Truly All Natural Hair Care

No Harsh Chemicals and Cheap Too

Don't believe the hype - all natural hair care doesn't have to be expensive. In fact, it can be incredibly inexpensive. So ditch all those fancy, pricey, chemical-laden bottles and listen up.

I (Melissa) have a secret.

I haven't washed my hair with shampoo or conditioner since the Fall of 2009!

Yes, you heard me right. As of the time I'm writing this, it has been well over a year either substance has touched my hair.

Perhaps you think I've lost my mind. Perhaps you think my hair is oily enough to fix squeaky wheels.

Well, you'd be wrong.

My hair is soft, strong, silky, and shiny. In fact, it is the healthiest it has even been.

I was even able to trash my other hair care products (styling cream, hair spray, etc) because my hair is now naturally manageable. It has incredible body and style without all the effort I had to put in before.

I did have a bit of a rough transition phase, mainly because I have very HARD WATER and I didn't know what the heck I was doing. If I had to do it all over again, it would have gone smoothly. Let me share with you what I have learned.

But first things first.

Why ditch shampoo and turn to all natural hair care?

There are four reasons why I think shampoo does not belong in your hair care routine.

1. Most shampoos contain harmful chemicals.
   A lot of these chemicals are linked to serious health complications (see safe cosmetics for more information). Have you ever looked at the ingredient list on your favorite brand? There's a lot of scary stuff in there. You can look up the hazard score of your shampoo at Skin Deep.
2. Shampoos are a detergent and therefore quite harsh.
   They use the same ingredients as your laundry detergent or dish detergent. They strip the natural oils from your hair making your strands weak and brittle. Companies remedy this by adding polymers (a plastic material) and/or mineral oil (a petroleum byproduct) to their shampoo. These materials coat your hair strands to give the illusion of shine and strength.
3. Shampoo makes your hair greasier over time.
   Have you noticed that the more you wash your hair, the more you HAVE to wash your hair? This is because the harsh detergents strip your natural oils on your scalp and hair. Your body reacts to the onslaught by producing more oil. You react by washing your hair more often. You body reacts by producing even MORE oil. It turns into a vicious, greasy cycle.
4. Shampoo is completely unnecessary and a waste of money.
   People used to wash their hair with plain old soap (real soap, mind you, not detergent called soap). But the problem with soap is that it doesn't work that great in hard (mineral-rich) water. So shampoo was invented to remedy that problem. But it created the three problems above.

What's the solution?

Kick the shampoo habit and adopt a truly
all natural hair care routine.

You might very well have the ingredients I use already at home – baking soda and vinegar.

Some of you might know this as the no shampoo method. The rest of you might still think I'm crazy. But if what I said above speaks to you, give it a try.

Here are my recipes for baking soda shampoo and a vinegar hair rinse.

I probably have the "worst-case scenario" since I have very long hair and very HARD water. So if I can dump my shampoo and switch to all natural hair care, so can you.

Still, if you aren't ready to give up those suds, try these organic hair care products.