no-shampoo::start

Tomorrow begins the no-shampoo routine for me. A number of you have decided to join in and I'm finding I'm losing track of who said they were joining and who said they were thinking of joining. So...feel free to post here if you want to jump in on it, if you haven't already. {Or post anyway, I love reading comments.} I know a few of you who are doing it for sure and have already started blogging about it. I can't wait to see some results!

My plan:

I decided to ditch the only-water method, because I have a feeling I'm not going to like that so much. Perhaps later on I will decide to try nothing at all, but for now I'm going to go back to using baking soda. I think this round I'm going to use less baking soda to water than I did before. When I first tried this, I found after some time, it started to dry out my hair. Everyone is different, so you have to experiment and see what works best for you.

Baking soda wash:

• 1 Tablespoon baking soda {I'm going to use half of this amount to start}
• 1 Cup warm water

I like to mix this up in a dish, mixing until the baking soda has dissolved and the water is clear. Then I pour it in a container {I use an old shampoo or conditioner bottle, but make sure you wash them out first}. Another way of doing this is to make a baking soda paste, which I assume you would need to make before each wash rather than making it ahead of time. I also read that you can apply the baking soda to your hair before getting into the shower and then just rinse it off with warm water.

After washing your hair with the baking powder solution, you can make a vinegar rinse. You do not need to apply this to your hair each time you wash. In fact it's probably a good idea to only do this one to two times a week.

Vinegar rinse:

• 1-2 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 1 Cup water

Pour this over your hair and rinse with cool water. Don't worry about the smell. Once your hair is dry it goes away. However, some people will add essential oils like lavender or rosemary.

Another rinse I would like to experiment with is an infusion of essential oils and water. Basically I'm thinking of boiling some water and adding the rosemary & thyme essential oil I picked up last week. I'll let you know how that goes.

**For pretty much everything you would want to know, go here.

:::On a related note, I have been starting to wash my face with baking soda as well. All I do is pour out a bit of baking soda into the palm of my hand and add warm water to make a paste, then rub it all over my face. Gently scrub your face and rinse off with warm water. It leaves my skin nice and smooth! And when it's dry out, I will use a bit of almond oil {or olive oil} on my face as well. If it seems like I've added too much oil, I'll simply rinse my face with some water and that usually evens it out.:::

Good luck!