Eliminating 'Poo

I haven't shampooed my hair in over a week.

Ew, gross! 

Right?

WRONG!

I haven't used shampoo in over a week, but I haven't left my hair completely to its own devices, either. I'm just crunchy enough to know that there are plenty of people out there who, for various reasons, have ditched commercial shampoo in favor of cleansers more natural and sometimes, more economical. After a bit of research, in the form of sporadic google searches for "homemade shampoo," I stumbled upon an ingredient I'd seen in some recipes, Kirk's Coco Castille Soap, at my local Wal-Mart and decided to give it a go.

What could possibly go wrong?

For starters, I was worried that my soft, fine hair would become either coarse and dry or slick and oily. I  was worried that it would fall completely flat without the support of my trusted Pantene Volumizing Shampoo and Conditioner. (Even with that, I'd been using a dab of mousse most days to give it a little extra boost).

But I tried it anyway. You can find a zillion different recipes for homemade shampoo, some of them quite complicated. I'm not a complicated girl. I kept it simple. No essential oils, no grated and melted soap, no nothing... Just a bar of soap to my scalp and a bit of diluted apple cider vinegar to rinse away any residue. (If you want my to be more precise, I get a bit of lather on my hand, then lather up my head and rinse with a mixture of about 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar per cup of water, dispensed through an old Cub Scout camp water bottle. After that, I rinse well with water. Sometimes I use a little leave in conditioner, but not always).

The result: Clean hair. Easy to brush hair. Soft hair. Shiny, but not greasy, hair. And, most surprising to me, hair that doesn't hang limp, even without mousse. I'm not saying my hair went from flat to fab, but I can't complain. While I don't think my hair is noticeably different, there are small improvements, like fewer flyaway hairs and slightly more body. Again, not flat to fab, but certainly not a failure.

The experiment hasn't been completely without setbacks. After several days of using the soap, I noticed my scalp itching just a tiny bit. I've always been sensitive - as in, my skin gets dry and itchy - to glycerin, an ingredient in this soap, so I switched to diluted baking soda (1 tablespoon/cup of water) for a couple days. (I continued to rinse with the diluted apple cider vinegar). Also, before lowering the ration of vinegar to water, I noticed a slight, um, odor of apple cider vinegar emanating from my head when I worked out. Not awful, but not particularly pleasant, either. You don't really want to walk around the gym smelling like vinegar... Since lowering the ration of vinegar to water, though, the problem seems to have been solved. At this point, I'm planning on alternating between the soap and the baking soda, since the soap gives a cleaner feel.

So, yeah... I haven't shampooed my hair in over a week, and I don't plan to shampoo it anytime soon. I'm getting it clean and keeping it manageable without unknown, unpronounceable chemicals. I'll be spending less and throwing out fewer plastic bottles. I really don't have a great anti-shampoo passion - I'd have few, if any, qualms going back to the shampoo aisle if my hair looked a mess - but if I can maintain or improve my hair, save a bit of money, spare the environment a few plastic bottles, know exactly what I'm putting on my head... In short, if I can do this little thing that may or may not have a great impact on our budget, my health, or the environment, but will be simpler, cheaper, and more natural than what I've been doing... WHY NOT?

If you've been thinking about eliminating 'poo, too, give it a shot, and let me know how it goes for you!