The Hair’s the Thing

Posted by Kristen | Filed under Beauty, Fearlessly Frugal, Femininity, Green Living, Health Issue

This is the last segment in my “Healthy Skin, Nails, and Hair” part of the Six Month Makeover Challenge. You can also check out my post on skin and nails :-)

In terms of looks, I’d probably have to classify hair as more important than skin. (General health wise, no — but remember I’m starting with this group of changes as an ego boost before I hit the hard stuff!) Hair is often the first thing I notice about a person. It can tell you so much about their personality. And so many of us have problems with it.

It’s oily. It’s dry. It has dandruff. It’s lanky. It itches.

No problem. You can fix your hair problems, it’s just going to take time, trial and effort. And, like the skin and nails, a healthy diet is going to help as well :-)

For most of us, I think the first place to look is our shampoo and conditioner. Like nail polish, most of the more common ones are full of nasty chemicals. These include, but certainly are not limited to sodium lauryl sulfate, sodium laureth sulfate, propylene glycol, butylene glycol, isopropyl alcohol, mineral oil, coloring pigments, and artificial fragrances. Reactions can range from a break down of cellular structure, cancer, headaches, nausea, skin irritation, and the possibility of weakening the eyes/vision. Whew. Gives me the shudders when I stop to think about it.

Of course, that doesn’t mean that you have to stop using shampoo. I mean, you can! Many people are going no ‘poo and loving the results. Variably, they may use only water to scrub and rinse their hair with, or baking soda (with or without apple cider vinegar as a secondary rinse) at a ratio of 1 tablespoon to 2 cups hot water or a variety of other methods. This is a great resource of the pitfalls and different accommodations you can make for different hair types.  Several years ago I was no ‘poo for quite a while — I wish I hadn’t gone back to shampoo. (It was to please someone else; not because it stopped working!) There is usually an adjustment period for your hair that ranges from a couple weeks to a few months, and after that it’s usually smooth sailing. I will be going back to no poo again, but not quite yet.

Although I may make an exception just to try out this cucumber-lemon shampoothie from Loving it Raw: Blend one peeled cucumber with one peeled lemon in a blender. Mix into your hair, massage, and rinse thoroughly. She doesn’t say, but I’m sure this would last for more than one shampoo, especially if your hair isn’t super long. It just looks so scrumptious for my head!

Anyway, back on topic – commercial shampoos. You can find some good ones, it just takes a little willingness to think outside the box and fork over a few extra dollars. I’ve used Jasons brand with great success at one point, and for the most part I might consider them a step above some of the others. However, I was surprised to find out that they didn’t rate all that well on the Skin Deep Database. It’s a website you can go to in order to rate how safe your beauty products are. They use a system from 1-10 to rate the safety of a product and I’m going to look for new haircare products in the 0-2 range so they are the most safe. (Wow, I’m rambling, huh?)

Finally, I’ll say a few words about home remedies for hair:

  • Rosemary is fantastic for growing hair. You can add rosemary essential oil to your shampoo.  Variably, you can infuse rosemary (fresh or dried) into olive oil and rub it into a bald scalp or use as a hot oil treatment once a week (heat the oil – but not too hot, we don’t want burns here! – and massage it into your hair. Wrap it up in in a shower cap and a towel for 30 minutes or more, then wash as normal. Use between 1/4 and 1/2 cup oil depending on your hair length and thickness.) It doesn’t hurt to eat and drink some of the herb, either :-)  Topically will do more for you in this area though. And don’t ingest a lot of rosemary if you’re pregnant. Also, when you’re trying to regrow hair on a bald or thinning scalp, don’t keep it covered. Take off that baseball cap that you’re wearing most of the time and let your head breathe. And remember – use really mild shampoo. The harsh ones are just going to make regrowing hair that much worse.
  • If you’re using special shampoo for dandruff and it’s breaking the bank, try something else. Salicylic acid, like that found in aspirin or willow bark, is often used as a special ingredient in them — try crushing a tablet or two of aspirin into a normal shampoo or crushing three tablets and dissolving in warm water in a spray bottle. With the first method, you shampoo as normal. With the second, you spray your head all over before shampooing as normal.
  • Heat damage sucks. I think we hear about this more often with African American women, but when you use heat products (blowdryer, flat iron, curling iron) daily, anyone is susceptible. I only shampoo my hair every other or every third day, and blow dry whenever it gets wet — my hair does not dry well naturally! Unless I blow dry, it looks oily and limp. If I were to do this every day, though, I can’t imagine using all that heat without a weekly hot oil or even mayonnaise treatment (work a small amount of mayo into your hair, wrap it up, and leave it for a while before shampooing and styling as normal).  I really love my hair when I wear it curly as well – and so does my husband. If you don’t have natural curls and you want some, why not try a no heat method like pin curls? Check out video one or video two on Youtube – you can typically experiment with dry or wet hair, big or small curls to find a method that works for you :-)

{Photo credit}

This post is shared with Simple Lives Thursday and Your Green Resource.

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Permalink | Comments (8) | Feb 16, 2012

8 Responses to “The Hair’s the Thing”

  1. Betsy (Eco-novice) Says:
    February 16th, 2012 at 8:07 pm

    I really like shampoo bars. Less waste, less weird ingredients. We are using ones from Etsy shop Dress Green currently.

  2. Kristen Says:
    February 16th, 2012 at 9:32 pm

    Betsy, I’ve heard some good things about them! … and some not so great things. Did your hair have an adjustment period when you switched to them? What was it like?

  3. Heather :) :) :) Says:
    February 17th, 2012 at 1:56 pm

    I found your blog post via the Your Green Resource link-up. I’m doing a combination of “no shampoo” and natural shampoo. I’d go completely “no shampoo” BUT I can’t walk into church with greasy hair. It’s be embarassed…so I’m working a compromise. Hopefully it’ll still produce some noticeable results!!! I’d be really interested when you start the “no shampoo” method again!!! Love and hugs from the ocean shores of California, Heather :)
    Heather :) :) :) recently posted.."IT MAKES CENTS TO ME FRIDAY" FOR FEBRUARY 17th"

  4. Kristen Says:
    February 17th, 2012 at 10:02 pm

    Thanks for commenting Heather! I hope you enjoy the site and come back :-)

    I have to say that one of the good things about dealing with my hair in transition is that I usually cover my head when I’m in church. Not for bad hair day reasons, lol, but it certainly helps when you have one! But I definitely know what you mean. After I wrote this post, I did go out and buy a “better” and more natural shampoo, and I can tell the difference in how my hair is reacting already.. I’m hoping that most of my transition period will be switching to that and then in a few months when I go no ‘poo I won’t have much of one at all! (Fingers crossed, anyway :-)

    I’m actually pretty interested in your half and half approach — I’ll have to go check out your blog and see if you’ve written about it. If not, mebbe you should swing by again and let me know — I might try your way!

  5. Andrea @ The Greenbacks Gal Says:
    February 22nd, 2012 at 7:37 am

    Hi Kristen,

    Just wanted to let you know that I’m featuring this post on Your Green Resource this week and that I’ve pinned it to our pinterest board!

    Andrea

  6. Kristen Says:
    February 22nd, 2012 at 2:26 pm

    Andrea,

    Omg thank you so much! I really love going through and looking through everyone else’s posts… I’m so glad you want to feature mine! *happy happy dance*

    Kristen

  7. Your Green Resource: Week 22 — The Greenbacks Gal Says:
    February 23rd, 2012 at 6:00 am

    [...] Natural Hair Care by Sage & Chocolate [...]

  8. Six Month Makeover Challenge | Sage and Chocolate Says:
    February 24th, 2012 at 2:06 pm

    [...] is the order I plan to work in for the next six months: 1. Skin, nails and hair {post two} {post three} 2. Oral health 3. Mental health 4. Vision care 5. Digestive health 6. Kidneys and liver 7. [...]

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