Getting the chemicals out of my bathroom: Part 1, Hair

So, for the past year or so I have been on a bit of a quest. I have been trying hard to get a lot of the chemicals and synthetic stuff out of my life. I’m not a freak about it. We still eat fast food now and then. Sometimes I even buy the kids a bag of Doritos. BUT, I am trying to get rid of as much as I can of the processed stuff and eat organic when I can find it and it is financially possible.  And when I can make my own of something, I do so.

But then I went in my bathroom. And I realized I have an awful lot of chemicals there that I am using every day. I began to seek out some alternatives to those items as well. I was happy to find out though, that where organic food is more expensive, many of the alternatives here were cheap!

One of the first things I tried was an alternative to shampoo. I used to buy a pretty expensive salon quality shampoo and conditioner. When I would buy a big bottle I tended to spend $30 if I could find it on sale. So, I went online and began to search. What I found and decided to try was the “no-poo” method. Now this is a rather unfortunate misnomer as some may be thinking you have a condition requiring some milk of magnesia if you tell them about it, but the idea here is that you are not using a shampoo at all. Nothing soapy that is stripping the hair of its natural sebum (oil).

Some people are thinking, “But I need to get rid of the oily hair, are you saying we go around greasy?”

No, not really, though there is a bit of a transition period on this one. You see, its kind like breastfeeding. Stick with me here, if you have ever been a nursing mother you’ll get it. Your body only knows how much milk to make by how much is being used. If the baby drinks more, then your body makes more. If less, it slows production. You can even make more than your baby needs by pumping more out and fooling your body into thinking more is needed.

The oil in your hair is not so different. You keep washing it out, and your body makes more trying to fill that need. When you aren’t washing it out so much your body cuts back on production, and unless you have REALLY oily hair, it isn’t a problem.

So, the “no-poo” method. You probably have all you need in your house right now. You take about a teaspoon to a tablespoon of baking soda (depending on how much hair you have) and mix it with water to make a paste. You rub this into wet hair, trying to get it all the way to the roots. Let sit for a minute or two and then rinse out throughly. Then, step 2. Mix about a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar with a cup of water and pour this through your hair as a rinse. Let sit for 5 minutes or so and the rinse out. Done. Really, that’s it. The baking soda cleans hair and soothes the scalp, and the vinegar rights the PH of your hair to keep it soft.

For the first month or two it was hard to get used to the feel of the baking soda in my hair. My hair was more oily than normal, and I really wasn’t sure if this was going to work. However, after the adjustment time it sorted out. My hair is softer now and has more body than with the expensive shampoo. It seems healthier and my scalp doesn’t get itchy like it used to. AND I am saving a good chunk of change. That I really like.

Some people have said that they had tangle problems or they just didn’t like the feel of it. That’s cool. What works for me may not work for you. But if you want to try it, stick it out for a month or two, it just might work great!