A woman has not used shampoo for three-and-a-half years – instead cracking an egg or pouring vinegar over her head every ten days for cleanliness.
Lucy Aitken Read, 33, of Camberwell, South London, said she has a “different head of hair” since she decided to ditch shampoo.
“It’s never been healthier,” she claimed. “I used to have terrible hair. Now it’s silky.”
Mrs Aitken Read said people were so impressed with how she looked they too had banished shampoo.
Her gardener husband Tim, 35, and even her neighbours have stopped using it.
Her father even claimed it had stalled his grey hairs.
“Tim had always been plagued by scalp problems like itching and dandruff – now his scalp is much better with none of these problems,” she said.
“My dad has also got rid of his shampoo and conditioner and he’s someone who seriously loves his grooming. He reckons his new regime has even stalled the grey hairs”.
She also does not wash her children Ramona and Juno’s hair.
Lucy with Ramona (L) and Juno (R)
“My hair is so much healthier, stronger, thicker and shinier these days,” Mrs Aitken Read said. “For years, my hair was thin and lank.”
“Before, hairdressers were forever having to give me blunt cuts to add more volume - but the last time I went, they had to feather my hair as it was just so thick.
“It’s the complete opposite to how it was.
Mrs Aitken Read confessed: “I was a shampoo addict before all this. I actually felt disgusting if I didn’t wash my hair every two days.”
That changed after, one day in 2012, the mother of two came across an article in a paper about the number of potentially harmful chemicals women use in their hair.
“I was horrified,” she said. “I decided that couldn’t be me any more.
“I always thought I’d used organic, healthy shampoo but when I went upstairs and grabbed the bottle I was using I realised the ingredients were full of synthetic chemicals I’d never heard of.
“I was a new mum at the time. My first daughter Ramona was just a few months old and looking at her, she seemed so tiny and vulnerable.
“I think that made me even more determined not to use chemicals any more.”
Mrs Aitken Read also stopped using chemical cleaning products. She uses vinegar and bicarbonate of soda instead, and has swapped laundry powder for soap nuts.
For the first month of her ‘experiment’, she admitted her hair was ‘smelly and horrible’, but she persevered.
“I hadn’t realised I could use different things to keep my hair clean,” she said. “I was totally naive about it all. My colleagues were rather bemused, but I think they were intrigued with what I was doing.”
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Mrs Aitken Read started using natural products as well as water to wash her hair after that first month, and her hair stopped smelling and began looking healthier than ever.
“I’ve never looked back,” she said. “Why would I? My hair’s so much nicer than it ever was. I’ve endured a lifetime of bad hair days, but that just doesn’t happen any more.”
These days, she washes her henna-died hair au natural with water twice a week and swears by brushing once a day in order to keep her locks clean and healthy.
“I’m always brushing with an old school bristle brush which removes sebum from scalp to ends of hair. That’s my big thing.
“Then every ten days or so I grab something from the kitchen to wash my hair with – egg, bicarbonate of soda, apple cider vinegar, or herbs, which are fantastic for scalp issues.”
Daughter Ramona, four, only experienced shampoo for a few months after she was born, while Juno, two, has never had shampoo in her hair.
Her gardener husband thought she’d lost her mind when his wife first told him her intentions.
“He looked at me like he was dealing with a crazy person and said ‘Lucy, have you gone completely mad?” she said.
The writer has faced abuse as well as praise.
“I’ve had people call me ‘filthy cow’ and worse, but I try not to let the negative stuff get to me,” she said.
“For every negative comment, I get so many more get in touch saying they’re really happy they gave up shampoo and followed the ‘no poo’ movement.”
