For info on what I had been doing and the ups and downs I have had check out my past blog posts.
My scalp has been horrible lately, not the worse ever but pretty flaky. My main issue with all this is soap scum due to the hard water we have. The soap scum build up on my scalp with my natural tendency to get dandruff was just too much for me.
Thursday night I decided to suck it up and find myself a natural shampoo, conditioner, and whatever else I came across. I looked around online at reviews and suggestions and didn't find much new info. When I went grocery shopping that night, at my local health food store, I spent quite a few minutes in the hair care section. At first I couldn't find a shampoo that I really wanted, I would not buy one with SLS's even natural coconut derived ones, they are just as destructive on my hair and I have talked about my personal issues with coconut products in previous posts, the poor Orangutans :(.
I do find Jason Scalp Balancing Natural Jojoba Conditioner (it is the 3rd from the bottom) and decide I might try using this for some scalp relief. I have used Jason products before and while I wasn't totally in love with them I didn't hate them, I quite liked them actually. They don't have any faults there are just so many ingredients in all this stuff I just feel like there must be a simpler way to clean your hair, but apparently what I had been doing was not the way.
After a few more minutes I find Weleda Rosemary Hair Oil with all pretty simple ingredients. I figure this can become my replacement for coconut oil which I had stopped using and never found a suitable replacement. I had been using straight olive oil and while it worked it was lacking a bit.
By this time I think my husband had done a whole lap of the store and was coming back for me to see what I found. As I am about to say ok I guess I will not be able to find a shampoo here, I look over and I see Alaffia Neem & Shea Butter Scalp Recovery Shampoo. I had bought some of their shea butter a few months ago and liked the product and the company. They are fair trade and their products come from Togo, West Africa and they give back to the community and seem to help out in many ways. This specific shampoo sounds exactly like what I needed and it has pretty simple ingredients.
Ingredients: Herbal Infusion of Neem Leaf (Azadiracta Indica), Liquid African Black Soap (Distilled Water, Saponified Shea Butter [Butyrospermum Parkii] and Virgin Palm Kernel Oil [elaeis Guineensis]), Decyl Polyglucose (from corn), Vegetable Glycerin, Panthenol (Pro-Vitamin B5), Essential Oils of Rosemary, Lavender and Tea Tree
While this does include palm kernel oil it contains next to nothing else I could find any fault with even upon looking closer at home and it became very apparent that I was going to have to give in a little and I really like the way Alaffia presents themselves and the ways they give back.
I showered that night and washed my hair, used the shampoo first, used a bit of the rosemary hair oil trying to concentrate it on my scalp, shampooed again, conditioned and was done. (From now on I will use the rosemary hair oil as a leave in like I had previously done with coconut oil, not sure why I decided to use it in the shower.) My scalp is reacting nicely and my hair isn't all that crazy but I can tell it is a bit frizzed compared to how it use to be but I believe that using any sort of soap will be likely to do that to my hair. My scalp just could not deal with the hard water and baking soda washes any more. I will post an update in a few weeks after I have had time to decide and find out how my hair and scalp react to this on a longer basis. It was cold and rainy today and I wore a beanie to work and kept my hair in a braid and under my jacket as well all day so I can't really tell how it will react on a day I let it "hang" out and do its own thing.
There is one thing I will not be able to deal with, beyond frizzy hair that I cannot even brush, I like being able to brush my hair and previous to going no 'poo I could not and would not brush my hair EVER, it would only get combed wet and fingered through because it would practically stand on end. It was horrible and miserable. It was also pretty unmanageable and honestly what is the point of having hair if you can't do anything with it and you hate it.
So hopefully this stuff works and I can report happiness. I plan on only washing my hair once maybe twice a week, pretty much what I have ALWAYS done and if I need to get it wet between then I will use just the conditioner. A few things I can tell you, the Alaffia shampoo definitely won't be liked by all because of its smell. It isn't bad but it isn't all sweet and perfumed like so many traditional products. The Jason jojoba does smell pretty good and this is the first time I have had good smelling hair in just about a year. I also would not suggest the Weleda Rosemary Hair Oil as I will use it to anyone with any sort of fine hair. I have incredibly thick coarse hair over all and individually. I am pretty sure this oil will weigh down and slick a lot of other types of hair.
*All opinions are my own and not influenced by anything but my experience with a product and how I feel about them. I was not compensated by anyone or even given any products to try for this review.
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