Shampoo? No poo? What to do?!?

Shampoo

Lots going on here to bear with me.

Have you ever just looked around at the shampoo isle at a large store and really considered how big a market it is? It's no surprise it's a billion dollar industry. They make everything you can think of and they do that because we buy (into) it. Shampoo for dry hair, oily hair, frizzy hair, itchy scalp, gray hair, thinning hair, colored hair....and tons of others.  This is just shampoo we are talking about. They have a matching bottle of conditioner with each and every bottle of shampoo.

The main goal of all these shampoos is to strip your hair of everything natural then adding a bunch of junk. They do so in a fashion that will hopefully leave your hair looking healthy. Healthy hair is advertizing term. What they mean by healthy is avoiding things like split ends, dead ends and breakage. We also want to maintain it's look from when it first became hair. i.e. shine and condition. 

How do shampoos make hair look healthy? As we went over before, shampoo strips all natural oils (sebum) away from the hair and scalp then slick it down in chemicals and wax like materials. Your natural oils are good for your hair, like mothers milk for the hair! Why are we striping away our hairs natural defenses and paying to do so? And why are we doing it so many times a week? Why is our hair needing to be washed more?

You've probably seen the explanations on t.v. commercials. You know, the ones when they show you a small clip of a computer generated, 300x magnified hair with all these 'scale' looking parts sticking up... then magically, as the product runs over the 'scales' of the hair they lay down, stay down, disappear and the hair becomes shiny and sleek. You know the ones I am talking about. Well its true... that is exactly what happens. The part they are hiding from you is the reason the scales are standing up in the first place. That is because that same product or some other shampoo... you know the one they are trying to get you to switch over from... stripped your hair of its sebum/natural oils while it was getting rid of the dirt. We are talking about the oils that naturally keep your hair in good shape. To top that off when all the oils are being striped away our bodies are trying to compensate buy producing MORE OIL! In turn our hair gets, what we perceive, as dirty much faster. D'oh! This is just fine and dandy to the places that make shampoos because we are then likley to use more and more product. We use more, so we buy more.

Unlike this lady. Can you imagine trying to wash that head of hair every day??? She did not use chemical loaded shampoos on her hair... she may have used arsenic on her face but that's another story.

Shampoo is for washing your hair. Getting ride of dirt and extra oil. That is all it is meant to do.  The natural oils do all the other healthy stuff. Years and years ago (around the time of the lady in the picture above) people used a bar of soap to wash all of their body, including hair... if they were lucky enough to be able to afford soap. They did this only a few times a month. Some lucky rich people used liquid soap with essential oil and plant extract scents in them, maybe washing 1-2 times a week. These were the really rich. Most of the population would just brush their hair a lot, sometimes brushing it with baking soda or cornstarch like products. This is also why so many fashions had up-do hair styles. It was simpler to keep your hair clean if it was mostly locked away in a bun or under a hat.

Skipping back to present time. Most of the population washes much more than 1-2 times a week (remember we are all shampoo consuming zombies) so why are we so split on what products to use when most of the rich in Victorian era used basically the same recipe, washed less & for the most part, had better results than we do today?

Its because we over do it. Like with most things we buy into the brightly colored bottles and advertizements. We trust the FDA and don't read or fully understand the list of ingredients.
While for the most part shampoo is not hurting your health when just used on the hair. Problem is it can't just be used on the hair. It's also used on your scalp, and unless you wash your hair in a sink, it runs down your body in the shower. The human skin is absorbs 60% of the things that touch it....so not only are chemicals and strange materials in your hair they are being absorbed in a lot of other places too. Some of them sensitive, unmentionable places.

On a side note, do you remember this? This is what I think of when I see most cosmetic/soap advertizements today...

I understand that was a lot of info. I kinda went on for a bit... I do that, but I wanted to explain the reasons I made a switch to homemade shampoo.

Now on for the recipes. They are simple and easy. I will start with the things I started with and end with what I use now.

No Poo
Started with the 'No Poo' treatment. If you have not heard of the no poo movement let me explain. Its basically the most simple and basic idea of how to wash your hair. Very little involved. Ideally it makes it so you only need to wash your hair once a week. Cool correct? Just watch out, in the long run it can damage some peoples hair because of the ph of the baking soda. I started with this because I wanted to get rid of all the residue left by shampoo in my hair. I knew from lots of reading that this was not going to be an ideal long term thing for me. I have sensitive skin and it did make my dandruff worse. Yes, I have/had minor dandruff.  For long term use this is not recommended for people with chemically treated hair. Especially people who use red or dark hair color (it will strip and lighten).

You will need -
*Baking Soda
*Apple Cyder Vinegar (don't worry your hair wont smell like vinegar once it dry, if you rinse well)
*Water about 3 cups worth. You should be using about 1.5 cups per bottle.
* 2 cups or squeeze bottles and a tablespoon for measurements.

Dissolve/stir/shake 1-2 tablespoons (depending on length and thickness of your hair) of baking soda in water 1.5-2 cups water in one of the of the cups/squeeze bottles.
Put 1-2 tablespoons (depending on length and thickness of your hair) of Apple Cider Vinegar in the 2ed cup and top off with room temp. to cool water.

Wash hair with the baking soda bottle. Avoid getting in the eyes! This will not make a lather so it will feel strange. Rinse really well. Do the same with the Apple Cider Vinegar mix but let this sit in your hair for 5 mins and if you can, comb your hair while it is in it. Rinse with cool water. Dry.

You will need to do this for up to a month (sometimes less) before your hair will balance to the new treatment. I did it for two weeks. My hair is darkened with natural color and it did strip it a bit but nothing major.

Honey-Poo
After that I went to what I wanted to do. Raw Honey Shampoo. I took raw honey and did the same exact thing I did with the baking soda. Just added it to warm water and let it dissolve. This is meant to be a more ph neutral version of the no poo. Less irritating to my scalp. Also rinsed with the apple cider vinegar its got a great ph for the hair and does condition very well. I did this for about a month. I really liked it at first but I did get some oily patches at times (my scalp working overtime) so I started taking a little of the baby version of Dr. Bonner's castle soap and washing my hair before I washed my hair with the honey. My dandruff was doing better but it was not gone so I added a few drops of tea tree oil into the honey mix too.

After a while that got to be a pain. All the mixing and such was not saving me any time when I needed a shower but I did get it down to only having to wash my hair one or two times a week. That part was/is nice.

The solution was simple. Go in a quasi-opposite direction of the no poo idea. :p
This is what I use now.
  
Coco-Poo

The great thing about this is you can mix a month worth at a time! No more mixing a bunch of things every time I want to wash my hair. Oh & I'm washing my hair about two times a week and this recipe, it lathers! I can not tell you how much I missed that. :D

You will need.
*An old shampoo bottle or bottle/jar of any kind.
*1/2 cup Coconut milk (organic) I get mine in the organic aisle in a can.
*3/4 cup Dr. Bronners Castile Soap. Any of the scents are fine or you can use the sensitive baby kind
*Extra Virgin Olive Oil. ONLY USE EXTRA VIRGIN (will explain the measurements below)
1/2 cup water - if your hair ends up being oily just add some more water to dilute it down.
5-20 drops of Essential oils. I use Tea Tree & Rosemary (do not use any citrus oils in this recipe)

Mix all the ingredients in except the oil/s in the bottle.

Oils... This part can be a little tricky. Here are my suggestions. When in doubt use the least amount you think. You can always add more.
For the e.v. olive oil and essential oils you need to consider your type of hair. If you have thin very oily hair you may not even want to add the olive oil and only a small amount of essential oil. If you have thin normal hair try a teaspoon and go light on the essential oils. If you have dry thin hair maybe try 2 teaspoons. All around normal hair (lucky you) 2 teaspoons and 10-15 drops essential oil. Me, I use a tablespoon of the olive oil and 15 drops of the essential oil because I have very thick dry-ish hair. Remember, you can always up the amount of olive oil and the essential oils, so go light and if you need to add a little after a test or two, go for it.

Essential oil Suggestions. Feel free to mix and match.
*Lavender - Good for all hair types + treatment of dandruff & itchy scalp (also could use w/ Lavender Castile soap)
*Rosemary - Good for all hair types + treatment of dandruff & itchy scalp
*Tea Tree - Good for all hair types + treatment of dandruff & itchy scalp
*Sandalwood - Good for dry hair
*Geranium - Good for dry hair
*Peppermint - Good for oily hair (also could use w/ Peppermint Castile soap)
*Cypress - Good for oily hair

Shake the bottle well before each use and just use enough to get a good lather on your hair. You'll most like use a little more than you expect. I use about 1.5 tablespoons per wash.  Make sure and scrub the scalp. You can do the wash and repeat with this recipe but it is not required.

Keep this mix for a month. I've heard of people mixing up something very much like this two months at a time.. I've not tested that. If you do, let me know how it goes.

I still rinse with the apple cider vinegar. I love the way it makes my hair feel.

Hope you found all (or some) of this useful.  :)

~ Me