Friday, August 20, 2010

Fixing the No Poo Hair

As mentioned before, I've been exploring my 'no poo' (no shampoo and conditioner) options recently. I'm trying out the baking soda and vinegar method on my hair. Each time I've washed my hair this way, I've experienced a variety of results. A few times my hair has felt pretty gunky. Only once or twice it has felt mostly good after getting out of the shower.

At first, since my hair was gunky after using the ACV (apple cider vinegar) rinse, I thought maybe my hair didn't need it. The last two times I've washed my hair with baking soda, I haven't used the ACV rinse. My hair felt clean, but for some reason, it just never felt like it was drying all the way. And the strands were sticking together. I wear my hair long and straight most of the time, and talk about flat with this new system!!!

I washed my hair last night with baking soda and rinsed it with the ACV rinse. For 2-3 days prior, I had been mulling around in my head the idea that I was not using ENOUGH ACV, rather than too much. I have a lot of hair. It's probably 2 feet long at present, and though it is fine and shiny, it is very thick. I run through conditioner pretty fast because it's hard to work a small amount into my thick hair. So I decided that if I had to, I would use up the 1.5 pints of ACV rinse that I had left in the shower. After rinsing the baking soda out, I poured little bits of the vinegar rinse on my head and tried to massage it into my hair before it ran to the bottom of the strands. I went from one side of my head to the other at least three times doing this. Then I leaned over and poured more onto the long part of my hair and scrunched and twirled and rubbed it in. I let it sit for a short moment and then rinsed well with water.

It worked!!! I went to bed with wet hair and to my astonishment, it felt all dried out this morning! It was de-tangled, manageable, and felt light and free, just like it used to with my favorite shampoo and conditioner. All of this worry about if I had hard water, and if my hair was never going to be the same and if I'm doomed to use chemicals to keep it manageable faded away the instant I ran my fingers through it this morning. I am saved!! No chemicals and no bad hair days!

I'm only having to wash my hair 2-3 times a week with this method. So at 3 tablespoons of baking soda a week and 1 cup of apple cider vinegar per week, I'm saving quite a bit of money. Most regular size shampoos and conditioners only last me a month, and using all natural, organic stuff can run you a good amount of money. It will take me forever to run through this Costco size baking soda I have at home at that rate. Also, a quart of Bragg's ACV is usually around $5, and there are 8 cups in a quart. That's 2 months per quart, so about $30 per year. With the organic products, I was spending a minimum of $20 per month with shampoo and conditioner combined! And I probably won't use quite that much ACV per week, anyway. I'm very excited about this, especially since doing something more natural is actually saving me money, rather than costing me more. A lot of times it seems to be the other way around. :(

So if you've tried no poo and your hair is feeling sticky after your shower, try using more vinegar rinse. See if it helps. The recipe I used this time was a 1/3 cup vinegar in 1 quart water. I can't wait to do it in my daughters' hairs!

1 comment:

  1. I hope there's no double entendre with the word "no-poo" LOL!

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