TNSE: Week 1

I have been using the homemade/natural shampoo for a week now. I don't love it yet, but it's not as bad as I feared.
After the first wash- hello, dandruff. It wasn't horrible, but it was definitely noticeable (thanks, hunny.) So before the second shampoo, I took a comb and massaged my scalp with it until I felt I got most of the flakes up. It was yucky.

Second wash- I started to notice that my hair was feeling a little dry, not bad, but not as soft as I prefer. The lavender smell is awesome. The scent stays in my hair for days. Still had dandruff issues, so I did the comb thing again.

Third wash- used a lot more of the vinegar-water mixture to see if it will soften things up a bit. It didn't, but it hasn't gotten any worse. The dandruff was much better. I ended up putting some bio-silk in my hair since I was going to curl it, but I'm hoping to not have to do that forever. My hair holds curls better.

Fourth wash- I need to refill the bottle, so I decided to add a little more oil than the recipe calls for, but I didn't actually measure it. Big mistake. My hair is now oily, but since the oil is good for my hair, I'm going to leave it in for a couple of days. (The shampoo can be fixed by adding more soap and water.) I also didn't do the comb thing before washing today, and the dandruff is back. I think that I am going to have to do the baking soda scrub to take care of this problem. But I'm going to go another week before I resort to that.

Thoughts so far: I like it. The dandruff is annoying, but it could be a lot worse. Once I get the recipe exactly how I need it, I will be much happier. My hair isn't as shiny as I would like it, but a little bit of beer in the shower will fix that.
I'm hoping to post some pictures for you in the next couple of days... once I have washed the oil out.

The Natural Shampoo Experiment

As most of you know, I spend a lot of time on Pinterest. A lot of time. There are a ton of "natural/homemade" versions of everyday products on there, and since I am a BIG fan of saving money, I've been spending most of that pinning time looking at all of these natural recipes.
Then I found this. I have to admit that I was really tempted by the whole no shampoo thing- it's easy, it's cheap, and it's supposed to work.

Why are all these people not using shampoo, you ask?

Well, according to Simple Mom, the stuff in shampoo is bad. Not evil-bad, but not really good- bad. You know that oiliness you get after a day or two after washing? It's natural. And good. And the reason it drives us all crazy is that there is a lot of it. Apparently that oil is good for your hair and shampoo's (and conditioners) form a sort of protective layer over your scalp, preventing the oil from being released. So once that layer has started to come off, your scalp dumps a ton of oil to make up for what it thinks your hair is missing. Or something like that.
Going natural (in Simple Mom's case- just using some baking soda once a week) is supposed to fix that, resulting in nice hair without having to actually 'wash" it often.

I have no idea how accurate that information is, but she has been doing it for over two years now and swears that her hair is better than it was before. That I like. But there is a major ick factor for me, so I decided to go a different route. Why did I tell you about the no-shampoo thing if I wasn't planning on doing it? Because the whole oil thing can still be taken care of in a less icky way- by going "natural."

So here's my recipe:
1/4 cup castile soap ( I am a big fan of Dr. Bronner's, especially the lavender one, which is the one I used- you can find it in health food stores like Sunflower and Whole Foods)
1/4 cup water
1/2 tsp. sunflower oil (supposed to be carried in major grocery stores, but the only place I could find it was Sunflower...go figure.)

I just poured it into an empty shampoo bottle and used a few "handfuls"- it's watery, so it's easier to just pour some on your head.

I finished it up with a few squirts of a mixture of half apple-cider vinegar and water. (It smells terrible, but the smell goes away once you rinse.)

My thoughts: the shampoo feels strange. I'm used to the creaminess of regular shampoos, so putting what is essentially soap on my hair is weird. But it smells great! The vinegar, as previously stated, smells awful. But, it actually feels just like conditioner and detangles immediately.

So there is supposed to be an "adjustment" period- where your scalp is supposed to get used to being able to release oil without a barrier. Which means a few weeks of oily hair. I think. I'm not looking forward to that, but maybe it will be worth it in the end. Hopefully I will stick with it long enough to find out. And if , for some reason, this shampoo doesn't work for me, I will probably invest in this line. It's expensive, but amazing.


Oh and if you're wondering, the creepy neighbor is avoiding me now. I haven't seen him in a couple of weeks. And I'm pretty OK with it.

And then I caved

Day 3 of the 17 Day Diet and I caved... hard.

I ate a Krispy Kreme donut.

And it wasn't worth it.

It's only been a few days but I already feel different. I have a ton more energy and feel lighter. Not that I have the sugary doom inside of me, I feel yucky. It's amazing how much sugar makes a difference in how I feel and now I am determined more than before to see this diet through. I have to. I'm not saying that you should cheat in order to succeed, but this may be a blessing in disguise. Or it may be my downfall.

I was down 3 pounds, but I'm sure the doomnut added 15. Stupid doomnut.

Back to square/day 1 for me.