Now before you think I’m super gross for not shampooing my hair since the end of February – just hear me out. I made the decision earlier this year to really focus on not using any more chemicals that are harmful to my body. Basically, whatever I put ON my skin, I should be able to eat. That was not the case with the lotions and shampoos and such that I was using. After doing a lot of research on it, I decided to stop using commercial shampoos and conditioners.
For the first two weeks, my hair was pretty gross. When you stop using commercial shampoos, your hair and scalp get all messed up thinking that they need to produce more oils. By using shampoo, you strip your hair of its natural oils, so it’ll produce more to make up for it. This can lead to overproduction of oils when you stop using shampoos because it is trying to figure itself out, essentially. After a few week, it sort of goes back to normal. About once a week, I use baking soda and water to clean my hair ( I do not use a lot of baking soda), and then I rinse with apple cider vinegar and water. I have been mixing it just in a cup, but I think I’m using too much ACV, because it tends to leave my hair looking pretty oily afterwards. I need to get a spray bottle and actually measure out the appropriate ratios, and that should make a huge difference! In between cleanses, I do rinse my hair out in the shower with just warm water to help keep it hydrated.
My hair looks and feels great now! It’s also SO much cheaper to do it this way for me. In the beginning my scalp was getting much better in terms of dryness and flakiness, but then it started to get bad again. I’m coming to the conclusion that I was using too much baking soda and not rinsing it out well enough, and since I’ve started to use less and really focusing on rinsing well it’s gotten better! It really has been a fun experiment for me.
Every few weeks I rinse my hair with warm water to open up the pores in my scalp, and put coconut oil in my hair. Sometimes I leave it in for a few hours before cleaning my hair, and other times I’ll let it sit overnight. This helps with moisturizing my hair and scalp.
Since Steven and I have made this change in our lifestyle, we have spent around $27 dollars since the end of February on: lotion, shampoo, conditioner, laundry detergent and body wash. We’ve replaced these things with baking soda, ACV, water, coconut oil, and Dr. Bronner’s. It’s been amazing! Has anyone else tried this?? If you have, tell me about it in the comments!
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