Hello there!
Before I share with you the start of my ‘no-poo’ adventure, a little about myself! My name is Claudia and I’m from Lisbon. I have a repertoire of terrible jokes and I love anything that sparkles! I also love any type of food, however, I have slowly come to the realisation that I would like to lead a healthier and more sustainable life. I’m not talking extremes here, don’t get me wrong. I love my mum’s Sunday roast and McDonald’s fries after a night out, but I’ve come to realise that I can make small, inexpensive (I’m a student after all!) changes to everyday things such as shopping and recycling. Hopefully, step by step I can contribute to our planet Earth continuing to thrive.
So what’s this ‘no-poo’ business? I was inspired by the blogger Lucy Aitken-Read and her book, Happy Hair.
The handy ‘no-poo’ guidebook and my inspiration, Lucy Aiken-Read
‘No-poo’ describes washing your hair without store bought shampoos such as Herbal Essences, Pantene or Head & Shoulders. “What?! WHY?!”, I hear you ask. Take a look at the list of unpronounceable chemicals, that require the knowledge of a chemistry degree to understand, on the back of your favourite shampoo bottle. Do you really want to be slathering those all over your scalp? Now you have my reasoning, I’ll let you go grab that bottle of shampoo now…
So how do I wash my hair? Easy enough: with baking soda (NOT baking powder, read the difference here!) and vinegar, two things likely to be in your kitchen cupboard.
It’s really up to you as to which brand you choose to use as many can be bought in the UK.
Now for the method:
1. Mix 1/2 tbsp baking soda with at least 200ml of warm water (unless you want a temperature shock in the shower, I learned the hard way) and prepare for a mini-volcano like you made in year 6, without the red food colouring of course!
2. Recycling a 250ml bottle, half-fill it with vinegar and warm water.
3. After wetting your hair, pour the baking powder solution on top of your head and let it run off. Rinse with water and then do the same with the vinegar solution, rinsing it out whilst combing your hair with a wide toothed comb.
4. Dry it as you would normally.
After two days my thick and unruly curly hair is shinier, softer and, miraculously, less tangled! The only downside is that it is also slightly greasy, but I’ve been reassured by other ‘no-poo’ adventurers this is your scalp in shock and over-compensating for not being washed with shampoo, a phase which varies in its duration. For the moment I am thankful for woolly hats and plaits, but overall I am amazed so far. You can always revert back to your favourite Herbal Essences if it’s not your kind of adventure, so why not give it a try?
Image Sources:
Image 1: http://www.cosmopolitan.co.uk/beauty-hair/hair/news/a28851/no-poo-happy-hair/
Image 2: http://lulastic.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/HAPPY-HAIR-5.png
Image 4: http://chowfornowfoods.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Bragg-Organic-Appl…