Baking Soda Wash and Soap Bar Wash

I want to use one (or both, varying between them) of these methods: washing with BS and washing with natural soap bar, made by someone I know from the countryside 100% natural. The thing is, I just don't know exactly how to wash with neither of them.

Regarding the BS, should I just pour it over my head (how much should I pour over, by the way? hair is almost shoulder length, but not yet tho) and then wait 10 mins and then rinse it and that's all? Also, what oils and other things do you recommend using? Note that my hair gets oily and gets flakes really quickly.

Regarding washing with the soap bar, how exactly do I do that? Do I just like scratch my scalp with the soap bar? Or how should I do it? It just doesn't seem to make enough foam.

Thanks!

updated by @paul-chirita: 01/13/15 09:51:49PM

Ratio for baking soda (BS) is 1/2 cup BS to 5 cups water. Put in container & shake it well, pour over wet head. This sits on for 10 minutes or more if you want. This is a no scrub method that is great for newly forming dreads. It will exfoliate the scalp all on its own, getting all the scalp crap & stuff out. Now rinse out well. Next you are going to do an Apple Cider Vinegar rinse (ACV). This is to balance back the PH in your hair from using BS. Mix 1 capful of ACV to 5 cups water and pour over head, rinse right away or within one minute max. This is a healthy conditioner also. Unless you have very oily hair and scalp, it should be used each time when doing the BS wash. I did not always use it in the beginning and the BS fried/dried out my hair and it took months to soften it up again, so that is an important step.

I don't know where you live, not on your profile, so I don't know if your water is hard or soft. With hard water, the BS dissolves better if you boil the water first and then mix the BS in. But let it cool off first.

Here is a posting for essential oils by Soaring Eagle: http://www.dreadlockssite.com/forum/topics/essential-oils-for-dreads-and-scalp-health?page=8&commentId=3754945%3AComment%3A1645384&x=1#3754945Comment1645384

For dandruff and a flaky head, don't wash in hot water, make it cooler. Then when you are all done washing and rinsing, finish off with a very cold head rinse, as cold as you can take. Amazingly this will help and stop the dandruff or itches. Do this each time and your scalp will correct itself.

Not all natural soaps are good for dreads, although you would think so. Find out what your friend puts in them, all the ingredients, and then post them here. We will let you know if they are safe for you. Some can over condition the hair due to the natural oils used, some can leave behind a residue. To use a bar, you can either lather it up in your hands and scrub the scalp gently, or you can rub the bar directly on the scalp. When you rinse it out it will run through your sections, cleaning them as it goes. Once dreads are mature, they can be rubbed directly with the bar.

Hope this helps you .....Peace

I'm from Romania, not sure about the water. I'll update how it went with the soap when I'll use it. Are the natural oils safe for my hair(which tends to get oily very quick)? The ingredients of the soap:

olive oil, coconut oil, baking soda, wormwood tea, bran, hemp oil, essential oil (lavender, ylang ylang and lemongrass)

Also, I'd like to know how much of the mixture I should actually use on my hair. And I was wrong about one of the ingredients for the soap. It's actually caustic soda, not baking soda.

use the whole mixture.. what will u keep some of it for...? 1/2 cup bs with 5 cups water... whole of it.. u can use 1/2 jug bs with 5 jugs water as well (but why would u use so much lol)... 1/2:5 is the ratio that u have to follow... and do the acv rinse if u have a flaky scalp..

Well, I thought that maybe using too much BS mixture can be damaging. So I should use the whole of it? Also, how often should I use the ACV Rinse (because as I said my hair gets oily and flaky fast)?

yea the 5 cups whole .. acv rinse is a must to restore the ph level of ur scalp. if u do only the baking soda wash then u'll increase the ph level of ur scalp. the result will be dry flaky and itchy scalp with very weak hair that'll break easily.. after the baking soda wash just pour the acv mix over ur head let it run through for a few seconds and wash it out .. i dont know how old ur dreads are, if they are mature then u can let the acv stand in there for over a minute. but for young dreads just wash it off straight away.

ur scalp is different from mine and from anybody else's. so u'll have to attempt a lil trial n error for getting the best ratios that'll suit u. keep playing around with the acv ratio to start with. as barrellady said if ur hair is naturally very oily u can skip the acv for the first few washes until ur hair gets dry enough. hope this helps.

Thanks! And how much does a capful mean in liters? I know how much a cup means, but don't know about a capful.

the acv bottle will have a cap on top of it... a capful means the amount the cap can hold. its not in liters. it may be like 10ml or something. :P