HAIR:
Baking Soda and Apple Cider Vinegar
I found lots of sties out there suggesting baking soda "shampoo" and apple cider vinegar "conditioner." There were lots of different recipes for dilution ratios. What seems to be working well for me is the following:
Shampoo: 1 tablespoon of baking soda to 1 cup of water.
I keep one of those little 8 oz water bottles in the shower. When I need to wash my hair I put a tablespoon of baking soda in the bottle and then fill it with water in the shower. I started with 2 tablespoons baking soda in 1 cup of water but that seemed too strong.
Conditioner: 3 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar to 2 cups of solution.
I have an old empty apple cider vinegar bottle that is 16 oz. I was going for 2 tablespoons vinegar per cup of water which would have put the total volume of the solution at 2 and 1/4 cups and made it too large for my bottle. So, I did the math and came up with 3.5 tablespoons to make a 2 cup solution (so that it would fit in my bottle.) However, that still seemed a little too strong as on hair-washing day I can smell vinegar until my hair is dry. So, now I put 3 tablespoons of vinegar into the bottle and then I fill it up with water. I use about a quarter of the bottle of solution every time I wash my hair.
Here's the reaction I wrote after the first trial:
"Amazing. 1 month of grease and grime are gone after one application. My hair is soft and silky and no tangles or "hair spray" feel. If anything, I think it worked too well and I'm a little sad about having stripped off so much of the natural oils. I'm going to try a weaker solution (1 Tbsp baking powder per cup of water) the next time I shampoo and may end up reducing the concentration even more depending on those results. I'm also going to use this as infrequently as possible. Hopefully only once a week."
So far, I'm staying with 1 tablespoon baking soda per cup, but I may play with reducing the strength even more. Right now I'm washing my hair about once a week. It doesn't even occur to me to wash it until day 4 or so because it feels so nice an clean for the first 3 days. Right now I'm at 1 week and it really doesn't feel or look dirty. Here's some proof. I last washed my hair 1 week go:
If I continue with this routine, that means my annual use of product will be:
1) 52 tablespoons of baking soda which is about 3.25 cups. I'm pretty sure this amount of baking soda costs somewhere in the $1-$2 range.
2) 39 tablespoons of vinegar, or about 2.5 cups. This costs somewhere in the $3-$4 range.
So, my annual cost for hair products is under $10. WIN!
Issues:
1) Frizz. It's definitely worse than when I used a leave-in conditioner. I have pondered adding something to tame frizz, but I assume that will make me have to wash it more often. For now, I think I'm just OK with frizz. And, either it's getting better or I'm getting used to it because it doesn't seem as bad as a month ago. It does seem to be worst on the day I wash my hair though.
2) Cow lick. It is back with a vengeance. The last time I had this much trouble with it is barely in my memory. By the time I was old enough to worry about my hair it was basically tamed. The interesting thing is that it seems to be worst around day 4 and then it gets better after that. The first few days are fine and then all the sudden it's like "oh HAI!" Below is a pic of it.
This is on day 7 and, as I mentioned, I swear it was a little worse a few days ago. I can (and do) flip it to the other side of my head, but it doesn't always stay there or want to go that way either. It wants to go outward from my head. My solution so far has been to throw my hair into a ponytail when going out in public. It also helps to try to keep my hair as curly as possible because then the cow lick is less noticeable among all the curls. I may also end up just washing my hair a little more often and use the cow lick as a gauge for when it's time to wash my hair.
Going forward:
For now, I'm sticking with my new hair products. I like the simplicity of the ingredients and not having to wash my hair every day or every other day. I can deal with the frizz and I'll work to find a solution for that silly cow lick. Even if I end up washing twice a week, we're still talking an overall annual cost under $20. Still winning!
BODY SOAP:
Week 1: I didn't have the outer packaging of my body soap so I couldn't read ingredients. At some point I googled it and was surprised at how many seemingly unnecessary and harsh things were in it, as it's a "sensitive skin" bar. The ingredient list is shown here. Yikes. However, I continued to use it because I didn't have an alternative and because I know that those things aren't really as scary as they sound.
Day 22: I purchased this. Based on ingredients and cost it seemed like the best option that I could easily find for a bar soap alternative. I was going to use it the next day but decided to wait until vacation to open it so that it would be fully sealed up at least on the way there.
Day 25: Tried new soap bar. Really fragrant. Doesn't smell like almond or ginger to me at all. Smells like flowers. Too much like flowers. This is not the solution, but it's better than the other bar.
Day 34: Re-read portions of the article that inspired all this and saw this: "Antibacterial soaps are most likely the worst culprits, but even soaps made with only vegetable oils or animal fats strip the skin of AOB." So, even my "better" bar is probably killing my "good" bacteria colony. Drat.
Day 35: Did some more research and decided to try going absolutely soap-free for my body.
Week 11: It's now been over a month since I last used soap on my body. I have a scrubby guy that I use with just water. I feel clean. And believe me, there have been some days where I enter the shower really dirty. I've been digging in gardens and I'm a dancer. I get dirty, sweaty, and smelly on most days. Water and scrubbing seems to do the trick though. I don't smell when I get out of the shower.
Issues:
1) Because of the extremely mild summer we've had this year, I haven't had the opportunity to go swimming or do any other sun-heavy activity that would require slathering my whole body with gobs of sunscreen. So, I don't know for sure if water and scrubbing removes greasy/oily things like lots of sunscreen. So far it hasn't been an issue, but might be one in the future.
2) I definitely DO smell worse. Not day to day, but when I sweat. I also seem to sweat more easily or maybe just smell more from small amounts of sweat. Doing things around the house or even just sitting in a hot car while for a bit can cause me to notice my own BO. The odor seems to be only/mainly from my armpits. I refuse to start using deodorant again, but I need to find a solution for this.
3) Shaving. I still want to do that. If I don't use soap to shave, I need something else.
Conclusion: I see no reason/need for body soap in general. Water and some scrubbing gets me feeling just as clean as when I did use soap. I still use hand soap. I might go back to using soap on my pits to see if that helps the odor issue. I've solved the problem of what type of soap to use (just don't use any soap!) but it created another problem. What should I use to shave? We'll cover that next week.
One final note:
Overall, cutting out shampoo, conditioner, and soap means that I'm not adding any scents to my body and nothing is there to cover up my natural odors. Basically, I admit that I definitely smell more "human" than I used to. I don't see this as a bad thing though. Well.... except for the pits after I've been dancing. Yikes, THAT is a problem. Eventually I'll find the balance and solutions. I need to do more research and experimenting though.
TDE out!
What's AOB?
ReplyDeleteBaking soda "shampoo" for the armpits?
Can you do toothpaste next?!