A little project.

Sometimes I make hand stamped jewelry as gifts. I'm no master by any stretch of the imagination, and until recently I've stuck to really simple initial jewelry, but it's a fun little crafty thing that I enjoy.

A couple of weeks ago a friend and lovely gal from my church recruited me to make a necklace for her mom for Mother's Day. I was thrilled, knowing her mom to be a really wonderful and fun lady. Plus, it was a lot of fun to get to do my best to make someone else's vision come to life.

Here's a quick shot of took of the finished product!

I think it turned out really nice and was so happy to hear that mom and daughter both liked it as well!

Three months free!

I started my "No 'Poo" journey at the beginning of February...and I will never go back.

I love not using shampoo. Love love love it.

My hair is soft and clean and healthy and free of frizz. And it's the most wonderful thing I've ever done. Here is a quick picture of my hair after a shower and partial blow dry because I'm lazy and my hair takes forever to dry (which is why the under part is flipping out like crazy).

A picture doesn't really do it justice so you're just going to have to trust me that it looks and feels great. Even better, so does David's! We lucked out and are able to use the same recipe for our "shampoo" and "conditioner" mixtures. 

Speaking of which...

I mentioned in my original post that the recipe is as follows:

1 TBSP Baking Soda to every CUP of water for the Shampoo

and

1/4 CUP Apple Cider Vinegar to every CUP of water for the Conditioner

That just didn't work well for me, so I did some tweaking! This is the recipe that works the best for my hair, using my "shampooing" method. 

Shampoo:

1-1/2 TBSP Baking Soda

1 CUP Water

1 tsp Tea Tree Oil 

Conditioner:

1/3 CUP Apple Cider Vinegar

1 CUP Water

This recipe works best for my thick, dense, drier-side-of-normal hair.  I also learned a few tricks that work best for me and my hair. 

• Invest in a good boar's hair brush and be sure to use it daily. It makes all the difference in my hair. If you have wavy/curly hair, however, I would only use it only right before your shower otherwise you're going to just get poof and no one wants that. 
• I don't use the Baking Soda mixture over my whole head, only at a few key locations: hair line, part, crown, nape. I rub it in until it feels slippery and then rinse well. 
• For the ACV rinse I first pour it on my ends, cupping them in my hands, then squirt some all over my hair, comb through and let it sit. I know a lot of people say only use it on your ends or use it very sparingly...but I found that it left my hair feeling waxy if I didn't use some over the length.
• I do not use very much of either mixture... I've never measured exactly how much I use, but David and I share two squirt bottles filled with approximately 2 cups of each mixture and it lasts us 1-2 weeks depending on our oily we get those days.
• I also use it cold...which I know some people hate, but it helps me to know where I have poured the mixtures. And it's not like it's icy cold. 

So...this has been a really great experiment so far. 

I have only two warnings for anyone wanting to try it. ONE...You are probably going to have to go through an adjustment period of tweaking and being generally more oily than you prefer; if you keep up with it and find your perfect recipe then you will likely move past that awkward stage. TWO...not for babies or some toddlers; both mixtures hurt when they get in your eyes, so I really wouldn't use it until your child is old enough to keep their eyes shut for a bit, and to properly tilt their head backward. (At this rate, S.G. is never going to get to use anything but all natural baby shampoos...that child does hate bath time...)

I started this all just to get away from unnecessary chemicals, but I've decided that it was worth it alone for the cost saved and how great my hair has been since I found my perfect recipe.