Also, what do you use? I used to use a brush, but it was too harsh, on my skin. Now, I use a rough, cotton cloth. I'm still trying to figure out how often to exfoliate. I want to have clear, smooth, unclogged skin, but without aggravating it.

How do you exfoliate? How often? How does your skin look, and respond?

Please share you experience and best tips. Thanks

So a little background. I used soap because a woman I wanted to date told me I should.

A little more background: we were hanging out and cuddling and she was literally sniffing my forearm and sighing and saying she loved whatever I was wearing.

I asked what she was talking about and she said she meant my cologne. I told her I hadn’t worn cologne in probably 10 years, and that I sometimes wore deodorant but wasn’t at the moment.

She sniffed my arm again and said it must be whatever soap I was using.

Nope!

Haven’t used soap In atleast five years, other than hand soap. Told her so.

She gave me a confused look, and asked how I shower. I said just with water, a few times a week.

She literally recoiled and said she was turned off.

She went from loving my natural scent and treating my arm like a fucking drug, to being disgusted at the drop of a hat.

She said she didn’t think she could be with someone who had bad hygiene.

I tried to defend my hygiene and pointed out that she’d been practically worshipping my scent when she thought it was product. Why should it being natural be a problem? I told her the stuff I’d read about the healthy biomes and stuff, and pheromones and she just said she couldn’t get around the idea that I wasn’t using soap or even showering every day.

So I bought some soap and used it on my entire body, and now that I got out of the shower I can actually feel the difference on my skin, all the healthy oils are stripped away and I just fucking know I threw my healthy, thriving biome out of wack. My skin feels unnaturally dry and hot.

Stupid. My methods were working for me, but I derailed them for someone else. I’m so stupid.

Only water doesn’t work for everybody, we’ve all got different biology and hygiene needs, not to mention different psychological hang ups. obviously water only doesn’t work for her.

And that’s okay.

But it worked for me! and now I derailed years of healthy natural hygiene with some nasty product all because somebody I liked said I should.

So... Apart from doing noPoo, I've been some months without using soap for my body, with the exception of my "behind" area.

I don't know if it's related, but I've been also suffering froma little red itchy skin all over my body (particularly arms, back and legs).

While I'm waiting to see the dermatologist, I was wondering if this could be because of no using soap, even though I do feel clean 😅. And if so, how could I solve it.

Pd: I also have hard water. That's why I need to use diluted apple vinegar for my hair, in order to prevent wax buildup. Could that be the cause?

Well, recently I made a post asking for advice on how to mantain my genitals clean with water only (and after having trouble with soap). Well, I changed to cold water instead of hot, and that combined with simply waiting for my body to adapt solved the issue for me :).

On the other hand, I decided to start using sunscreen everyday, a mineral based one. I know a lot of you stopped using shampoo because of the "chemicals" it has. In the case of sunscreen, after much internal debate, I believe it is safe, or at least worth it. I'm 20, but I would like to mantain my youthful skin as long as possible. Right now I'm using soap only when washing my hands, but I read it is recommended to use it to clean the face before putting on the sunscreen, at the morning. And at night in order to get rid of it before going to sleep. What is your stance in this? Do you think it is necessary to clean the face everyday with soap? Or maybe with water is just enough? Your opinion on other skin care products would be nice, too. Thanks!

Ok, so... I've been on nopoo (for the hair) for some time now. Only water and mechanical (just my fingers) cleaning, and once in a while some apple vinegar for the wax buildup. So far so good. I still use some soap in my butt. However, my issue is with my penis. Before trying no poo, I would clean it with soap every time I showered. Still, after some days the skin would get irritated and it started to smell a little. Since trying no poo, and also cleaning it with hot water every morning, this has greatly improved. But I still get that irritated skin after some days.

I was wondering how you guys do it? Should I try to increase the frequency with which I clean it? Or change the method? I just use my hands and dry it out afterwards. Should I add apple vinegar once in a while too? Sorry if this is a weird question 😅. But this is the issue I've been having.

While I've managed to go water only successfully for most bits, I have yet to find a way to manage the problem of armpit odour. For a long time, I'd hoped to try the AOBiome mist, but it looks like the product has been discontinued. I wondered if anyone had found any alternative solutions?

Hi! I would like to start using water only but water doesn't remove physical sunscreen. What should I use to remove sunscreen?

Been doing the water only regimen for about a month but by face is still really dry and tight most of the day. I use cold water to rinse it

I'm an unusual case of someone for whom water-only didn't work as advertised, but who persisted anyways for a very long time, which I think makes my case useful for understand the effects of water-only because it can't be rejected on the basis that I didn't stick with it long enough.

I'm 17M white/chinese with shortish hair. I wash water-only every day with hard water. I only use shampoo once every few months before I get my hair cut and I never use soap (except for my hands)

My main motivation for switching to water only was that the idea that you NEED to wash with soap is preposterous from an evolutionary point of view. So every other animal evolved for it to be perfectly healthy without soap... except humans who needed to invent it?? If you were more healthy with the oil removed, surely we would evolve to produce less oil. The fact that I found this argument so convincing meant that I continued with water-only even when it wasn't doing what people said it would.

As normal, when I first quit shampoo, I entered the transition phase and my hair got more greasy. Not as extreme as other people experience, but definitely greasier.

And... the transition phase never ended. Over a year later, my hair is still greasy.

But it's not that bad! "Greasy" has negative connotations to it, but really it just means oily. My hair is basically what it would be like if I washed it with shampoo and then put product in it, and it looks quite good. If I just told people I was using hair product, I think it would be absolutely fine.

In my personal case, the thing is that I know nothing about hair products and I'm a really bad liar, so I just tell people that my hair is just like that naturally (I don't say about water-only though). Today a friend of mine felt my hair and asked "oh do you use hair product" and when I said no, she told me I need to wash my hair. I had had comments previously about my hair being very "thick".

My dandruff disappeared though! It used to be pretty bad and I had to use a special dandruff shampoo which you apply separately and leave on for 5 mins because the standard anti-dandruff stuff didn't work. Now it's gone!

I still believe my hair is healthy as it is, but think I'm gonna start using shampoo again (at least for a bit to see how it goes) because it's too embarrassing to have greasy hair. If I could go back I would just pick a hair product to tell people I use, but I've already told my friends I don't. Maybe I'll quit shampoo again another time and do that.

As for the rest of my body, it has gone really well. Mostly it's exactly the same as when I used soap, and I stopped getting dry skin on my legs. One of my armpits stopped smelling almost completely... but not the other 💀

Hope this is useful!

I stopped using skincare products almost 2 years ago. I'll use cold process soap on my face if I really need it and olive oil or shea butter to moisturize my skin while its still wet. I've been mostly water only with my haircare for a year. I just started using a conditioner bar for my hair because the flakes and itch are getting to be unbearable. It's definitely worse when the seasons change. It's worst 1-2 days after I shower, and I end up having to shower not because I smell bad but because my face and scalp are uncomfortably flakey and itchy. I'm also experiencing some breakouts for the first time in years so I think it's related. Please help :(

I’ve been using only water for a few months now, and honestly no complaints! I am wondering about sunscreen though. Is there something you guys recommend? Or do I have to use something to wash the sunscreen off? Just wondering what you guys thought!

So I made the mistake of proudly posting my transition photos to r/nopoo and got equal parts support and hate. The hate really confuses me. Why are you on a no poo thread if you're going to hate on someone's transition? So weird.

Anyway, here are my before/after photos (1 week vs 4 weeks): https://www.reddit.com/r/NoPoo/comments/xhm268/for_the_haters_1_week_water_only_vs_4_weeks_say/

And then here's the thread attracting all the haters (because I dared to love my hair 😆): https://www.reddit.com/r/NoPoo/comments/xhcwm1/so_after_a_month_of_wateronly_washing_and_im/

I’ve been really struggling with cystic acne for YEARS. I’ve been to several dermatologists and while their creams and pills worked, they also had awful side effects. I decided to stop everything about 3 months ago. I take a lukewarm/cold shower every morning (sometimes another after a particularly sweaty workout) and I wash my face in the evening.

I have definitely noticed a difference with my acne, while I still have the occasional breakout, it’s nothing compared to the painful cystic acne I’ve had in the past. I am hoping that my skin gets to a point where I don’t have any breakouts, but I’m just thankful for this for now.

I’ve also noticed an improvement with the rest of my skin as well! I would always describe my skin as dry. I would put two different moisturizers on after a shower and still have dry skin. But now I feel like my skin is smoother. I don’t have those little red bumps on my arms anymore, and my feet actually feel pretty smooth instead of cracked and dry. I do notice some BO… I’m hoping that will go away soon. It’s also my first summer without air conditioning, so that can’t help 😂

I have also noticed a huge difference in my hair. I have fine, curly hair. Usually I have to do the right concoction of creams and gels to get my hair to look alright, and even then, the smallest gust of wind will mess it all up. But now it’s so much more manageable. The texture is definitely different, but I honestly don’t mind it.

Sorry about the super long post, but I’m just excited to share that something as simple as just washing with water has been helping me!

Hi, I have always been interested in the water only and cold showers kinda method because it looks more natural to our roots as animals and whatnot. But whenever I try it, instead of getting greasy, my hair becomes a mix of waxy and dry (like straw meets wire kind of dry).

I assume all of these problems of dry, wiry and scraggly hairs are related to my coarse hair. I got 2A brown hair, but only when healthy, because it can get dull and unruly, so... I wanted to hop in again in the water only and maintaining a regimen of only cold showers. What do you guys think?

Ps.: sorry for language, English is not my 1st lang.

i am very oily so i noticed when i stopped using my routine, a month ago i stopped having cystic pimples but i did start to have more little whiteheads and now sebderm

Water only for hair and face. I used soap for the body and acidic pH lotions for the face before shower.

I had wanted to try water only but could never get myself to do it. Once in the shower it didn’t feel as clean and nice so I wasn’t able to resist the urge to use shampoo but today I did.

Shampoo and cleanser everyday have exhausted my skin so bad recently especially scalp. My hair was in a weird shape, couldn’t get it to look as beautiful as before, very dull looking, dry, frizzy, itchy. A mess…

I’m glad I was able to do it. So far it looks like usual except that it was easier to comb and style. It feels a bit itchy on the back but the front hair are still as dry as before using the water so probably good I left it alone for once… Also it doesn’t smell so nice as when you use shampoo but it doesn’t smell bad either. It still smells from yesterdays shampoo.

I can’t wait to see what it looks and feels like once dry, and I might do it again on the days I stay home to let my scalp and hair a little bit healthier. Shampoo everyday + straightener is probably not the best thing for shining hair.

P.S: I just saw it’s my second try I forgot about it lol

Tried water only for 5 months, mainly as a personal experiment. I was already using very minimal products, but my results were not super drastic. I'm now back to using shampoo & conditioner, just the right brands I've found work well for me. I also don't use face cleanser or moisturizer daily, except for micellar water at the end of the day. Every morning I would rinse my skin~ but with water only! And it finally works, but to be fair it took more than stopping the face cleansers; I used a few products from The Ordinary for my skin issues, but now that they've worked, I no longer need to use them everyday. Water-only is actually enough in the mornings. (That process is too complex to explain here though lol.)

​

More detailed breakdown here:

• Hair experience: I have straight, dark hair and tested if water-only would save me time. My hair never finished "transitioning" or whatever. Even after 5 months, my hair always looked oily near my head, but the ends remained dry. No amount of finger preening or wooden comb brushing would distribute the oils throughout. And sometimes I spent like 45 minutes doing that before & after a shower to see if that worked (very little difference). My hair remained oily (if not waxy), with the ends still being dry. My showers were shorter w/o products, but the time I saved I would spend on all of the brushing. So now I use a sulfare-free shampoo and tested several conditioners to find one that I like best (from the brand alba). Maybe water only or no-poo works better for curly hair, or those who have soft water, but for me personally it was not worth it, and I also didn't wanna buy a water softener for my shower or take cold showers. I'm happy for anyone who water-only has worked beautifully for them, I'm okay with using products now that I've tried this experience and seen what it was like for me :)
• Unexpected experience: I've also stopped using toothpaste (hope I won't get downvoted LOL). I still got cavities with fluoride toothpaste and it would also give me "dry mouth." After switching to fluoride-free toothpaste which served me okay for years, but still having to slowly reducing the amount that I would apply (to avoid drymouth), I just now use my electric toothbrush with water only.... At my last dentist visit, they said everything looked great! No cavities. Obviously gotta keep flossing too.
• My mini eczema story: I figured out that my chronic "eczema" was being caused by the prescription cream I was applying to it. I learned that it was topical steroid ointments & creams that had been thinning out my skin and drying it, not the soaps or shampoo. I had a brief misdiagnosis of sebderm / sebhorreic dermatitis, but since I did the trial of quitting shampoo and cleansers for 5 straight months, and there were NO changes to my skin, I knew that was not the cause. My water only journey helped me realize what was actually causing my eczema, it was that prescription drug. That was one of the main reasons I tried water-only in the first place, so lesson learned.

wearing makeup with water only? does it stunt the process???

So I have been trying to do this for years.. started with the baking soda and vinegar… rye flour.. eventually got to organic natural soap bars, did the oil cleansing, natural diy cleansers, stopped with the makeup but always got insecure for public outings and now have gone water only no makeup to try to fix my face and condition my hair to water only for the simplest routine.

So far my face seems dry usually really oily but heard this means my skin is healing and my hair is honestly not that bad grease wise.. just the back crown of head.

Wondering how others who are water only results have been!!

I’ve just cleaned my boar bristle brush & omg it was so disgusting 🤢 I thought that the build up was normal… I’d obviously forgotten what it supposed to look like & now cannot believe that I’ve been brushing my hair with it 😭 How does fluff build up on it?! Anyway just pray that other people are more on top of it & if you’re not… well… this is your gentle reminder! Safe to say I have bought a new one now 👍

So I’d like to go water only on my hair but I don’t know whether I can be bothered with all the preening/scritching stuff & the oily transition. Because I’ve just started using a soapnut bar shampoo & do that every 3 days or so with a ACV rinse after and my hair is so soft thick and clean and healthy (albeit a bit of drandruff appeared eek) but it just seems simpler if I do that when I have a shower & I know it’ll work. But if someone can convince me about reasons to do water only then I’d like to try it… if there’s a clearer benefit to what I’m doing atm 😊 Thanks for reading!

Pretty much the title

Have been doing water only for 2.5 years now.

Suddenly I has the urge to maybe go red for a while (natural blonde hair that I would not need to bleach beforehand).

I would probably use semi permanent toning (directions.).

I am mostly concerned about getting the color off my scalp without shampoo as I used to.

And I was wondering how using conditioner to soften the tone could impact my sebum production.

Any insights would be greatly appreciated and of course feel free to ask away for your own good

If shampoo was the issue then doing water only would leave hair softer but it wasn’t the case. Hair was a lot more dry and brittle after water only then after using shampoo which means hard water is the main cause of dry hair. However even with just water the hair was clean and it didn’t get oily the next day like it normally would with shampoo.

So I guess not washing hair too often is a much effective solution to hair damage then no shampoo. Winter is coming so I’m trying to reduce from one shampoo everyday to once every 2 days and hopefully until summer I can only wash twice a week, going from 7 washes a week to 2 and reducing the use of heat from everyday to twice a week too.

I used to have gorgeous hair washing it only twice a week and after 4 years of daily washing I have lost that. The hair is thinner and dryer.

Using conditioner on the ends helped run fingers through the hair and scalp more easily.

So far I’m surprised how the hair still feels dry exactly as after a shampoo even without it. It proves how damaging it is to the scalp and also how unnecessary daily shampoo is.

Daily shampoo has turned my hair into a colorless bland dry but oily mess and it was so frustrating it’s just easier to give up.

3pm today bangs were oily and I thought if that’s what shampoo does then I’d rather be oily with my own healthy scalp oily oils

While everything got better, like my hair and skin. For example I rarely need to moisturize my skin and my hair looks great. The smell of my armpits did not get any better, since a month I dont use a deodrant but only a mix of baking soda and lemon juice which helps to get the smell under control, but also I dont use it that oftens.

Any idea why or what to do? Because I really dont see any benefit of going further with my self experiment of not using a deo lol

Hi everybody,

I wanted to know if you would know of any natural products, being soap or an oil cleanser etc, to cleanse and shower my body but that doesn’t break down my skin and the bacteria on it and the Acid Mantel of my skin please ?

Edit : I dis water only for a few months but I didn’t quite like it so I am looking for a product that is good for the skin’s health and that doesn’t destroy that Acid Mantel barrier

So when i wash myself i would often experience the smell of the armpits more intensively and they would get smelly but before that it was fine. So the case is I would go shower using only water and afterwards when I sweat my sweat really smells. I rinse it away with my hands and hot water but it seems like I should only use the hot water and let just let if flow through my armpits. I think I destroy the bacteria in my armpits which neglects the bad smell of my armpits, do anyone experienced something similar to that? To further elaborate after 1 or 2 days of not showering the I still smell but not that bad when I sweat.

Hi, I’ve been doing water only hair and body washing for about 8 weeks now. I water wash daily scritching and preening before (BBB) and during the shower (wooden comb). It’s been going great I have wavy hair. It got oily and frizzy at first but has leveled out and dries really nicely now. However, I’ve had my family (stick nose in) smell it and they said it’s not bad but it’s not good. Like wet dog. I strictly use water only. Before starting this, I believe I’m allergic to something in soap of any kind. I would get painful sores on my scalp, like it would feel inflamed and swollen, it didn’t matter if it was natural or not. It happened in all areas I really soaped up like arm pits, feet, chest, neck and hands (still happens there). Since stopping body wash, face wash and shampoo my scalp (and body) has cleared and hasn’t been painfully swollen or broken out since (I used to get painful itchy, dry, bumpy patches that cracked and bled) since. The way my scalp feels I’m desperate to continue and hoping it’s just part of transition any advise would be amazing! I also use a water filter for the shower.