Let Me Tell You a Hair Secret.

I'm going to let you into a little secret today, but first do you notice anything different about my hair in the picture above? It looks ok right? Well here's the thing....

I haven't washed it in over a week now. At least not with shampoo. 

Let me explain, so I came across this post a few weeks ago now that suggested a 'no-poo' method for washing your hair. See regular shampoos actually strip your hair of all its natural oils. Which makes your hair produce even more oil to compensate, meaning that your hair feels greasy again faster and you need to wash it again sooner. Great for shampoo companies as you need to wash it more frequently over time but not so good for your hair. So I really wasn't sure about trying this, but apparently the past few months I have been into trying new things (getting my butt-kicked by Jillian Michaels again and even trying a body cleanse where I didn't eat sugar, dairy, gluten or processed foods for 2 weeks).

So we came home from a retreat just over a week ago and I had run out of shampoo. And I was feeling a little lazy and didn't want to run to the store just to get shampoo. 

So I decided I would give the baking soda/distilled white vinegar a try. And I wasn't that turned away by the results. (I bought a spray bottle for the vinegar solution & a squeeze bottle for the baking soda solution from the dollar store!)

I followed these instructions By Amanda over at Living in Another Language:

Ingredients:

Baking Soda
Vinegar (White or Apple are fine)

Put one tablespoon of baking soda into a squeeze top bottle along with one cup of water. Shake until the baking soda is dissolved.

Combine 2 tablespoons of vinegar and a cup of water in a spray bottle. Shake.

What you do: Thoroughly rinse your hair with water. Add the baking soda mixture to your roots and massage thoroughly. You’ll notice a slightly slimy feel…kind of like shampoo. The baking soda breaks up any sort of residue buildup you may have from hairspray or other hair products. Thoroughly rinse the baking soda out of your hair.

Then spray in the vinegar mix through the length of your hair, paying special attention to your ends. Keep it in your hair throughout your shower until you’re about to get out.  

Interesting right? Well I thought it was worth a try as if it works, it seemed like a super cheap and easy way to wash my hair. 

Friends, lets be honest. I am never going to be the girl that spends 30+ mins on her hair. I have tried, its just not going to happen over here. I definitely try to be more creative on how I fix my hair most days now so that it doesn't just look as though it is hanging from my poor head. But we are talking maybe 10 mins tops, and that might be on a Sunday morning.

So far it has been a week and it definitely feels less greasy and perhaps even shinier? I have been washing every 3 days so far, which is more than my usual every other with regular shampoo. I am hoping to increase the number of days in between washes which is the idea.  

I have noticed I need to be careful with the back section of my hair as it feels a little tacky, but I am sure this is a 'transition' thing as my hair learns to naturally oil itself again. 

There are some great tips in her follow-up post I may try this week as I make up a new solution (I may try 2 Tbsp Baking Soda this time for that tacky/waxy feel problem). 

I also love that after a workout, I don't feel like I need to wash my hair immediately after from the sweat!! Not sure if this is a change in the weather now Fall has finally kicked in or part of this change in hair washing. Guess I'll just have to wait and see, but either way I am loving that! You can even use cornstarch as dry shampoo, which I feel is needed the day immediately before the wash just to push it to 3 days in between.

And the Sunflower picture at the top was Day Six. 

So now that I am a week into this, I wanted to share what is going on hair-wise over here.

Have any of you guys tried this before?