So, in going with my "All Things Green" clearing of chemicals and toxins from my life, I began looking into skin and hair care. Oh my! What an eye opening experience. Just go to your shower and take a peek around. I had been thinking about what goes
IN my body for some time... but what about what goes
ON my body??? Well, you just try and go pronounce half the stuff in that bottle of shampoo or conditioner in your shower! Even the "good ones" and "green ones"!! I was shocked at the long lists on my "natural" shampoos and conditioners, so I started doing a lot of research. A LOT. The results were eye opening!! Here's the way the shampoo and conditioner you have been using works:
- Shampoo and all the chemicals create that "awesome" lather that strips all the healthy protecting oils and sebum (the natural oily lubricant in your hair follicles that protects your skin from infection) from your scalp and hair, leaving you with dry, frizzy, thirsty hair, and an unprotected scalp. This then causes the scalp to OVER produce sebum and oils to compensate for being so stripped down.
- Conditioner then piles on more chemicals and many times silicone's or silicone like chemicals, in order to "smooth" the hair and tame it. This actually just weighs the hair down and makes it dull and lifeless.
Additionally:
- Shampoo is an unnecessary expense!!! What did our grandparents use before the "invention" of modern day shampoo?? Baking soda and lemon juice or apple cider vinegar!! Switching to a baking soda and apple cider vinegar is a very simple, frugal and earth friendly alternative to the mass produced chemically laden stuff we have been using.
- Most shampoos contain many kinds of harmful chemicals, including carcinogens, pesticides, reproductive toxins, and hormone disruptors. Look at your baby shampoo's too!! They can contain just as many harmful chemicals as the regulars!!!
- Shampoo strips your hair of sebum and dumps chemicals on the exposed scalp and hair, therefore multiplying the scalp and hair's exposure to harmful chemicals.
- Because it strips your hair, it sets in motion a cycle that demands more and more products~conditioners, masks, gels, heat protectors, sprays, mousse, and more shampoo to get all the gunk out... thus starting the cycle again.
- Shampoo is bad for the environment (so are all those plastic bottles we throw away!)
So in a quest for a more natural, simpler alternative, I came across the "No 'Poo" method.... So here is goes (its
VERY complicated):
1) wash with Baking Soda and H2O solution
2) rinse with Apple Cider Vinegar and H2O solution
THAT'S IT!!! Brilliant right???
Well, there is a slight downside... there is a "transition" period. This phase can last from a day or two to several weeks, depending on your body, hair and current hair routine. The transition period is basically a readjustment period for your scalp. Since your scalp is so used to being stripped by shampoo every day, or if it's lucky, two, the scalp is in the routine of producing WAY more oils than it really needs. Basically I liken it to a war on my scalp. The North Army is the Shampoo and the South is the Sebum. Each is battling to have control over the hair follicle. So, when you remove the Shampoo and the North Army retreats, the South goes a little crazy and the Sebum spills out everywhere....The things my crazy mind comes up with... Who knows... Back to transitioning your hair. :) When I stopped using shampoo I started using a Castille and Honey wash which was very diluted with H2O. I also used my black soap liquid I made from African Black Soap (will post more on that another day). Both were good. At least it seemed at first. And I honestly don't know if it was the scalp transitioning or just that they were too drying which was adding to the problem, but I had some MESS going on in my hair! It was WAAAAYY greasy for a couple days... like so greasy I used nothing in it and it wouldn't dry, literally. I had to wear it in a bun several days to work, but there were good days too! My transitioning period lasted about 10 days. But they weren't all "I just stuck my head in a vat of chicken frying lard" type days. I had some really good days too, with just a touch of grease at the temples, so I just pulled half my hair back in twists. It really wasn't too terrible I felt like, but I am pretty tolerant of crazy hair days... I have some pretty crazy hair, multiple colors and textures...
Before I go on, I guess I should tell you all about my hair...
The Locks: Past, Present, and Curly???
So here's the deal, my dad has very fine, slightly wavy, not too thin, but thin, blonde blonde with a touch of Irish red hair, my mom on the other hand has Chewbacca hair. I kid you not. She has coarse, THICK, mounds of curly, crazy, wavy, oodles and oodles of hair.
Before I was born she had a fro. Pure Awesomeness!
And for proof of the Chewbacca hair you ask??
So here the three of us are... I was a blonde baby... And pictures had a red hue in those days...Dad and I really were VERY blonde!
Proof:
And, although I have dyed my hair every color under the sun, I stopped that years ago, and am a natural blonde, with light to medium brown underneath. The more sun I get the more blonde I get!
(FYI- I'm on the left)
My hair is mid back length and the above picture is how I wore it most of the time. Dried straight and silky. When I was in high school (only 20 years ago! YIPES!!) I could leave for school with it just out of shower wet and by lunch it was dry and silky straight... Somewhere over the years it changed. Hormones, damage, I'm not sure, but it developed a wave over the years. Sometimes I could wrangle the wave into looking at least halfway presentable, but generally when I wore my hair air dried and natural, I looked like I stuck my finger in a light socket! Plus the brown parts curled MUCH better than the blonde... The blonde just always looked electrified.
The "before"... Although this was not 100% dry... And it was first thing in the morning. The waves would have fallen some and the blonde would have gotten more and more frizzy and fried looking throughout the day:
And then... it got curly....
Before I jump ahead of myself....Back to no 'poo... we will get to the curly soon enough...
During the transition period I ditched everything but Baking Soda (BS) and Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV). That helped a lot. But it could have also just been that my transition was not that bad? I really only had 2 bad days, out of 10, so 8 ehhh, not great days... So consider yourself warned, it could be not that bad, or a really hard couple weeks, but stick it out, because it is soooooo worth it!!! After the transition I noticed my hair felt very different, both when wet and dry. In the shower it has a very clean and clumpy texture. I will say I miss the slippery texture that conditioner gives it in the shower, but after dry, OMG! So soft!I'm down to 2 BS/ACV washes a week. Some days I wet my hair, rinse it well with warm-hot water, just to get any slight oily buildup removed from my scalp, then do an ACV rinse. Other days I use my handy dandy shower cap and keep my hair dry! :) The Cap:
I feel a little bit like I am living like my grandmother and great aunt did! I am aiming to only use the BS once a week eventually. My scalp is adjusting really well. No excess oil or dryness. It has been over a month, probably close to 6 weeks since my last "real" shampoo and condition. And the craziest part is the Curly...
The Curly:
So that is my hair now! Holy COW! My kinda beach wavy hair now has curls. And it keeps getting curlier. I will say I have lost about 2 inches of length in my hair! The one "product" I put in my hair is a super simple, all natural, home made flax seed gel (I will cover that in another post).
Excuse the tired eyes... This was late in the day and I was exhausted!!
So now let's discuss the actual process. I make my BS wash in a 12 ounce squeeze bottle I got at my local grocery store. I have one for each wash and rinse. I had been using old bottles from shampoo, but I found I was looking for something to really get the wash and rinse where I wanted. The pointed tip is PERFECT! I take about a tablespoon and a half of BS in the bottle with 12 oz H2O:
I then add HOT (not boiling, just hot from my filtered shower head) water and fill it up. I shake it well and the wash solution should be a light milky white. The general average concentration most people use is about 1 tablespoon to 1 cup or 8 ounces of water. Next to the ACV. There are many mixture concentrations from 1 or 2 tablespoons per 8 oz water, up to 1/2 and 1/2. I use about 1/3 ACV to 2/3 H2O.
Now my wash and rinse are ready and I hop in the shower. I use the nozzle to really get the wash down at my scalp and rub around really well. I use the entire 12 ounce bottle, but I have A TON of hair and it is almost waist length when straight. I rinse out the wash really well and then start the ACV mixture. With the BS wash I start at my scalp and just let the mix run down my hair, with the ACV I do the opposite. I start at the ends of my hair and finish at the roots with the ACV rinse. I then pile my hair up or stick it in a bun and go about my other shower stuff. I rinse out the ACV well, then dry and follow with the flax gel. My hair is soft as can be. Even though it looks "fixed" or like the curls are set with gel or lotion which normally would be crunchy, my hair is soft as can be!
I LOVE MY NEW NATURAL HAIR ROUTINE!!!
More to come in my love affair... Recipes and pictures!
