Yucca Vs. Soapwort Vs. Aritha/Soapnuts?

[Neoma]

Thanks for bumping this thread Neoma!

I did use soapnuts and thought they did the best out of any non-poo methods I've tried for cleansing without stripping. I didn't do it long term so I'm not sure how it would have worked out in the end. I think I got lazy about making up the liquid. I started making my own shampoo bars and I've been pretty happy ever since. The one thing that does bother me somewhat is the high pH, though my hair looks better than it ever has and my scalp feels great and it has been a couple years of using only poo bars (scalp wash only). I look forward to the results of your experimenting!

You're welcome, and thank you for your reply, Neecola!

Last night, I added warm water to two heaping tablespoons of aritha and methi (powdered fenugreek, which provides slip). I shook it up well and left it out overnight.

I applied two or three drops of lavender shea oil to my hair last night, mainly to the length.

This morning, I shook the jar of Indian herbs vigorously to make a foam. Before wetting my hair in the shower, I applied most of the resulting foam to my scalp and a little to the length and massaged in gently. Rinsed and repeated the foam wash.

Rinsed.

Applied nettle/rosemary/lavender tea. Let it sit for a few minutes. Rinsed.

Using the foam felt extremely gentle compared to applying a gritty paste. I feel certain that the foam method caused no mechanical damage.

I let my hair dry almost completely, gently finger combing as it dried. The tangles fell out. Final detangling with my Tangle Teezer was easy.

My hair looks clean, smooth and shiny and is very soft.

As lovely as the foam method is, I hope that I will be able to just use the liquid when I receive my soapnut pieces. I suspect that will work fine. It's the mechanical damage from the gritty powder that I want to avoid.

I'm also thinking that it would be nice to brew the soapnuts in my nettle/rosemary/lavender tea. That would save me a step in the shower. If it doesn't affect the soapnuts' sudsing ability, that would be a great solution.

So far, I'm a happy camper!

[Neoma]

I'm giving up on herbal washes, at least for now. By end of day yesterday, my hair felt dry and course. Today, after another aritha wash, my hair was barely pliable and the crown looked horrible, even though it was clean. My hair is very delicate. I'm going back to conventional products.

[Jane99]

This is such a long thread and very much worth bumping!
Having just found it, are there any members who use soapwort? Most of the posts I read were about soapnut.
Thanks!