Green Hair

No, no, no... not GREEN hair but "green" hair, as in going green.
So, if you are anything like me you have heard of several friend who have either heard of, or actually tried for themselves, going "poo free." Frankly, I love that feeling of thick lather in my hair, and running down my back far too much to have seriously considered ditching my shampoo in an effort to be green. Those other option worked so well I thought about it, for about a second and half though. Then I moved on with life, going 'poo free was NOT on this girls to do list.

A few weeks ago things changed. I was 16 weeks pregnant and trying to figure out ways to cut our budget down since I had been told that I will not be allowed to work anymore. Oh my, we were suddenly a one income house. Eeep! My hair has been fair oilier since I became pregnant. But, as I didn't have a job to be to everyday, I figured there was no better time to try to cut out the expense of my shampoo and conditioner.

I collected what I needed for the trial run. The list was short: baking soda, vinegar, a large cup and a spoon. Sound more like a science product that hair care? Yeah, I thought so too. I was unconvinced that this would do me any good. But, I had to try at this point, my partner was watching to see how this worked. So, I soaked my hair in warm water. Then I mixed a little over a tablespoon of baking soda and water in the cup. This was then poured over my hair and left to sit for a couple of minutes. I rubbed the solution into my scalp before rinsing. It felt a little soapy but no lather. Then I rinsed it well with more warm water. My hair felt tangled to me and I was supposed to pour vinegar over it? All I could thing about was how much that was going to hurt to brush out. So, I mixed my vinegar solution to the same strength, a little over a table spoon to a full cup of water. I poured that over my hair and QUICKLY rinsed it away. I am not a fan of the way vinegar smells and was afraid I was going to stink, thought I was calmly assuring my boyfriend that vinegar is odorless when dried.
 
A few minutes later I was standing in front of my bathroom mirror, holding a hair brush and DREADING having to put it to my head. Hesitantly I tried to brush through what looked like a snarled mess, and the brush slid right through. It didn't catch, it didn't pull. To brush my hair after my normal shampoo and conditioner I would need detangler since I have thick curly hair. I was shocked. Since my hair was still wet, I assumed it would look oily when it dried, after all if this was such a wonder cure to awful hair, wouldn't everyone know about it? So, I braided my wet hair and went to bed. My partner even commented about how good my hair smelled and that it didn't smell like vinegar at all, we were both surprised. The next morning, not only was my hair not oily but it wasn't frizzy either.

I had my boyfriend pick up condiment bottles for me the next day. I mixed up my baking soda "shampoo" bottle and my vinegar "conditioner" bottle. For the last two and a half weeks I have been 'poo free and my hair is just getting better and better. This is not because I am pregnant, because up until I went 'poo free I was ready to CHOP OFF my "pregnant" hair which had become unmanageable. I can now blow dry my hair and walk away without the extra 30-50 minutes spent with my flat iron. I've NEVER been able to skip the flat iron before.

So here's the deal, if you are very interested in Going Green, or living on a tight budget, or you have hair that is hard to deal with, or frizzy hair, or dry hair, or you just like a good science experiment you should try this. If you give it two weeks the worst thing that can happen is that you miss the lather of your shampoo, the best case is that you realize that you can save money, the planet and time spent on styling better hair.

All you need is two bottles I like the picnic style condiment bottles with the narrow spout though old shampoo or conditioner bottles would work too. Then mix your solution in each about 1 tablespoon of baking soda (for shampoo) or 1 tablespoon of vinegar (for conditioner) per eight ounces of water. I used 24 ounce bottles and a bottle of baking soda solution lasts me about 2 weeks and the vinegar solution loos like it will last me about twice as long. Make sure that you use baking soda first and always follow it up with vinegar which balances the ph of your hair. If you really don't like vinegar for your acid, I have heard of people switching it out for lemon juice.

If you decide to try this let me know how it goes! I know I was impressed. :)