The no 'poo update

Some of you may remember that I took the plunge a few months ago and decided to ditch my shampoo. Yup, that's right, I haven't shampooed my hair in THREE months. To find out why I could possibly think this is a good idea, check out this article.

I stuck to my baking soda and apple cider vinegar routine for a few weeks before I hit rock bottom. My scalp was itching like it was dry, but my hair was greasy! I found a recipe online for a leave in conditioner with olive oil, banana and eggs that left specks of banana in my hair for days and left my hair smelling like a trash can. I was this close to quitting.

In a last ditch effort, I decided to substitute the ACV with lemon juice to see if that would help. It didn't help the itchy scalp, but I DID like not smelling like french fries.

About a week later, I started noticing a difference in my hair. I've settled into a routine now that has my hair looking great and feeling healthy. Here's what works for me:

Before I shower, I squeeze half a lemon into a plastic cup. I keep a big box of baking soda under my bathroom sink and dump about a 1/4 cup (I have long hair!) into another plastic cup.

1. Wet hair

2. Dump a teaspoon of baking soda into your hand and make a paste with water.

3. Scrub scalp and hair systematically; repeat until baking soda is gone.

4. Rinse thoroughly.

5. Add water to lemon juice.

6. Carefully pour lemon juice and water mixture into your hair.

7. Let it sit for a minute or two. Rinse.

Done! I'm telling you, my hair feels so silky smooth afterwards. As for the smell, there is none. When your hair smells all fruity and flowery when you get done shampooing your hair, that's because it's leaving something in your hair, causing nasty build-up. This routine truly cleans your hair, leaving absolutely no smell behind at all.

At a maximum, I only wash twice a week. I know for some of you that's going to send shivers down your spine, but it seriously doesn't need it. Today is a wash day and it doesn't even feel, look or smell greasy. If I really feel the need to wash it on an off day, I'll just do a lemon juice rinse.

Do I have any no 'poo readers? I'd love to hear what routine you use!

Natural Toilet Bowl Cleaner

My first attempt at making my own household cleaners was a smashing success...and I have pictures to prove it.

A little background: We just moved into a brand new house but we are already having trouble with iron stains in our bathroom fixtures. While my dear husband is working on a solution to our hard water problem, the job of keeping the fixtures from staining has fallen to me.

Last week I used some kind of commercial grade toilet bowl cleaner - it didn't work. I ended up buying some Iron Out, which worked but made my nostrils and throat burn like crazy.

Yesterday I decided to break out the vinegar and baking soda and see what they could do. I started with this:

(I promise, I JUST cleaned this toilet 3 days ago and it already looks like this)

And I ended up with this:

Here's the step-by-step instructions:

1. Plunge toilet. (TIP: It does absolutely no good to pour cleaner of any kind into a bowl full of water. It just dilutes the solution which is totally counter productive.) I have this toilet brush which does a great job.
2. After the water level is down, sprinkle baking soda in the stool and vigorously scrub the surface with a rough kitchen sponge.
3. Spray vinegar over the entire surface of the bowl.
4. Pour some vinegar on your baking soda caked sponge and scrub some more. This should coat your bowl in a nice white fizz.
5. Let it sit for 1 hour. (I don't actually think you need to leave it this long - I intended to check it after 30 minutes, but got distracted.)
6. Scrub off stains. I had to use some elbow grease, but they came off pretty easily.

I have to admit, I was pretty impressed with the results. Chalk one up for natural cleaners!

My No 'Poo Experiment

I just ran across a post on this site that really intrigues me. (Which doesn't take much by the way, my husband says I'm way to easily entertained.)

I'll admit that I've spent a small fortune on shampoo, conditioner and styling products over the last decade, so a solution that's cheap AND good for my hair and skin sounds like a genius idea.

Since I happen to have everything I need on hand and I'm just about out of my last bottle of shampoo, I see no reason to put off the experiment. I'm super excited to see (and share!) the results.

Check out this and this for more information.