Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Poo free?! YUP!

I've battled itch, flaky scalp for years--years! I've tried many, many remedies to help with it, but to no avail. I've used just about everything I could think of over the years-from the expensive to the cheap and nothing--I mean nothing--has worked. I love wearing black and dark colors, but hate brushing my shoulders off 100 times a day--and now, since I teach middle school, it's even more important to keep this under control--teenagers can be ruthless you know. So over break, I began doing some research on what causes itchy, dry scalp--lo and behold, what did I find? IT'S MY SHAMPOO, CONDITIONER AND OTHER ASSORTED HAIR PRODUCTS!!! Wait--hold the phones, all the stuff I use in my hair is causing my scalp to be dry and flaky--well, maybe? So I began doing a little more diggin into this topic. I found many people have gone "poo free" in hopes of remedying their hair woes. Poo free-you mean you don't wash your hair?? Yup, that's what it means. In one of the blogs I was reading, she compared shampoo to dish soap-I certainly wouldn't wach my hair with dish soap! So I continued my digging and found that using baking soda and apple cider vinegar is just as, if not more effective than shampoo. I decided to give it a try. So this morning, I mixed up my "shampoo" and "conditioner" and headed to the shower. I "washed" and "conditioned" as part of my normal shower routine, it didn't feel weird at all, but I was skeptical. Would my hair really feel clean? Would it be soft and manageable? Would it smell? So I toweled off and ask the hubby to sniff my head-he didn't notice any weird or offensive odors. Success #1. I dried as normal with my blow drier and my hair was soft and it did feel clean!! Success #2 AND #3!!! This is looking promising. I didn't use any product in my hair today, just teased the back a bit and went about my business. All day, I kept touching it and checking, still soft and still there. Now, I know this is going to take some time, but I am willing to try it and see. I'll keep you posted! Recipe for "shampoo" 1 tablespoon baking powder 1 cup water Combine in container with lid and shake well till soda is dissolved. (I do think a bottle with a squirt top would work best, I used a lunch type storage container and had a hard time getting it on my hair-a bath toy of the boys served well for this purpose!.) Conditioner 1 tablespoon Apple Cider Vinegar 1 cup water Mix well. **See above note about a container!