The other morning I stumbled into the bathroom well before the kids were awake. “Yay!” I thought, “I’ll get to take a shower today!” But then I remembered. I was all out of shampoo. And I forgot to get more last time I went to the store.
My spirit, unwilling to be dampened, I decided I’d try that whole baking soda for shampoo/apple cider vinegar for conditioner, thing I’ve heard about. I mean, really. I use all natural soap, natural toothpaste, natural household cleaners, homemade laundry detergent. I can do homemade shampoo! Yay for less chemicals! Yay for clean hair!
Except baking soda in your hair is gross. Really, really gross. I almost titled this post “The ‘Poo’ in Shampoo.”
I mean, I know it was the first time I tried it, and maybe I did it wrong. Maybe I just need some guidance? If you do the baking soda thing, let me know. I did a quick Google search, and I mixed up baking soda and water according to the recipes I found. Basically 1 Tablespoon soda and 1 cup water. I also mixed up the apple cider vinegar and some water.
First, I tried what they all said to do. I wet my hair and poured the baking soda mix into my hair at the roots. I massaged it all around and rinsed. I have really thick hair and by this time it felt all tangled and I was having doubts about the vinegar thing, but that part was actually uh.maze.ing! I had put the vinegar mix in a squirt bottle and it completely detangled and smoothed my hair, pretty much instantly. “Yay! This will make such a great blog post!” I thought.
I got out of the shower, and went to dry my hair and it was all smooth and sleek and shiny! WOW! I blew it dry. Gorgeous. Well. Almost. It looked all greasy at the roots. It felt all greasy at the roots too. Super greasy. Not oily, greasy. Worse than before I got in. Maybe I got carried away with the vinegar? Hmm. The kids were still asleep, so I decided I’d give it another go.
I decided to sprinkle in baking soda dry at the roots. I worked it all around and it looked like the grease was all absorbed. But also like I had grayed out my hair, since my hair is quite dark and there was now a fine white dust on it. So I hopped back in the shower to give it a rinse. And I could feel the greasiness about ten times worse than what it felt like before. It was not the vinegar that caused this. It was totally the baking soda. I gave up. I scrounged around the bathroom until I found some tiny, little bit of shampoo in a travel bottle. I used it.
I will totally keep that apple-cinder vinegar thing. It is awesome. But the baking soda for cleaning your hair – a total sham.
The Lazy Homesteader 