About a month ago I decided I would start the journey to using alternatives for shampoo. I was researching the ingredients found in most all commercial shampoos, and discovered them to be quite surprising, both in how they affect the hair and body over a period of time, and where they come from and what they’re used for. Go to Shampoo Ingredients for more details and links.
My main reason for throwing out shampoo was the fact that my hair could not stand alone and still be shiny. Take away my hair products and I was left with a dull, frizzy tangled mess. I’d always read and heard that truly healthy hair was shiny.
I’ve switched shampoos and done numerous little tricks to help hair shine. It always ended the same way: started out working really well and then slowly went downhill from there leaving me back at square one.
So I have switched to using a baking soda rinse with a honey rinse:
1 Tbsp. baking soda in a mug/cup of mild warm water, mixed till dissolved.
Be sure the water isn't too hot or it'll bubble and won't work as well.
¼ tsp. honey in a mug/cup of warm water, mixed till dissolved.
These are rough estimates of amounts. If you’re blonde, you can use 1 tsp. of lemon juice instead of the honey for a rinse. For darker hair you can use honey.
Wet your hair with warm water, slowly pour baking soda mix over hair, massaging and working it through. Rinse. Pour honey or lemon water over hair, massaging and working this through. Rinse. Do a final rinse with water as cold as you can stand. You’re done!
The result will be very soft tangle free hair after it dries. Run a comb through it massaging your scalp with it. This’ll feel really good! Use a wide tooth comb if you have really long hair. A regular small tooth will glide just fine if you have shorter hair.
Now here’s the hard part about ditching shampoo: Shampoo ingredients strip hair of its natural oils, which causes your oil glands to work overtime providing replacement oil for your hair. When you quit using shampoo, you quit stripping the oils away, but your glands are still producing twice the oil you need….so you’re left with greasy hair. It takes about 2-4 weeks before the oils balance out, and you really have to buckle down and commit to it and not give up.
I had my times of wanting to quit, but I made it through and the results are fantastic!! Not only does my hair shine better than before, it’s tangle free and so soft! I can’t believe I can get these results with just using baking soda and honey! And when I see the light reflect off my hair you can’t imagine my glee! It’s all me! No hair products, just a little help from a couple simple ingredients from the cupboard!
Some tips to get you through:
*Keep your hair up and away from your face. The extra grease can give you pimples if you let it hang by your face.
*You may feel like you need to wash your hair every day, but try to resist. Over washing won’t help with shine. Try to keep yourself on a 2-3 day wash schedule.
I will be looking for a natural, herbal shampoo that smells good and nourishes hair. I’ll post when I find something! |
