Crunchy Hippie Post! Shampoo Alternatives!

I've posted before about how I mostly make my own household cleaners, and I try to make most of my food from scratch.  I generally also buy natural personal products.  I try very hard to be sure that my cosmetics, soaps, haircare, etc, are not tested on animals and don't contain carcinogens or teratogens.  I read the crunchy hippie blogs with a skeptical eye, but I do try out many of the all natural, do-it-yourself ideas to keep from buying so much packaged, chemically, expensive stuff.

Sooo, this weekend I tried the thing that I've been putting off for a while: "No-Poo."  I refuse to use that term again, because calling shampoo alternatives "no poos" makes them sound like anti-diarrheals.  In any case, I don't have the kind of life or job where I can take 6-8 weeks to allow my scalp to readjust to not washing at all, and I love the feel of clean, scented hair, so going cold-turkey was not an option.  Accordingly, a Shampoo Alternative.  I tried Baking Soda.  And is it any surprise that this handy substance that I use to clean and deoderize my house and brush my teeth and deodorize my laundry has yet another use?  I guess not.

It seemed totally counterintuitive to condition my hair with apple cider vinegar, though, which is the next step.  I mean, yes, baking soda to clean things.  I'm with you.  But vinegar is the opposite of the substance I normally use to condition.  Conditioner is creamy and oil-based and ... not vinegar.  But, what the heck, thought I.  If it's awful I'll just take another shower and use my regular shampoo and conditioner.

I mixed a tablespoon or so of baking soda with about a cup of hot water and put it in a spray bottle.  Then I mixed a few tablespoons of vinegar with hot water and put it in an old conditioner bottle.  I sprayed my wet hair at the roots with the baking soda stuff and let it sit for a few minutes before rinsing.  Then I awkwardly squirted the diluted vinegar on the ends of my hair and gradually more toward the scalp, without soaking too much near the scalp because I have oily hair.  Then I rinsed it.

And... voila!  I am convinced.  This works as well as shampoo and conditioner.  My hair looks and feels great.  Another crunchy hippie win.  I can cross shampoo and conditioner off my shopping list permanently.