How to get your hair to look like a shampoo ad.... without the shampoo!

First off, I want you to picture a shampoo hair model. Think of the last Pantene commercial you saw... the lady with the thick shiny hair magically waving in slow motion in the air as she struts down the street, every strand shining like gold or copper in the sun while a bunch of guys in suits stop and stare. Or think of the hair celebrities flaunt as you're trying to check out at the grocery store. OK, now imagine someone told you that model or actress stopped using shampoo a year ago. "WHAT??? Ewww!"... is it? I second ago that was the most fabulous hair you could imagine! Sounds impossible, but it's not. Over the last couple of weeks I have been experimenting with the Curly Girl method, also affectionately known as the No-'Poo method.

Now, WHY would I even consider such a thing? I'm really not naive enough to think I could stop washing my hair and no one would notice. I'm a fan of personal hygiene. I don't want to stink. The truth is, I fell into the no 'poo method without meaning to. As most of you know, I try to do things the "natural way" as much as possible, so when I ended up with an extreme case of dandruff this fall, I was hesitant to use medicated shampoos. A bottle of Suave was the beginning of my dandruff misery, so I first switched to an all-natural organic shampoo. This made an incredible difference in my hair texture, but my scalp was still in ruins. Before I headed out to by some T-Gel, I searched online for natural remedies. I found several that I could try from ingredients in my kitchen, so I started testing.

1. Olive oil. At my next shower, I took about 1/4 cup of olive oil and a comb and massaged my scalp and combed for about 15 minutes. Conclusion: REALLY hard to wash out, messy, and didn't seem to make any difference. I have since learned it should have been hot oil, but I was ready to try something else.

2. Baking soda. I made a paste from about 1/4 cup baking soda and 1/4 cup warm water from the shower. Mix it up and apply it to the scalp, massaging vigorously particularly in heavy dandruff areas. Baking soda is highly alkaline, so especially in hard water conditions it must be paired with an acid or your hair will end up feeling gunky and unwashed. So, after this wash I used....

3. Apple cider vinegar. I mixed about 1/4 cup ACV and 1/4 cup warm water and poured it over my scalp and massaged it in gently and let it sit for about 5-10 minutes. Both the baking soda and apple cider vinegar methods were recommendations for dandruff, and needed to be paired together to work properly. The soda exfoliates and removes dirt and excess oil and the vinegar balances pH, soothes the scalp, and works as a natural conditioner.

4. Herbal tea. This same shower I decided to go for the gusto and try another ingredient: peppermint tea brewed just like I was going to drink a hot cup, but instead left to cool a bit, poured over the scalp, and left to sit for 5 mins. I read that herbal teas were excellent for hair, adding nutrients and repairing damage. Finally, I washed with my organic shampoo and called it a day.

My conclusion after this shower.... meh, it worked a bit, but wasn't terribly impressive. I decided to try it again after noticing a few less flakes, and my scalp was again a bit clearer. Each shower seemed to heal my scalp a little more. But then two things happened: my husband decided to try my scalp experiment instead of buying T-Gel, and my daughter squirted the rest of my organic shampoo down the drain.

I casually mentioned to my husband as he headed to the shower with his vinegar, baking soda and tea, that I read this weird method where they skip shampooing entirely. I think it appealed to his scientific nature and he came out a while later announcing he had gone without shampoo. I felt his hair.... perfectly normal, actually. Smell... just a tiny trace of vinegar if you stuck your nose right in it. Interesting. A week into this method and he still looked good... and smelled good too since he took to finishing with peppermint tea!

I, on the other hand, was onto new hair woes. My organic shampoo was down the drain thanks to a four-year-old who was playing "clean the shower" with it. Months ago I had used and loved Giovanni's Triple Tea Tree Treat or whatever it's called, so I had a bottle under the sink to use when my current shampoo ran out. It's all-natural, but not organic. Alas, my love for it died that first shower when my skin started itching everywhere it touched, likely a reaction to the essential oils which I tend to be sensitive to. So the next shower I took the plunge and skipped shampoo for the first time. I did my scalp routine: baking soda deep massage, rinse well (because you don't want to become a human volcano experiment when mixed with the next ingredient), vinegar soak, rinse, tea soak, and rinse. My reaction? Wow. My hair felt AMAZING!

It has only gotten better since!!! I haven't "washed" my hair in a day and a half and it looks and feels softer and cleaner than it normally does straight from the shower! My scalp is nearly cleared up and no longer itches. I looked in the mirror this morning and thought... whoa, is my hair shiny??? It has amazing body, a nice natural sheen, and apparently can go for days without feeling dirty. Why did I not know about this before?

How does it work? Or more importantly, why do you not end up a stinky grease-head after a few days? It turns out that it's the shampoo that causes your hair to become oily after a day or so. Shampoos, like most soaps and detergents, are particularly good at removing oils. In this case, it strips all the natural oil from your hair and your scalp produces extra oil to make up for it. Left alone, your scalp will balance out, providing just enough oil to keep your hair healthy and beautiful. This means most people have a "detox" phase for a few days before the gorgeous hair kicks in. Also, many shampoos have silicone in them which gives an artificial shine but coats each strand of hair and causes build-up over time. The no 'poo method allows the silicone to sluff off and lets your hair shine on its own.

It seems to me that the use of baking soda and vinegar is more often called "no 'poo" while using conditioner to clean hair called "curly girl" but they seem somewhat interchangeable. Anyhow, another way of doing this (which I haven't tried) is buying a nice, silicone-free, preferably natural conditioner and using this as your shampoo. This method works mainly on friction, so working the conditioner into your scalp in a circular motion and working it into the hair for a period of time is essential. The moisturizing properties of conditioner don't have to fight shampoo, so it leaves your hair feeling very soft. This method might take longer for your hair to adjust to, but again, I haven't tried it.

I gave you the amounts of baking soda and apple cider vinegar I use for scalp recovery, but from what I've read, most people use considerably less of each for day-to-day use, even down to a tablespoon. That's my favorite thing about the no 'poo method... it's SO cheap and it's all stuff I already had in my cupboards... you can't get more DIY-happy than that!

Give it a try! You know you want to.

My intro to soap making

I love a good DIY project. It is so satisfying to know I saved money, did something useful, and cut one more item from our list of store-bought necessities, but even I know that making soap seems a little... pioneerish. However, I had a problem. My normal soap shop, Bluehouse Soaps, closed temporarily for a family move last summer and has still not opened. Thankfully, just before closing, I ordered almost a year's worth of soap and hoped they would be back in business when my stock ran out, but alas... my last bar of all-natural "mermaid soap" is gone. I had to make a choice... try out a new online store (which I might not like, would likely cost more, and I would have to order a lot to justify the shipping), switch to all-natural soaps from a store (which aren't nearly as nice as homemade ones), or just make it myself.

Why even both with natural soaps? It's mostly a sensitivity issue for our family. All four of us react in one way or another to agents in most commercial soaps. I have to be extremely careful with Ginny's soap because commercial soaps make her miserable, but many natural soaps dry her skin too much, so it has to contain oatmeal and other natural moisturizers... try finding a soap like that at Target! I am also leery of introducing unnecessary chemicals when they can easily be avoided. Who knows what's harmful and what's not, so I'd rather skip the SLS, phthalates, and perservatives when there are plenty of chemical-free alternatives.

So, back to the soap making. After a shower with my shrinking bar of "mermaid," I set out to find out how hard it would be to make myself. I mean, I wasn't going to mix animal fat and ashes, but if there was an easier method it might be worth a shot. And I found one! A method known as "melt and pour" is the perfect start to making soaps just the way you want them with none of the nitty-gritty. Simply put, you buy a soap base, melt it and add your "extras" and let it harden again!

Like I said, we have sensitivity problems and Ginny needs that moisturizing element, so I went with two high-quality bases from Brambleberry: one made with olive oil for moisturizing properties and one made with goat's milk for soothing properties. I got a couple of nice scents for Hannah and I, one that smells like oranges and strawberries, and one that smells like cookies. For Ginny and Lee who react to scents, I got some grapefruit essential oil which, in my experience, smells just like lemon meringue pie when it's put in soap! I had intended to mix the bases together, but just for fun, I separated them in layers and scented it like cookies for my first bar. The bottom base (goat's milk) is normally a pure white, but I mixed in organic baby oatmeal.

Isn't it beautiful??? Who needs expensive soap molds when you have an empty margarine container! The soap smells like heaven too. In fact, my husband was so inspired by the delicious scent that he decided to make chocolate chip cookies while the soap hardened in the kitchen. Unfortunately, I had to cut the lovely bar in half so it would fit on a soap deck, but in doing so separated the two layers. They seemed to have melted together again, but I don't know how permanently! I guess mixing bases is a better way to start after all.

My last "mermaid" is now completely used up, so I put my new soap to use this week and I have to say I'm impressed! The goat's milk base lathers up very nicely for a homemade bar soap and with all the extra moisturizing parts (olive oil, oatmeal, and goat's milk), my skin felt even softer afterwards than normal!

Forget Bisquick

I have been baking all my life, but I didn't realize until last year that Bisquick isn't required for tasty, fluffy, and easy pancakes and waffles! We were looking to save money on our grocery bill and didn't feel like paying $4.50 for another box of Bisquick, so my husband went hunting for recipes and experimented with them as only a good scientist can. Within a few weeks of breakfast taste-testing, we had found ourselves a couple of great recipes!

Good Old Fashioned Pancakes (original, slightly different, from allrecipes.com)
1 1/2 cups of flour
3 1/2-4 tsp baking powder (more for fluffier pancakes)
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
1 cup warm milk, add up to 1/4 more if it's too thick
1 egg, beaten
3 tbsp melted butter

Sift together dry ingredients. Make a well in the center and pour the warm milk, egg, and melted butter inside (this helps ingredients to mix well). Mix with whisk until smooth.
Cook like you would Bisquick pancakes: a little cooking spray or oil if needed, heat the griddle to medium heat, and cook about 1/4 cup sized pancakes until brown, then flip.

Classic Waffles (original, slightly different, from allrecipes.com)
2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
4 tsp baking powder (add to this if your waffles aren't fluffy enough)
3-4 tbsp sugar (beware, with 4 you may experience some caramelizing and sticking)
2 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 cups warm milk
1/3 cup melted butter
1 tsp vanilla extract

Pre-heat waffle iron. Sift together dry ingredients in a medium-sized bowl. Make a well in the center and pour the eggs, warm milk, melted butter, and vanilla inside. Mix with whisk until smooth. Ladel batter into pre-heated waffle iron and cook until golden brown.

Enjoy!

A DIY addict is born

It all started about five years ago. My husband and I were newly married, poor, in our pre-children years, and starting a new life in a new state. I had tried working to pass the time, but we only owned one car and doing a double commute everyday quickly lost its appeal. I had always wanted to learn to sew before I had children, so one day I borrowed my mother-in-law's antique green, solid metal, attached-to-its-own-table, workhorse sewing machine, bought some patterns and fabric, and set about teaching myself to sew. I have to say, my first five or ten projects have since been cut up and turned into rags, baby wipes, or just plain thrown out. Who knew that a two-year-old sized baby doesn't require buntings? Not me, apparently, but it was good practice. At the same time, I was beginning to make friends in our area and was invited to learn to crochet and knit. Admittedly, I didn't take well to either one at first since I could get such a quick result with sewing and I didn't like spending months on a knitting project. But at least, I had the basics down.

A few years passed, and thankfully I don't have to cut up or trash projects anymore... at least not very often. I have also learned to enjoy knitting after all. Not crocheting quite yet, but never say never! One thing that hasn't changed since those newly wed days in Ohio: we're still poor! My husband decided to go to grad school and recently finished, so we have lived quite happily on a tiny budget for some time now. In our experience, it's been a good life! We have food on the table, a roof over our heads, close family, good friends, and lots of imagination! And one thing is for certain: imagination + tight budget = a DIY addict in the making.

So welcome to my blog about all things crafty and homemade. I dabble in many areas so I'll be talking about sewing, doll-making, knitting, soap-making, baking, cooking, and maybe even crocheting eventually!

Most of my projects are for use around my house or for gifts, but I have an Etsy shop too, where I mainly sell handmade Waldorf-inspired dolls. Check it out! My Etsy Shop