I stopped using shampoo a few months ago.  My whole goal was to cut back on my use of Sodium Laurel Sulfate and Sodium Laureth Sulfate.  So instead I’ve been using baking soda, water, and apple cider vinegar to wash and condition my hair.  The good news is that my head definitely feels less itchy.  I like that!  The fact that I actually took a good look in the mirror yesterday is what brought me to the bad news.  I have to be honest.  My hair looks like crap.  Well really, it’s not JUST my hair.  I look like crap.  So I oughtta do something about that.

I still want to keep using SLS and SLES free products but the baking soda just isn’t cutting it.  I find that my hair feels dry and is straight in some parts, wavy in others.  It also feels kinda weird, maybe it’s clean (it’s never smelled) but it just doesn’t feel as smooth and clean as it did when I was using shampoos.  I’ve also been losing a LOT of hair.  I know that’s normal post partum stuff but I thought that was supposed to take place between months 2-6.  My baby is 9 and a half months old (wait.  give me a minute to go and sulk about that.  I wish she would stay a newborn forever).  I don’t know if it’s because of my wash routine or not but I know that I have a lot of tangles that I didn’t have when I was using a normal conditioner.  It’s scary how much hair I lose between the shower, combing my hair, and putting up and taking down ponytails.  So I’m going back to using a Trader Joe’s product I had bought before I went cold turkey.  The conditioner I use doesn’t have any SLS or SLES so I can use that too.  While I finish up these bottles, I’ll do some research and see if I can learn more about the chemicals that ARE in these products and see what what else should be avoided.

I’m also pretty sure I’m going to chop my hair.  It’s really long and for a while I loved that.  But now it’s becoming a big, heavy, unattractive burden.  I just can’t think of anyone better than my favorite 90’s boy band Boyz II Men to represent this relationship I’ve been having with my hair, shampoos, baking soda and apple cider vinegar.  I love you Wanye.  And you tell it like it is, Mike!  Let’s take a minute and enjoy.

Man, talk about serious haircuts!  That was awesome.  I’m watching it again (and maybe one more time).  No joke, I know every word to this song.  Then I wonder why it seems my brain has no capacity to learn anything new.  It’s full of stuff like this.  B2M fo’ eva!