The Modern Hippy

Ready for more experiments? I am! I love experiments!

     I was reading just a little while ago about not using shampoo. A friend of mine rarely shampoos her hair. Earlier this week she was pretty sure that it had been a month and a half since she shampooed her hair. The amazing thing is her hair isn’t gross. It’s just fine. It does awesome things. It’s short and super cute and all she really has to do is sleep on damp hair and she’ll have this awesome chic shaggy do. I’ve been wanting to do something like that. Besides it probably being better for my hair, I love the idea of not having to buy shampoo. I’m fairly happy with my hippy shampoo. And I don’t shampoo every day. In fact, I was down to every four days. Until this last week or so. But it is still really appealing to never have to spend $9 on a little bottle of shampoo.
     Our road trip turned into an accidental experiment. There was only one day we could use a real shower. The rest of the time it was just sponge bathes. Old fashion bathing. Cold water and a little castile soap with lots of shrieking. Well, not that much, but when the wind kicked up in the middle of two of my “bathes” I did squeal a little. It was cold. Well, colder than the 85 degrees I was used to. I acclimate to dry heat super fast.

     The two days that we had sponge bathes all I did was run a little water through my hair and try to distribute my natural oils all the way to the tips of my hair. It felt amazing. Not much oil at all. My hair was light yet malleable like there was a high quality product in my hair. The two days that I couldn’t shower due to much cooler weather, less time and mosquitoes, my hair didn’t get oily. It continued to shine and do awesome things. It didn’t tangle, or stick to my scalp. It was so well behaved! The crazy thing was, the bottle of premixed essential oils and witch hazel that I used every day for the last few months to prevent oily scalp had broken and spilled all over a bag. I should have turned into a horrible greasy creature(this had happened before). But I didn’t! In fact it seemed to be better without it.
     Once we got home I did wash my hair – after I had passed the four day mark. Even then it didn’t seem horribly oily. I used shampoo and rinsed with apple cider vinegar to help get out the smokey smell so I didn’t have to wash my hair more than about once – maybe twice. I could still feel a little natural oil when I was done, but nothing nasty. Then for the next week I only rinsed my hair in the water. Massaging my scalp and gently pulling the oil throughout my hair. I went a whole week without washing! It didn’t feel or look oily once. When I finally decided that it was time for a cleansing, I decided it was time to experiment with No ‘Poo.
     No ‘Poo is using baking soda and apple cider to cleanse one’s hair naturally and chemical free. I think I’ve mentioned before that what goes on your skin gets into your body and your body has to process it out. In today’s world it’s fairly easy for your body to overwhelmed with toxins from makeup, cleansing products, feminine products, pesticides in food and air pollution just to name a few. Toxins that aren’t supposed to be harmful or even get into your body are showing up in tests. It’s why I switched away from them. It was hurting my body, in some cases burning my skin. But why switch away from hippy, natural shampoo? Well, it’s not a natural thing to have your body oils rinsed completely away once or more a day. Your body makes oil for a purpose, to clean and protect you from the outside world. As wonderful and luxurious as it is to have thick soap suds running through your fingers and hair, it’s just not what your body knows how to deal with. Of course I understand if you don’t want to, or feel you can’t give it up. It’s a personal choice. For me though, the idea of No ‘Pooing seemed to offer a freedom.
     I’ve always felt like my super oily skin/scalp was restricting. Camping without showers wasn’t pleasant. I didn’t want to feel nasty and uncomfortable, my greasy hair sticking to my greasy face or back. I want an out. I want to feel less greasy. I want to feel a healthy natural something. There is a very strong drive to continually improve myself, how I feel and think. And changing my beauty habits is a huge step in what feels like the right direction for me.
     So, before I get side tracked again. Let me explain No ‘Pooing. You are supposed to use baking soda and water to make a paste, which you apply only to your scalp. Leave it in for about a minute. From what I’ve read, you are supposed to massage your scalp as usual with the baking soda mix still in. Then rinse after you have thoroughly massaged. Then pour a mixture of apple cider vinegar and water over your hair and let it sit for a minute and then rinse again.
     I’ve tried this once so far. In a few days when I feel like I need to cleanse again I’ll try again. But somethings I’ve noticed were: it’s hard to keep the baking soda paste on just your scalp if you have shorter hair. It just seems to naturally end up in the ends of my bob. Baking soda is also a very, very good, almost too good, exfoliant. It seems like it might be too hard on my fingers and perhaps my scalp to massage too much. I’ve actually got tiny cuts in my fingers when using it to clean. (It’s a wonderful scrubbing agent, but you should wear gloves.) Massage in general is great for scalp health, but what if the baking soda creates tiny little cuts all over? That’s not a good thing.
     Rinsing it out is fairly easy. The next step of apple cider vinegar is fine. The only thing is, there is chemical reaction between baking soda and vinegar because one is alkaline and one acidic. I don’t feel like that is a beneficial thing to happen on your head. In my opinion, be careful to rinse out all the baking soda before adding the vinegar rinse. It might be perfectly safe, but until I understand it fully, I’m going to exercise and suggest caution.
For more information on this check out these two posts:
The No Shampoo Alternative – No Poo
No ‘Poo for Dreadlockshttp://theorganicsister.com/2009/08/no-poo-for-dreadlocks/

Hair experiments
Hair experiments: Part 2

     Last year a friend of mine cut her super gorgeous long hair off and donated it to Locks of Love. I just had to steal her idea! Last summer I roasted alive in the heat. There were days in the 90’s in north western Washington. We aren’t built for that. Or at least I’m not anymore.

     Since last summer I grew my hair out further to make sure I had enough to cut off and enough to play around with(yes I ended a sentence with a preposition). It took forever! I got so sick of it. I reminisced about my high school days of short hair, even the short “do” I sported three years ago.

     Finally, two weeks ago I made an appointment. I had my hair chopped off last Thursday! I had 12 inches for Locks of Love and several more for experimentation, most of which ended up on the floor. If only my compost was ready! Though I’m not sure one should put hair, especially lots of hair in a compost. Have yet to run across that in an article.

     It’s done! I have very little hair left! What’s left is a fabulous bob that I love! Even a small amount of bangs, which I have not had in almost 14 years. Shoot, I need to be careful that my inner vanity doesn’t splatter all over this post. Hehe.

New hair

     Now, I have my hair in an envelope, under the bathroom sink, safe from Milo’s destructive path. Since my hair is so fine it’s really slippery and started to get all over the place and come out of the pony tail while I was at the salon. I’ve got to carefully place it back in order, which could prove to be a challenge. I want it to be useful for some little girl or boy whom has gone bald due to chemo. So, if you are planning to chop your locks in the near future, give this a thought. Locks of Love provides kids with cancer wigs of real hair. It’s a charity. And though it may not seem like making a wig is all that important. Could you imagine being a prepubescent or pubescent girl/boy already very insecure with their new feelings and on top of that an illness and subsequent treatments that completely reform their body? Plus, it’s way better than tossing the hair in the garbage. Win, win for me.

     I will say that there are other ways to “recycle” your hair cuttings. There is a company, Matter of Trust, that uses it to make something, a rug or whatever, to soak up oil. And since there is a huge spill in the Gulf Coast, now might be a good time to bring a baggie to the stylist, to bring back your hair that is too short for Locks of Love. I’ll be researching how I might be able to acquire hair from salons around here and send it to the company for all those poor marine creatures. Stay tuned!

Note: A friend of mine also chopped her locks this weekend for Locks of Love. As long as she doesn’t mind I’ll add a before and after picture of her hair.
For detailed information about how to donate your hair click, Locks of Love. For information about Matter of Trust, the company that makes the stuff to clean up spills, click here. I’m going to read more about them. It appears that they take pet hair and wool as well, which is nifty.

Missy the Modern Hippy

     Several weeks ago I started to experiment with my hair care. So far my hair experiments include washing my hair every two days, using conditioner only on the day I wash my hair. I also mix a blend of essential oils and witch hazel to increase hair growth and decrease oily scalp.
     So far it’s going wonderfully. Other than when I’m on my period, my hair is rarely oily, looks healthy, and is very shiny. I did accidentally discover that not using the witch hazel-essential oil blend allows my hair to become more oily again. I ran out of a couple essential oils and wasn’t able to redo the blend for a few days. The next day my hair was more oily than usual. Progressively it got worse over the next few days until my essential oils were delivered. Using it again, I’ve noticed a change – less overall oil again. So I’m convinced, even if my hair never gets thicker, it’s worth it.
     As far as more hair growth, yes I want thicker hair. It seems to fall out whenever I’m stressed, or even with dramatic seasonal changes. It does grow back however; I’d rather have too much than too little if I can help it.
     While I was is school several of the teachers mentioned that the essential oils such as rosemary and ylang ylang really do work. I’m sure it will take awhile to notice anything. I am using a couple of the oils that are older so they might not work as well for that. That’s fine though, as long as it works for decreasing oil production I’m happy and am willing to wait.
I also ran out of apple cider vinegar and haven’t used it in a week or more. I did notice that using it the day after I shampooed, while it was shiny, it did seem more oily, which was annoying. Perhaps trying it again on a day I wash my hair might be a good idea.

     Something new I’ve started is when the ends of my hair seem a little dry – they have been since it got really cold. By the end of the day I have enormous dreads. According to my hair stylist whom trimmed my hair recently, it’s fairly common in the winter. So I’m using the oil blend I made for my faceon my ends. It is jojoba, avocado, and olive oils along a few essential oils.
     I’m still not using product. Giving my scalp a break, letting it do it’s job without a lot of unnatural things seems like the best idea for me. Also, at the beginning of the 2010 summer I plan to cut a lot of my hair for Locks of Love. The healthier it looks the better. I am mildly concerned about having short hair and not using product. But as something I’ve noticed, while my hair is rarely greasy, its own natural oils seem to work like a gel sometimes, making it shiny and manageable. Our co-op does seem to have more natural product alternatives. Something will work. I might even be lucky enough to find something that will further help to nourish my hair. Until the next hair experiment!

My Hair Experiments – The Modern Hippy Way