No Pooing -- it's a family affair

This is probably the least expensive product I've ever written about for Review It Wednesday. As a matter of fact, it's pretty darn cheap. So if you're looking to save some bucks, read on.

It's also one of the most environmentally-friendly things I do. So if you're looking for to green up your life a bit more, read on.

Of course, it's possible the title of this post intrigued you. So if that's the case, I invite you to read on ... with an open mind.

My husband, my daughters and I are at various stages in our No Pooing journey. I started it about 3 or 4 months ago, followed by my husband, then Bethany, then Jess.  What does it mean? It means we are shampoo-free and loving it!

This morning ... after no pooing yesterday

I, literally, have not shampooed my hair in months. And my hair has never looked or felt better! My daughter's hair is looking rather lovely, too.




Bethany could do an ad for hair products, but she's not using any!
Photo by Kristie Miller

Look how lovely Jess's hair looks!
Photo by Kristie Miller

So ... if we're not shampooing, what exactly are we doing? We're No Pooing, a process that has been around for quite a few years now, although I couldn't pin down a starting point, or the person to attribute the 'No Pooing' phrase to. I did find info dating back to 2004 about the method.

Why the personal boycott on shampoo? For some of the same reasons I no longer use laundry detergent, fabric softener or traditional cleaning products -- it's healthier, both for me and for the environment. Not to mention the economic factor. Let's face it -- good shampoos and conditioners are expensive.

Commercial hair products are loaded with chemicals that have been linked to a whole slew of health issues, including cancer. Granted, there are organic products out there that are safe to use. While they may not hurt you, they certainly do hurt the wallet!

How do you keep your hair clean, if you're not using shampoo?

Excellent question! It's simple. I mix 1 tablespoon of baking soda in a cup of warm water and then apply the solution to my hair (after mixing well with my finger). You can do this in a small squirt bottle, which gives you the ability to target different sections of your scalp, or you can do it my way. I just pour a little bit at a time along my scalp and rub it in.

But there are no suds!

Nope, no suds. Which is a good thing, actually. Sudsing agents added to shampoos are totally unnecessary and just add to the excess gunk in shampoo. You don't need it.

After you rinse your hair, you'll immediately notice how soft it is. And squeaky clean.

You might have to adjust the amount of baking soda you use based on how fine or coarse, short or long your hair is. My husband cut back to 1/2 tablespoon for his fine hair.

The second part of my No Pooing success is in the rinse. I add 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar to 1 cup of water and pour it over my hair. Then I rinse it out and I'm all done. Every week or two, I mix 1/2 cup of ACV in 2 cups of water and pour it over my head without rinsing it out. I've actually been doing that for a long time now ... way before I had even heard of no pooing.

Some people opt to skip the vinegar rinse and others only apply the vinegar solution to the ends of their hair, avoiding the crown of their head completely.

Here are a couple of warnings:

• Avoid getting the ACV in your eyes! Let me tell you ... it burns!
• Do not use the vinegar while washing with goat's milk soap. If you do, you'll experience what I did one morning ... a shower stall that smelled like someone had just thrown up all over me. Not pleasant!

The results from No Pooing will vary. My daughter, Bethany, has coarser hair than me and the ACV smell lingers on her hair. With my hair, there is no residual odor. She switched to distilled white vinegar as a result, which is certainly an option (and a cheaper one, at that!). Now she's back to ACV, but just uses less (she was using 2 - 3 tablespoons per cup of water).

If you have frizzy hair, you'll notice the frizzies are gone. No need for extra product to tame them! As a matter of fact, I no longer use any products in my hair whatsoever. And it's full of body and healthier than it's ever been. Oh wait, there is one chemical product I admit to still using ... hair dye. I'm not quite ready to give up on that yet. Just because I'm a grandma, doesn't mean I have to look like one, does it?

One more benefit of No Pooing is that it eliminates dandruff and scalp flaking. I'm thrilled about that! The idea that I don't have to use anti-dandruff chemically-loaded shampoo anymore, is worth celebrating!

Another thing you need to know is that it takes awhile for your hair and scalp to adjust to this new method of cleansing. Sometimes, it may be up to 3 - 4 weeks before you start reaping the benefits, at least appearance-wise. You'll find your hair is greasier than usual. That is normal! Eventually, that will go away.

Why does your scalp need to adjust?

When you shampoo, you strip your hair of natural oils. Your scalp senses this, so it starts to overproduce more oil. So you shampoo again and the cycle continues ... for years and years and years. When you stop shampooing, your scalp needs an adjustment period. That's what's happening in those first few weeks. Adjustment.

But once you navigate through those weeks, you'll discover less and less oil in your hair and you'll end up washing your hair less as well. I wash mine every 3 to 4 days. Seriously.

That's about it. I could go on and on about the harmful ingredients in most shampoos and conditioners, but you probably know all of that already. If you want to read more about No Pooing and someone else's experience, head over to the Uniquely Normal Mom blog where I first learned about this amazing hair washing system. She's been doing this for over 2 years and has the answers for questions you might have.

Wishing you clean and squeaky hair,

Hana

How about a Vinegar Tuesday?

Theo Van Gogh

People are always telling me they miss Vinegar Fridays, so I thought I'd slip in a Vinegar Tuesday today. For those of you who really enjoyed VFs, I will be releasing a book in the fall with all the vinegar tips organized in a semi-logical order! I hope you'll buy it.

Did you ever start unloading your dishwasher only to find a bunch of miscellaneous gunk accumulated in one or more of your glasses? How does that happen?! Unfortunately, I find it happens more often when I'm using 'green' dish washing products, which makes my husband emphatically state, over and over again, that we need to go back to Cascade.

Anyway, I was emptying the dishwasher yesterday and pulled out two glasses that were simply not going to be put away. They're tall narrow glasses that are difficult to hand wash. So I put a little water in them with a teaspoon of baking soda. Then, I added the magic ingredient -- distilled white vinegar. Just a splash of it was enough to cause the effervescent reaction I was hoping for. All those tiny little natural scrubbing bubbles attacked that dishwasher gunk in no time. Voila! A couple of shiny glasses! I can't tell you how excited I am about this new discovery!

Today is truly a vinegar Tuesday for me. I started out in the shower rinsing my hair with apple cider vinegar. I alternate how I do this. Some days, I pour 1/2 cup in a jar and add 2 cups of water. At the end of my shower, I simply pour this on my hair as a final rinse. Other days, I put a tablespoon or so in the jar with a cup of water and use it like conditioner after I'm done washing my hair, thoroughly rinsing it out. This is the best detangler around ... and it's completely natural. If you have light-colored hair, you might prefer using distilled white vinegar instead.

Next, as I was making my coffee, I grabbed the Dr. Bragg's Organic Unfiltered Raw Apple Cider Vinegar from the cupboard and took a tablespoon, followed by 8 oz. of water and then a thorough rinsing of my mouth (it will erode tooth enamel if it just sits in there!).

After breakfast, I took a couple of vases into the kitchen and took the dead sunflowers out of them (to be put in the compost pile). The vases had that dead-flower-slime in them, so guess what I did? Yep. Baking soda, water and vinegar. The foaming is actually cool to watch -- your kiddos will love it!

So that was it with the vinegar ... so far. On the agenda for later today or this evening -- a apple cider vinegar foot bath. A 5 minute soak in one cup of ACV in a basin with warm water creates the softest feet I've had since I was a toddler. Seriously. It's amazing how soft my heels get. If you have rough feet, you have to try this.

After the foot soak, I'm going to repurpose the ACV-infused water and give my cat a bath. Theo is not aware of this yet, and he won't be too thrilled when it actually happens. But the results will be well worth it. You see, Theo is allergic to bug bites. So every summer, he ends up covered in scabs. Poor thing. Then his fur gets a bit oily and yucky feeling. The vinegar bath will sooth the itch and make his coat amazingly soft. I might endure a few scratches in the process, but like I said, it will be worth it.

That's my Vinegar Tuesday. Let me know if you have a Vinegar Tuesday of your own!

Keeping it green, healthy and soft with vinegar,

Hana

Vinegar Fridays

TGIVF!

Well, this one snuck up on me! Considering the fact that I thought yesterday was Wednesday, I feel like I lost a day. While most of you look forward to your weekends, I actually prefer weekdays. Alas, Fridays come and at least we can all look forward to Vinegar Fridays!

I am falling more and more in love with vinegar. Last week, I discovered for myself the amazing power of apple cider vinegar to soften feet! I know I mentioned this a couple of weeks ago, but now I've actually tried it! I simply added one-half cup of ACV to the warm water in this little inflatable foot bath I have. After a five minute soak, I found my heels were no long rough, but were smooth and soft. Ahh.

Not wanting to waste the solution, I looked around for something to do with it. Of course, I didn't want to water my drought-ridden garden with it, as vinegar could hurt the plants. Then I spied my one-earred Ragdoll cat, Theo, who has a sensitivity to bug bites and has chewed his tail practically raw. As a matter of fact, his entire back and neck is covered in scabs. Much of this is from the fleas that have recently hopped on board. You see, I dump a splash of distilled white vinegar to the cats' water bowl to repel fleas. My husband, on the other hand, tends to skip this step when he fills the bowl. Alas, fleas have found new hosts -- my Ragdolls, Vincent and Theo Van Gogh and my Manx, Bella Notte. As a result of the bug bites and his constant scratching and chewing, Theo's fur has become really nasty. It's rough and not very soft to the touch....that was until I got the brilliant idea to dump the ACV-infused foot bath over him. While he resisted a bit, I must say, this strong cat submitted rather easily as I held him by the neck with one hand and dumped the lukewarm water over his entire body. The results? I now have an unbelievably soft and fluffy cat! Seriously. This worked.

After seeing what it did for Theo, I decided to repeat the process with Bella. She, too, submitted to what most kitties would consider serious abuse! After she was dry, I was amazed at how her long black fur felt just like a bunny's! And, of course, another benefit to all of this is the fact that ACV kills fleas!

The chewed off fur is growing back nicely on Theo's tail. I doused him once again this week and he's starting to look, and feel, mighty fine. Now if only I could find a vinegar cure for his missing ear!

While most of you will hesitate at giving your cats ACV baths, you might want to try it with your dogs. It is amazing how soft the fur becomes. I've been using it as a final rinse on my own hair (1/2 cup added to 2 cups of warm water), and my hair's looking pretty healthy lately.

So those are my vinegar tips for today -- foot baths for amazingly soft feet followed by kitty or puppy baths for amazingly soft fur. Let's hear it for all natural, toxin-free alternatives! Let's hear it for vinegar!

Keeping it green,

Hana

This week I plan to see what kind of affect vinegar has on stink bugs. We've been seeing quite a few of them in the house and clinging to the screens lately, so I think I'll try hitting them with a spray of undiluted distilled white vinegar. I'll let you know how effective it is.