Hippy Hygiene

Since grade school, summer has been a time of rest and rejuvenation, a time of vacation and adventure, and most importantly, a time of new experiences and new experiments.

As an ever curious girl, these experiments have to be one of my favorite things about summer.

Experiment #1: Operation Healthy Hair

After years of dying and frying my hair, I have tried many tips and tricks to get healthy hair. I've used special shampoos and conditions, I've gotten trims and tried to eat the proper diet. But now, its time to be drastic. 

1st-- I am going to stop using shampoo.

Shampoos coat your hair with silicons and parabens (waxes) which make your hair feel soft and smooth temporarily and strip your hair of its natural oils. Washing your hair everyday only forces your body to produce more oils, which makes you want to shampoo your hair again, thus creating a never-ending and not-so-hair-friendly cycle. 

Instead of using shampoo, I am going to be using diluted Dr. Bronner's castile soap, which is an all organic liquid made up of natural oils and potassium hydroxide. KOH is only used to saponify the reaction of the oils to produce soap, it is consumed in the reaction and does not leave a wax coating on your hair. Before using this though, I needed to remove the waxes and product buildup in my hair. I did this with clarifying shampoo mixed with a tablespoon of baking soda and a few drops of lemon juice. This made my hair seem extremely dry (because it didn't have any of those synthetic waxes coating it). See below for the solution.

2nd-- I am going to moisturize with coconut oil. 

I will also not be using conditioner for the same reasons above, and will be relying on my hair to produce its own natural oils. To prevent possible drying though, I will be using a coconut oil mask once a week to promote hydration. I did this last night and it smells amazing! 

I simply melted about 3 tablespoons of coconut oil and applied it all over my hair, focusing on the ends. I wrapped my hair in saran wrap and then secured the concoction by using my TurbieTwist to keep everything in place. I used my blow-dryer on medium heat to open my hair cuticles and promote absorption of the oil for five minutes then went to bed. After a good nights rest, I unwrapped my head and washed off the oil with my Dr. Bronner's solution (this did require a few rinse-and-repeatings, because the oil is so heavy) but my hair finally feels good!

I know many other cosmetics are not as good for us as they seem, so I am going to head towards an all-natural beauty routine, by washing my face by the oil method, using all-natural deodorant, and using beeswax chapstick!

 I hope this was helpful, and there are further experiments to follow!