No 'Poo

In my search for an eco-friendly, non-toxic, won't-break-the-bank shampoo alternative, I have decided to stop using shampoo.  Seriously.  I've tried lots!  From the cheapo Herbal Essences and Tressemme (so cheap!  such pretty smells!) to the super expensive Aveda and Kevin Murphy (so nice, but I'm afraid to use it up!) to the moderately expensive but SLS-free LiveClean, I have tried many alternatives.

Except not washing. 

So here I go, on my no 'poo adventure!  I love it because it fits my bill:
- cheap
- healthy
- good
(This is the same bill I use for many things, coincidentally.  Recipes!  Body care!  Cleaning!  Also the home of a great blog!)

It is cheap because it uses very plain and easy to find (and cheap) ingredients.  These ingredients also will not cause harm to your body the way a normal paraben-laden shampoo will ( = healthy!).  And it is good because it works. 

I have only been doing this no 'poo thing for about 3 weeks, but I feel like I can confidently say that I am over the hump of the dreaded "transition period" and am back to my luscious shiny silky hair.  It's also possible that my hair's texture may be changing, but I really can't be sure about that yet. 

INGREDIENTS
baking soda
apple cider vinegar (ACV) or white vinegar (WV)
cinnamon stick
vanilla bean
2 squeeze bottles with skinny lids (like a restaurant squeeze salad dressing bottle)

I mix up a baking soda wash bottle and a vinegar rinse bottle.  Each bottle has an approximately 1:4 ratio of product to water, though I am still tinkering with these amounts.  I added extra baking soda this last time and found that all day my hair has felt a little dry and definitely staticky.  In my vinegar rinse, I also add the cinnamon stick and vanilla bean.  The bean I just took from our current jar of homemade vanilla extract (another post perhaps?).  These two things make my hair smell so WONDERFUL I just want to smell it all day!  Sadly, the smell wears off throughout the day.  But I know that some people complain about not smelling that nice shampoo smell you get from your regular shampoo and conditioner.  Which, by the way comes from parfum!

The Shower Routine
On dry hair, squeeze some BS solution all over your scalp, being sure to shake the bottle well first.  Once you have this all over your scalp (not hair!), scrub it in.  Do a nice little scalp massage for a few minutes.  Rinse.  Do not repeat!  (Well, you could.  I don't know what would happen, but you definitely don't need to!)  Then take the ACV rinse and squeeze that all over your hair, combing it through with your fingers.  Then you can either rinse or not.  I am still a beginner at this, but I've heard that you can leave it in much like a leave-in conditioner.  Or rinse out.  Generally I like to leave it in, just so that I can smell it a bit longer!

I have heard that this method is wonderful for those folks lucky enough to have curly hair.  And it works for straights too!  I've also heard that it can sort of change the appearance of your hair.  Slightly darker colour, shinier, or maybe even more curl.  Apparently shampoo strips your hair of its natural oils, and then you use conditioner to replace them.  Then because your hair has lost all its oil, your scalp needs to produce more oil, which is why some people need to shampoo every day and some people can wait several days between washes. 

This is also what influences the transition period.  My hair got really heavy and oily for about 2 weeks.  I was wearing it in braids quite a lot of the time!  But I'm hoping that's over now, and all I have to do is tinker with my recipe.  I also think that you can gradually add less and less BS and still have the same effects.  I don't have a picture of my hair now, but this is what it looked like before (on a very VERY good day...)

Here's hoping that I can get back to that, or better!