More on my hair treatments

Since my last update on my hair on April 10th (read it here) where I was at war with my scalp but loving my hair I have been in love with both amazingly. I think the hot coconut oil treatment I did really helped even everything out and let me basically start fresh. The conditioner/treatment thing we put on our shower seems to help with the soap scum issues I was having with baking soda washes. My routine since then has basically been a once or twice weekly baking soda wash with an apple cider vinegar with rosemary essential oil rinse. (read about my no poo start and recipe I use here) I think the rosemary helped some too with my scalp. Things have been going great and no real issues.

I used up my coconut oil last week and was really not wanting to buy more (for the reasons I discuss in my last post about hair, link is above). I read around and apparently shea butter is pretty good to use on hair too and I have been wanting to get some to use on my skin as well so I decided to go that way. My hair has been really dry recently and the idea of a thicker moisturizer really appealed to me. I bought a glass jar (yay for glass jars I love reusing them for other things) of handcrafted shea butter with lavender and mint essential oils from Alaffia. It is not organic but it is fair trade, the organic option was in a heavy plastic jar so I was leaning towards the glass. Shea butter is a lot thicker than coconut oil and it is a bit harder to work through my hair than oil but it is not difficult, it also seems to moisturize a bit better.

Last week I noticed my head was getting flaky again and yesterday after I showered it was HORRIBLY flaky and it hurt. It felt tight and cracked and sore, not very itchy though. So last night I gave myself another scalp oil treatment, this time I opted for grapeseed oil. After I applied it I tied up my hair and slept on it to let it soak in. I also looked around for some other treatments I could use and made myself a thyme tea to use on my scalp. I used 1 tablespoon of thyme in 1/2 a cup of hot water, it smelt great. I let it cool and covered it and put it in the fridge.

I then thought about making some sort deep conditioner or something for the length of my hair since it has been so dry and the season is changing and it is only going to get worse with the cold dry winter weather. I remembered how much my hair seemed to like the flaxseed wash I tried a couple times (read it about here and here) and decided to make a batch and use it just on the length of my hair since it doesn't do so good with the scalp and I didn't want to end up with a weird greasy patch like before. I made a batch, 1 table spoon of whole flaxseeds in 1 cup of water brought to a boil and then simmered for at least 5 mins. To this I also added a bit of clove and a 1/4 stick of cinnamon. It smelled so good, I strained the mixture into a heat safe container that I had a chamomile tea bag in and another tea bag of lavender. I let them steep for a bit and then took them out, let the mixture cool and covered it and put it in the fridge to be used in the morning.

This flaxseed wash is AMAZING as a once in a while wash for you hair. It makes my hair dry so quickly and it makes my natural waves come out in full force. It also seems to brighten up my hair a bit too, clove is suppose to highlight red so that could be a factor too but I didn't use cloves last time and it looked bright then too. The grapeseed oil and thyme tea rinse also seemed to help my scalp a lot. When I showered in the morning I massaged my scalp thoroughly then continued massaging while I used my normal baking soda wash. Followed that with the thyme tea rinse and more massaging and rinsing. That was followed by using the flaxseed wash on the length of my hair and a thorough rinse. As it was drying I worked in some shea butter to the length and then just left it alone.

The color and texture and look and EVERYTHING of my hair is amazing today.

Just look at it:

It took very little effort, the only effort was making the mixtures, which was not difficult at all.

I am definitely going to add a flaxseed wash back into my routine, maybe once or twice a month, I am also thinking of buying some shikakai and trying that as a wash instead of baking soda. The baking soda works but I would like to try and find something different. I read about shikakai on the no poo livejournal page I always fall back on for loads of information on no pooing. Apparently it is used just like baking soda to make a wash, it is also rather cheap like baking soda is, I found it available on amazon. Hopefully I can keep the love going and have trouble free scalp and hair.

Loving my hair but AT WAR WITH MY SCALP

Up until I went "no 'poo" I was in a constant battle with my hair. I have very thick, coarse, and dry hair. I think I was probably ten when I decided I wanted to grow my hair long, previous to that I had quite short hair, pixie crop type cuts. Which I absolutely love but I have so much hair it was like a clown wig on my head, OK not that bad but it wasn't the ideal cut for my hair. From looking at pictures I still had short hair for at least half of middle school/junior high but it was getting longer because I clearly remember giving up on conventional methods of thinning my hair around age 12. Previous to that I remember trying thinning it with thinning shears, layered cuts, and I am sure much more.

To this day I have only had my hair cut by 5 people, my mom once a few years ago, me a few months ago, my husband a handful of times, Darla a million and one times probably, and a colleague of hers when she was busy having babies. Basically from my first hair cut Darla is the only one who has ever cut my hair and probably the only one besides myself who will in the foreseeable future. Back to the giving up on my hair at the tender age of 12. At that time we shaved the under almost half of my head and have continued it to this day. My husband is the one who shaves it for me now, he doesn't actually trust himself to trim the length of my hair. I think at the time I had barely shoulder length hair. It made it so much more manageable that was for sure but it was still HUGE hair, I always say I was born 10 years too late, I could have rocked the shit out 80's hair metal do and been queen of the world! HAHA.

Since that day I have been growing my hair, I did regular monthly trims so the growing was slow going but it was relatively healthy but I still battled with it. As you know I finally have the hair I have always wanted since going "no 'poo", if you don't know go check my previous posts. I can brush my hair, I can style it, I can just let it be, I can do basically anything I want with it because it is in love with me and I with it. All seems like a fairy tale until we get to my scalp...

My scalp is NOT happy with "no 'poo" and it's gotten really bad. I've been prone to dandruff my whole life never anything too bad, mostly because the thickness and color of my hair hides it extremely well. At some point in reading about dandruff causes I read that some think it can be hormone related, I can relate to that at certain times that is for sure, those days your hormones are working against you and then your head messes with you too, yeah definitely had those days. What finally pushed me to "no 'poo" was actually my scalp, I was sick and tired of the buildup I would get, a very thick waxy buildup. All was good for a while and then I had issues with baking soda and the hard water, terrible soap scum. I tried a different wash, flaxseed and while I liked it the first time I soon had issues with it, specifics can be read in a previous post. So I tried using apple cider vinegar rinse only, seemed to be working. Once winter started to change to spring my skin changed too including and especially my scalp. I got itchy, dry, and flaky, I changed the makeup of my lotion to be more moisturizing and that helped my skin. My scalp was on and off, some days it would be fine and others it would be flaking like crazy. When I went to Indian Wells for a week I started with really bad flakes and after one shower with soft water and only an apple cider vinegar rinse the flakes went away almost instantly, I came home and bought a filter for my shower head. Things seemed to be better, until a few days ago...

The flakes were really bad and then I was getting itchy, really itchy. Last night I showered and once my hair dried I took a close look at my scalp, it looked like extremely dry flaky peeling skin, so I gave myself a hot coconut oil treatment. I heated up some coconut oil applied it to my scalp with a dropper and massaged to my hearts content with my fingertips, I have always loved a good scalp massage. I was going to let it sit for a bit but got tired and then the morning got away from me so I did not get to rinsing it all out till this evening. I used a baking soda wash to make sure I got all the oil out, I did so with a lot more massaging, things were going good and then when I was done I glanced down at the water collecting at my feet, it was like an oil slick, which at first made sense but then started to baffle me because of the way it was clustering in tiny balls rather than a real oil slick looking way, so I took a closer look, it wasn't really oil it was more waxy, kinda like the build up I use to get...so basically I have been building up all that on my scalp for who knows how long. It all seems to be gone now and my scalp feels pretty good and looks ok, a few flakes but not too many, I may do another oil treatment in a week or so.

Perhaps this can turn the tides and I can do my normal apple cider vinegar rinses and a monthly baking soda wash. I am quite reluctant to go back to conventional shampoo mainly because I don't want to hate my hair again. I am looking into some other sort of soap or wash but don't want to waste my money on a product I will hate or the hardest part is finding one that I can agree with the ingredients. I will not use anything with sodium lauryl/laureth sulfates even naturally derived ones. They cause extreme frizziness and are just nasty chemicals, the naturally derived ones are from palm oil and palm oil is basically what threw me WAY over the edge with conventional soaps and shampoos and basically everything.

I am on the fence with coconut oil, I did research it a bit and found it to be less of an issue but now that I am looking for alternative products again I am beginning to question that again. I think I need to find a coconut oil that is farmed in a responsible way and I think I found that in Jungle Products, the coconut oil I currently have is Spectrum which is organic but not sure about their farming practices. For more info about palm oil check out The Rainforest Action Network's (RAN) website and their Problem with Palm Oil section. The main issue for me is the poor Orangutan's, animals always get me and there is just no turning back.

RAN has a list of companies that have pledged to get their palm oil from sources that don't exploit the environment and people. Jungle Products is one such company and so is Dr Bronner's which I have been wanting to buy but was on the fence because of the inclusion of palm oil in almost all of their products. I have read that some people use it for shampoo and I would much rather use that than baking soda. I can't find a good source for baking soda, it is either Arm & Hammer which does animal testing or a plastic bag of it at the health food store. Not sure why I can't find a paper packaged non animal testing brand of baking soda. There is also the whole mining of baking soda which I don't actually know much about but mining is a four letter word to me and it was brought up on some blog by someone at some point.

And my journey with "no 'poo" and my hair and all that continues with twists and turns...

No poo and the rest of my hair care routine.

No poo is the way to go for me, but I have made a few changes. If you wanna know what I was doing check out my previous blog on it. Since I went no poo my hair has been growing like a weed. It is currently just about below hip length. I don't know if it is actually growing faster or if it is no longer all frizzy and kinked up on itself. After washing it now it looks like it use to after I would apply pounds of gunk and straighten it. But most importantly I can brush/comb my hair without it turning into a two foot wide ball of hair, even before oiling it, seriously it was really bad before I use to NEVER brush/comb my hair.

I did up the amount of ACV a bit, made it more conditioning. A few weeks ago I stopped using BS and just doing an ACV rinse. I did this mostly because I have hard water and soap scum was a bit of a problem. I also have been having problems with flakes, but I'm pretty sure that is due to my face soap or something because it is only around my hairline. It is not noticeable due to the fact that I have really thick hair and the color hides flakes amazingly well too. Or perhaps it is from the peppermint essential oil I had been adding since mid-December. I made a candy cane sugar scrub as gifts and had a lot of left over peppermint EO.

I looked around the The no 'poo method livejournal community, my intial go to source for info on going no poo, and came across this post and decided to give the flaxseed recipe a try. I boiled the flaxseed with cloves and infused that with chamomile and peppermint, it's basically what I had on hand. Here is what I ended up with:

Its consistency is like egg white so the container I have it in is not the greatest. I had issues with getting it out and staying on my scalp but will have better luck next time because I know what to expect.

I was also going to try lavander but the store was sold out last time I was there, I will probably try different things with subsequent batches. It was fine, nothing new to report versus BS/ACV. My hair seemed to dry a bit faster and it did seem to be a bit more bright in the red department but that just could have been an effect from being clean not the cloves, which is suppose to have red highlighting affects, it had been a while since I washed my hair. Here is a picture of it an hour or two after the flaxseed wash, pretty much looked like this after BS/ACV wash too.

I have my hair in two pony tails, the side on the right (my left) is flipped to try and show how the underside is a lot frizzier than the top side.

After I wash my hair I wrap it up loosely in a towel to get most of the excess moisture out and then comb it with a wide toothed comb and then air dry it. When it's mostly dry, not my roots, they take FOREVER to dry, I oil my hair with coconut oil. I got my oil at the local health food store and just bought food grade, they also had a tub in the beauty section but it was a lot more expensive for a lot smaller amount. Here is what I use:

I use a heaping 1/4 teaspoon for each side of my hair, I put it in two pony tails to oil it and only oil from hair band down. When I'm done I un-do the pony tails and use a tiny bit of oil on the hair that was above the bands, mostly to tame the little face framing fly aways that I am plagued with. Now that I say that I realize that this is the MAJOR difference in no 'poo'ing for me, the face framing fly aways were my main enemies and they are rarely on my mind these days. I don't even use headbands very often any more.

Here are more pictures of my hair in various stages of oiling.

Right (my left) side oiled and other side not oiled, yet.

A Close up of the oiled side, so shiny.

Both sides oiled.

My hair down after oiling and combing again.

The pictures really don't do justice to the effect that the oil has. The close up of the oiled bit is the best at showing how calm and great my hair looks after oiling. The oiling also works great as a detangler too. I have read that coconut oil can cause acne but my face has actually cleared up a lot since I went no 'poo but I did also change my skin care routine as well but at the least it is not affecting me that way.

I have to warn that this is probably not the ideal way to use oil for everyone. I know if my husband did this he would be a giant grease ball but he also is not a no 'pooer. There are somethings I just can't get him to do. A lot of people use the oil as a pre-wash conditioner. They put the oil on an hour or so before washing, some do it overnight, and they get similar results after they wash their hair of the oil. My hair has always been extremely dry and I have never had any oily hair issues. If your hair is thin and/or oily it might be too much to use coconut oil as a leave in. I don't want anyone to try this on my recommendation and end up with flattened down nasty greasy hair and curse me, although you can curse me anyways I'm use to it, hehe. My hair is a bit greasy seeming sometimes after oiling but after a few hours it soaks in and looks great till I wash again. I only wash twice a week at most and even between washings I do not get my hair wet like some no 'pooers do.

Also no 'poo doesn't work for everyone either. Even before no 'poo I would only wash my hair twice a week. I would have done it much less but it would start to smell. Since no 'poo my hair does not seem to grab on to smells as much as before. If you are the type that needs their hair washed everyday or it feels nasty to you and even perhaps looks nasty then it might just not work for you or you would go through such a drastic and long transition period that it just might not be worth it for you. When switching to no 'poo you are kinda re-training your body into taking care of it's self and not relying on something else to do it, kinda like kicking any bad habit, luckily this worked for me, unlike me trying to kick coffee, totally not worth it for me. So don't feel bad if you try and it doesn't work or if you don't even want to try.

Well that cured my boredom for a bit hope someone finds this useful, interesting, or whatever.

ShamPOO

I have stopped shampooing. Yes you read right I no longer shampoo or condition my hair, well not conventionally at least. I still wash and add moisture to my hair but not in a conventional way. It's fondly called "no 'pooing". I save tons of money and have much nicer manageable hair. It takes me less time to shower and I waste less water.

How did it all start . . . well I have been trying various types of "natural" and/or "organic" shampoos and conditioners over the years and I never really found something I could stick with. I wanted a shampoo without Sodium Lauryl Sulfates and the like. I didn't want these because they tend to make your hair a bit more frizzy and believe me I do not need more of that. There is also the whole nasty chemical idea, particularly this little blurb.

In the Journal of the American College of Toxicology notes that this ingredient has a "degenerative effect on the cell membranes because of its protein denaturing properties." The journal adds, "high levels of skin penetration may occur at even low use concentration."

Doesn't that sound fun. I also try to steer clear of parabens for similar reason, the whole chemical reason, not the frizz reason. Basically sulfates are what make your shampoo lather. There is no real reason for it it is just something we have become accustomed to and I had a hard time with that at first as well.

About 6 months ago I got sick and tired of finding supposed natural or organic shampoos so I went to target and went with Aussie brand. It works and it's not too bad and on the label it said bio-degradable. Now there are all sorts of flaws with that statement but that's not for this post, but that is what I went with. The shampoo has sulfates but there were no parabens in either product. They were also $6 each and quite large so it did cut down on the amount of plastic a bit and I wasn't shampooing daily so they would have lasted me a year or more for sure.

I was not happy with my hair and I have not been for quite a while but its pretty much always been like this. So it's just something I live with and I thought I had to live with. Well thanks to Crunchy Chicken I now have a new routine. It all started with her post about Coconut Oil and then her subsequent post on shampoo. From the shampoo post I researched No Poo'ing and quickly tried it and I am pretty sure I will never go back to conventional products. The link she provides on no poo'ing in her post (how to go no poo) is where I got my start and the basic recipe I use as well, it is a great step by step illustrated guide and a great place to start.

A bit of background info, I have very thick very coarse very long hair. My hair is at about hip length and quite dry because it is so long and therefore OLD hair. I use to not be able to brush it except for right after my shower and with the aid of some de-tangler/leave in. I was using an Aussie leave in spray. It worked ok but spray for my beyond thick hair was ridiculous but all the creams were filled with nasty stuff I was not willing to use, not that Aussie was not full of nasty stuff, it was just less. If I did brush it when it was dry I would end up with a huge fro even thought it is so long. I liked my hair best when it was at least 3 days dirty but still then I could not really brush it without then having to put it up or in braids or just hide it somehow. I was shampooing my hair three times a week at most and more often it was just once or twice a week and I did not even get it wet or anything between that time. I did try condition only for a bit but I didn't really like that either. Just plain ol' dirty hair was preferable to me. Honestly my hair and my scalp would start to smell, but just to me and my husband, I think. No one else every said anything but I don't hang around people that much.

So when I discovered No Poo I read all about if for about a day and jumped right in. Here is my current routine, I wash my hair about every three or four days. To do so I make a hair wash and a hair rinse. The hair wash is 1/2 tablespoon of baking soda in one cup of water and the rinse is 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar in one cup of water. I get my hair wet and then apply the wash to my scalp and massage scalp. I run my hands down my hair but don't specifically try and get any wash on my actual hair below my ears. I then rinse my hair and do the same thing with the rinse mixture and then rinse hair out again. Then my hair goes up and out of the way and I shower as usual. When I get out of shower I brush hair and let air dry. When it is dry, sometimes the next day or whenever I get to it I work in a few teaspoons of coconut oil and use it as a leave in. I only apply it to hair from about ears down. Concentrating on hair below my shoulders and especially the dryer than crap ends. Depending on how long I go between washes I sometimes apply coconut oil a few day later. I also brush my hair every morning and night and anytime in between. I use to dread brushing my hair but I no longer do. It works great for me and I do not see myself going back to traditional hair routine anytime soon.

A few things, there is a transition period where you may become a giant greaseball as your scalp regulates itself to its new routine. I had this period, it was 2 or three days. Some people have a much longer one and if you tend to have greasy hair then it will be hard on you I am sure and you will probably want to quit quite often. But if you can make it through you will probably be happy. Also at first I had to get rid of the nasty soap scum build up that was on my scalp, I always knew it was there but I didn't know what it was or why it was there. I learned it was there because I have hard water. So to help break this down for the first two weeks the first thing I did was to rinse my hair with a 50/50 mix of water and white vinegar. It worked and I no longer need to use it. I may have to every once in a while I have been told by other no poo'ers but I have not used it in the last almost two months. When I make my wash and rinse I use cold/cool water from the shower that has not warmed up yet. This is especially helpful for me so I can feel the cold water on my scalp and make sure it is actually penetrating my hair. At first I used old measuring cups but the wide opening was not the best for in shower use. I now use old glass bottles from a tea drink my husband buys. It is especially helpful because I can put they ingredients in and put the lid on and shake to mix well. The smaller opening also regulates the flow better and I can get the wash/rinse where it needs to be better than a big open container.

There are all sorts of ways to go no poo and the baking soda/vinegar was the way I choose and am very happy with. The best place I can send you for information is a LiveJournal community, The No Poo' Method. They discuss all sorts of ways to go no poo and different things you can use and even their favorite conventional products if you are not ready to go completely no poo'. Many use tea rinses instead of vinegar, largely because of the smell but if used properly there is no lingering smell what so ever, and believe me because my husband hates the smell of vinegar and he actually has recently been telling my how clean my hair smells! That is a testament to the greatness of this method, mudnessa no longer smells!! AMAZING!!! Try it for yourself.