no-shampoo::start

Tomorrow begins the no-shampoo routine for me. A number of you have decided to join in and I'm finding I'm losing track of who said they were joining and who said they were thinking of joining. So...feel free to post here if you want to jump in on it, if you haven't already. {Or post anyway, I love reading comments.} I know a few of you who are doing it for sure and have already started blogging about it. I can't wait to see some results!

My plan:

I decided to ditch the only-water method, because I have a feeling I'm not going to like that so much. Perhaps later on I will decide to try nothing at all, but for now I'm going to go back to using baking soda. I think this round I'm going to use less baking soda to water than I did before. When I first tried this, I found after some time, it started to dry out my hair. Everyone is different, so you have to experiment and see what works best for you.

Baking soda wash:

• 1 Tablespoon baking soda {I'm going to use half of this amount to start}
• 1 Cup warm water

I like to mix this up in a dish, mixing until the baking soda has dissolved and the water is clear. Then I pour it in a container {I use an old shampoo or conditioner bottle, but make sure you wash them out first}. Another way of doing this is to make a baking soda paste, which I assume you would need to make before each wash rather than making it ahead of time. I also read that you can apply the baking soda to your hair before getting into the shower and then just rinse it off with warm water.

After washing your hair with the baking powder solution, you can make a vinegar rinse. You do not need to apply this to your hair each time you wash. In fact it's probably a good idea to only do this one to two times a week.

Vinegar rinse:

• 1-2 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 1 Cup water

Pour this over your hair and rinse with cool water. Don't worry about the smell. Once your hair is dry it goes away. However, some people will add essential oils like lavender or rosemary.

Another rinse I would like to experiment with is an infusion of essential oils and water. Basically I'm thinking of boiling some water and adding the rosemary & thyme essential oil I picked up last week. I'll let you know how that goes.

**For pretty much everything you would want to know, go here.

:::On a related note, I have been starting to wash my face with baking soda as well. All I do is pour out a bit of baking soda into the palm of my hand and add warm water to make a paste, then rub it all over my face. Gently scrub your face and rinse off with warm water. It leaves my skin nice and smooth! And when it's dry out, I will use a bit of almond oil {or olive oil} on my face as well. If it seems like I've added too much oil, I'll simply rinse my face with some water and that usually evens it out.:::

Good luck!

no shampoo?

Alright, some of you are gonna think I'm nuts, but I've decided to go back into not shampooing my hair again. I did it for a year once and I loved it. It worked the best in the winter because although my hair is naturally wavy and has a lot of body, in the winter it's dry and lifeless. It may sound strange to do this, but there are several reasons why so many people today are beginning to throw out their shampoo. Here are a few reasons why I personally am planning to do this (or why I did it in the past):

• My hair is thick and I've used lots of product before to try and bring my hair together so it's not so fluffy. I've used spray gels and they do seem to work okay, but they also make my floor a sticky mess if I don't wipe it up after every time I spray my hair. And the idea of putting gunk in my hair isn't very appealing.
  
• I love the fact that going without shampoo means you are going a more natural route and by doing this, you're not only eliminating nasty chemicals into your hair (and who knows what else is in that shampoo) but you're also helping out our environment.
  
• Going without shampoo would save me a little money. Maybe not a lot, but over time I think I would spend less money on shampoo and hair products so in a sense I am saving quite a bit of money down the road.
  
• Lately my hair has been really greasy and I think it's because I've been shampooing my hair daily. I decided either I need to cut back on my shampooing or just stop all together. Personally, I think cutting out shampoo altogether is just way more fun. Am I weird?
• Speaking of weird, the true reasoning behind all this is that I really just want to tell people I don't use shampoo. It makes me feel all hippie and natural. What can I say? I like that feeling. Yes, I like people thinking I'm crazy, weird, different or special. 'Cause I am!
  

Okay, so these probably aren't great reasons to stop using shampoo, but I'm not really trying to convince anyone. I just want to do it myself. Also, I know my hair has a lot of curl to it, but right now it's so dead that it looks board straight. I want my curls back! And I think if I ditch the shampoo I might be able to get them back again without using a ton of hair product. I also want to start now while it's dry outside, because it's so much harder to get into the routine during the hot humid summer months. I want to get past that nasty greasy hair stage, which takes approximately two to three weeks. I think it took me two weeks the last time I did it, though. They say it may even take up to six weeks, so that's at least how long I'm going to stick with this. But I'm really hoping this works and I can stick with this no-shampoo thing for a long time.

SO! Who's with me? Anyone want to go SIX WEEKS without washing your hair with shampoo? The biggest reason I'm posting this here isn't really to convince you all out there to do it with me (although it would be way more fun), but mainly so I can stick with my plan and not break down when it's the hardest. Basically here is how it will work:

1. DON'T use any shampoo. You can use conditioner, you can use a mixture of baking soda and water or any other number of things. But no shampoo! Personally, I plan to cut out all shampoo and conditioner. I think I might even pass up the baking soda wash too. I want to see how it is with just water. Am I completely crazy? Maybe. But I'm still curious to find out what happens.
2. Take a picture of the process. Start with day one and then a new picture every two weeks until six weeks have passed by. If you like it by the end of six weeks, you can continue another two weeks etc. I probably won't keep taking pictures if I do decide this is the way I want to go, but I thought it would be fun for at least the first six weeks.
   

That's it! To get started, I'm listing some helpful links for the various ways of going shampoo-free. I plan to start a week from Monday, which would be February 16th (Presidents' Day). You can start that day or any other day. But I would love to know if you are doing this with me! If I get enough people interested in joining my little plan, I'll post a link to your blog (assuming you have a blog and are willing to blog about your no-shampoo experience) and I will list the date you plan to start. Just be sure to let me know when you plan to start.

Pros and Cons of Water-Only Hair Washing
Conditioner-Only Hair Washing
Shampoo Free {baking soda method}
Curly Girl the book {conditioner method}
Website for Curly Girl hair

On a side note, I am not fond of the name some people are giving this: "No-Poo." Sorry, but that name alone kinda makes me want to vomit. Just sayin'...

Anyway, this should be fun! Hope I've convinced a few of you to do this with me. :)

weekend... already?

Wow, time sure flies! I can't believe it's already Friday. I don't have a lot of time at the moment, but wanted to share the pictures I've been taking of my breakfasts. Plus last night I decided to make more bread! I mixed it up last night and let it sit overnight for about 12 hours. I'd say it turned out rather nice. It's delicious, too.

On a different note, I'm thinking of doing the whole no-shampoo thing again. Awhile back I broke down and used shampoo and when you do that, it's so hard to get back into the no-shampoo routine. But right now my hair is just nasty. I shampoo it and it's still gross. I blame it on the weather. Anyhow, I'm going to post more about this later, but wanted to give a little shout-out to anyone who wants to join me. No shampooing for at least six weeks! We could start a little support group, taking a picture every two weeks to see the progress. If you're interested, check out my next post.

Have a wonderful weekend, all!

p.s. Thank you all for the breakfast suggestions! They're great!