Some of the funniest shampoo advertisements I’ve seen over the years have gone like this;

A beautiful, young lady walks through a vibrant rain forest brimming with life and colour, wild birds, exotic plants and the sound of water cascading over a waterfall. It evokes purity, cleanliness, nature and harmony. The young lady walks out into a clearing in the forest by a beautiful, clear turquoise pool of water.

Then she gets out her plastic bottle of shampoo, and washes her hair with goodness knows what and I wince as it trickles down her into the pool. How absurd!

I’m sure today, somewhere in the world, there are people who still live in harmony with nature. I’d like to think they still exist. In my own little romantic mind, there are people who still use ancient and traditional methods for their haircare. I’d love to know what. It’s easy to find information about old remedies and recipes and concoctions without too much effort, yet I like to hear personal experiences.

Here’s mine -

Over the last 2 years, I decided to become my own experiment and let my hair return to it’s natural state, as much as possible, just by following my gut instincts.

In my younger years, my teens and my 20’s, I had done the same thing. I only used natural products and my hair was healthy. Was it only because of my age I wonder?

So, a couple of years ago I decided to stop using hair colour and returned to using henna. Last year, I decided as I wasn’t going out much (at all in fact), I had a great opportunity to let my hair colour grow out. I’d been sprouting grey hairs since my late teens, and was born with a streak of blonde hair, which is now white. In my teens I would bleach my long fringe either side of my face, and it would be either left white, coloured green, pink or blue. Funny when I think about it now!

On my quest to return my hair to it’s natural state, I also stopped using harsh shampoos last year and started trying out various ‘Natural shampoos’. Then even better, I moved on to organic shampoo bars. I bought a lovely rosemary infused one from my friend Naomi’s shop ‘These Two Hands’.

My friend Paula, in the meantime, had developed her own certified organic shampoo bars for her own business ‘hipipipi’, so I started to use that. I would wash my hair only once a week, and gradually it became softer and needed less washing. It smelt lovely! I continued using it for quite a while.

Then a couple of months ago I decided to just stop using soap on my hair altogether. The only harsh chemicals that get on my hair now are from the tap water or from the air, but that is another topic. I’m not going to be too extreme about it, I would go mad.

I remember in my youth it being much harder to go through this process, but I probably rushed it in less time. This time - I have taken my time. And the best thing is; I don’t smell like a sheep.

I shared my latest escapade in the Carry Forth Tradition Facebook Group asking people if they had any experiences and Here’s what people said - thank you! -

(Not sure if I’d ever be brave enough to try, or even admit if I ever attempted the urea treatment.)

My conclusion

I really appreciate other people’s experience, advice and opinions. The responses in the Carry Forth Tradition Facebook group made me laugh and were also really interesting. The discussion was great as I love people joining in.

I also appreciate that to be true to oneself involves an element of discovery and finding your own way.

One of my favourite pass times is deep pondering. I wonder, could it be that simplicity is the key to returning to tradition?

Could it be that if I follow my instincts, to do what comes natural to me, quite often the way with the least effort required is the way to go?

I’ll just stick to water for now.