Shampoo Free!

As you may have already guessed, I have officially gone shampoo free! This has been the most challenging of all my homemade overhauls, but I think I have found something that works. Pretty good, anyway. First, I tried Caylen's method of 1 tsp. baking soda in 1 cup water. I did this for a couple of days, found that my hair was not much different than not washing it, then proceeded to the baby powder trick. I have been living with this one for a few days now-- you know, the thing you do when your hair is a little stringy and you put baby powder in it to soak up the oil? yeah, I had to resort to that one quite a few times. Just once a day though did the trick.

Some of you may think this is gross, going shampoo free, but really, I am getting the dirt and most of the oil out of my hair, it is just that my scalp is still producing oil like it is being stripped daily. However, I wanted to find a more efficient, and easier way to get my hair clean. I tried the diluted baking soda, then I went to a baking soda paste, but both were just time consuming and hard to get good coverage since I have longer hair. So, I found a recipe for a foamy shampoo and tweaked it some and went with it. This is what I am currently using now:

• 1/2 cup grated homemade soap flakes
• 1 cup water boiled down for 30 minutes with your choice of herbs.

I used soap that I had from Thistle Ridge, a cold process lye soap, and it is scented like mint. I used cinnamon, nutmeg, and rosemary in my herb blend, and my shampoo result was a deep reddish brown-- very beautiful! It does, however, get on the shower walls and turn them reddish, but it wipes away. How does it clean? It does pretty well-- it suds up, and it cleans my hair well, and my hair has had lots of volume and body! I do have a conditioner with it as well, but honestly I can't use it without having to wash my hair after wards. It consists of olive oil, cider vinegar, and essential oils. It feels great, but it doesn't wash out so much. I am left with stringy hair after drying, and while it may be conditioned and healthy, it is not too appealing.

Overall, I am very pleased with the shampoo free routine, although I am not a fan of stringy hair or trying to adjust to below -par lathering. However, the condition of my hair has been much more satisfactory! I have more body and volume, which is hard for my superfine hair. I would recommend trying this for people who have problems with dryness, but if you have hair on the oily side like mine, you might be better off with store bought items, unless you are doing it to forgo chemicals like I am.