Thursday, February 26, 2009

It's All a Science Experiment...

I've given up washing my hair...

What?

Yes, you heard me. I'm not washing my hair any more--at least not with shampoo. I've started the no shampoo method of hair washing and it's working great!

I dissolve 1 Tbsp. of baking soda in about a cup of water and massage that into my wet scalp. I rinse. Gets it squeaky clean. Next, I take an apple cider vinegar solution, 1 Tbsp. of cider vinegar in about a cup and a half of water, dip the ends of my hair into it and then pour it on top of my head and work it through my hair. My hair instantly feels silky and smooth. I rinse that off and towel dry. No vinegar smell, just a smooth feeling and a lovely shine.

What happens when you wash your hair with regular shampoo? Generally, it strips out all of the natural oils in your scalp and hair, and you have to use a conditioner to seal the hair cuticle to get it smooth again. The next day, your hair might look very oily or greasy, because your body thinks it needs to produce much more oil for your scalp as you've stripped it all away...Nice vicious cycle there, no? Talk about "wash, rinse, repeat".

There is supposed to be a period of adjustment when your body still makes more oil than it should, and so your hair can look a bit greasy at first and for a couple of weeks. But, I've not encountered that. This is working great and it's ridiculous to think I can keep my hair clean and smooth with baking soda and vinegar...or, I can have a volcano on my head if I need a little extra something to get me going in the morning.

Remember, rinse in between.

Later today, the kids and I are going to extract our DNA and look at it. We're kind of mad scientists around here, and that's how we learn.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I tried no-pooing for several months about a year ago and it didn't go well for me. Then I found a no paraben, no SLS, etc. shampoo and used that for a while. Recently I broke down and bought a bottle of regular shampoo and it felt sooo good to feel like I had clean hair again. I wish I could find a no-poo method that worked for me. Good luck with it.

Laura said...

Thanks Sue! So far, it seems to be working really well.

Sorry it didn't work out well for you too. Clean hair does feel good, doesn't it?!

DoulaMomma said...

I have generally only washed my hair about 3x/week...but since the new gym schedule I've been washing every day & my hair was getting dry...so I'm experimenting with just washing in water w/ out shampoo on half the days (started this week) & so far, so good...
how ever did you come up w/ volcano spa hair? and do you use the baking soda on your teeth at the same time??

and how will you extract your DNA? my kids would be so into that. speaking of science, the upside of the ER trip for the broken arm (read at my blog if you are asking, "what?"): we learned that the fiberglass casts get hard by using water which creates heat in an exothermic reaction!

Laura said...

I learned about "no-pooing" (what an unfortunate term) from Mothering.com. Lots of people there who are doing it or have done it for a while. Go to the Natural Body Care forum to read more.

We ended up not extracting our DNA, but the rubbing alcohol is chilling in the fridge and will be ready when we do. You swish salt water around in your mouth for a bit and then spit it out into a cup--voila! your cells in a cup. Take a couple of drops of dish soap which breaks up the cells and then float chilled alcohol on top. The DNA will spill out of the spit cells and enough will coalesce in the alcohol layer where you will see them as white strands. You can gather it up with a tooth pick and put it aside to dry...then try to look at it under a microscope!

Cool, eh?

I saw this here, http://www.musemagkids.com/experiments/extracting-your-dna

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