No-pooing

One of the green lifestyle changes I've made this year is switching to "no-pooing" instead of shampooing my hair. Hilarious name, right? I'm sure most of you thought of something else when you read the title of this post, especially in light of my confession in my post yesterday. Today I'm going to share my no-poo routine for hair washing and what I've noticed about making the change.

My routine:
In a small container (I started with a nice ceramic ramekin but I knocked if off the ledge into the tub and it broke, so now I'm using an empty sour cream container), I mix about one tablespoon of baking soda with some warm water (not a precise mix, just barely enough to dissolve the baking soda). I pour some onto the front hairline and massage it in. Then I do the same all around my head, but I have a hard time on the middle of the back because my hair is long and thick so it's hard to get it into my scalp. THEN I turn on the shower for the first time and thoroughly rinse it out. Next, I squeeze my apple cider vinegar mix onto my hair, focusing on the ends. My apple cider vinegar is in a Rubbermaid condiment bottle, mixed 1:4 with water, with a few drops of a lemon oil to make it smell nicer. I probably use about 2 tablespoons total of this mix per wash. I rinse rinse rinse out the vinegar, and then I'm done (besides washing feet and armpits with soap)! I wash my hair with this routine about every other day, sometimes every three days, and haven't used shampoo since June. If I get sweaty or dirty in between washes, then I rinse my hair with plain water when I take a shower. The photo is from today, I haven't done any styling at all today, and have some lines from different ponytail spots. I plan to no-poo wash tonight, so this is about as greasy as it gets.

I've noticed:

• I use less water with no-poo because I do the baking soda part before turning the water on, saving time when I normally would be shampooing under the water.
  
• I also save water by only washing my body every day, taking less time in the shower than when I was shampooing most days.
  
• I am saving money because baking soda and vinegar are CHEAP! And nice shampoo is expensive.
  
• I feel good about not putting weird chemicals on my head.
  
• My scalp is less itchy so far (one of the main reasons I looked into no-poo in the first place).
  
• I did go through an adjustment period where I had oilier scalp and hair, but it has regulated now and seems just fine.
  
• My face is also not as dry after showering as it used to be.

Average says my hair smells fine! So far, it feels like success! I do sometimes miss the sweet smells and the lather of actual shampoo, but it had been a while since I'd used anything that smelled good at all anyway because I've had such itchy scalp problems for a while.

For a longer explanation of reasons to go no-poo, and other people's routines, read SortaCrunchy's post or the One Green Generation post about it.