The Backyard

The Backyard

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Ditching the Shampoo?

A recent post in Simple, Frugal, Green Coop kind of shocked me, being the not-as-green-person as I like to think I am. There are people who never shampoo their hair -- they ditch the shampoo for green reasons, and simply rinse their hair with water, use baking soda or vinegar, or herbs in some cases. Its being called "Going Poo Free". Even a Chicago News Reporter tried it. It supposedly is a new trend gaining momentum. I like the thought of ditching the chemicals, but not washing my hair at all? That sort of set me back having washed my hair with shampoo every day for past 40 years. BUT, the folks who have done it claim their hair is just fine -- not oily or stinky. They claim shampoos strip your hair of natural oils, thus the daily washing and conditioning needs put back in because of what you are stripping. So when you stop the chemical use, after about two weeks, the natural oils come back to your hair and only need rinsing every couple days. When you read what's in a bottle of shampoo, that alone is enough to make you stop using it - lots of petroleum products and processing all wrapped up in a pretty plastic bottle. I have to be honest here -- I stopped using shampoo too about 2 months ago; but not because of wanting to stop for enviornmental and ethical reasons. It was mainly because I didn't want to spend the money for organic or plant-based AVEDA shampoo (way too expensive and processed). I had a good supply of Dr. Bronner's liquid castile soap on hand at the time that Dr. Bronner claims is good for multiple uses -- hair included. Low and behold, I liked it and have been using it since. No chemicals, and its organic, fair-trade, etc. For now, I think I'll stick with Dr. Bronner. Its fairly hard for me to grasp not ever washing my hair!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I can't get my mind around not shampooing either. Somehow even though I read about all the alternative ways to clean, it somehow seems not quite right. Maybe its illogical, but when it comes to alternative ways to clean my home (i.e. detergent, laundry soap, surface cleaners, etc) it is fine, but for personal cleaning... well.... notsomuch.

Did you see Laura's post on (not so) Urban Hennery about alternative soaps and cleansers? Interesting stuff, and she had some good solutions/products on the shampoo front that I'm looking into...
http://urbanhennery.com/2009/01/16/016365-jr-liggetts/