DIY Dry Shampoo

Back in April I tried a few DIY dry shampoo's that didn't work very well.  When I was researching that project I came across a wet, dry shampoo.  How could a dry shampoo that is liquid help?  I had to try it.  

Homemade Dry Shampoo
 You Will Need:

1 tbsp of cornstarch

4 tbsp of water

1 tbsp of rubbing alcohol 

 

Directions:

Mix all the ingredients together then pour into a spray bottle.  Spray on your scalp, in your hair and anywhere the your hair needs to be de-greased. You do not need to drench your scalp, just dampen it up.  Run a comb or your fingers through your hair to distribute it evenly.  Let it air dry or quickly blast your scalp with a hair dryer.

 

I mixed it all up, and decided right then and there that this wasn't going to end well.  How was spraying this white liquid onto my hair going to be a good thing?

 I sprayed it onto my roots and immediately noticed the white flecks.... yep, not going to end well. 

 I combed it through then used a blow dryer to quickly dry my hair.

The Verdict: I love it when my DIY projects prove me wrong and turn out to be a good thing.

Before, complete with gray hair!

After, doing my best to hide the gray hairs

My hair wasn't fresh out of the shower clean, but it was pretty close. I was able to style it like normal and my hair looked great the rest of the day. 

 Because of the alcohol, my hair was noticeably drier.  If your hair isn't a fan of alcohol then this might not be a good idea for you.  Fortunately my hair can bounce back from any beating I give it and it felt normal by the next morning.

The spray did leave little white specks all over my skin,  but it wiped right off with a damp cloth.

I wouldn't use this all the time because of the alcohol in it, but I've used a few times in the last several months and have been very pleased with it each time.  It's a great "Oh crap, I'm suppose to be out the door in 10 minutes and I'm still in my yoga pants" solution.

Going 'Poo Free Take 2

Back in July I attempted to go 'poo free. After 2 1/2 weeks I couldn't handle it anymore (for many reasons) and stopped the experiment. 

After I shared that blog post, a friend of mine pointed out that I didn't give the baking soda shampoo a fair chance because I used regular conditioner instead of apple cider vinegar.

He said:
"you may need to use the vinegar to help remove the baking soda from your hair. The reaction that occurs between baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) and vinegar (acetic acid) is a decomposition reaction which results in carbon dioxide and water as well as a diluted solution of a salt known as sodium acetate. If you are willing to try this again I highly recommend the use of vinegar to help clear the baking soda from your hair"

My response:
"The last time I used vinegar on a regular basis it made my hair fall out. So I'm not willing to try it again. But I do agree with you, I'm sure using the vinegar would make a big difference."

Apparently my friend used some sort of Jedi Mind Trick on me because he eventually convinced me to try it again, with the understating that if my hair fell out again he would be getting hate mail.  

So my plan was to use the same baking soda recipe, then follow it with a apple cider vinegar rinse. 

Apple Cider Vinegar Rinse
You Will Need:
1 Tablespoon Apple cider vinegar
1 Cup water

Directions:
Mix the two ingredients together then pour a little on just the ends of your hair, let it rest for a few seconds, then rinse it out.

I was hopeful that since I was just pouring the apple cider vinegar on the ends of my hair and not scrubbing it into my scalp that my hair would stay in place this time.  

The Verdict: First of all MY HAIR DIDN'T FALL OUT!!!!! That is always a good sign.  The last time I tried this I had many complaints so I will address them again and give my new opinion for each one:

1) It didn't get all my products out of my hair.  This time I didn't use any products and I didn't need them, my hair didn't frizz at all.  The problem is I don't know if that's because of the vinegar rinse or because I did this 2 months later and the humidity wasn't as problematic. 

 2) My roots felt pretty clean, and they never did get extra oily but the rest of my hair felt dirty.  It felt like I had grabbed a hand full of sand, rubbed it all over my hair and went on with my day My hair still did have a bit of a dirty feeling to it, but it was very minimal this time.  When my hair was wet it was a bit harder to manage and blow drying it was a bit frustrating sometimes since the round brush would get stuck in my hair, but once my hair dried it was fairly soft and easy to do. 

3) Because it was basically water, it was not easy trying to massage it into my scalp, especially around the base of my neck.  I would try to flip my head over so gravity would help but then the baking soda water would run up my nose or into my eyes. It took time, but eventually I got the hang of it and was able to massage the baking soda into my scalp with no problem, and even though it was basically water, I could tell where I had massed the mixture into my scalp and where I had missed. The vinegar was really easy to use.  I just poured some right onto the ends of my hair, massaged it in then rinsed it out and my hair NEVER smelled like vinegar after. 

4) Even with using regular conditioner my hair started to dry out and break very easily, especially when blow drying it.  My hair did dry out, but not nearly as bad as last time.  It could also be that my hair was 'normal' and I'm just to use to overly moisturized hair. 

5) I got some awesome static cling. My hair never got static cling, again this could be due to the change in the weather, but it was nice to not have hair stuck to my face all day. 

Overall Verdict:  The apple cider vinegar definitely made a difference.  Personally I don't plan on using it anymore, but that's because of the length and thickness of my hair, I want the extra softness and moisture that comes from regular shampoo and conditioner.  If I had a shorter hair cut that was easier to manage I would definitely switch and go 'poo free.

So thank you Obi Wan Kenobi for using your mind tricks and getting me to try this one again.  You no longer have to worry about an angry skunk showing up in your mailbox
 

Dish Sponge Curlers

Apparently my hair is freakishly thick.  One time I went to a new hair salon and the girl was so blown away by how much hair I had that she invited all the other stylists to come feel my hair.  "Yeah sure come on over and stroke my hair, that isn't awkward at all"

Because of this I don't curl my hair, it takes to long.  The last time I curled my hair was my senior prom and it took me 3 hours.

I tell you this so you can take my verdict with a grain  pinch handful of salt.  I have no idea how to curl hair.  All those tutorials on Pinterest I see about getting tousled wavy hair are comparative to learning how to speak Mandarin Chinese, in my opinion. 

Buuuuuut I was getting tired of the DIY projects I was doing.  I wanted something different, even if it wasn't practical for me.

Heat Free Rollers With Dish Sponges
You Will Need:
Dish sponges
buttons
elastic
hot glue gun

Directions:
There is no way I will be able to type up directions and have them make sense.  So if you decide to do this then I suggest clicking on the link and it will take you to a video tutorial. 

It took a bit of time to put them all together and I may or may not have glued myself to one of them.  But it was pretty easy and they seem pretty sturdy.  I didn't have enough elastic so some of them I ended up using yarn.
 

 I got my hair pretty damp then took the tampons curlers and rolled them into my hair. 

Once I got all the curlers in I decided to have a little photo shoot since I was looking so good.

In the middle of my photo shoot my 2 year old walked in, gave me a puzzled look then said "mommy, your hair has owies."

 Not only is my hair really thick, but it likes water and takes a really long time to dry. I was hoping the sponges would soak up some of the water to speed up the process, and I even used my blow dryer, but 2 hours later my hair was still mostly wet.  I ran out of patients and took the curlers out to see how it looked.

The Verdict: I was sooo glamorous and ready for a night out on the town.

 I wore a hat that day, then that night I decided to try a few on the top of my head and sleep with them in and hope my hair would actually be dry by morning.

As I was putting the curlers in my husband walked in, raised one eyebrow, took a photo of me and walked away with out saying anything. Apparently my family doesn't approve of me using curlers.

The Verdict: It was sloppy looking but I ended up with some pretty good curls. The curlers weren't that bad to sleep on either.  My hair got a good tug a few times during the night but they were still pretty comfortable to sleep on.

 A few of them became permanently kinked, but I think It would still work just fine. 

 The ones with the yarn were a lot more frustrating to use then the ones with elastic.  They didn't hold as well and it was hard to get the button into the loop.  Speaking of the loops, make sure you make them big enough so your button will go in easily.  

Going 'poo Free

Back in January I tested some homemade deodorant. When I clicked on the Pin to get more information about making the deodorant I was taken to a website about going shampoo free.  The website has 3 main reasons for going 'poo free and I was intrigued by them.  So eventually I tried it out.

Shampoo Free
You Will Need:
1 Tbsp Baking Soda
1 Cup Water

Directions:
Mix ingredients together and pour into a squeeze bottle. In the shower, soak your hair with water, then squeeze a bit of the baking soda mixture on your scalp, starting at the crown. Massage it in as you go, squeezing a bit more here and there, concentrating mostly on the scalp. You can include your hair as well, but since most of the oils originate from the scalp itself, the hair will naturally get cleaned once the scalp is clarified. After a few minutes, rinse it out. Those with curly or thicker hair might need a bit more baking soda, and those with thin or fine hair might need less. Experiment, and see what works for you.

The original poster talks about how she uses apple cider vinegar as a conditioner.  Wanting to keep my hair on my head, I refused to do this and decided to continue using my regular conditioner.

She also says that their could be a transition period where your hair produces excess oil.  This transition period could last a few weeks or a few months.

After reading all this information here was my plan;
-even though my hair is really thick, I was going to stick with the original recipe
-since I refuse to use the apple cider vinegar, I would continue to use my regular conditioner but try to use the bare minimum
-I wanted to at least try it through the transition period so I could see how well it worked once my hair got use it.

I do have to confess, I cheated the first week.  I had a hair appointment I had forgotten about so I washed my hair with regular shampoo the day before.  I didn't want to get this reaction from the beautician




The Verdict: I only made it 2 1/2 weeks until I couldn't stand it anymore and gave up.
Oh how I hated it!  Let me count the ways;
1) It didn't get all my products out of my hair.  The original poster said that she no longer needs any hair products but if I don't use some sort of frizz control spray, I will look like this

 2) My roots felt pretty clean, and they never did get extra oily but the rest of my hair felt dirty.  It felt like I had grabbed a hand full of sand, rubbed it all over my hair and went on with my day

3) Because it was basically water, it was not easy trying to massage it into my scalp, especially around the base of my neck.  I would try to flip my head over so gravity would help but then the baking soda water would run up my nose or into my eyes.

4) Even with using regular conditioner my hair started to dry out and break very easily, especially when blow drying it.

5) I got some awesome static cling.

Maybe this was all part of the transition period and I gave up to soon, but I just couldn't endure one more day of dirty gnarled hair sticking to my face.

Coconut Oil Moisture Treatment

Ok folks, I am doing another short and sweet post today.  I have a two year old on my lap that refuses to leave my side today and a 4 year old that wants me to see every new addition he adds to his Lego house and I'm not feeling to hot. So here we go

Coconut Oil Moisture Treatment 
You Will Need:
Coconut oil
Hair clip
Shower clip
Blow dryer (optional)

Directions:
Flip your head upside down and rub the oil into your hair, saturating it completely. Once your hair is soaked with oil, twist your hair into a bun or ponytail. You can clip it in place by grabbing some hair from your scalp and part of the bun, or use a hair tie to keep it in place.  Cover your hair with a shower cap. You can choose to apply heat or not. Applying heat will open the cuticle of each strand so the coconut oil can penetrate the core faster. Leave the coconut oil on your hair for at least 30 minutes without heat, or 15 minutes with heat. You can use a hair dryer to apply heat over the shower cap.  Once your time is up wash and condition your hair as you normally would. You may need to wash your hair twice to rinse away all of the oil.

 Even though my hair is short, it's abnormally thick so I ended up using twice this amount.

 I rubbed it in all over until my hair was one big grease ball. Several drops escaped and fell so you might want to do this over a bathtub or towel.

 I pulled it up into a bun, threw on a shower cap and went about my business.  I left it on for 45 min while my son and I had a rip roaring good time playing Chutes and Ladders. 

 The Verdict: I washed my hair twice then styled it like usual.  I was amazed at how soft it was.  I couldn't keep my hands away from my hair.  BUT, it wasn't a "wow my hair is so healthy" kind of soft, it was more of a "I have coconut oil residue in my hair" soft.  When I washed my hair again it felt the same as it always does. 

So even though my hair felt great, I would say this is a bust since the softness only lasted through one wash.  Although, I may try it again and use the blow dryer next time.  Using heat could make a big difference.

Dry Shampoo or Halloween Makeup?

Personally I have never understood the purpose of dry shampoo.  I figure if my hair looks like it needs a cleaning, then I should clean it...... or put a hat on. Even on those days when I've hit the snooze button to many times and my hair looks like it's been dunked in oil, I will still wash it, give it a quick blow then put it up in a pony tail.

I did try a store bought dry shampoo once, but it didn't seem to do anything.  When I saw a Pin about making your own homemade dry shampoo I decided what the heck, I'll give it a try. There have been a few times were it would have been nice to just slap something in my hair and run out the door.

Homemade Dry Shampoo
Choose one or combine them if you’re feeling frisky:
Cornstarch
Cornmeal
Baking Soda
Ground Oats

For one application, you need only use a tablespoon or two. Take the powdery substance of choice and apply it to your hair roots. Scrub it in with the tips of your fingers, and run your fingers through the length of your hair. With a fine-bristled brush, briskly brush the powder out of your hair

I didn't have any cornmeal, so on two separate occasions I decided to try the cornstarch, baking soda and ground oats.

My hair can go about 2 days without washing it. On the third day it always looks nice and shiny and in desperate need of a shampoo.  So I picked one of those mornings to try out the baking soda and corn starch.

Baking Soda Verdict: My camera didn't go a good job of emphasizing the greasiness of my hair, but if you look closely on the left picture you can see the shine by my ear.  Because I was doing this on one section of my hair, I used 1/2 Tbsp.  I rubbed it into my roots, shook my hair, brushed my hair and was left with hair that looked like I had put baking soda in it.  My roots were several shades lighter then the rest of my hair.  I let it sit for an hour and kept playing with my hair and brushing it but it still looked pretty gross.

Cornstarch Verdict: This one was my favorite.  Not because it worked well, but because it was so bad. After rubbing in 1/2 Tbsp of cornstarch I looked in the mirror and had a good laugh.  My DIY dry shampoo turned into a DIY powdered wig.


















After an hour of flipping, shaking, brushing and combing, my hair looked a lot better then it was, but it was still pretty bad looking.  I had streaks of white and a lot of little flakes. 

Ground Oatmeal Verdict:I put the oats into the blender on high until I had a fine powder then rubbed it into my roots.  The only thing the oats did was leave little flakes in my hair that kept showing up for several hours.  My hair was just as greasy as it was before. 

Overall Verdict: Even though these failed miserably, I now have a method to create my own powered wig , give myself a lovely dandruff look and I now know what I will look like with gray hair..... it's not pretty.

A Quick Definition Of Essential Oils

Do you know what would be really awesome?!?!?!  If I spent 2 hours typing a blog post that I was really proud of, came back to edit it and just when I was about to hit post somehow the whole thing got deleted!

GRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGG!

To add insult to injury, blogger decided to do it's auto save right at the same time.  So I lost it all. The whole blog post gone *poof* 



So, instead of re-typing my entire post  I'm going to change gears and give you all a quick tutorial about essential oils. They are used in so many homemade products that I guess now would be a good time to give a quick run-down for anyone who may still be in the dark about what the fuss is all about.

An essential oil is the natural oil that is extracted from a plant. There are many, many oils and countless ways to use them, but mostly they are used for medicinal purposes, or for making your own products. 

Of course their are pro and con arguments for essential oils, but the basic argument is that oils are natural, so they are much healthier for you and there are no side effects like medicine or cleaning products can have. 

While you can buy essential oils in most health food stores, doTERRA is usually the most popular place to buy oils.  Young Living is another popular place to get essential oils. 

Personally, I think of myself as a low end oil user. My knowledge is pretty basic.  I have about 5 different oils that I use, but not on a regular basis.  Except for my melaluca (or tea tree oil) I use that stuff by the gallon and it is in a lot of my homemade cleaning products.

If you want to learn more about them then Camp Wander is a great blog to start with.  Or you can check out this facebook page about using doTERRA products.

So there you go, you can now jump into an essential oil conversation and pretend you know what people are talking about.  

Wax On, Yank Off

I have three sisters.  You have met my oldest sister through her homemade cough syrup, and you have met my youngest sister through her amazing ability to pull hideous faces, but today I am going to introduce you to the second oldest.  Lets call her Andromeda because she took on the 'beautiful princess' roll in our family.

Andromeda is a fashionista.  She is the type of person that can walk into a Good Will store with $5 and come out looking runway ready.

Now, imagine this type of fashion sense in a teenage girl.  Looking good was her top priority back then and as much as I love her , I would have gladly sacrificed her to the Kraken when we were teenagers.   I'm sure the feeling was mutual since she was stuck with a fashion disaster as a sister.  I was a late bloomer..... a really late bloomer. I didn't care how I looked for a good chunk of my teenage years.  Andromeda once told me that my wardrobe looked like it came from a truck stop gas station. It was a pretty accurate description.

Being seen in public with me was very hard on Andromeda and she did everything she could to try and help me out.  She tried gifts, bribes, embarrassment, anything.  One year for Christmas she gave me an eyebrow waxing kit and I immediately put it in the back of my closet.

Several years later, when I actually started to care about my appearance, I found that waxing kit and decided to give it a try.  The instructions were long gone but I figured I could wing it.  How hard could it be to melt the wax, put it on my eyebrows and pull......

The results were about what you would think, horribly uneven eyebrows covered in 1st degree burns. Needless to say I have avoided waxing ever since.

There is a pin that I keep seeing about homemade hair wax.  At first I ignored it, but darn it if that little pin didn't wear me down.  After it popped up on my pinterest feed for the millionth time I decided to give in and try it out.

Hair Removal Wax with Honey and Sugar (This link will take you to a youtube video that is very helpful)
 You Will Need:
For Eyebrows
2 tsp brown sugar
1 tsp honey
1 tsp water
non stretchy cotton fabric cut into small pieces
Popsicle stick.

For Legs
2 cups brown sugar
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup lemon juice

Directions:
mix everything together and put it in the microwave. Monitor it every 15 seconds. Around 20 seconds your mixture will start to bubble.  Take it out immediately and let it cool for 10 minutes.  (for bigger batches heat it on the stove.) Using the Popsicle stick, apply a thin layer of the mixture onto your eyebrows. Place the fabric strip onto the wax and smooth it down with your fingers stroking in the directions of your hair growth. Hold your skin tight with one hand and quickly pull off the fabric in the opposite direction that the hair grows. 

I followed the instructions exactly due to fear of burning myself again, and started with my eyebrows. I mixed my ingredients and put it in the microwave.

 It took about 25 seconds for it to start bubbling. I took it out and stirred it again.  It was very thick.

After it cooled for 10 min I got my Popsicle stick and.... chickened out.  So I stirred it again while trying to pump myself up, brought the Popsicle stick to my eyebrow and...... nope.  It took several tries before I had the guts to apply the honey.  It didn't burn at all, phew!

 I put the fabric over the honey, pulled my skin tight and yanked as fast as I could...... huh, shouldn't that have hurt?  I was expecting a lot of pain, but nope.  It just stung a little.  Pulling a band aid off is more painful then that was.

 The Verdict: My eye brows are pretty blond so it's hard to see the hair on the fabric, but every little hair came out, even the little fuzzy ones that I didn't realize were there.

 I quickly did the rest of my eyebrow, then the other one, and loved how quick and easy and effective it was. Now it was time to get really daring and try my legs.

I mixed all the ingredients and stuck it in the microwave.  This time it took a few minutes until it was bubbling. Since it's winter, my legs were already prepped.  They were nice and hairy and ready to go. 

I slathered on the wax, put on my fabric and gave it a yank. 

The Verdict: Nothing! Not one hair came off. I tried again, and again, and again.  Nothing!  After about 7 attempts all I had to show for my hard work was a red leg and a huge sticky mess all over the bathtub.  My hands were so sticky that I felt like the scene in National Lampoons Christmas Vacation when Clark is sticking to everything, the magazine, the lamp, his wife's hair. 

I was really surprised that it worked so well on my eyebrows but not on my legs, but the ingredients are different between the eyebrow mixture and the leg mixture so that could be why.  I was tempted to make a big batch of the eyebrow wax to try on my legs, but then I looked around at the mess.  I had no desire to scrub myself clean just to make more wax and get all sticky again.  I may revisit this in the future though. 

I know I will never have the fashion sense that Andromeda has, but I have come a long way since my truck stop wardrobe days. 

Final Attempt To Get Long Hair

After my disastrous attempt to grow my hair with apple cider vinegar, and the disgusting attempt with potatoes, I was really hoping that the "third times a charm" saying would apply to my final attempt to grow my hair faster.

Use Onion Water for That Fab Long Hair
You might not think that onions can be used for anything except cooking, but that’s definitely not the case. Boil some onions in water and use the water on your hair — no lie! It’ll make it grow super fast and it’ll give it an awesome sheen that everyone will be jealous of! 

Of course I was not surprised at how vague the instructions are.  Why am I still going to this website?!?!? How much of the onion water should I put on?  How long do I leave it in my hair? Do I put it on wet or dry hair? These are questions that should be addressed when telling someone to pour left over produce water in their hair.


So I did the best I could with the little information I had. I chopped up an onion and boiled it in about 3 cups of water for about 10 minutes.

 Once the water had cooled off, I poured it into a container.  I had a lot of onion water and I was really hoping it would last a while.  I didn't want to boil an onion every time I washed my hair. 

For the next month I used the onion water every time I washed my hair.  I would shampoo and condition like I always do then I would squirt the onion water onto my hair and massage it into my scalp.  I left it on for a few minutes then rinsed it out with warm water.

The Verdict: The first thing i noticed was how soft my hair was. I am a hair twirler by nature and having my hair abnormally soft did not help that habit.  It was really hard to keep my finger away from my hair.   I never did notice a "sheen" to my hair like the website promised but I guess Charlie and Martin were busy. Ba dum bum.

I left the container of onion water in my shower and it lasted anywhere from 7-10 days.  It just depended on how much water I used to boil the onion in and how much I put on my hair.  I kept thinking it might start to mold sitting in my shower, but it never did.  The smell would get a little stronger the longer it sat in the bottle but the smell never stuck to my hair and of course that was a huge relief. I really didn't want to walk around smelling like a pizza place.

But did it work? You betcha!!!!!
Shocked?  So was I. 

Every month, for the last 4 months, I have measured the same three areas on my head.  And every month my hair has grown 3/4 inch.  At the end of the month using onion water my hair had grown 1 inch.  1/4 of an inch isn't a lot of growth, but it's something.

Unfortunately for my hair it's not over,  I have more fun and exciting things to test on my hair.