So back to what I was saying. About two years ago, I attempted this feat with high hopes, only to have them completely crushed. Half of my hair was left feeling greasy, while the other half was dry. But, I chalk this up to a few reasons:

+ I was just about to start working and didn’t really want to risk nasty hair at a brand new job – I think I’d scare all of my new co-workers – so I only gave it a few days

+ My hair was super long then and I don’t think I spent enough time scrubbing in the shower

+ We lived in a different rental house that had extremely hard water

This time; however, I am absolutely loving the results. My hair feels so much lighter and seems to dry way faster than it did before. Plus – it looks healthy!

I know what you might be wondering…why skip the shampoo and conditioner in the first place? Isn’t it fine to use a natural, biodegradable variety? Where’s the harm?

Well, if you’re using a great product then technically there is no harm per-se, but you’re actually not doing what’s best for your hair and scalp. You see – even if you use a product free of nasty chemicals that are harmful to you and the environment, you’re still stripping your scalp of it’s natural oils. I mean, it makes sense – the job of shampoo is to clean your hair…but what you might not realize is that at the same time, it’s washing away all of the beneficial oils your scalp creates naturally.

But, how come hair gets oily so fast when going a day or two without shampoo? This is me exactly. I have crazy fine hair and by the end of the day the roots look nasty. It’s been this way for as long as I can remember. Sometimes, I can stretch it out to washing every other day – but that’s pushing it. You see, shampooing your hair creates a vicious cycle:

By allowing your scalp to go into overproduction when it comes to oil, you are (unintentionally) making the problem worse. There’s a reason why your head produces oil, or sebum as it’s technically referred to, in the first place — it makes the skin balanced and moisturized while keeping the hair sleek and shiny. When you continuously wash it away with shampoo, you’re causing the skin to get dry and flaky which results in an overproduction of oil. See the pattern here?

Cutting out the use of shampoo will help to regulate this cycle so that your hair doesn’t become overly dry or greasy. But, you don’t want your hair to be dirty…so you need something to keep it clean. The answer is a baking soda and water mixture. Baking soda absorbs oil without stripping the scalp completely. It’s also mildly abrasive so it’s great at scrubbing away dirt and grime.

If you wash with only baking soda, your hair will eventually start to dry out a bit, so you need to add something to keep those ends conditioned. For this, the solution is apple cider vinegar. Apple cider vinegar applied to the ends of your hair works as a great conditioner without causing excess oil build-up.  I’ve also been using the vinegar over my entire head of hair once every 4-5 washes so that my scalp doesn’t have a chance to get too dry.

Another way to to help prevent oil build up is to use a hairbrush with natural bristles, and then brush at least twice a day for 5-10 minutes at a time. The natural bristles help to distribute the oil throughout your hair so that it’s not concentrated at the roots giving it that greasy look.

I do miss the smell of my shampoo and conditioner, but I’m starting to get used to the idea of just smelling clean. If you can’t get over the pungent smell of apple cider vinegar, you can add a cinnamon stick, essential oils, or herbs to cover it up. I promise, though, as strong as the vinegar smells while you’re in the shower – you won’t smell it anymore once your hair is dry.

If you google ‘no poo’ you’ll come up with a ton of results and various ways to mix your baking soda wash and apple cider vinegar rinse. For me, I found that the following ratio to work well — 1:8 (baking soda to water) and 1:4 (apple cider vinegar to water.) The other key to this recipe is finding containers that allow you to apply to solution exactly where you want it. The first time I did this, I mixed the solutions in cups and not only was it hard to get good coverage, I wound up wasting product because I was using way more than I needed.  I’m currently using an old Dr. Bronner’s bottle for the baking soda wash and an old peri bottle for the apple cider vinegar rinse. They both seem to last me about 4 washes.

As far as routine, I’ve found that it works best to apply the baking soda mix to dry hair. I squirt it all along the hairline and on the routes. Then, I let the warm water run over my hair for literally half a second, take my head back out of the water, and then massage it in thoroughly. Since the mixture won’t foam up, you need to really scrub those roots. After that, I go about the rest of my shower and save washing it out for last. Once the baking soda is rinsed out, I grab the apple cider vinegar mixture and squirt it on the ends of my hair. Some say to rinse it off with cold water, but I can’t bring myself to do that, and I find rinsing with warm water works just fine.

Right now I’m washing every other day. On the second day, my hair is starting to look greasy, but it’s not nearly as bad as it was when I was using shampoo (and I’ve only been doing this 2 weeks!) I’ve read that a lot of people have to go through a transitioning period in which their hair looks greasy all of the time because it’s so used to producing all of that extra oil. Luckily, I haven’t experienced that (yet.) But, I have also read that if you want to extend the time between washes, you might need to deal with some greasiness at first. A lot of people have such success using this method that they’re able to wash only once or twice a week. I’m hoping to get to this point eventually, but for now I’m happy with my every-other-day routine.

After failing at my first attempt with ‘no poo’, I was hesitant to try it again…I actually waited two whole years! Now, I’m sold and have a feeling this will be my regular wash routine for a long time. I’m excited to see how it holds up. In the last couple of weeks, here are all of the ‘no poo’ benefits that I’ve discovered:

+ Great on the budget

+ Good for the environment (ingredients are non-toxic and I’m not regularly purchasing shampoo/conditioner which reduces waste from both product and packaging)

+ My hair feels lighter (maybe because all of the product build up is finally gone?)

+ My hair dries much faster

+ It seems that the extra scrubbing in the shower helps to get out all of those loose hairs that I’m losing post-pregnancy (seriously…sometimes it seems like fistfuls) – so it comes out in the shower rather than all over my house

Now…while this post seems very upbeat and it sounds like I’ve found the perfect method for washing my hair, I’m still not 100% convinced. I keep thinking that one of these days I’ll get out of the shower and that my hair will feel a mess.  It’ll be interesting to see what happens. I’ll be sure to update as the weeks go on.

My hair before attempting ‘No Poo’:

My hair the day after washing with an all natural, organic shampoo and conditioner (told ya it gets greasy fast):

Immediately following my first wash/rinse with baking soda and apple cider vinegar:

Two weeks of washing every other day (so 7 washes total) using baking soda and apple cider vinegar:

Are you an avid ‘no poo’er? Did you have a transition period? Am I being overly excited too soon? Should I expect things to go sour? Any tips for extending length between washings? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

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Corrie and I also mastered the ‘double foot lock’ on the silks! This is used when you’re up in the air…gets you in a good, locked position for doing tricks. We have to get one foot locked in from standing, but then we’re able to get the second locked in while hovering a couple of feet off the ground. Looks easy, but I swear it’s not! The first picture is me, and the second is Corrie. We were pretty proud of our little feat.

 

If you were anything like me as a child, you remember how easy it was to swing around on the monkey bars, do flips, and hang from your knees. Well, at 28 years old, it’s not quite so easy anymore. For me, at least. At my first aerial class, when our teacher showed us that we were going to work on ‘tucks’ with the trapeze – swinging our legs up so our feet touch the bar — I thought ‘oh that looks easy peasy’ in my head. I did that all the time as a kid.

Not so much. Not only was it NOT easy, but I wasn’t able to do it at all! Talk about discouraging. Some of the other first time students whipped their legs up to the bar like it was nothing. Well, this weekend I did it. And I even went into a straddle! It seriously felt amazing and my smile was beaming from ear to ear. Check out Corrie and I hitting the inverted straddle on the low-flying trapeze. You can see the teacher’s arms out as she’s saying ‘see, you just did it!’

I am realizing; however, that I really need to work on my body. Not only do I still have 7 pounds to lose to hit my pre-pregnancy weight, but I also have a personal goal of losing 10 more on top of that. Aerial is also showing me that I have zero upper body strength. It’s already gotten better, but I have a long way to go. I’m starting to do daily push-ups, and the husband and I are starting a yoga routine together. (Any podcast recs?)

I’ve got one more week of aerial classes in this series, and then I start a new 7 week series at a new studio the following week! Part of me feels like I’m cheating on the original studio, but this new place is a bit closer to home, and when you’ve got a small baby patiently waiting for you to return – the shorter the drive, the better.

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I see a naturopathic doctor as my primary care physician and when I was in her office last, she gave me a small mason jar filled with some dried elderberries. I hadn’t heard of the stuff, but she went on to tell me about how the berries work as a great natural immune booster – especially during cold and flu season.

Elderberries are rich in both vitamins A and C – both of which are essential for keeping your immune system nice and strong. Elderberries also contain bioflavonoids. [Bio-what?] Bioflavonoids give pigment to fruits, veggies, flowers, and herbs. They have anti-inflammatory, anti-viral, anti-allergic, and maybe even anti-cancer properties! So, the combination of this bioflavonoid goodness and vitamins A and C, makes elderberries an amazing all natural immune booster.

Elderberry syrup is made from dried elderberries, water, and honey. Be careful though – you don’t want to eat them dry or they may cause you to get nauseous.  You can buy elderberry syrup at your local health food store, or you can make it on your own! Googling will get you a variety of recipes. This is the one I chose to follow, and it turned out great.

What you need:

+ 1/2 cup dried elderberries – or one cup fresh (my naturopath recommended purchasing them here)

+ 2 cups water

+ 1 cup organic raw honey

+ fine mesh strainer

+ mason jar or other glass container for storing

What to do:

+ Mix elderberries and water in a sauce pot.

+ Bring the mixture to a boil and let simmer for 20 minutes, uncovered.

+ Pour juice through a mesh strainer into the container you want to use for storage. Use a spoon to press on the elderberries to get out as much juice as you can.

+ Add the honey and stir thoroughly.

+ Store your syrup in a glass container in the fridge.

That’s it! Honey is a natural preservative, so it will last in the fridge for at least a month. This recipe will probably last you a little over a month. I had a pretty nasty cold (so I was taking it 3-4 times/day for a couple of days) and it lasted me one month. I’ve actually got to make some more as we’re out of my original batch.

Ideally, you should take it regularly (one tablespoon/day) during the cold and flu season and should help keep any nasty viruses at bay. Children over the age of one may take one teaspoon daily. If you do end up getting a bug – take one tablespoon four times daily to help reduce symptoms and *hopefully* keep the virus from getting worse. Unfortunately, I didn’t know about this syrup until I already had a cold, so I don’t yet have experience using it as a cold and flu preventative…but I will say that it reduced my cold symptoms during the height of my cold — especially at night. Plus, it tastes amazing. Seriously. I can already see Monkey when he’s old enough to take it (no honey for babies!) – begging me for more. It’s really that good.

Oh! And if you don’t want to take it straight (although it’s so yummy,  I don’t see why you wouldn’t) – I’ve read that it’s great added to juice, water, or even a glass of wine! You could also mix it into your oatmeal, cream of wheat, or pour it on pancakes.

Do you have any other natural cold and flu prevention tips? I’d love to hear them!

Disclaimer: I am not a doctor, so please before making this or any other recipe recommended on this blog, seek the advice of your primary care physician first.

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We weren’t really going to get each other anything, so for my gift I tried to think up something cheap, but clever. I landed on the idea of making some rainbow rice crispy treats in the shape of a heart. I have seen so many rainbow food yums floating around on Pinterest and they always look so good; almost like works of art. I thought my idea was clever, and I knew Brian liked rice crispy treats, so how could I go wrong?

My finished product:

I was feeling pretty good about myself! Looked decent enough. It was very colorful…and the few bites I taste tested were rather satisfying if I do say so myself. But then I received the masterpiece that Brian had been slaving over out in the garage.

Wow. My jaw literally dropped! It was amazing. Now, I’ve also seen lots of crayon art floating around on Pinterest…but I hadn’t ever come across this particular design. It looks SO good. I love love love the couple under the umbrella, especially since we currently live in an area that gets way too much rain for my liking. This gift WAY out-did my dumb rice crispy treats, wouldn’t you say? Ironic, too, that we both chose to make something so colorful. I absolutely love it! Impressive, right? I’m so lucky to be married to such a wonderful guy.

And just because it’s too cute not to share, I snapped this picture of Monkey while he was napping in the Ergo carrier tonight. The Ergo has become our go-to carrier these days now that Monkey’s a bit bigger. Speaking of being big…today at music class (yes, I’m taking a music class with my 4 1/2 month old…more on that later) – trying to make small talk, the mom sitting next to us casually asked how old Monkey was. When I told her 4 1/2 months, she almost didn’t know what to say…but landed on ‘Wow, he’s a little on the big side then, huh’. Her baby is just about the same size as the Monkey, maybe a bit smaller even, and she is 8 1/2 months old. Yikes. Guess mama’s milk is doin’ the body good, huh?

All in all, it was a great Valentine’s Day. I sure do love my boys. How was yours?

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