Okay, slight aside on dry houses. In order to combat this I filled a spray bottle with water and periodically wander the house spritzing everything non-electronic. After a quick visit to a local hippie store for some supplies, I added a few drops of Sweet Orange essential oil to the water and I'm freaking loving it. My house is still pretty dry, but it doesn't carry the odorous punch that Febreeze does, but it also won't give me cancer, so I'm happy.
Right. No Poo. Or Shampoo Free. Which is a slight misnomer because I'm not forgoing washing my hair entirely. I'm just not using store bought shampoo.
A quick google search turned up this concoction from several sites, so I have no idea who to credit it to. Sources say you can double or tripple the recipe, but not to mess with the ratio or your hair will dry out from too much baking soda.
Here's the recipe:
- 1tbsp of baking soda per 1 cup of warm/hot water.
- 1 to 2 tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar per 1 cup of water
Now, I tried to acquire a good size bottle from the dollar store, but alas could only find silly little 100ml bottles. So I picked up some of those and figured I'd split the recipe in half! Unfortunately, 1cup is 250ml, and what I had was essentially 200ml. So to play it on the safe side, I used 1tsp (5ml) per 100ml bottle. Which is a bit less than the 1tbsp per 1cup, but I'll go with this and then adjust as needed. I did this same ratio for both the shampoo and conditioner. Hopefully I can get my hands on some used shampoo and conditioner bottles once the boys use them up and use them.
I'll let you know soon as I give'em a go.
Post Shower Update:
I do not smell like a fish and chip shop.
It was a little odd not having foamy hair cleaning stuff. I used about half a bottle, so roughly 50ml each of my makeshift shampoo and conditioner. My hair is about shoulder length, but crazy thick - I could have easily used the whole 100ml bottle. I had to remember to specifically poor some on my ends, since there were no suds to move the substance around, and I did notice my hair felt tangled, but so far so good.
The conditioner made me nervous. I had it in a spritz bottle, which made hitting the ends of my hair easier if longer to apply, and by the time I was done spritzing my shower smelt a bit like fish&chips. The smell of apple cider vinegar was very strong. I read that you should rinse your hair in cool water, but I live in Canada and it's the middle of February. I settled for tepid water, and it rinsed out very easy. The tangles from the wash all disapeared.
Hubby assures me I do not smell bad. He says my hair just smells clean, which was the point obviously. So far, a success.
