Shampoo-less

I have been reading since I was in high school, about using baking soda as shampoo. I have never gotten up the nerve to actually try it though, until last week.

I have recently begun trying to limit the impact that I personally have on the environment, as well as trying to reduce my expenses. Trying this does both. Granted it does not have that much of an impact, as my husband and son still use shampoo, and their bottles will go in the garbage, but I do not want to force them to try/live the way I do. Who knows maybe Jeff will eventually try it.

What do most people pay for shampoo and conditioner? Somewhere between $1 to $10 depending on what brand and where you buy it. (Unless you do the CVS'ing and Rite Aiding etc and can get it for next to nothing) What do you pay for a box of baking soda? Between .50 and $1.50. If you want to add a conditioner of apple cider vinegar, that only costs about $3. So I can wash and condition my hair for a grand total of $4 for several months, as opposed to roughly $10 every month or so.

Now for how it is working for me so far. I read this post last week and then this one, and the one that answered the most of my questions, this one. After reading these, I thought, why not? I can at least try it.

So I whipped up a mixture of 1tbsp baking soda and a cup of warm water and a tsp of honey. I put all that in an empty conditioner bottle and shook it up really well. I hopped in the shower and proceeded to squirt some on my wet head. I was fairly impressed with the results once I got out. My hair did not feel yucky or dry!

The next day I grabbed some tea tree oil and apple cider vinegar on my way home. I mixed a cup of the vinegar with a few drops of the tea tree oil to use as my conditioner. When I washed my hair that night I added the vinegar rinse. I was disappointed to see that my hair looked a little greasy once it was dry. I had read that you can go through a "detox" phase but was hoping that I was going to be one of the few who did not. That was not to happen though.

For the next few days I continued to stay with my routine and did not stray even though I was not 100% happy with the results. I wanted to give it a good try before giving up. I did some more research and decided to try making a past out of the baking soda instead of using a cup of water. and left out the honey (adds extra moisture). A lot of people said that seemed to work better for shorter hair. They seemed to be right! I tried it before meeting Jessica for lunch. My hair still seemed to be a little greasier than I would have liked, but was a lot better than it had been during the week.

Then I decided to cut back on the "conditioner." Several of the blogs and articles I had read said that a lot of the time you do not need to use it every day. Looks like they were right too. I tried not using the rinse this morning, and was pleased with the results. It was not greasy looking at all this morning and it still felt nice and soft.

I am hoping that eliminating all the chemicals in the shampoo and conditioner I was using, that it will help clear up the breakouts on my face as well. There has been evidence to show that sometimes the chemicals can cause hairline acne as well as acne on the back, shoulders, and arms from the shampoo and conditioner being rinsed out and coming into contact with these areas.

This may not be for everyone, but I for one am happy with the results. I will continue to play with the "doses" and see what works best for me.