Just water. My hair is short so I can get away with washing my hair water-only as well, but it becomes a pain for people with long hair (it can become quite unmanageable).
As I understand it, it's the opposite. I recently grew out my hair, and all the women insist that I've been doing horrible things by shampooing every day. Washing out the oils that protect my hair and keep it from drying out.
I've been washing my hair with just water, and it works better than I expected. In the past, if I didn't wash my scalp before bed I'd feel itchy and sleep badly, but water seems to do a sufficient job of convincing my brain that I'm clean. When I feel sufficiently gross I use shampoo anyway. Conditioner is required to get a brush through it; my hair is very curly and will form knots if not brushed.
Oily skin gentleman here. I could not wash my hair with only water, after a week it would smell like a wet dog in the sun. On the other hand, it's never going to suffer for lack of natural oils.
Some of it could be you're oily because you don't want to be oily.
You wash your hair and get rid of all the oil on the scalp protecting your skin. So your scalp makes as much as it can to replenish. Lather rinse repeat and now you've trained it to always go ham.
I've been washing my hair with just water for a year or so. I'm still oily, but much less so. When I have shorter hair it's on the high side of acceptable. When I have longer hair it's fine - just needs to get pulled down the hairs away from the scalp so it can do its full job.
> I've been washing my hair with just water for a year or so. I'm still oily, but much less so.
Maybe you just got used to it? I shaved my head for a couple of years and it was still oily, just easier to clean. Shampoo, gel or soap don't seem to make a difference, and I'd rather not wash oily skin with just water.
I have long, curly hair and stopped using shampoo and conditioner many years ago. Similar to your experience of adjusting to no soap over the first month or so, I went through that with my hair. Eventually my hair oils normalized and now I only use shampoo/conditioner if I get grease in it or something else that water alone can't handle. The natural oils do a great job on their own controlling frizz.
No. I had hair below my chest for 3 years without using shampoo or conditioner and it worked out great. Brushing was way easier and I always got compliments by my lady friends for how great my hair looked. There is also an entire subreddit dedicated to this: /r/nopoo
