"No Poo" A Non-Toxic, DIY, Off the Grid Way to Stick it to the Man by not Using Commercial Cosmetics or Shampoo with Toxic Chemicals!

As soon as I heard of the "No Poo" system I knew it was for me.
Just use baking soda to wash and vinegar to condition. Simple. Perfect.
Four obvious reasons off the top of my head to go "No Poo"

• No bottles in the landfill
• No toxic ingredients down the drain and into the water
• No potentially hazardous substances rubbed into my body
• No money spent on "beauty" products that don't really have any effect other than making you buy more cosmetics.

I never had any reservations, I dove head first into No Poo. Pun intended. If I won't put it in my mouth, I don't want to put it on my skin, basically, and I don't want to put sodium laurel sulfate in my mouth or on my body.

I loved it the first time I tried it. My scalp felt clean, my hair was shiny and bouncy. Now, over a year later, the color is deeper, my hair is softer and my scalp itches less than it did when I used shampoo. My hair doesn't get any greasier than when I used shampoo and it looks, feels and smells clean, fresh and healthy with no perfume smell.

This system takes a little getting used to because it isn't the foaming or sudsing shampoo method that you are used to.

This is how I clean my hair.

1/2 cup of baking soda in a 12 oz jar.
Wet hair in the shower
Fill the baking soda jar about half full of water and dump it over head.
Work it in with fingers and let it set for a minute.
Rinse well.

This is how I condition

Method one.
1/2 cup Apple Cider Vinegar in 12 oz jar.
Mix with 2 cups of water and pour over hair.
You may add essential oils if you want it scented.
Let set for a minute
Rinse.
Repeat if necessary.

Method 2. I have thick curly hair. If your hair is thin this will make it oily looking, so be aware.
After baking soda cleansing, still in the shower, take a drop or two of jojoba, olive or coconut oil in the palm of your hand.
Work it into wet hair, starting at the ends.
Use more oil as necessary.
Rinse well with hot water
Comb through and rinse again.




















Do this daily for a week, then every other day, gradually weaning yourself down to 2 or three times a week or less and you will notice your hair getting less greasy between cleanings. As time goes on I find that I get away with just a warm water rinse more and more often. My hair doesn't feel dry or oily. Just clean, fresh and shiny. Honestly, I feel liberated, free and light, no longer a slave to the lies of the cosmetics industry. But the real question is:

Will you try it? Will you tell others?

Will you take the "No Poo" Challenge? Please, give me your opinion about this method and if you have tried it, chime in and tell your story. I will gladly link blogs. We really need to spread the word about No Poo, the system and the benefits. Just like with any change, people are frightened of the unknown, they don't know what would happen if they stopped using shampoo. Let the world know that shampoo is unnecessary and toxic, please tell your story.

Update, February 2010. Still no poo! I took some photos today so you can see my hair is still clean, soft and not stinky in any way since I quit using shampoo over a year ago.

I rarely use baking soda or oil on my hair anymore, just rinse it with warm water in the shower.

Terrible photos, i know. It's still hard to take photos of the back of my head, even with a camera that has a timer.

And now, without further ado, I present to you, My Scalp, circa Feb 2010.

Good Morning!

A blurry view of the lake...













And before you put that milk in your coffee...



















You can stop it. You don't have to wait. Go vegan now, Please? Small sacrifice for you, huge difference for them.

I found this through:

Animal Person

It comes from:

Peaceful Prairie

How I gave up Shampoo and Conditioner and finally started loving my Long, Curly Hair

I quit shampooing my hair. Really. I did. No shampoo, No poo, I threw away those bottles of conditioner and live off the grid (shampoowise, anyway) while growing healthy hair that doesn't have any chemical toxins in it. I stopped filling the landfill with plastic bottles and stopped pouring toxins down the drain and into oceans and streams.

Commercial shampoos and conditioners are expensive. They can cause irritation, dryness and allergic reactions in some cases.
They strip your hair and scalp of it's natural moisture and cause it to work overtime to make up for the lack of moisture, causing your hair to look and feel oily, causing you to wash it again.

End the vicious, damaging, polluting, harmful, toxic, cruel to animals, vivisection promoting cycle and stop using commercial shampoo and conditioner.

Your hair will be a greasy mess for approximately six weeks. Suck it up, sister and stop being so selfish. What is more important? That your hair look perfect all the time or those things I mentioned above?
Get over yourself and get over shampoo.

Photo of my hair, taken last week, by me.

















I haven't used any commercial shampoo or conditioner since August 2008. It's now November of 2008 and my hair is completely normal. It smells fresh, isn't dry and looks great. Not greasy or flaky. Just right.

I rinse it with warm water when I shower, every day, or every other day, giving my scalp a firm but gentle massage with my fingers and just comb it like normal and let it dry.
I gave up blow dryers years ago. Like 1986.

About once a month or so if it starts to feel a little greasy I make a solution of a quarter cup of baking soda (arm and hammer, baby, that stuff is da bomb) in a quart of warm water. Pour that on my head in the shower and massage it in. Rinse it out and all the grease is gone. some people find this drying so don't do it too often and play with the solution amounts to get it right for you.
Some people use Apple Cider Vinegar to condition, but I haven't found the need.


Here are some websites about it. Have fun researching!!

i have been quit smoking for 3 months today.

"Pizza is a trap. It tastes good and you eat it but then you are doomed forever." Toothpastefordinner.com If you want to feel better about your eating habits, read a few months of the archives of this guys webcomic.

The early years are better before he goes atkins and eats nothing but steak. Then he invents bacon flavored pork rinds and declares them the pinnacle of all food substances.

I go here and listen to the Grateful Dead all day:

http://www.archive.org/details/gd74-08-06.merin.weiner.gdADT.5914.sbefail.shnf

And those are my links for the day, you have been blogged on.

Healthy body, healthy mind? You betcha!

Happy Litha, Solstice, Midsummer, One Word

http://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/june-solstice.html

time and date dot com is a great website if you are interest in time or dates in any way. I personally like to know when the sun is rising and setting and what phase the moon is in so it's a handy site and it's always open in my browser.
If you click on the link above, scroll down the page and you can calculate how many days it is until a certain date, find when you are 1 billion seconds old, or create a calendar for any year!

Today is Midsummer, longest day of the year and the sun will enter the tropic of Cancer.

Today the days start getting shorter and the nights longer.



I stopped smoking on Tue, 20 May 2008 14:30:00 GMT.
It has been 4 weeks, 2 days, 22 hours, 37 minutes and 40 seconds since I quit.
I have saved $139.24 by choosing not to smoke 618 cigarettes.
More importantly, I saved 0 weeks, 4 days 17 hours 27 minutes of my life!

YOU CAN ONLY TYPE ONE WORD!
Not as easy as you might think. It's really hard to only use one word answers.

1. Where is your cell phone? there

2. Your significant other? home

3. Your hair? grows

4. Your mother? absentia

5. Your father? unknown

6. Your favorite thing? shiny

7. Your dream last night? thirsty

8. Your favorite drink? tea

9. Your dream/goal? breathe

10. The room you're in? single

11. Your hobby? struggling

12. Your fear? lonely

13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Erik

14. Where were you last night? asleep

15. What you're not? hungry

16. Muffins? no

17. One wish list item? healthy

18. Where you grew up? damp

19. The last thing you did? pee

20. What are you wearing? jammies

21. Your TV? off

22. Your pets? electronic

23. Your computer? toshiba

24. Your life? beginning

25. Your mood? saddish

26. Missing someone? yes

27. Your car? none

28. Something you're not wearing? catheter

29. Favorite store? none

30. Your summer? broken

31. Like someone? yes

32. Your favorite color? rainbow

33. When is the last time you laughed? earlier

34. Last time you cried? ditto

On this day in History

68-
Roman Emperor Nero committed suicide after he was deposed by the Senate.

Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (December 15, 37 – June 9, 68), born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, also called Nero Claudius Caesar Germanicus, was the fifth and last Roman Emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Nero was adopted by his great uncle Claudius to become heir to the throne. As Nero Claudius Caesar, he succeeded to the throne on October 13, 54, following Claudius' death.

Nero ruled from 54 to 68, focusing much of his attention on diplomacy, trade, and increasing the cultural capital of the empire. He ordered the building of theatres and promoted athletic games. His reign included a successful war and negotiated peace with the Parthian Empire (58–63), the suppression of the British revolt (60–61) and improving relations with Greece. In 68 a military coup drove Nero into hiding. Facing execution, he reportedly committed forced suicide.

Nero's rule is often associated with tyranny and extravagance. He is known for a number of executions, including his mother and adoptive brother, as the emperor who "fiddled while Rome burned" and an early persecutor of Christians. This view is based upon the main surviving sources for Nero's reign—Tacitus, Suetonius and Cassius Dio. Few surviving sources paint Nero in a favorable light. Some sources, though, portray him as an emperor who was popular with the Roman people, especially in the East.

The study of Nero is problematic as some modern historians question the reliability of ancient sources when reporting on Nero's alleged tyrannical acts. It may be impossible to separate fact completely from fiction concerning Nero's reign.

3 weeks, no smoking. go me.

still no cravings, just longings

I look at this page constantly.
It asks if i want to add it to igoogle but when I add it, it has some error, not working.
I'm too lazy to ask about it.
maybe someone else will and it will get fixed while I'm not looking at it one day.
Maybe it's so old no one is looking at it anymore.

It's still ticking in the online version, you just have to plug your numbers in every time you load it, no cookie, bad monster!

Quitting

Someone said "It's like some kind of cosmic chair has been pulled out from under me"
That is what it feels like.
Imagine a room where there used to be a table and you set every thing on that table, without even thinking about it. Now the table is gone. You keep trying to set something there, like waiting for the bus or sitting watching television, but the table is gone so you just have to hold them
Then you try to sit on the cosmic chair, but it's been pulled out.

Blah. I still feel like I'm just kind of hanging there.

Shells and Cheese with Peas

RECIPE ALERT!!!

Shells and Peas with Cheese!

1 pack of shells and cheese, your choice. I like Annie's white cheddar
A can of peas (you don't have to use them all. I like to)
Broccoli
Mushrooms
Plain yogurt.
cook the shells, drain, put back in the pan on low heat.
add RAW, CHOPPED broccoli and mushrooms and as little or as much peas as you like.
Stir it up and let the mushys and the broc get hot and start to get wilty.
Add a half a cup of plain yogurt and the cheese powder packet.
stir, garnish with more plain yogurt and enjoy.
If you are a wuss and can't eat raw mushys and broc, you could saute them before but it won't taste as FRESH!!!

I usually get three meals out of this one. Dinner, late snack and tomorrows lunch.
woo hoo.

Each of the peas finds it's way into a shell and they are soo cute.

#####

I stopped smoking on Tue, 20 May 2008 5:30:00 AM.
It has been 0 weeks, 2 days, 14 hours, 23 minutes and 27 seconds since I quit.
I have saved $11.7 by choosing not to smoke 51 cigarettes.
More importantly, I saved 0 weeks, 0 days 9 hours 31 minutes of my life!

As of 6:53 pm, that is now.

You, see, I didn't quit, per se. I am conducting an experiment is all.

I have had two packs of cigs here in the drawer, they were really no temptation to me.
Today I took them back to the store and traded them for a box of cereal and a pint of milk.
There is still an almost full open pack over there stashed but I really haven't quit, so it's ok.

So far, no withdrawals and no serious cravings.
Tomorrow when I wake up it will be 72 hours.
E will be gone this weekend and I will be alone.

#####

I am in charge of designing the new photo room for the store. Where items will be staged and photographed. I have an empty room and just need to make it a studio. woo. hoo.

I spent $677.08 at a store fixture and display store:
two manikins, a bunch of small props, arm, hand, head, ear, shoe risers, etc and a rolling rack with metal grid that will act as a frame to hang backgrounds on or just to hook things on for grouping photo, etc.


There was a cabinet there but it was $400 so i held off on it and as soon as we got back they had found exactly what i needed in donations, so that worked out brilliantly.

Everything is being delivered tomorrow in the am. I am so excited.