Friday, March 9, 2012

It Ain't Easy Being Green

One of my on-going goals for myself and our family, is to be more green.

We've done stop steps to get us there.  We grow our own veggies in the summer, we compost our food, we recycle, we shop at thrift stores, etc.  We're doing things here and there to keep us more conscious about what we're doing to our wonderful earth and environment.

As a next step, I decided to give up shampoo for Lent.  I know, it sounds really strange.  I'm not giving up washing my hair, just giving up on the use of typical shampoo and conditioner.

Here's what we're doing instead.  (Yes, we.  Eric agreed to do this with me). 

A mix of baking soda and water is our 'shampoo'.  I've found, through LOTS of internet research, that boiling the water prior to mixing it with the baking soda is a must for me.  Before doing this, I sported a lot of ponytails.  Something about the hard water mixing with baking soda...it left a nasty funk on my hair and I didn't think I'd be able to keep this up.

And our 'conditioner'??  It's a mix of apple cider vinegar and water.  I tried to mask the scent and added some lavender essential oils.  Big mistake.  Lavender and apple cider vinegar is NOT a good combination, in my opinion!  Turns out, once you rinse the vinegar out you can't smell it anyways.

It took a few weeks for my hair to adjust...and I'd say we're still working on being fully adjusted.  It was a disgusting combination of greasiness and caked on baking powder.  It felt like greasy hay, was filled with static and took about 20 minutes to comb through, wet or dry.  But we are making progress!  And my hair is fantastic!  I have seriously gotten more compliments on my hair in the past few weeks than I think I ever have before!

One benefit is that we're doing our part to preserve our planet, our water supply, our future.  The other bonus?  It seriously costs less than $10 for over a month's worth of our new shampoo and conditioner!  In my book?  You can't beat that!

1 comment:

  1. that's awesome, sarah! I use apple cider vinegar too, it's really good for dandruff and makes my hair so shiny! there's this great book on how to make all your own household cleaning products and body products with a few simple ingredients - maybe for your birthday!! xxoo

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