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Okay, I was talking to caramel424 from np this morning and she asked me something about shampooing and clarifying and I haphazardly started telling her this and I thought it would be a good idea to post!


If you use a harsh shampoo, say a suave or something with sulfates, use apple cider vinegar right afterwards to restore ph to your hair and make it feel less stripped.

If you are going to use a gentler shampoo, say anita grant's poo bar or karen's body beautiful conditioning shampoo, use acv before to help get rid of gunk and to make the shampoo work better.

Another option for the latter is to add a bit of baking soda to the lather. It will not lessen the effects of the shampoo.

DO NOT add baking soda to a harsh shampoo as you will make your hair feel dry

I find when using castile soaps (I prefer Dr. Bronner's) I like using a few squirts in an empty 32 ounce container, filling the rest of the bottle up with water, shaking it up and on soaking wet hair, aim the soapy water at my ROOTS and sort of pat and gently massage my scalp which does effectively get rid of build up.

One caveat here is, with oyin's shampoos, the poo bar does clean my hair and scalp thoroughly. However, if I use their head to toe honey wash, I use the poo bar beforehand as the honey wash is a gentle cleanser and doesn't get rid of buildup the way I like. It may seem like a lot, but it's not! And it works!

Also, I want to add this. You know how they say only shampoo your roots, don't put any on your ends cause the ends are drier and the lather from your roots when you rinse will get the ends clean? Yes, this is true but ONLY if you are using a harsher shampoo that contains sulfates. If you are using a gentle shampoo, such as the Blended Beauty soy cream shampoo, anita grant's poo bar, oyin's poo bar or the head to toe honey wash, Qhem's soap of alep, or chagrin valley soap bars, I still run the bar over my ends once or twice. The lather in all of the above is no where near as harsh as a drugstore shampoo, so you may have to still use it on your ends. The chagrin valley shampoo bars are very gentle BUT clean thoroughly! So far I've tried the mud and clay and it works perfectly.