"Putting chemicals on your skin or scalp, such as getting a hair dye, may actually be worse than eating them. When you eat something, the enzymes in your saliva and stomach help to break it down and flush it out of your body. However, when you put these chemicals on your skin, they are absorbed straight into your bloodstream without filtering of any kind, going directly to your delicate organs.
Once these chemicals find their way into your body, they tend to accumulate over time because you typically lack the necessary enzymes to break them down. There are literally thousands of chemicals used in personal care products, and the U. S. government does not require any mandatory testing for these products before they are sold."
So in my eagerness to eliminate shampoo I decided to try "washing" my hair with baking soda and "conditioning" rinse with apple cider vinegar. Let me warn you, it was not pretty, it did not feel nice like lathering your hair in the shower, and the hair has it's detox period which for me was 6 weeks. By then it had stopped over producing oil like crazy and realized that it didn't have to overcompensate for the lack of silicones from the shampoo and it finally started to look nice again. Then a week later it went the other extreme and started getting too dry. I really wanted to make this work and after dealing with the six week oil slick to the now straw dry hair I was starting to get discouraged and have thoughts of just buying organic shampoo and throw in the towel. I confess, I had dreams of lathering my hair again, I missed it's addicting sudsy feeling. I knew I had to try something else. Then as I was researching what other options I had I came upon the shampoo bar. J.R. Liggett Original Bar Shampoo the ingredients were simple olive oil, coconut oil, castor oil, spring water, lye or sodium hydroxide, and essential oils. It was only 5 dollars so at this point I was willing to give it a try. That was the answer my hair was so desperately crying for, and after using it for about 6 months now the only thing I use with it is some watered down apple cider vinegar to rinse the bottom of my hair after I "shampoo". Sometimes I need to add a little baking soda to my scalp before shampooing if I feel like I am getting too oily again. I find that my hair feels more balanced now, has a nicer texture, and I really only need to wash it once or twice a week depending on the weather and what I am doing; which for a busy mom of two it is nice to have that extra time. I have to say when I went to get my hair cut I asked the stylist not to shampoo my hair,(didn't want to go through all that again!) I told her that I had washed it earlier in the day and I was not using shampoo anymore and she said that she could see a noticeable difference in my hair and it looked a lot healthier! Needless to say I was so glad to have someone else who knows hair see all the hard work paid off!
Now for my children I use just use Dr. Woods Pure Castile Soap. It is very mild, so it doesn't work well for my hair, but it is perfect for baby shampoo/body wash for little ones!
So there you have it, some people can achieve the perfect balance with just the baking soda and vinegar, and I really wanted to be one of them, but sometimes you have to find what works best with you and your body chemistry. At any rate we now have one less toxic product that we use and that was my goal! I love my new healthy hair and my shampoo bar <3
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