Thursday, July 24, 2008

Shampooing...But Not.

Well, snap.

I can't find it now.

I was cruising the internet the other day and found an intriguing concept on one of my fave blogs. I have been trying to find it again so I can share it with you and I can't find it!

Anyway, the concept is stop washing your hair....with shampoo. Use apple cider vinegar. (I'm familiar with using this as a rinse to give the hair shine after shampooing, but I was not familiar with it being the shampoo.)Several people (who think a whole lot about these things) are concerned about the harshness of shampoo. Can't say I completely disagree. Shampoos do have sulfates which = detergent and that is a strong cleaning property. If you color your hair, some of these shampoos (even ones for color treated hair) will cause the color to fade. They can also be drying to the hair. Technology is offering us sulfate free shampoos and there are some very good ones out there.

Nevertheless, some people just don't want to use products with chemicals and are conscious of how they are produced and the pollution that results when they are made. (Wonder if anyone ever thinks about the personal pollution people emit everyday. Especially after a good bowl of chili...but I'm not going there.)

I decided to try an experiment. I would put about 3 tablespoons of ACV in a bottle with water (think: restaurant sugar shaker) and some drops of lavender essential oil. I tried it on my girl and was satisfied with the results enough to do it a couple more times. Then I tried it on myself. I just had my hair colored last Friday. I have a few vivid red streaks in my hair and remembered that vinegar will help to set the color in clothing after dying, so....I gave it a shot. I wasn't too sure how my hair would feel since I have a gravity defying hairstyle and use a paste type product to style it. I expected my hair to have some residual stickiness to it.

But it didn't.

It worked surprisingly well. The fading on my red was minimal. I used this method two or three times before I finally broke down (after a particularly sweaty workout) and shampooed it (with a natural baby shampoo). During the trial, I continued using my paste for styling , but didn't use hairspray, although adding baking soda to remove that would have been effective.

I finally shampooed my girl's hair with natural baby shampoo after she got sticky popsicle in her hair and I just wanted to make sure that came out.

*edited to add: http://www.itstherecessionstupid.com/2008/05/ufo-recession-1.html

2 comments:

hepsmom said...

Wow, this is really interesting. I think I either read or read about an experiment done in England (or somewhere in the UK) that had people NOT wash their hair. It was really bad for about a week or a week and a half, but after that, their hair acclimated and was actually silkier and more manageable. I'm sure they were bathing, but the point was that they weren't subjecting their heads to the harsh chemical world of shampoo. The human body (not too surprisingly) managed to regulate itself AGAIN!

This isn't that article, but it's similar: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-389636/Why-Ive-given-washing-hair.html

Lady Em said...

Can you smell the ACV even if you put lavender oil in the bottle? Do you get a lather? What if it gets in your eyes, does it burn? I would really like to try this. It's cheap, and I love the smell of lavender, plus I am a sucker for cheap shampoo, and I don't think my Suave is really cutting it. What kind of conditioner would you recommend with the ACV shampoo?