Thursday, April 23, 2009

Ditching Shampoo

Hi, my name is Molly and I've been shampoo free for 15 days.

I'm hanging in there, but it's been rough.

The baking soda part is easy, make a paste in your hand and scrub into your scalp. Then I start having trouble. The first couple times I washed my hair, I just doused my hair in apple cider vinegar straight from the bottle. Ummm, just for the record, ACV really stings your eyes.

My husband did a sniff test when I got out of the shower and declared that I smelled like french fries. The kind with vinegar, apparently.

Since I don't particuarly want to remind people of boardwalk fries, I put the vinegar in a spray bottle in an attempt to use less. Well, a fine mist of ACV really, really burns your eyes. In a second sniff test, husband announced that my hair reminded him of toilet bowl cleaner.

WHAT? Toilet bowl cleaner? (Seriously, he really said that.)

Apparently my horror was apparent and he quickly followed up with "That's a good thing honey, toilet bowl cleaner smells clean!". In his defense, I have been cleaning our toilets with baking soda and vinegar , so his observation was pretty accurate.

For the last couple showers, I've tried pouring just an ounce or two of ACV into a cup, diluting it with water and dipping the ends of my hair into it. Much. Better. Less smell, less burning of the eyes.

I'm having some trouble with an itchy, dry scalp (so if you see me tearing at my scalp, I do NOT have critters) which is very strange because my hair is greasier than ever. I just picked up some lavendar oil to see if that can help with both the toilet bowl/french fry smell and the itchness.

So the verdict isn't in yet. I've come this far and I'm determined to make it through this detox period...but if anyone feels inclined to give me a pep talk, I'm all ears.

7 comments:

  1. OMG apple cider vinegar!!!! wow!This blog cracked me up! I have heard of washing your hair in plain yougart..pretty expensive though.

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  2. I don't wash my hair in anything...sounds bad but I use cleansing conditioner(a really super expensive all natural product one made at home by someone). I condition, comb with a shower comb, condition again, rinse and it's clean. I'm not sure what's exactly in it but I think Lavender is one ingredient. I love it. it tried all the stuff you tried and it made my hair like barbed wire(it's super curly)

    Good luck!

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  3. Wow! I have never heard of this--good for you and keep it up and let us know the results. Clean toilets and french fries? It could be worse :) Good luck!

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  4. I did it for a while and liked it fine. My problem was that the "no poo" version of my hair had a lot *more* body in it. This didn't work for me as I like to straighten my hair and less body would be fine with me. I didn't have to deal with the oily scalp much, though. My hair/scalp is extra dry. In fact, now that you mention it, I might go back to it :)

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  5. I'm rooting for you! If you can do it and come out on the other side with better, healthier hair -- I just might get up the nerve to try it myself...

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  6. Hmmm.... I've been thinking about it, but so far haven't tried it.

    Found you on MDC. Great blog!

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  7. Hi, I'm visiting from MBC! Great blog.

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