Going into college, I decided to try a year without any hair products. The idea is that the cycles of shampoo, conditioner, and product that we put out hair through doesn’t actually do anything but get us back to where we started at best, and at worse, place undue stress on our hair. I read some articles online about people‘s success with this approach, and that combined with the allure of fewer bottles when traveling was too much to resist.

So, with about a month of summer vacation left, I ceased all usage of shampoo, conditioner, and styling product. The first week was definitely the worst—my hair was flat and felt worse than usual to the touch.

However, after that it started to improve and only got better as time went on. After about a month of just washing it with water, it seemed to plateau and stayed the same for the rest of the year. As I hoped, my hair felt softer and looked better than before, and combing it in the manner I liked for style was all that was needed. The only negative side effect seemed to be on my scalp, which seemed drier than usual in the winter months (I‘m thinking due to the lack of conditioner, not shampoo).

On the whole, the experiment was definitely a success. I wrapped it up about a year ago and now use Dr. Bronner‘s castile soap as a gentle cleanser once or twice a week, which seems to be a healthy middle ground. It‘s interesting how many things we take for normal that were completely different or absent a few generations ago. While most of the changes are likely for the best, it can be fun experimenting with some of the less important changes, such as shampoo with a long list of ingredients, and seeing if a more natural approach might not be easier and even outright better suited to our needs.

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Photo is the Seljalandsfoss (Seljalands Waterfall) in Southern Iceland. Walked behind it last summer while on vacation with friends, and then drank some water from the stream right after–nothing like some fresh, clean, cool Icelandic water.