Washing Hair with Just Water?
I finally got fed up with the damaging effects of shampoos and decided to take my hair to the next level by going shampoo-free. It was the greatest decision I ever made for my hair! I tried various No Poo methods, and later transitioned to the Water-Only hair washing method, where I use only warm water to wash my hair. I’ve loved it so much that I’ve been strictly water-only for over a month now. Update: I’m still going strong with this routine after 13 months! – And my hair has rewarded me with the best quality it’s ever been in. :)
When I first heard about using only water to wash hair, I assumed it’d be a pretty grungy ordeal, but for me, it has been an incredibly effective, simple, and rewarding method – if done right. There are a few essential techniques that I follow that help enormously in managing the oils on my head, getting the most out of my hair washes, and keeping my roots looking oil-free and my ends hydrated. Once I got the techniques down, (and my scalp’s oil production calmed down), this hair care routine became almost effortless for me. If this is something you’re interested in trying, I’ve included some easy and effective techniques below that can help achieve the ultimate water-only hair, including while still going through the initial oily transition phase (like I was in the pictures throughout this tutorial).
What is the water only hair washing method?
The Water-Only (WO) hair washing method simply uses warm water (in place of shampoo) to cleanse dirt and excess oils from our heads, while utilizing the hair’s natural oils (like a conditioner) to protect and nourish the hair, making it soft, silky, and hydrated. My hair can look just as clean as if I used shampoo when I use the following tips and techniques.
The best part about this method compared to other “no poo” or shampoo-free methods is that there are no external chemicals that can damage, dry out hair, or wreak havoc on the natural scalp pH. The only “product” necessary is free of harsh chemicals, completely natural, totally free, and designed by nature specifically to nourish and protect our hair– the hair’s natural oils.
In my opinion, water-only is the final step to take in a shampoo-free journey. It’s self-sustaining, it can help get the scalp’s oil production under control, and it is a viable long-term hair washing method. It is also a zero waste, sustainable, and eco friendly hair washing method!
What is my hair like after one month?
My hair has never been more hydrated, voluminous, soft, silky, bouncy (the elasticity is through the roof!), manageable, fast-drying, or breakage-free as it is now. My hair looks just as clean as if I used shampoo, without any of the negative shampoo side effects, and it smells fresh. I can wash my hair way less often, because it doesn’t start to look oily until day 7. My hair no longer requires a boat load of styling products to look nice, and air-drying is a real life thing for my previously unmanageable hair.
To see the long-term results I got from this method, check out my 3-Month Update! (And after 13 months, I’m still loving this routine! No more oily hair, even after 10 days between water-washes.) I get even cleaner hair washing results now, but I’ve kept the original pictures on this tutorial from when I was still going through the “oily transitional phase” that many of us experience when starting a no shampoo method, just to show how clean my results are from the “before” and “after” pics at the oiliest part of my No Poo transition.
Before starting the Water Only hair washing method
***For quitting shampoo for the first time and switching to a no-shampoo method, I highly recommend checking out my other post how to start a no-shampoo method to avoid silicone buildup. Please also know that if you have previously been over-washing with harsh shampoos, and your scalp produces excess oils, there can be an initial oily phase when starting any no-shampoo method. See this post for how to get through the transition phase and encourage your scalp to slow down natural oil production. You may need to gradually transition to no-shampoo / water only while the natural oil production slows down, explained in this post. These things are crucial to know before starting any no-shampoo method.
The Ultimate Water-Only Hair Washing Routine
Let’s be honest, anyone can stop using hair products, stand under a shower head, and call that “water-only hair.” But let’s be real, we want hair that looks and feels great– not an oily mess sitting on top of the head! This tutorial is a guide for how to distribute & utilize the natural oils on the hair to give the look and feel of clean roots & delightfully hydrated ends.
What is needed to wash hair with just water:
- a boar bristle brush (BBB)
- wide-toothed comb
- very warm water
- cold water
- optional: a couple of drops of nourishing hair oil (e.g. coconut, argan, or olive oil) — helpful for dry ends on long hair
Step 1: Start with dirty hair!
When natural oils exist on the scalp & hair, it results in two awesome things:
- The scalp will take the hint that it’s not being stripped of all of its oils anymore, so it can slow down excess oil production.
- If natural hair oils have been distributed down to the ends of the hair, the nourishing oils are coating the hair shafts keeping them conditioned and hydrated between washes. (Like a free hair mask, woohoo!).
**The key to getting through the beginner’s initial oily transition phase and stop hair from getting excessively oily too quickly, is to try stretching the time between hair washes, so it can get used to not being stripped of oils. This means that a full water only hair wash likely doesn’t need to be performed every single day. (FAQ: “What if I like to wet my hair every day?” or “How do keep my hair clean between washes if I workout every day?” See this post for the solution.) Need more help with oily hair? Read here.
Note, that when I took pictures for this post, I was still going through the initial oily transition phase, and I intentionally waited six days since my last wash, which at the time, was a long time for me. The initial oily phase lasted a couple of weeks for me, and then my hair stopped getting excessively oily between washes. Note that no one has to let their hair get super oily for water-only hair washing. If this method doesn’t get your hair clean or the transition takes longer for you, please try out another no-shampoo or low-poo hair washing method in combination with water only until you get this routine down, so that you are getting your hair clean on a regular basis!
Here’s a link to my excessively oily before pics – for science. I hadn’t even brushed it yet because I want to show how well the brushing in Step 2 works. I think it’s okay though, because now you can compare these super oily transition pictures to the end result to see how well water-only works, even for a beginner who still gets routinely oily. Check out my 3-Month Update post for more info. I just wanted to clear that up so you don’t think anyone ever has to look this oily with the water-only method!
Also in these pics, sometimes my camera brightness is over-compensating because my hair is quite dark, so it’s automatically beefing up the contrast, making my hair look like it shines harder than it really does and making my skin glow like I’m an astral being or something. Thanks, camera. But don’t worry, I took the pictures you see in this post on the same day, in the same lighting, with the same camera, to keep consistency throughout this tutorial (for science).
Step 2: (Pre-Shower) Distribute natural oils!
The following are three very important techniques that should be done right before hair washing. These three techniques will help loosen up the natural oils on the scalp and will distribute them to the rest of the hair. The result will be less oily roots and added hydration for the ends— and they’ll make water washing in the shower a whole lot easier!
A. Scritch
On dry, detangled hair, rub fingerpads (not nails) in relatively quick, yet gentle motions all over the scalp. It’s similar to scrubbing the head in the shower, but without water. We’re talking light pressure that shouldn’t hurt the scalp. This creates some friction to warm & loosen up oils and dead skin cells sitting on the scalp. (Added bonuses: Scritching also increases blood flow to the scalp which can promote hair growth, and it feels soo good!) Section or part the hair if necessary to reach all areas of the scalp.
Once the oils have been loosened on the scalp, you might notice that all the oils are sitting at the roots. The next two steps will help distribute the oils down the hair shafts to nourish the rest of the hair.
B. Preen
On dry, detangled hair, take small sections of hair (I like to take wide, yet thin sections), and place two fingers on either side of the section. Starting at the base of the roots, gently pinch fingers together and slide fingers down the section of hair to the ends. This “pulls” the oils from the roots down the section of hair. Be gentle. Preening shouldn’t actually pull at the scalp or be uncomfortable. If hair is longer than 6 inches (mine is more than double that in these pictures), it might be hard to get the oils all the way down to the very ends, so just focus on getting the oils away from the roots and at least 6 inches down the length of the hair.
For long hair, this can be a time-consuming step to water-washing, but it still works well for many people. Pro Tip: I find it’s quicker to preen while brushing in the next step. (One hand to preen, one hand to brush.)
C. Brush – DON’T skip this!
A boar-bristle brush (BBB) is an essential tool for happy hair, and it is absolutely essential for practicing water-only washing. From my experience, a BBB is the BEST at pulling the natural oils down from the roots to the ends of hair, and it’s great to do after scritching and preening to pull the oils from the mid-shaft all the way down to the very ends of the hair.
After scritching and preening, brush a clean BBB through hair to reduce tangles and distribute the oils down to the very ends of hair before showering. Section or part the hair so the boar-bristle brush can reach all areas of the roots and hair. Once done with each section, brush the ends for a while to get all the oils off the BBB and onto the ends. Ends need lovin’, too. :) And make sure the brush is clean before using it, otherwise it isn’t soaking up oils, just moving last week’s oils around on the head with this week’s oils. (How to clean a boar-bristle brush tutorial.)
In addition, these techniques can be used daily between washes! A boar-bristle brush can replace a regular, daily hair brush. Brushing oils through the hair is really the only upkeep needed between water-washes to keep hair looking clean and oil-free. Just a little brushing every day or every other day can really keep the oils from building up into a greasy mess at the roots. After my scalp’s oil production slowed, I noticed I don’t have to brush the oils through my hair as often anymore.
***For wearing hair naturally curly, brushing will un-define curls, so below are some options for managing oils:
- Curly hair has an advantage since curls hide oily roots better than straight hair. So if roots don’t look oily, scritch regularly, but wait to preen and brush the hair until right before washing it. Note that if natural oils aren’t being moved down to the ends of hair regularly, the ends are at risk of getting dry. Follow step 6 (below), which is to add a small amount of a natural oil (like coconut oil or shea butter) to the ends to give them some hydration between washes.
- If roots look oily and skipping daily brushing isn’t an option, try using the BBB daily to distribute natural hair oils throughout the week. Then dampen hair with a spray bottle filled with water to squish, style, and redefine curls.
- Or try a wooden-bristled brush instead, since wooden bristles are typically much further apart, and wood distributes natural oils through hair similar to a BBB.
Just by scritching, preening, and brushing, my hair already is starting to look a bit better compared to the way my hair looked when I started this tutorial. The most important thing is that we distributed our natural oils down to the ends which conditions our hair, and we loosened up oils from our scalp to make washing with only water a lot easier.
Step 3: Time to water-wash hair!
Temperature: Time to shower. The temperature of the water is very important. Too hot can damage hair or be too drying on the scalp, and too cool won’t break up the excess oils on the head. While scrubbing oils off the head, the water should be very warm… a comfortable temperature between hot and lukewarm. The water temperature can be lowered over time as the scalp’s oil production slows down since there will be much less oil to wash away (this happened for me).
Technique: Wet hair, then use fingerpads (not nails) to gently scritch the scalp in relatively quick motions (just like scritching before). Focus the water stream directly on the area being scrubbed so it can wash away dirt and oils while scritching. For long or thick hair, part the hair in sections while washing to easily access all areas of the scalp/roots. While going through the oily transition phase and/or noticing roots are getting clean but the next few inches aren’t, try preening the water through the length of the hair, just like we did earlier in Step 2B. The warm water loosens up hair oils, and preening while the water runs through the hair will help the water break up the hair’s natural oils further down to give an overall cleaner wash.
Be Patient: Make sure to get all areas of the scalp. I honestly had to spend quite a bit of time doing this when I was going through the initial oily phase, but I also only had to do it only about once per week, so it was worth it for me. (It takes me much less time to do it now.) If hair still looks oily after showering, try tweaking the method a bit. For the next wash, try using slightly warmer water, or spend more time gently rubbing fingertips on the scalp, or try preening the water through the hair from root to tip. This routine only gets easier and requires less steps as time passes and the scalp’s oil production normalizes. It took me a few washes to get the hang of it. Feel free to leave a comment with questions below, and I will try my best to help.
Hard Water? I have low to moderate water hardness and find water-only is successful for me. Some people have issues getting their hair to feel clean with very hard water. So hard water is something to check for if hair isn’t get clean. Test water hardness or look it up on the city’s website. There are ways to soften water at home. Many people have much better results after installing a shower head filter (which is also much cheaper than an entire water-softening system). I’ve actually even heard people say that their hair looks too clean and poofy with soft water so they prefer harder water.
Step 4: Rinse hair with cold water
This is my least favorite step, but rinsing with cool water helps the hair cuticles lay flat (after the warm water lifted them up), which helps hair look smoother.
Pro rinsing tip: After flinging the shower temperature handle to cold, take a giant step back out of the water stream. Bend over forward, flipping hair over the head, and stick only the head & hair under the cold water. Try not to think about every tiny molecule of freezing water hitting the shower floor and jumping back up onto legs. In fact, practice mentally checking out for a moment while the shock of 7 seconds of cold water attempts to ruin a perfectly zen shower moment. Just visualize being on an island standing under a beautiful, crisp, cool waterfall, overlooking the greatest scenery ever. …I do.
Okay in all seriousness, don’t slip and get hurt. But that may or may not be what I actually visualize. (It is.)
Step 5: Dry with a T-Shirt and Detangle
After showering, pat the hair dry with an old t-shirt or microfiber towel (instead of a bath towel) to reduce frizz and flyaways. Using a t-shirt or microfiber towel for this step actually does reduce frizz for me (unlike a bath towel), and I wish I knew about this tip forever ago.
Comb through damp hair with a wide-toothed comb, starting at the ends and working up. Be gentle as hair is fragile while wet.
Step 6: Hydrate Ends (Optional)
If hair is long, it may take some time for the natural oils to be distributed down far enough to condition the ends. Until then, I recommend applying coconut oil or any deeply hydrating, natural oil to the ends (and only the ends) of the hair as a substitute for the hair’s natural oils. Especially if ends are damaged or tangly. It will help smooth out the ends so they don’t dry frizzy and so combs/brushes don’t get snagged in them while detangling… plus it gives hair some added hydration. I prefer coconut oil, and unrefined, cold-pressed version of coconut oil makes a world of a difference to me, but any natural oil will worko including jojoba and argan oil. I stopped having to use oils after a few weeks, as they eventually became unnecessary. :)
Caution! Be careful with the amount of oil and where it being applied! Slathering a bunch of oil on the hair or roots will lead to excessively oily hair. I just rub one or two drops of oil between my finger tips and glide it onto the very ends of my hair while damp. My hair seems to look a bit oily if I apply the coconut oil to dry hair, but using it on damp hair seems to fix that for me. Then I thoroughly wash the oil off my hands before touching any other part of my hair so I don’t spread any extra oil to my roots.
Step 7: Air dry hair! or style as usual
My hair actually air dries SO fast now (and many others report the same with water-only). It’s literally ridiculous how fast it dries, but it’s so wonderful. I just gently twist it to the side like this until I’m ready to style it.
Products? I actually stopped needing to use any styling products since switching to water-only. With shampoo, I HAD to use styling creams, waxes, smoothing serums, volumizers, hair spray… Now my hair just does whatever I want it to without any product. Manageability levels are through the roof. Thank you, natural hair oils.
Heat? When I used shampoo, I had to use heat to style my hair every day to get it to look presentable. But now I only use heat on it maybe twice per month and just let it air dry the rest of the time. It’s incredibly low maintenance. any additional styling products for that matter,
If using any products, ensure they are silicone-free products or ones containing water-soluble silicones to avoid silicones building up on hair!! More on the importance of avoiding silicones here.
I didn’t use anything else in my hair for this tutorial. I just let it air dry & then lightly used a flat iron on it And that’s what you see in the pictures below.
***Important note: While myself and many others have followed Water Only and many other “no-shampoo” hair washing methods for years with positive experiences, I cannot encourage that anyone with a pre-existing scalp condition follows this routine. I am not a doctor, and I have only had positive experiences with “no poo” methods, so I can only speak to my own situation. If any undesirable symptoms arise, please take care of yourself and check with a professional. Thanks for listening!
DONE! Water Only Hair Washing Results Below
This is actually about 14 hours after I washed it :) Same lighting & angle as all of the above pics. So much volume! — NO styling products necessary. There is NOTHING in my hair except water, my hair’s natural oils, and a couple of drops of coconut oil on the very tips of my hair.
Have you tried this method? Did it work for you? Leave a comment below! :)
Questions? I’d love to answer them. Check out my other hair posts for fast answers.
Check out my 3-Month Water-Only Update to see what the future holds with water-only!
Hi I was just wondering, I have been on 2 weeks of just water and was wondering if it has helped your hair grow a little fast or about the same? Thanks :)
My hair has either grown faster or the same. Eating lots of veggies and multi-vitamins helps with hair growth!
Hi, thank you for your clear explanation of the WO hair washing! I’ve been trying this out now for almost two weeks and my hair still gets very greasy, especially at the top of my head. Before I tried your method, I tried to wash my hair with only water (without the whole ritual) for two weeks every 3-4 days, because a friend of mine did this and it immediately worked for her. She doesn’t use the BBB or anything, just sometimes pours some water over it and that’s it. That made me wonder: is WO hair washing really for every hair type? My hair is long, thick and gets greasy very easily (though I used to wash my hair every other day until a month ago, so that might explain it).
Also, does it matter that I’ve got a lot of split ends? (Can’t go to the hair dresser with this greasy hair..) Furthermore, I have the problem that my scalp gets itchy every once in a while and because my hair stays greasy the scurf that comes of my skin when I scratch it stays there and makes my hair look even more dirty. Do you maybe have a solution for this?
Thanks in advance!
Hi Katherine, Everyone’s hair type and scalp are different (and how out-of-whack their scalp’s oil production currently is at any given time is different, too) so everyone’s experience with water-only will be different. That doesn’t mean a water-only routine can’t work for everyone, it just means everyone needs to tweak their routine a bit to get the best water hair wash they can for their hair. Your friend’s ease with water-only straight away is actually a little out of the ordinary from what I’ve read of others’ experiences. But everyone’s experience does depend on their hair type, scalp, and the product/routine they were using before going water-only. Many people have great success with water-only with a similar hair type as what you described. And yes, there’s a good chance your hair is currently getting overly greasy because you were shampooing every 48 hours not too long ago.
As far as split ends go, I highly recommend getting your ends trimmed when you can since BBBing can be a little rough on hair if the ends are already split. A BBB works sooo smoothly on healthy ends, but damaged hair will continue to get damaged over time regardless if you were no-shampoo or were using a BBB or not. If you are worried about going to a hair dresser with greasy hair, you could always wash your hair with a silicone-free conditioner or just wash your hair with honey (or a combo of the two). This should give you clean, non greasy hair that smells great. And you can get right back to water-only (or any other no-poo routine).
For your last question, definitely keep up with gently scritching/massaging your scalp (while your hair is dry) and then use a clean BBB to brush away any dead skin cells or excess sebum (grey dustiness that comes from natural hair oils building up).
Since July I have only washed my hair 3 times. It still gets very waxy after a month or two of only water washing! I don’t know what to do about it? And I am definitely not experiencing the quick drying hair, it takes my hair several hours to dry and it does not look so nice while this is occuring.
Any word of advice? I water wash my hair about once a week. It does not look oily per se (I have wavy/curly hair) but the waxy feel gets really gross. I use the BBB – I don’t “scritch and preen” though, as this seems to make no difference to my hair, and it takes SO long because my hair is big and curly. Am getting a bit frustrated, because I really want it to work… Any thoughts?
Hi Eva, You should gently scritch your hair daily (while it’s dry) and definitely preen sections of your hair while the warm water is running through each section during water-washes. This will help with buildup a lot. If you still have a lot of waxy buildup, I recommend following the tips in this post: Here. But I cannot recommend scritching/preening enough.
I have wavy hair and I am having trouble getting the tangles out of my hair after a shower. Everything I have read says to just detangle it before you shower and that should be fine, but that is if you are using conditioner that gets a lot of the tangles out for you. After I have gently massaged my head in the shower there are a few tangles near the ends of my hair. I get out and put 2 drops of argon oil on the ends but it doesn’t help. I comb it with a wide toothed comb and it takes me 15 minutes to detangle. I think it is breaking my hair. Do you have any tips or tricks to detangle your hair when you haven’t conditioned? Oh and my hair is wavy when dry but pretty much straight when wet (until I scrunch it after detangling.)
Hi Kayla, Have you checked your water hardness? If you have softened water, I recommend detangling before you get in the shower and then detangling after you’ve water-washed while you’re still IN the shower and ready to get out. It helps me a ton when I wide-tooth comb a section of hair while water is still flowing through it. I also have softened water which helps detangle hair, so that’s probably why it works so well. Always detangle starting at the bottom of a section of hair and work your way up, and be as gentle and patient as you can with your hair.
Hard water: I noticed a big difference when I used to wash with hard water (for the first 7 months of going water only). My hair was harder to detangle after showers with hard water. If you have hard water, you can still try to detangle under the water (gravity/water flowing through can still work with you to detangle it). You can also get a showerhead attachment that will soften the water as you use it, or you can try doing a vinegar rinse after you wash your hair which counteracts the hard water by sealing the hair cuticles which makes your hair less tangly. (Vinegar is the less expensive option.) There’s a section in the Ultimate Water-Only Hair Washing Routine post about how to test if you have hard water; check it out!
hello… i once had awesome hair that was full, think and not greasy. i washed using only water, and washed it probably once or twice a week. then i got into a car accident. after that i was told to use shampoo because i had some cuts on my head. i used shampoo, and everything was normal after the first wash–i didnt use it again. then i got a hair cut and for some reason started to use shampoo everyday. now currently my hair feels thin and greasy, it looks unhealthy and almost like its withering. i washed it once with baking soda and this made my hair full again and back to normal. but i want to use only water again. should i just try to wait out the greasy period? also ive tried just running water through my hair once in a while and that actually made it more greasy. so what shoulf i do… i want my hair to be back to normal
Hi Jeremy, I’m sorry you’re having a bad experience after going back to shampoo. Hopefully we can get you back to your happy water-only hair washing routine! Greasy hair could definitely be caused by daily shampooing, which can throw your scalp’s natural oil production out of whack. I don’t recommend using baking soda long-term as it has a very alkaline pH and can damage hair over time. I recommend following this post for tips on how to transition to water-only faster and looking as less greasy as possible: here. Let me know if you have further questions.