Saturday, July 20, 2013

No poo


About a month ago I finally decided to jump feet first into the shampoo free movement. I had been looking into it for a while, but an impromptu hair trimming at my moms house got me to take the plunge. As a side note, I can't believe my little sis failed to mention for years that she was able to trim hair!

Let me start out by saying I have thick waist length with a natural wave. I washed my hair 3 times a week. I have used nearly every shampoo and conditioner I could reasonably get my hands on and my hair is always frizzy. Frizz treatments made it frizzy and limp looking. I have never dyed my hair and maybe once every 5 years have used a curling iron or hair dryer on my hair.

So for the first 2 weeks I went with the shampoo substitute that is most prevalent on the interwebs; baking soda wash and apple cider vinegar conditioner. The first week, my hair was a little greasy but looked great. Every blog out there told me to keep going, so I kept it up while trying to fiddle with the dilution ratios of the baking soda and acv. I loved the way the acv made my hair feel, but the smell....

The second week was awful. My hair was dry, my scalp was greasy and gross, and to make matters worse, I had the hardest time rinsing out the baking soda. I also started to doubt the benefit of using baking soda too often due to its abrasiveness. I needed something to cut the grease.

The third and forth week I decided to use the all natural, handmade soap I use in the shower. I used it sparingly twice a week, and my hair wasn't as visibly greasy, but I could feel it, and no matter how much I brushed, it was still gross. What's worse, my scalp was dry, flaky and itchy.

 

Today, the official start of week 5 I stumbled across a few forum and blogs that recommended a surprising shampoo alternative, honey! So I put a couple of spoonfuls of honey in a canning jar, with a dash of baking soda, filled it up with hot tap water, shook it up then filtered it through a piece of muslin. I added a few drops of rosemary and lavendar essential oils and went to work. It was like a miracle! For the first time in a month my hair isn't greasy and it looks great! I am going to keep up with the no poo, and maybe add some aloe Vera gel. I'll post updates once I get my recipe completely nailed down!

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