No Shampoo

I have a confession.....

For the last year or so, I have not used shampoo once. Okay, okay..now, before you recoil in complete horror, let me explain...

I DO wash my hair..I just don't use shampoo. Before doing my research I had assumed that abstaining from Pantene or "Herbal" Essences meant stinky, dirty locks and perhaps 'natural' dreadlocks with creepy crawlies or mice living in them.

This is far from the truth. Let me liberate you from this misconception. IT IS ENTIRELY POSSIBLE TO KEEP HAIR CLEAN AND SHINY WITHOUT SHAMPOO OR CONDITIONER.

If you don't believe me, check out this wikipedia article or simply do a search engine search for No Shampoo.

The method I use is the oft cited Bicarb and Vinegar. In place of shampoo I simply lather up a paste of Bicarb and water and massage it through my hair. Bicarb is fantastic because it can clean you, your clothes and your house (more on that later), though on your person it can be a little drying so I don't reccomend it as a soap replacement.

Once massaged through your hair, simply rinse out like you would any commercial shampoo and then it's on to the conditioning phase.

To condition my hair I put a few tablespoons of apple cider vinegar in the bottom of a mug and then fill the rest up with shower water. I then CAREFULLY (vinegar in the eyes smarts!) pour it over my hair and comb through.

I'm never sure whether I need to wait before rinsing after each stage, so I tend to do that just in case.

The vinegar does two things, it makes your hair nice and shiny and tangle free and in theory it also dissolves any bicarb you might have missed so that you don't look like you have dandruff afterwards.

Okay....now for the nitty gritty:

On the downside - there is still an adjustment period that your hair will need to go through so you may suffer a few days or weeks of yukky looking oily hair. Basically, commercial shampoo works by stripping your hair of its natural oils and so your body compensates by producing extra oil. This is why your hair gets greasy and you have to wash it every day or every 2 days. When you stop using shampoo, it takes your body a little while to realise that this extra oil is not necessary...but trust me, this doesn't last forever.

On the up side - ....and in my opinion this way out-weighs the negative - The adjustment doesn't last forever and after it's over, not only will your hair look the healthiest it ever haves, you will only have to wash your hair maybe once a week, if not longer.
This, combined with the cheapness of the products means YOU WILL SAVE MONEY!

Oh...and p.s. - if you are at all worried about your hair smelling like a chip shop after using all that vinegar - the smell only lasts while your hair is wet. Once your hair is dry there is no odour....anybody who has known me for the last year can attest that I DO NOT smell like a bottle of Sarsons!! :)

Time For Change

Four days ago I turned 33. Yep, I'm now officially older than Jesus.

Everybody talks about turning 30 as some big crisis but for me it wasn't so bad. It has been every year sense that causes me to go into some kind of existential panic and to reassess what exactly are my priorities in life.

This year I am finishing my degree, only one semester left, so the crisis seems somewhat heightened than it was at 32. Now more than ever I feel a need to assess where I am in my life and what I am doing with it and whether I feel I'm heading in the right direction.

In this blog I aim to document my mini personal revolution as I investigate my politics, my impact on the planet and my life direction.

My starting goals can be boiled down to one word: SIMPLIFY aka LESS STUFF

This in turn is split into two forms:

Material - Investigate how to drop out of consumerism as much as possible (stop being distracted by shiny things) and how to lessen my negative impact on the planet.

Intellectual - Calm the crap down! - Stop trying to crowd the mind to hide any feeling of lack - more yoga? meditation?  - DEFINITELY more spirituality.

As well as documenting my transition I hope to be able to include books, blogs, films etc that have inspired/inspire me.

While the writing down of these things is purely for my own benefit, in order to get things straight in my own head, if anybody else gets any benefit from it then all the better! :)