Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Update on No Poo

This is the glass jar I keep our vinegar rinse in. It is calendula flowers, rosemary and chamomile flowers in apple cider vinegar (redheads can add rose hips instead of rosemary). I keep it here steeping in the windowsill which gets plenty of sun. :)  I drain out some, straining the herbs, into the pouring container (pictured below).  I got this container for a quarter at a garage sale. :) It takes 4 weeks to steep till done, but I continue to let it steep until it is completely gone. I will start another one when this one is half done.

I mentioned a while back about our No Poo adventure. I thought I would give an update.

First of all, you need to know that I used to have the THICKEST hair on earth. I began losing it by the handfuls after my second was born and I tried everything to get my hair to stop falling out. Nothing worked. Well this no poo thing is WORKING! My hair is still falling out a little bit, but not by the handfuls anymore!! :) In fact it feels a little bit thicker than normal!!!

I have also noticed that my hair is nice and soft and smooth. Even Brian commented on how soft my hair was. I used to have to add lots of stuff in order for my hair to feel soft. It was always frizzy and flyaway. Lately it has been much easier to manage.

My grey hair (I have been doing rosemary infusions as well as rosemary infused apple cider vinegar) is also not as coarse as it usually is. It is normally VERY coarse and wirey (is that a word?). But since going no poo, my grey hair is not only not as wirey (a comment made by my beloved, so it is not just me), but it has also reduced in numbers! I would say that the hair that was grey has been reduced by about 30%!! And that is only after one month!!! :)

I am unsure if the grey will ever completely be covered/blended back into my hair, but even to just reduce it naturally is WONDERFUL!

I also stopped shampooing my 2nd daughter's hair. I have noticed that her hair no longer gets tangles!! I am going to start doing the other girl's hair with the apple cider vinegar rinse and see if they have the same results!

A quick link on all your could ever want to know about going no poo.

This is the pouring container I use for the vinegar rinse. After straining the herbal rinse into the jar (see how LITTLE is in there?), I add hot water (which comes out from the tap as I am waiting for the water to get hot enough, I probably should use filtered water, but I am not too particular). Because my hair is oily, I use a 1:4 part ratio (one part rinse, 4 parts hot water). For the girls it is a 1:6 ratio. I also got this container at a garage sale for a quarter! :) The book is Stepping Heavenward by Elizabeth Prentiss (GOOD STUFF!). I got it FREE through Paperback Swap! It is my bathtub reading material.  And notice the box in the back? I got that in an online swap!! :) It is full of fun bath frills for me to be able to relax. :)

3 comments:

Unknown said...

I'm not sure how I found your blog, but I have enjoyed looking around! I LOVE your transparency. Thanks for sharing your heart! :)

Unknown said...

Ok, this is really neat.

So let me see if I get this straight.

You use the baking soda mix to wash your hair and then the apple cider vinegar rinse?

You mentioned rosemary infusions for your gray. What is this?

Also, how often do you have to wash your hair?

Great stuff! :)

Paula said...

Chelsy,

Sorry this has taken me SO LONG to respond to.

I explain some of this and give examples in the original "no poo" post. You can get there through the link in this post.

I do not use baking soda at all to wash my hair. I am only doing the vinegar rinse. I do it about 2x a week. I use infused vinegar (infused with chamomile flowers, calendula flowers and rosemary). Right now I have one going where I added rosehips to see if I got any tints of red when I use it. :)

The rosemary infusions for grey hair is something I read in a book by Rosemary Gladstar. She said that her BROWN HAIRED friend uses strong rosemary infusions to cover her greys. I put a link in the original article to how to make infusions. You basically take a small handful of the herb, add boiling water and let it steep. Since it is to be strong, I usually make mine in the morning I am going to use it, and take my shower in the afternoon/evening.

I do not wash my hair, just the vinegar rinses. I do the vinegar rinses 2-3 times a week. When I take a shower on other days, I just rinse my hair.

The rinses are hot (because you add hot water to them, it is a 1:4 ratio of vinegar to water or 1:6 if you have normal-dry hair). This opens up the shafts in the hair to accept the rinse. Then I rinse my hair with cold water, it closes the shafts of the hair.

When I just do a water rinse during a shower that is a non-vinegar rinse day, I use warm water (can't stand the cold water all the time). But still on the side of colder than warmer. :)