101 in 1001: All-natural baking soda shampoo and apple cider vinegar conditioner

No-poo! What a horrible term for a great thing. I'd been wanting to try doing the no-shampoo/conditioner thing for a while, ever since a few of my friends converted, but honestly was just too scared to deal with the transition period that's supposed to happen. But I finally did it, and I love it! I'm not going back anytime soon. My hair looks and feels great, and it's super cheap. At this point, I've been no-poo for I think about a month straight, and before that, I was using shampoo only about once a week since probably sometime in February. Here are some tips and tricks that I've figured out, for anyone that's interested.

Transitioning to no shampoo: 

Before I went no-poo (did I mention I hate this term), I switched to an all-natural shampoo with no lathering agent (I was using a Nature's Gate product, but there are plenty of alternatives). And even before that, when I was still using regular shampoo, I was only watching my hair every other day. Then I started adding in an apple cider vinegar rise about once or twice a week, and that was a big part of what convinced me to make the switch. I was using about 1/4 C apple cider vinegar (ACV) to about 3/4 C water, and it made my hair so soft, shiny, and bouncy! Even if you aren't into no-poo (who would be with that name), try the ACV rinse.
Anyways, once I was using natural shampoo and ACV, I figured trying the baking soda shampoo couldn't hurt--after all, you can always start to use regular shampoo if you don't like it, and baking soda is so cheap there's not a lot to lose. I initially was using regular shampoo about once a week if I felt my hair was too dirty or if I used a lot of product in my hair, but at this point I'm all no-poo all the time!
There definitely was a bit of a transition period but I'd recommend keeping a natural shampoo or shampoo bar (I like the Burt's Bees) on hand just in case. Baking soda also makes a great dry shampoo, and I've also been using Batiste dry shampoo, which really works (unlike a lot of other ones I've tried), smells great, and washes out fine with baking soda. Also, brush your hair! I tend to wet down my hair every day in the shower even if I don't wash it. Keep with it for about 2 weeks and you should see your hair adjusting.

Recipes and tips for use

My shampoo recipe is pretty much the basic one floating around on the internet--about one part baking soda to three parts water. I also add a few drops or shakes of Dr. Bronner's Castile Soap, which helps it later a tiny bit and smells good. I put this in an old Dr. Bronner's bottle, which is basically like a regular shampoo bottle--screw on lid with a flip top and little hole. This is important, because you need a wide-ish mouth to get the baking soda in, but then a narrow opening because the shampoo is basically the thickness of water. I'd recommend an old shampoo, conditioner, body wash, or other bottle with a screw on lid. I think a water bottle with the pop-up top, the standard kind with the little thing you can bite open, would work too. I mix about 3 washes worth a few times a week.
In the shower, I just wet my hair, shake the bottle, and pour it on my head. I start on one side above my ear and move around, then do the crown/back of my head. My hair is really short, so distributing it isn't a big deal for me, but friends with longer hair suggest sectioning your hair sort of how they would if you were getting a haircut, and then doing each section. Leave this mixture on for about a minute and rinse.
For ACV conditioner, I use about 1/4 C of ACV with 3/4 C water. I don't mix this ahead of time, just pour some vinegar in a Solo cup before I shower and fill it up with water right before I dump it on my head. Simple! Using a Solo cup (or the same cup every time) also helps with measuring. Leave this one for about 3-5 minutes, as long as you would leave conditioner on, then rinse.

But won't my hair smell weird?

Nope! I've found that sometimes when I wet my hair down again, it smells faintly of vinegar, but there's no bad smell at all. If you're really concerned, you can really use some dry shampoo or perfume.

Why should I bother with this?

So many reasons! First, my hair really is softer and more under control. I get tons of compliments on it. On top of that, this might be a tiny bit more work than just buying your shampoo from the store (really, it's 30 seconds more work), but it's much cheaper. You'll never have to worry about needing 'your brand'--you can always find baking soda and ACV. Also, it's better for your hair to have a little bit more of it's natural oils in it--that's what helps to make it so soft and flyaway-free. And there's all kinds of nasty chemicals in traditional shampoos and conditioners--they're made to strip your hair of it's oil so it feels good for about a day but then you need to wash it again, conveniently using even more shampoo and conditioner. Those chemicals and plastic bottles also aren't great for the environment. I also find myself using less product in my hair (again, cheaper!), which I'll talk more about later. Something that I've noticed personally is that my scalp isn't as itchy--I used to use an anti-dandruff shampoo a few days a week because my scalp would get dry, itchy, and sort of flaky, but I've had absolutely no problems with any of this.
So in short: your hair will look/feel better, it's cheaper, easy to do, safer, more environmentally friendly, no need to use 900 products, no more itchy dandruff scalp.

But the breaking-in period is supposed to be 3 weeks! I can't go three weeks with dirty hair!!

Oh, yes you can. If I did it, anyone can do it. It's really not that bad, just get yourself some dry shampoo and suck it up.

Pictures or it didn't happen!

Just to prove that you won't be a grease ball, here are some pictures of me before and after no-poo.

Here are some pictures of me before going no-poo:

Me on the left (and my friend Maggie)

 

Right after getting my hair cut.

I think you can see how my hair looks kind of dry, and there are definitely flyaways.

Now, after no-poo for several weeks!

This day, I washed my hair in the morning.

Me (and Maggie again) on a dry-shampoo day.

I think you can tell that 1) my hair is really not a greasy mess, 2) it actually looks shiny and healthy, with no flyaways, 3) I think that the texture looks better--almost like I have product in it (I don't). This has cut down on the amount of product I use, because I don't need a smoothing serum and a texturing cream and hairspray--now I just use a little bit of heat protector before I blow dry.

I really prefer the way my hair looks and feels when I'm using baking soda shampoo and ACV. It's definitely cheaper too! Overall, I'm really glad I did it, and especially glad that I stuck with it for long enough to see the results. If you're inspired to go no-poo after this (or maybe to come up with a better term for no-poo), I'd love to know what you think!

101 in 1001: 2014 Update

Well, 2014 has slipped away from me as far as posting, clearly. The good news is that I have indeed been working on my 101 in 1001! So, without any further to-do:

#7 (Fitness): Be able to do a headstand in yoga

I've worked on doing this in yoga classes before and have never quite been able to get all the way up, but a few months ago (I think sometime in January) I was feeling kind of strong and decided to give it a go, and what do you know, I can do it! I can't hold it for too long and I still need to be against a wall to kick up, but once I'm there, I can move my legs away for a few seconds even! I definitely want to try working up to handstands now. Inversions like headstand are great when you just sort of need a change of perspective. And now that I know I can do it, I do them everywhere.

 Including the library.

#8 (Travel): Visit a new art museum

After three and a half years of being at school in the Columbus area, I finally made it to the Columbus Museum of Art! I was there with a group from school to see a specific exhibit, so I didn't get to see the whole museum, but the exhibit was great and I did get to see some of the other things in the museum, including this series by a photographer who takes photos of lakes in the West and then soaks the photos in water from the lakes. So yes, all this discoloration is just from water. Cool, huh? Don't I look artsy?

 #1 (Education/school/career): Work on my resume

I don't really have a picture of this but I have been working on my resume! I even visited my school's career services office, and they were definitely helpful. I applied for one job recently and am applying for another one, and they're both pretty different, so I had to move some things around for each application.

So that's three more off my list--five down, 96 to go!

101 in 1001: Got my hair did

Well, I did it!  I chopped off all my hair!!  Cross that off my 101 in 1001!

I've been wanting to get a pixie cut for probably like two years, and I LOVE it.  I can't believe I waited so long.  At the same time though, I know why it took me as long as it did--I think a few years ago, I would never have been confident enough to pull this off, and I was convinced that femininity meant hair.  No more!  And let me tell you, it was so worth it--it takes about 30 seconds to wash, another 30 to style.  Bam.  Done.  And I can play with it still!  Look for upcoming fauxhawk selfies, I'm sure it's bound to happen.  If you're toying with going for a pixie, DO IT!  That's about all I have to say for now, time to go play with my new hair!

Lazy Sunday: Update

....because I'm sure you were dying for an update.  But, very good news, we ended up at Barnes and Noble, and they're currently playing Paul Simon's Graceland album.  I'm a happy girl.

Lazy Sunday

Well, actually not that lazy.  I'm wrapping up a paper right now (12 pages on political theory..oof.), one of two that needs to get done before next semester starts.  A bit later, a friend and I are going to post up at Starbucks for a few hours...for some more work.  I have a resume to update, books to sell, other books to buy, sorority stuff to do...tell me again how winter break is supposed to be a break?

But on the bright side, the album I'm listening to on repeat while I do all of the above--how did it take me so long to find out about these guys??

101 in 1001: Books I've Read

Another 101 in 1001 goal that I set for myself was to keep a list of all the books I read.  So I'm starting that now!  Again, I know I'm cheating, because I said I wouldn't start until 2014, but I just finished a really good book, and I wanted to get started.  So here, I'll be keeping track of all the books I read over the course of my next 1001 days in chronological order.  I'm mostly putting down things I read for fun, but I'll include some of the things I read for classes if I like them particularly. Feel free to join me if you'd like--make your own list, and keep checking back here for new reads!

1. The Autograph Man by Zadie Smith: so good!  I loved Smith's other books and had heard not so great things about this one, but I really enjoyed it.  Standard witty Smith sense of humor, believable characters, and questions about modernity.
2. The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides: working on this one now! Finished! I didn't like this as much as I liked his other two books, but it was still good. It's gotten a number of negative reviews that I don't think it deserves. In the same way that Middlesex is sort of an American epic, he does some interesting things at sort of a meta level in this book too.
3. If on a winter's night a traveler by Italo Calvino: I read this for a class, and it is great; it plays with narrative and form and reading itself. So fun to read, quick, witty. I don't want to give too much away, and I don't know that I'd recommend it to everyone--it might not be what most people would consider a beach read, but if you're into literature, hit me up because you need to read this.
4. Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov: The bad is that this made me feel like I was losing it, the same way that reading Beckett's Molloy did. But the good is that it's interesting, my first Nabokov, and apparently has a huge cult following (I swear, Google it, people are like divided into camps about the main character).
5. Double Down by Mark Halpernin & John Heilemann: working on this one too, by the authors of Game Change, about the 2012 US Presidential Election race.  So far just as good as the last!

101 in 1001: Already Accomplished

I know that I said my start date for my 101 in 1001 was going to be January 1, 2014, but I'm cheating and starting early--I can't help it, I'm too excited!  This was the first thing in my Personal & Fun section, and I really enjoyed doing it.  It was a good way to think about how far I've come and how much I've already accomplished, especially as I'm starting this huge new list of goals.  So, in no particular order, here are a bunch of things that I've already done with my life!