The View From My Fishbowl

As I’ve blogged about before, I have tried to stay away from using shampoos that use sulfates (ammonium lauryl sulfate, ammonium laureth sulfate, sodium lauryl sulfate, sodium laureth sulfate). Just as a little aside, check your cleansing beauty products – shampoo, body wash, face wash, even your toothpaste! It is the thing that makes your soaps ‘foam up.’ Unless you make the particular effort to keep these things sulfate-free, you are probably putting a sulfate directly on your skin at some point during the day. If you are having any sort of sensitivity or reaction to these things, sulfate is most likely the culprit to look for.

Sodium Laurel Sulfate has this warning attached to it by the Warrant Material Safety Data Sheets: “In case of contact, immediately flush the eyes or skin with copious amounts of water for at least 15 minutes while removing contaminated clothing and shoes. Ensure adequate flushing of the eyes by separating the eyelids with the fingers. If inhaled, remove to fresh air. If not breathing, give artificial respiration. If breathing is difficult, give oxygen. If swallowed, wash out the mouth with water. Provided the person is still conscious, call a doctor. When handled, wear approved respirator, chemical-resistant gloves, safety goggles, and other protective clothing. Use only in a chemical fumehood. Avoid prolonged or repeated exposure. Wash thoroughly after handling. Harmful if inhaled or swallowed. Harmful if absorbed through the skin. Causes severe eye irritation. Causes skin irritation. Materials irritating the mucous membrane upper respiratory tract. Symptoms of exposure may include burning sensation, coughing, wheezing, laryngitis, shortness of breath, headache, nausea, vomiting. May cause allergic respiratory reaction. Significant symptoms of exposure can persist for more than two years. Causes long-term damage to the lungs.” 

Now I know this ‘warning’ is when handling the chemical by itself and that it is found in small traces in your beauty products…but still? Do you want to be putting THAT on your skin, day in and day out for the rest of your life? (In reference to toothpaste, the presence of sulfate is why toothpaste contains the instructions that children under six are not to use it, because swallowing the sulfate can be harmful and it is dangerous to give it to kids who might swallow the toothpaste rather than spit it out.)

Anyway, I had pretty much gone to ‘washing’ my hair with conditioner and shampooing once a week with a sulfate-free shampoo. With my increased sensitivity to fragrances, this was becoming a problem with the conditioner I was using. I switched to a couple different conditioners that were scented with essential oils, but my hair did not respond to them the same way and I soon found myself resorting to more frequent shampooing because my hair was getting greasy. It was also getting more expensive as I was buying a) more expensive conditioners and b) more expensive shampoos in c) greater quantities.

I read about using baking soda (bs) to wash your hair and an apple cidar vinegar rinse (acv) to condition. I decided to give it a go. Just a word of caution – you can do any bit of research on using the bs/acv method, and everyone will say that you need to give your hair and scalp 3-6 weeks to adjust before totally giving up. This is totally true, and for me it was a long 3 weeks until my hair totally adjusted. I imagine my adjustment time was a little less than most because my hair had already been weaned off of sulfate shampoos.

I tried the baking soda cleansing in several ways. First I made a paste (water and baking soda) which I kept in a little tube in the shower. Not bad, but not convenient either. Next I tried just plain baking soda and making a paste in my hand…didn’t work so well. The best thing I’ve found: I keep an 8-ounce squirt bottle in the shower. Before I get in the shower, I dump about 1 Tbsp of baking soda in and sometimes a drop or two of tea tree oil (when my scalp is getting dry). In the shower, I fill the bottle with warm water, and squirt all over my scalp and let it drip down through my hair (still dry…I don’t rinse beforehand). I let it sit for a few minutes and then rinse it out, massaging my scalp with my fingertips to loosen dead skin and dirt. 

This has worked fabulously for me. As I said, it took a couple weeks for my head to adjust, during which time I wore my hair up a lot. But it did adjust, and I can’t believe how great it feels. When the weather is cooler, I can go with washing it every other day, although I still prefer washing it every day. When the weather is hot and I am sweating more, I definitely have to wash it every day otherwise I feel gross.

Vinegar is a great natural conditioner and I like to use it once or twice a week. You don’t need a lot – I usually mix up a spray bottle with hibiscus tea (brings out red/auburn highlights) and about 2 Tbsp. of vinegar. This bottle will last me about 2-3 weeks. I spray this just on the ends of my hair and rinse out. You will smell the vinegar for a little bit until your hair dries, but it really isn’t that bad, especially with the hibiscus tea and I sometimes add lavendar oil or something like that to further mask the smell. Apple cidar vinegar is supposed to be better (gentler I suppose), but I use white vinegar. The reason is that I hate (loathe, despise) apple cidar vinegar. Not sure why, but the smell or taste of it will completely turn my stomach. I can immediately taste it in a recipe…ick. I love white vinegar, balsamic vinegar, red wine vinegar…but apple cidar vinegar? {shudder}

Now, how is my curly hair with all of this? I have had trouble getting my hair to go curly since using the baking soda cleansing method. This could be due to 2 factors, most likely both: 1) my hair is longer now than it has been in a while and that is weighing the curl down, 2) I prefer not to use gels or mousse with their plethora of chemicals and fragrances. I have tried using aloe vera gel, but that hasn’t been too effective thus far. One time, I was staying the night with my cousins and used some gel of my aunt’s (she claimed it was incredible and gave me permission to try it!) and my hair went very curly and stayed curly all day, so I know the baking soda can’t be taking my curl out. However, because of the fragrance in the product, there were other repercussions…so I’m still looking for a natural and non-expensive solution to this. I am currently using an organic hair spray for when I put my hair up, but it was pretty expensive, so I probably won’t buy it again. I recently found this recipe for hair spray which I want to try and this one for hair gel which I’m willing to give a shot at.

So…that’s currently where I am on the hair front of things. What do you use? Do you have any suggestions for me?

ETA: Wouldn’t you know…I posted this and jumped in the shower right before church. Want to guess what my hair did? 

Totally curly!!! My hair effectively stuck its tongue out and said, “I’ll show you!”