the day I stopped washing my hair...

That's right, you did indeed read that, your eyes are not tricking you...

I've stopped washing my hair.

At least, with shampoo and conditioner. Or any products of any kind.

In an effort to save money, I started researching alternative ways to clean house, clean hair, clean skin. I've spent the past four days searching the internet for recipes and ideas. What started as a saving money scheme, quickly turned into a diet plan for skin and hair routines. I am appalled at what goes into beauty products! I'm not going to get on a soap box (ugh. bad pun.), but I will encourage you to research for yourself. Starting with sodium lauryl sulfate. It's in everything. Yuck.

You have to know, this is a huge, huge step for me as I am a self proclaimed product whore. If the packaging promises to do something new and exciting, I buy it. I've even gone so far as to replace every bottle of shampoo, conditioner, soap, and makeup remover, empty or not, if they don't belong in the same color family as the latest and greatest product that leaves the store to come home with me. I've spent years rotating from all pink bottles, to all blue, or green, or purple.

Enough is enough.

This is how I came to the decision to stop using shampoo and conditioner all together.

Save money= good.

Save sanity= good.

Save head from nocuous (my word of the day) chemicals= good.

Some call it the no 'poo' method.

I'm trying to think of something else to call it because I don't feel comfortable with the image it presents in my head.

The plan is: I shower as normal, everyday, but go for as many days as possible by simply rinsing my hair. If I can't stand it anymore I'll use one tablespoon of baking soda mixed with one cup of warm water. I pour it onto the roots of my hair and massage it thoroughly, and then rinse. Then I'll take one tablespoon of apple cider vinegar, a few drops of tea tree oil, and one cup of warm water, and pour it onto the ends of my hair. Rinse again.

Day one, two, and three have passed and were very confusing to me.

What do people who don't wash their hair actually do in the shower?

Without being able to follow my routine of shampoo, rinse, remove makeup, condition, soap, rinse, hop out, I was completely lost!

I got in the shower, suds up, rinsed, and then stared blankly at the wall. Bemused, I glanced at my nearly full bottles of Herbal Essence (which, by the way, is not so herbal afterall...). There they were, sitting on the corner ledge of the tub, taunting me. I turned around to shun the toxic, money depleting potions. I glanced back over my shoulder to take one last lingering look, and quickly got out.

Next time, I'm going to hide the bottles to better resist temptation.

And, I might sneak over to my nephew's house and steal his bath toys.

He has some sweet bath toys. 

A whole army of model poisonous jungle frogs, floaty toys, and sticky alphabet letters.

That will at least give me something fun to do while not cleaning my hair.

By day four, I decided it was time to try the baking soda. It was surprisingly easy! I just took two plastic cups- one with the baking soda, the other with the vinegar and tea tree oil- into the shower with me and filled them with warm water when I was ready to use it. The only difference I really noticed was that my hair was pretty snarly. But, I decided to just let it dry and not try to comb through it when it was wet. Sure enough, as soon as it was dry it was tangle-free, and I noticed that it dried really quick.

I even perfumed my hair afterwards.

Perfumed my hair. 

Like a greek goddess.

Ahhh. If only I had someone else to perfume my hair for me and feed me grapes and wine.

What a lovely thought.

So, four days in, I'm convinced I can do this.

Now, onto skin care. My current facial routine is as follows:

Makeup remover
Facial cleanser
Exfoliant
Toner
Occasional astringent
Lotion

That right there is probably $50 a month in far too many products. After researching, I learned that all of that stuff is just stripping away what my skin needs. So, I came up with a skin program to go with my new hair care plan.

I'm going with the oil cleansing method. You can read about it there, it's a great informative article, but, in a nutshell, it's one part castor oil, one part organic olive oil, and a few drops of tea tree oil. If you have a different preference of oil, like sunflower, or coconut oil, you can use that instead of olive. Test the formula in small batches as oily skin will need more castor oil, and dry skin will use less. After you've mixed it, scoop a liberal amount into your clean hands and gently massage it onto your face. Next, take a washcloth and run it under hot water. Lay it on your face until it cools. Repeat two, three, or as many times as you want. The washcloth and your skin will soak up the cleansing oils, so no need to scrub. When you feel like all the oils are gone, rinse out the washcloth and hang it somewhere to dry. Do this routine at night, before bed. If you feel like you need a moisturizer, just take a very small drop of oil and rub it on your skin. Oil soaks up oil, so don't worry about feeling greasy. You don't have to do it every night if you feel like it's reacting too much to your skin. After awhile, your skin will get it's natural balance again and you'll be glowing!

I also made an astringent for days I don't want to do the oil thing. I simply bought a bottle of non-alcoholic witch hazel and added about 30 drops of grapefruit essential oil. You can use any flavor oil you like, the citrus attracted me.

For yet another back up, I ground up some oatmeal to make a fine powder. Just take about a tablespoon of that, mix it with some water to make a paste and spread it over your skin. You can rub it around and rinse it off, or, you can let it dry and scrub it off with a washcloth for exfoliating.

Keep all of these mixes in airtight containers.

Here is what you need:

Baking soda
Castor oil
Organic olive oil (or other oil)
Tea tree oil
Essential oil of your choice
Witch hazel
Oatmeal
Apple cider vinegar (white vinegar can be used as well)
An assortment of jars or bottles
A tablespoon

Now, let me warn you about something. Buying castor oil was quite possibly the most embarrassing thing I've had to do in awhile. Walgreens was swarming with people. I knew castor oil would be somewhere in the medical aisle and I had an inkling as to where in the medical aisle it would be, and at this point I was already blushing. I tried to pretend I was looking at cold remedies, then allergies, then pain relievers. Slowly I inched my way toward...the laxatives. Beet red by now, I tried to quickly scan the shelves, but as I was intently staring down the endless boxes of "assistance", I didn't notice the mom and very intimidating teenage girl standing right next to me. I looked up, met their eyes, and quickly spun around to pretend I was looking at something else.

There, on the other side of the aisle, the lesser of two evils I pretended to be shopping for:
Incontinence and an array of birth control.

Sigh. Only slightly less embarrassing...

I let the girl and mother pass, then went to scoop up the bottle I needed. For my face, remember, and trudged to the register. I was hoping the rest would be easy, I was out of the uncomfortable aisles, and with any luck, the cashier wouldn't know what castor oil is generally used for.

No such luck. I looked at the little bottle that had caused so much despair and gasped. It wasn't over...

Stamped on the label in big white lettering, read:

Castor Oil

Stimulant Laxative

For the Relief of Occasional Constipation

I groaned and reluctantly placed it on the counter, label facing me.
The male cashier, no, the attractive male cashier picked it up, scanned it, and set it back down. This time, facing him. Awkward and unbearable silence.

"Do you...need a bag?"
he said.

I blinked. I swallowed. I tried to remember when I had last taken a breathe.
I wanted to slam my fists on the counter and scream,

"IT'S NOT WHAT YOU THINK! I AM NOT CONSTIPATED!! I AM HEALTH CONSCIOUS. ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY, AND TRYING TO SAVE MONEY!! PLEASE, DON'T YOU BELIEVE ME??"


But I didn't.
Instead I just stood there with a blank stare and flushed cheeks and mumbled back:

"Uhhmmgshahhmnnnpp."
(Um. Nope.)




And promptly left the store.

To conclude,

Our little family has adopted the motto,

"If you can't say or spell it, don't use it."

We're slowly adding this to our food as well, so someday we can say,

 "If you can't say or spell it, don't use or eat it."

I think we'll be just fine with this new rule.

After all, I've known how to say and spell carbohydrates for a long time.