Shampoo(p)

Here's my brief bull on toiletries (I think). We are mostly sold a bill of goods when it comes to what we need to clean or put on or in our body and hair and it's up to us as consumers to research most claims and speak with our wallets.

The bottom line for today is that most of what I write here is about the bottom line. Caveat being ... I would not recommend something I wouldn't do myself.

Want cleaner hair for cheaper but you don't want added chemicals or animal testing. Our favorite grocery store, Trader Joe's has great sulfate free, animal test free shampoo and conditioner for 2 or 3 dollars per litre/quart. Buuuuutttt, if you can't get to one of those and you don't want to break the bank. It's two steps. Step one: Baking soda and water paste. Step two: Vinegar and water solution.

Sooo ...

My wife uses about a table spoon of baking soda and water and forms it into paste to wash her hair. And then she rinses with vinegar. I could probably get away with a teaspoon. Note: I will adopt this habit but I'm still using the leftovers of a bottle of shampoo from last spring despite what I've learned from cursory reading. It's true though, you really only need a dime sized dollop.

Then she mixes a one-to-one ratio of apple cider vinegar to water and pours that in.

My wife's hair smells fine and feels clean and soft. Seriously, since everything beyond the root is not actually alive, what else can you ask for?

The basic math. Baking soda's about a dollar a pound.
I could stretch it to 3 months.
She likely 1 month.

4 litres or 1 gallon of white vinegar is $1 and change to $4-ish.
The same of apple cider vinegar is between $8 and $15.

If you use 1/8 cup vinegar and 1/8 cup water, you could stretch it to about 4 months. That's 2 months if you're making a 1/2 cup solution.

I've heard of some people premixing an amount to use over the week. And others who have bypassed the water and just mixed the baking soda and vinegar. Now that's a spicy science fair volcano meatball. But the tingling means it's working.

Plus you avoid chemical additives like propylene glycol found in deodorant and antifreeze, sodium lauryl sulfate (found in engine degreasers) and sodium laureth sulfate which, "has been shown to produce eye or skin irritation in experimental animals and in some human test subjects. Some products containing SLES have been found to contain low levels of the carcinogen 1,4-dioxane, with the recommendation from the FDA that these levels be monitored"

I mean, as you might have read, or already know, the skin is the body's largest organ and whatever you put on it, including your scalp, can and will leach into your system.

And you create less waste, because you did not end up with thick (likely) plastic bottles that end up in the recycling bin or the garbage.

Others experience dictates it will take some time to get used to this method (up to a couple of weeks) but it is worth it.

In Summary:
You need: Baking soda, apple cider vinegar, water
You get: sulfate free, chemical free, animal friendly, clean hair for pennies a usage.
You don't miss: the additional plastic bottles shampoo is sold in.
Now that's a deal!


On your way, then.