter Without Me". What a disappointment to discover that most of the ingredients listed on the labels aren't actually designed to do deliver the benefit they're selling me.

Mostly its 'stabilizers', thickeners, sweeteners, dyes and perfumes, lubricants, preservatives, emulsifiers....stuff to make the product foam when you apply it. Stuff to stop if from going rancid. Stuff to make it feel slippery and slick when you put it on. Stuff to keep it from curdling. Stuff to make your skin tingle so you think it's working.

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