shampoo free day 23

I’m about to give up.
The length of my hair feels really nice and soft and awesome…. but the roots…. oh, the roots. The best word to describe the feeling is waxy. I’m going to try to make it to four weeks but that bottle of shampoo is looking mighty tempting.

krystlemethod asked: I tried this before I saw this post the idea is awesome I don't know why I get thrown off with some ingredients but mine were exactly the same only I boiled flax seed with the aloe Vera threw them out threw in some citrus fruit juices without the pulp added some glycerine. I found it to work great smell great problem it went bad after a week in this Cali hot weather being that u used fresh aloe Vera how long did it last? And did the beach hair look last all day?

Wow, I bet the citrus made the spray smell incredible! Did the juice make your hair feel sticky at all? If you wanted a citrus smell but the juice doesn’t work long term, you could try making a smaller batch that you could use more quickly and add fresh squeezed lemon juice. Another alternative would be to use lemon or grapefruit essential oil instead of peppermint like I do. The problem with the citrus essential oils is that you have to use them with extreme care, you cannot put them on your skin and then expose it to sunlight, all citrus EOs are phototoxic. I imagine that using just 1 or 2 drops in this recipe would be OK, since it would be so diluted, but do that at your own risk.
Did you store yours in the fridge? That will definitely increase the shelf life, especially if you want to continue using juice in your recipe. The batch I made the day I posted the recipe is still going strong, the packaged aloe vera from Alba lasts a long time if you keep it refrigerated, but I’m not sure how long a batch of the salt spray would stay good if you’re using aloe extracted directly from a plant.
The reason I chose aloe was to add a bit of moisture and hold for the style. The waves last in my hair all day, but I don’t have completely straight hair to begin with. If you need more hold, you can add some of your favorite hair gel or hair spray to the mix. The flax seed is a good idea, too, but I think chia might work even better since it really makes a thick gel when mixed with water.

DIY salt spray

Whose hair doesn’t look completely awesome after a dip in the ocean? Salty, loose waves are so lovely. Sadly, we can’t all live by the beach and take a daily morning swim, but you can make a simple salt spray with just a few ingredients that will leave your hair with great volume and texture, just like after a day at the beach.

Ingredients:

8oz warm water
2tsp sea salt
1tsp aloe vera (use pure aloe vera, not the crap gel found in the drug store)
3 drops essential oil (optional, for scent. I use peppermint, but only because I am obsessed.)

Mix everything in a glass jar with a lid, then shake vigorously until all salt has dissolved. Then transfer to a spray bottle and store in the fridge when not in use.

I just whipped up a batch of this today, and holy smokes, it is rad. I’m trying to go off shampoo and not rely so heavily on dry shampoo during my detox. Salt sprays are notorious for being drying to hair, and in my case this has been a great boon. I started out with pretty greasy hair and after a good spritz and letting my hair air dry, everything is clean, fluffy and wavy. What more could I want?
I would suggest using this only on days you don’t shampoo, especially if you tend to have dry hair. The salt will dry out any excess grease and your hair will hold the style better.

Let me know what you think if you try it out!

the good in humanity

I am frequently overwhelmed by an incredible sadness at the sheer magnitude of horror in the world. Human beings can be so awful to one another, and I’m not just talking about the obvious tragedies, but the apathy that has seeped into most of our daily lives.

I am fortunate to not have had to survive any truly horrific event, but the small things I witness and experience can be wearing. Doors which could have been held open slam in my face. Cars which could should have paused for 5 seconds nearly hit me on my bicycle, or worse, cut in front of a person crossing the street. When I fell on a subway platform spraining my ankle so severely I could not walk, several people literally stepped over my strewn about body to catch the arriving train. I think it’s the “what’s in it for me?” impulse that drives this. There is no immediate benefit to reaching out a hand to a fellow human, so most people never do.

It is a bad habit of mine to get bogged down by this sadness and to forget about the good.

This is a long introduction to something wonderful I saw today, something that overwhelmed me as well, but in a beautiful way. Watch, enjoy, and then go out and hold open a door for someone or something. Please.

Click me.

shampoo free, days 5-9

On the whole, things are going well.

I’ve managed to progress to cleansing with the recipe every two days (down from every other day) faster than I anticipated. However, I’m only able to do this because I have been leaning heavily on dry shampoo. If I don’t use it, I’m still a greasy mess. I worry that if I continue using it, my head will never transform from a greasy mess to the mass of shiny, thick, wavy loveliness that I have been promised. I also feel like I’m spending way, way more time on my hair than before, which defeats the entire purpose of this experiment.

So, for the moment, I have to remind myself that this is only day nine, things are still adjusting, and now might be a good time to chill the eff out. On the rosy side of things, I’ve had to learn to get a bit creative with hairstyling, because most days my hair is not in any shape to roam freely like usual. This has resulted in many a sweet new look for me, many of which I will repeat. See below, it’s quite fun.

Ciao for now.