Learning a bit from Jenn's experience, I emptied out my little 2 oz. bottle of (very weak) baking soda mix and started from scratch. In went about 2 tsp. of baking soda and enough water to almost fill the squeeze bottle (with just enough room to shake it well). The result is definitely not as gooey as what Jenn has settled on, but also stronger than what we had initially. I also added 4 drops each of rosemary oil and lemon oil to my apple cider vinegar mix (which was a 1:1 ratio in a spray bottle).
Washing with the BS mix was definitely strange—because I'd opted for a very watery mix, I had to be really careful about squirting it out in small amounts and immediately scrubbing it into my roots with my free hand. I worked it all along the front of my scalp, then my natural part going back over my head, and finally under at the nape of my neck. I could feel it cutting through the accumulated oil as I went, but I'm not sure I ever got the "slippery" feeling other blogs have mentioned. That said, it is SO weird not to feel it lather. Then, a really good rinse of water, making sure to get my hair and scalp soaked through and through.
And on to the ACV rinse! At first spray, I was sure I'd made a mistake. I have a shower with high glass walls, so the vinegar smell was almost overwhelming, but I soldiered on for (hair) science! From what I've read, you're supposed to focus on getting it into the tips of your hair, rather than your roots. That said, the acidity of the ACV is supposed to balance out the alkalinity of the BS mix, so I just sprayed it all over, taking care to lift sections of hair and spray them on both sides before using both hands to rub it in. Again, rinsed really thoroughly.
Salad, Anyone?
And OMG I smelled like vinegar and rosemary. So basically, a salad I'd made the other day. Especially while I was toweling dry—with my hair all around my face, I didn't care if it felt clean or less tangled because there was a cloud of rosemary vinegar scent around my head. ACK. There wasn't much I could do about it though without being late for work, so I just went through the usual motions: towel dry, detangle with comb, brush with boar bristles, air dry. As far as I could tell, I still had a salad dressing miasma wafting around me, so I was not looking forward to facing the world, though Significant Other took several deep sniffs, even pressing his face right into the back of my head, and declared that it was barely noticeable unless he really "dug for the smell." Hmph, liar. (Also, sweetheart.)
I was sure, getting onto the subway, that I'd get wrinkled noses and disapproving glances, but...I didn't. And, to my surprise, as my hair air-dried (which it did a lot faster than it had during my water-only days), I noticed the smell less and less. By the time I got to work, my hair was almost completely dry and the smell was noticeable to me only when I ran my fingers through the still damp sections at the back of my head.
And it was CLEAN. No more waxy feeling on my hands. The dry sections already felt light again, as they used to feel after a commercial shampoo. And, well, see for yourself:
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| See? Just like a unicorn. |
Now, that photo is actually taken the next day, after a water-only rinse, but the results are the same as the day of my first naturoo: light, fluffy, slightly wavy, clean hair with zero smell (though I got a waft of rosemary when my hair was wet again). There's been no noticeable oil build-up since yesterday, so it still feels great. And, as Significant Other pointed out, it's got some more volume than it did during the past week. Hurrah! I'm ready for another week :)
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| Bring it. |
Edwina's current status:
# of days since last commercial shampoo: 8
# of days since last naturoo: 1
Significant Other Check: "You look great!"
Public Perception Paranoia Scale: 9/10 yesterday, 1/10 today
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