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No 'poo shampoo and conditioner!

I have been experimenting with no 'poo for a while. That's not a complaint of the lower alimentary tract as much as it may sound like it, but short hand for not shampooing my hair. Yes, I do wash it of course, but not with commercial shampoo. And I do condition it - with fairly long hair I have to otherwise, pretty soon, my hair would get stiff and sticky outy and I'd have a scarecrow head!

I came across the concept on a blog called "Uniquely Normal Mom" about a year ago and apart from a few trips away, when I didn't take my concoctions with me, I haven't shampooed my hair since!

I found with such long hair that methods of dry shampooing with bi-carb didn't work for me and although my home made soap did a good job, it did too good of a job, really, and stripped my hair of any grease or dirt entirely and left it frizzy and very dry. Christine's rosemary rinse helped a lot but I really needed something slightly gentler than my homemade soap for my shampoo.

Then it dawned on me, the bi-card is messy as a powder to get into my hair... what if it were a liquid?

Here's what I did...


Using the funnel, I spooned into an old sauce bottle, about 4 tablespoons of Bi-Carb.


Then I topped it up with water, put the lid on, and gave it a shake!
Voila! - Bi-Carb liquid shampoo!

I use the sauce bottle as its plastic (wont fall over and brake in the shower) and also because the lid restricts how much comes out so I can  get the "shampoo" into the places I want.

I find it feels very "strange" when compared to normal  shampoo - almost slippery and there is no lather or no scent whatsoever.It can be quite disconcerting if you have been used to lots of luxurious white bubbles and the scent of the what ever the marketers deem will take money from your pockets this week.
What the Bi-Carb does is create an alkaline environment which essentially lifts organic substances like dirt, oil, and grease out of your hair. Combined with the physical action of working the Bi-Carb into your hair, the grease etc is worked into the water and Bi-Carb and is washed away when you rinse your hair. 

Generally, I just squirt on my liquid Bi-Carb after I have wet all my hair to the top front of my hair - the area's that are the greasiest as I tend to push my fringe away with my hands a lot. The ends hardly ever get "dirty" and so I am content to let the Bi-Carb do what it can with the ends as it gets rinsed off.

To stop the ends especially from drying out, I started using Christine's Rosemary Rinse. Its great but I decided to have a play with it after deep conditioning my hair with tea tree oil one day. 


So now I make up the rosemary rinse and add about 100mls of vinegar (white or cider I suggest) as this neutralises any left over Bi-Carb, and then add a teaspoon of tea tree with a couple of drops of Eucalyptus oil. I pop this into an old squirty drink bottle. This one mainly goes on the ends or bottom half of my hair where I lift it all up onto the top of my head and work the conditioner in to the rest of my hair. Rinse, and carry on as usual!


I always use plastic in the shower just to be on the safe side. Its not elegant and I'm sure there are more attractive containers in the world but for the time being, this will do!

I tend to go through one of these containers every 2-3 weeks but since they are about 90% (shampoo) and about 80% (Conditioner) water, its not like I'm wasting expensive ingredients or anything! They both take moments to make up and cost next to nothing - my kinda cosmetics!

Score card:
Green-ness: 5/5 for using natural products to clean myself!
 Frugal-ness: 5/5 for using things I already have in the house
 Time cost: 1 minute for the shampoo and slightly longer for the conditioner to steep the rosemary.
 Skill level: Stirring, mixing, shaking!
 Fun-ness: Great fun to have shiny bouncy hair!

Comments

Anonymous said…
My first try with no-poo was to make a paste with the baking soda and apply to dry hair, what a mess. the next time I tried a paste on wet hair, still not right. Then I just watered the baking soda down like you do with water and applied to my wet hair, I love it and have no plans to ever return to shampoo.
Amber said…
I'm quite inspired to give it a try! I've wondered about ditching shampoo but never researched it enough to work out what toxic-free alternatives to try. Thanks for your tips. :)
Practical Frog said…
I probably will never go back either! Its easy cheap and I know its not hurting any one or anything.

Give it a go Amber - just remember it will be totally different from the experience on TV - no flowers drifting from the top of your head, no white fluffy bubble cascading down your shoulders... but then there are no carcinogen's, no chemicals and no bunnies were harmed in the washing of your hair either! Let me know how you go! - K xx
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