Going Poo-less

So, to start, instead of going with what is impressing me just today, I am going back to what I have been doing that has been successful and try to add semi-daily thoughts.  Since I've been on an 'improve me' routine, I will start with my hair.  I have long, thick, curly hair that needs either constant taming or an 'au natural' approach.  Either way, my hair ends up dry like straw on the ends if I wash every day or starts to get greasy/itchy if I wait a day in between.  I also have an endless infatuation with everything natural and an inclination to rebel against everything imposed on me for commercial reasons.  Because of this, I found myself sifting through posts about going "poo-less" last October.  The articles I read went from water only techniques to only using conditioner.

I decided to try the combination of water and baking soda with an apple cider vinegar rinse.  To be honest, I wasn't sure just water would clean enough and I read enough about the benefits of cider vinegar on the hair to convince me to give it a go. I also read WAY too much about the dangers of the chemicals in average shampoo. Needless to say, since October, I have been using these mixtures daily or every other day.  The vinegar rinse happens when I feel like it and I've added cinnamon essential oil to it to leave my hair smelling wonderful.  NOTE: Do not use excessive cinnamon oil- it burns all the way down to the drain.  I revised those 10 drops to 3-5 drops in a 16 oz bottle; this worked with no pain, lol. The baking soda was about 1/2 inch or less at the bottom of a 16 oz bottle; shake each before each use. My hair has felt extremely clean, stayed cleaner longer, dandruff has reduced significantly, and my hair is much softer and healthier looking.

A positive and unexpected outcome from this is that my hair, which fell out by the clump fulls (20-30 hairs each pass through to squeeze out my hair) has gone down to about 5-8 total per shower.  If this wasn't enough, the hair (or lack thereof) at my temples has grown in and some on my hairline!  If you knew me, you'd know that I am a genius according to Renaissance measurements of intelligence, so any additional hair on my long forehead was welcome :)  I would love to hear if anyone has ideas why this occurred.

If you are leery about attempting this, be aware you will NOT get any sudsy action. This takes some getting used to, but remember to scrub your scalp anyway; circulation is a good thing. Also, any vinegar rinse will smell like salad until the hair dries some.  However, the smell does NOT stay and it is lessened by any essential oil, I just picked the strongest, most pleasant one I had. Would love to hear your experiences!

***UPDATE:  In regards to my hair growing back, I remembered why.  It was not the shampoo, or lack thereof... it was the fact I was taking shots of onion juice almost daily a few weeks prior to this when I was getting sick after reading about the wonders of it.  It is hard to get down, but it definately works with the bonus of groing hair back better.than the popular "R" product out there!