TGC- Shampoo

Let me start off by saying that I have come to realize something about myself. I am a cluster poster. With the kids, the crafts, and all the new season plating, etc, my mommy brain is in overload. So let me apologize for gaps in between posts, hopefully I can make it up with clusters of posts when I do get a chance to sit down!

Shampoo. So much to say, so little time. I can bet though, that every single one of you uses it.

Since so many other posts, and so many posts to come, will talk about the chemicals and how they are bad for us, I'm going to try to simply this. Once again, the chemicals in your shampoo and conditioner get on your scalp and get into your skin, thus getting into your bloodstream. But with shampoo and conditioner this isn't the only problem that commercial products can cause. (Did you know that shampoo hasn't been around forever? Shocking, I know.)

In a very short rendition this is what went down- People used to use all kinds of things to clean their hair, from Native Americans using plants and other land based items, to pioneers and almost modern day folks using soap. Commercial soap was the way to go, up until households started getting running water. Slowly but surely everyone had water, hard, alkaline water. The water coming from the pipes worked differently with the soap and caused the hair to become hard, crunchy, and nasty. Shampoo was born. It can be used with any type of water and does the same job.

Note, I did not say a GOOD job. Sure, sure, you feel clean and fresh after shampooing, but do you know why? Or, have you noticed that the more you shampoo the more you NEED to? Or, that every time you shampoo and don't condition your hair feels horrid?

Well, here's why- Besides all of the nasty chemicals (like propylene glycol, alcohol,, sodium lauryl sulfate, fragrance and many more), the shampoo strips your hair of all of the natural oils as it cleans. Oils our hair needs to stay strong and soft. So to compensate, conditioner puts synthetic oils and shineing agents back onto our heads. Yup, that's right, everything about your beloved hair is synthetic. That word got me. I always thought I had nice, straight, shiny hair. But as it turns out, I was wrong.

With shampoo and conditioner I had nice shiny straight hair. With just shampoo I have clean, dry, straight hair. But, with my homemade shampoo, I have nice, thick, shiny, and slightly wavy hair. (which I usually straighten, lol, go figure)

Don't get scared now. You did read correctly. I said homemade shampoo. If you think that's scary, look up the no 'poo method, now that's some scary stuff. I don't doubt it works wonderfully, but I am not yet ready to give up on my soap. So, once again I go to my trusty organic castile soap. This is the recipe I use for a weeks worth-

1/2 cup castile soap

1/2 cup of water ( I use coffee -more on that later)

1/4 tsp grape seed oil

Mix it all together, put it into an old shampoo bottle and voila, shampoo. You will notice this is basically liquid. I just kinda dump it on my head, but you will be amazed at the sudsing action. And they use no sudsing agents. If you use something other than water, (tea, coffee, etc) put your 'poo in the fridge until you need it.

A funnel really helps! 

My little bro test smelling one of the shampoos we made

Ah, if only it had been that easy. Don';t get me wrong, the recipe- super easy, the cost- minimal, but the results- iffy. At least at first anyway. It has been about two weeks and these are my findings-

It took about 4 days for my hair to adjust- everyone will have an adjustment period, where your hair gets back to the real normal. This could mean you have super oly hair (like me) or super dry, but t wll even out soon!

I can not use other shampoo recipes that use lots of different oils because I have very naturally oily hair.

I have to use a dark liquid instead of water (coffee or sage "tea") because I have dyed hair (ya, ya, a talk about chemicals, I know, I know) So the coffee helps keep my color in. I found that I was loosing my color fairly quickly with out this.

I MUST use the Apple cider vinegar rinse. ( 2 tbsp of ACV in about 2 cups of water.) This acts as a conditioner. You just rinse it through your hair after you shampoo. I rinse it out very well, to help with the smell, but you don't have to. However, I have not found a way to make it not smell like ACV. Some people say they don't smell it at all after they rinse, but, I have had someone tell me it smells like baby puke. (Thanks mom) The smell is pretty much gone once your hair is dry but if you blow dry or use heat products (straightener, etc) you will smell it a little more.

I can now let my hair air dry and it is still manageable, its actually much more manageable. It drys pretty quickly With the commercial shampoo it would take forever to air dry.

After 2 weeks, my hair is soft and basically back to "normal." It is shiny, styles easily, with out ANY products I might add!, and looks and feels great. I also don't feel like I have any product build up, my hair feels light even though it is thick. Also, I have not had one person say "Hey, you look different!/" Which to me, is a success. lol

Nick has only used my shampoo once. I think hes too scared to see what his natural hair is like. (it will be curly as crap lol) He also hates the smell of the ACV, so hes being a whiner about it. We'll see what happens when we run out of his precious shampoo and conditioner........

So, if you aren't too scared you little chickens, give it a try! The up front cost of the ingredients is about $15. More than your traditionally cheap commercial stuff, but there are a million uses for castile soap! You will also make a ton of shampoo from one bottle of castile soap. And, with everything I talk about, you get to be chemical free! For me, even if this was a more expensive option (which it definitely isn't) I wold continue doing it. I feel so much better about my hair now. I am, however, still lookng for a way to make that ACV smell better. I'll let ya know if I figure it out.