Woke up on this cold Seattle morning and I wanted to wash my hair. I am at home base and there is a shower here but I have been meaning to experiment with a concept I had been thinking of for how to wash my hair without a lot of water usage or making a splashy mess indoors. The method proved to work as I had hoped and it is easy to do.
I keep my hair at what I would call a medium length, just below chin length but not down to my shoulders.
For this shampoo method I use micro fiber washcloths. Some people hate the feel of micro fiber towels saying they feel like a cats tongue licking them with all those little coarse points. That is accurate and that is why they work so nicely for this method. Just like that tongue works so great for the cat that is cleaning its fur to remove dirt. Plus they hold onto the liquid you put on them making them really wet without being drippy. They also hold onto the dirt that was on your hair so that is what helps it get nice and clean with this low water useage method.
In a half liter bottle I fill it with water and added a small amount of shampoo and about a tablespoon of distilled vinegar. That will make enough solution for several shampoo sessions. The shampoo cuts the oils that are on dirty hair so that it comes clean and the vinegar does several things, it softens water so you need less soap and it is good for killing off fungus spores which are what cause dandruff, plus it has some antibacterial action.
I used 4 washcloths for this method. Washcloth #1 went into a small bowl so I could saturate it with the shampoo solution, good and wet but not dripping wet. Likely around a half cup or so of water but I did not measure how much. No water left in the bowl, it is all soaked into the cloth. Then I scrubbed my hair with that cloth for several minutes time being sure to scrub my scalp as well as the hair strands.
Washcloths # 2 and # 3 were saturated with plain water, once again quite wet but not slopping wet and drippy. Those are for "rinsing". So you scrub your head again for a couple of minutes with one then do it again with the second cloth. This was enough to get all the dirt and the shampoo substance removed from my hair.
The last washcloth #4 is used to dry my hair.
If you like you can follow up by applying a leave in conditioning product to your hair.
Next you can reuse those wet wash cloths in the same order, soapy one first, then rinse ones to take your sponge bath. They will still be wet enough for that second use but you will likely need one more to dry with as the hair drying cloth will be pretty damp having soaked up a lot of water off your hair.
They will dry out quickly if you hang them up. They can then go into my dirty laundry bag. But if it is too rainy outside to dry them I put them into a zip lock bag until I can hang them out to dry or launder them.
It is easy to buy microfiber washcloths by the dozen from places such as Costco or from online sources such as Amazon or even from auto parts stores. They are not really expensive. They don't weigh much and don't require a lot of space to store them.
I keep my hair at what I would call a medium length, just below chin length but not down to my shoulders.
For this shampoo method I use micro fiber washcloths. Some people hate the feel of micro fiber towels saying they feel like a cats tongue licking them with all those little coarse points. That is accurate and that is why they work so nicely for this method. Just like that tongue works so great for the cat that is cleaning its fur to remove dirt. Plus they hold onto the liquid you put on them making them really wet without being drippy. They also hold onto the dirt that was on your hair so that is what helps it get nice and clean with this low water useage method.
In a half liter bottle I fill it with water and added a small amount of shampoo and about a tablespoon of distilled vinegar. That will make enough solution for several shampoo sessions. The shampoo cuts the oils that are on dirty hair so that it comes clean and the vinegar does several things, it softens water so you need less soap and it is good for killing off fungus spores which are what cause dandruff, plus it has some antibacterial action.
I used 4 washcloths for this method. Washcloth #1 went into a small bowl so I could saturate it with the shampoo solution, good and wet but not dripping wet. Likely around a half cup or so of water but I did not measure how much. No water left in the bowl, it is all soaked into the cloth. Then I scrubbed my hair with that cloth for several minutes time being sure to scrub my scalp as well as the hair strands.
Washcloths # 2 and # 3 were saturated with plain water, once again quite wet but not slopping wet and drippy. Those are for "rinsing". So you scrub your head again for a couple of minutes with one then do it again with the second cloth. This was enough to get all the dirt and the shampoo substance removed from my hair.
The last washcloth #4 is used to dry my hair.
If you like you can follow up by applying a leave in conditioning product to your hair.
Next you can reuse those wet wash cloths in the same order, soapy one first, then rinse ones to take your sponge bath. They will still be wet enough for that second use but you will likely need one more to dry with as the hair drying cloth will be pretty damp having soaked up a lot of water off your hair.
They will dry out quickly if you hang them up. They can then go into my dirty laundry bag. But if it is too rainy outside to dry them I put them into a zip lock bag until I can hang them out to dry or launder them.
It is easy to buy microfiber washcloths by the dozen from places such as Costco or from online sources such as Amazon or even from auto parts stores. They are not really expensive. They don't weigh much and don't require a lot of space to store them.
