A Fresh Faced Approach

In my quest to detox my body from all the commercial products and step away from what's been deemed "normal" in this day and age, I've decided to try a new method of face washing.  Currently I had switched my conventional face moisturizer for coconut oil, and have been loving it's true moisturizing benefits.  But I've still been having acne issues.  So I was researching online and came across various methods for washing my face in line with my new(ish) way of thinking.

To preface, I have combination skin, which never seems to like me, no matter how many products I've tried.  I have had mild success with the natural face washes, but the cost is definitely a big motivator in finding an alternative.

Once again, based on what I already had in the house, with multiple sources praising this method online, I grabbed my trusty mega box of baking soda, and my ever increasingly awesome coconut oil mixture (I've made a mixture of about 1/3 cup coconut oil with 5 drops lavender essential oil).  I splashed warm water on my face, then made a paste of approximately equal parts coconut oil mix & baking soda.  Being careful not to scrub my skin too roughly, I used the mixture all over my face and neck.  I let it sit there for about a 30 seconds to a minute, then rinsed off most of the mixture by splashing water over my face repeatedly, then used a washcloth to finish rinsing. (I tried using the washcloth first and my skin didn't like that, thus the waiting). Then I took a little bit of my coconut mixture and spread it all over my face and neck.

I've been doing this for about 5 days now, and have noticed a huge improvement in my skin.  For whatever reason, my body hates me, and I've been plagued with zits like crazy these past few months.  So, while I'm still seeing a few pimples here and there, it's not as bad as it's been, and I anticipate my face only getting better from here on out.

I have also read that extra pure virgin olive oil is a great source for facial care, and plan on trying that after a month of sticking to this routine.  Given that both are in approximately the same price range with similarly touted benefits I won't mind changing up the experiment.  For now, I'm extremely happy with using this baking soda/coconut oil paste.  It definitely sounds counterproductive-slathering oil on a partially oily face, but it actually works!

Tips & Tricks For White Vinegar

Well, clearly I have vinegar on the brain...

Thing is, it's been a staple in my routine for my entire life.  So here's a quick post on how I to use it.  All of these things are common practice in my home, so they're "tried & true"

Small appliances: White vinegar is GREAT for all those small appliances that need to be cleaned. Run a solution of 50/50 water & vinegar through coffee pots, irons, steam machines, humidifiers etc.  For coffee pots just run it through like you would making coffee.  For anything utilizing steam run it through, pressing the steam button as necessary until it's empty.  Then run a couple cycles of water through until the smell of vinegar is no longer present. For microwave splatters, take a microwave safe glass, fill with water and vinegar, and "cook" the water until the steam build up is sufficient for wiping down the walls easily.  Since each microwave can vary, all I can advise is that I cook my water mixture for three minutes, then CAREFULLY remove it from the microwave.  If you find that the splatter isn't wiping down easily, try heating the water longer.  If that doesn't work, see below for my baking soda/vinegar easy cleaning method.

Washing machines and dishwashers:  Our washing machine finally died on us last year, so we switched to a front loading, energy efficient machine.  Of course you get that person who constantly forgets to leave the door open to allow the whole machine to dry, so I run a cup of vinegar through the clean cycle, and it's all set for reuse.  I also do this for both my washing machine and dishwasher (when we had one)  Just do this once a month, along with wiping down all the grooves of the seals, to prevent any buildup of residues etc.  No need to buy a cleaner specifically for these machines.

Laundry:   I know some people use vinegar as a wash boost for their clothes.  I don't tend to do this because I have an all natural, all encompassing detergent that I love, and it doesn't need any boosting.  However, my husband is a mechanic, so his clothes come home caked in grease, dirt, and who knows what else.  I use a cup of vinegar as a pre wash and this seems to have cut the grease much more, leaving me only needing to run one extra rinse instead of two for his clothes. Also I have noticed that, where conventional detergents left a residue of grease that I wiped down after each of his loads of laundry, the vinegar has cut enough out that I see no grease on the cloth, so no transfer of grease to the other house member's clothing.

Basic Cleaning:  Oh my, how this stuff is amazing.  I love mopping with the vinegar, though my kids can't stand it so sometimes I'll revert to store bought stuff.. just to give their noses a break ;)    Again, not used by me, but  a lot of people I know swear by it as a window cleaner. Also it is great as an all purpose cleaner.  I go between a health food store's all natural cleaner and straight vinegar, just to change up my routine, but I have great results from the vinegar.

However, my all time favorite trick is vinegar's food grease-busting superpowers.  You know those meals that spill over on the stove, leaving a wake of gunk behind?  That grime that builds up on the stove hood, or the fan's vent?  The trick is to sprinkle baking soda onto the spots, then spritz vinegar onto the baking soda.  Once the fizzing has stopped, I take a basic sponge or cloth and just wipe away.  If  the spots are still being stubborn I repeat the process.  Very, very rarely do I need to put even the slightest bit of elbow grease into it.  Most of the time it literally just swipes away.  I found this out on accident once, when I tried using just vinegar spray, got agitated, and pulled out the baking soda to scrub.  Even though the process was reversed, the effects were instantaneous and I can still remember being positively giddy at how easy it was.

What are your uses for this amazing product?  What have I missed out on all these years that could save me time, money, and what little shreds of sanity my housework and kids haven't stolen?

Update to Baking Soda/Vinegar Shampooing

Well one thing I'm learning from this experiment:  Don't try and rush through the rinsing portion of the baking soda.  I was in a hurry to go out to a friend's this last time I washed my hair.  I quickly did the same wash except this time I rushed through the rinsing portion. Since then, my scalp has been a tad itchy.  It's not bad, and it's not oily or any worse than the other washing, but just the mere fact that I didn't rinse well has left me realizing I need to take the time to really get the baking soda out..  Not a bad thing, just means I get more quiet "me" time!!  "Sorry kids, gotta take an extra long shower, you'll have to fend for yourselves!!!"  Hmm... yes not a problem for me at all!

Aside from that fact, I'm still loving the way my hair is reacting to this experiment.  I actually left my hair down for parts of yesterday, and it didn't frizz or get weird on me like it usually would without straightening it.  My hair is soft, completely manageable, and I'm loving the fact that I almost forget I'm being weird hippie girl by stepping away from conventional bathing concepts.

Although this seems to be working well for me, I have thought about making the conditioning portion more personalized, since the one thing I'm missing so much is the amazing smells my regular shampoo & conditioner gave off.  A friend just asked me if I use essential oils as well, and I have, in fact, thought about adding something into my vinegar mix.  Even though the vinegar smell dissipates very quickly, so no worries about smelling like lunch, I miss that little bit of extra.  I've read various other 'recipes' for the vinegar rinse & am going to buy a few oils to see what mix will work and smell delicious.  Another thing I might do differently is making bigger batches of the baking soda water, and putting the vinegar mix into a spray bottle to lessen the awkwardness.  Also, after using some coconut oil for my hands, without thinking I ran my fingers through my hair.  I'm thinking this might be a good step for adding in, as coconut oil, I'm finding out, is everything they say it is! (Ooh, I think another blog entry is on it's way!! hahaha)

I plan on delving into the science behind chemical products we apply to our hair, and how the industry has been able to perpetuate this feeling of cleanliness when in reality we are basically putting crude oil into our hair... but that will have to wait, as my 3 year old really isn't interested in all of my pending research and results ;)

Adventures In Going (Sham)Poo Free aka Saladified

I'm pretty sure I've tried every shampoo/conditioner combo on the market.  From VO5 to organic brands. All with the same results-aside from 2 brands, every other product made my hair feel dry & brittle even after the bottle was long gone.  I don't style my hair much.  On rare occasions I'll blow dry my hair or use a straightener.  My hair is thick but fine, semi straight on the outer layers but near the nape of my neck the underneath layer is wavy. A horrible combination, as it likes to poof into a big frizzy ball.  So when I do decide to "get fancy" I'll blow dry my hair so that I can leave it down, and that's about all I can do.  It won't keep curls unless I shellac my hair with 2 cans of Aquanet and when I was 10 years old I was in tears the day I was told a perm wouldn't hold in my hair when all of my classmates had it (thank goodness, actually dodged the awkward 80's 'do pictures there!)

About 2 years ago I decided to do the Locks of Love donation. The girl was ogling my hair, declaring over & over "oh what I would do if I had hair as healthy as yours! What's your secret?!"  I told her just plain old Pantene with an occasional tub of the deep conditioner, as well as washing my hair every 3 days or so, so long as I wasn't excessively dirty that day.  She was honestly baffled that my drug store regime was working so well.. and to this day, I wonder if she was truly in love with my hair, or just looking for a bigger tip. But all in all I'd say that my hair, though needing a good trim, seems to be doing alright-not that I can tell most days, as I almost always have it up. I'm actually not that invested in my hair. The most I truly care is to keep it healthy so that it can grow long again for another donation.

Why did I decide to try & change what seems to be a working combination for my hair?  Well, first of all, a while back I had read an article about what dyes, medicines, cleaners & shampoos are doing when they leave our drains & it got me thinking about all those "words" we see on the back of almost every commercial product.  What exactly are those ingredients?  Why in the world do we need them?  I'm learning more about how we take for granted the way the body absorbs all the things we expose it to from the outside in.  But the article was definitely an "a ha!" moment.  So when trying to find a product that worked well for me in the organic lines, the cost to find something that is AMAZING was basically impossible in my budget for a family of 5 and I continued with my drug store purchases.

I started Googling various methods of natural, cheap, effective hair cleaning processes. Basically what it boiled down to was, of all the ideas, I happened to have baking soda & apple cider vinegar in the cupboard.

So, tentatively this afternoon, after a couple hours of pep talking myself into doing it, and a friend's prompting, I got my products ready, headed to the shower feeling like a blooming idiot, and washed my hair according to all the directions I'd read, combining what seemed to be the most popular of techniques.  Over & over I thought to myself how absolutely weird I am for doing this (and subsequently what I should name this blog after said friend suggested I blog about it). But most of all, I was reminding myself that I had my trusty shampoo just in case I needed to hop back into the shower and pretend this never happened.

My hair washing went like this:

I started with the warm water & baking soda mixture that I mixed up in the kitchen ahead of time using 1 cup of extra warm water & a heaping tablespoon of the baking soda.  Then I put it into a small plastic drinking bottle I had here.  Next I combined my tablespoon of Apple Cider Vinegar with a cup of extra warm water.  This I put in an open style cup, since I didn't have another drinking bottle.

Before I got into the shower I brushed my hair really well, making sure to have no tangles.  Next, I saturated my hair with water, though I'm not sure I needed to. I poured the baking soda mixture into my scalp, trying to get it to all stay put.  I massaged the concoction in as best as I could, waited a minute (thinking of all the ways I felt like an idiot) and rinsed my hair out well.  At this point the bottom half of my hair felt kind of brittle, but to be honest, it always done after I get done shampooing, so I wasn't too worried.  Next I tried pouring the ACV/water combo in my hair but I was trying to avoid pouring it over my scalp per other user's trial & error.  I ended up dipping as much of my hair into the water mixture as possible (thankful that I had put it in a regular cup to do so.  I then poured the rest over my hair from the nape of my neck down, took a wide toothed comb and combed it all through.  I was actually amazed at how easily my hair cooperated.  Normally I have issues with this step using commercial products.  So I let the salad dressing...err..vinegar water.. stay in my hair while I continued on with the rest of my shower routine.

After all this was done, I thoroughly rinsed my hair, out, stepped out of the shower & combed through again, amazed that when it would normally start to tangle immediately, my hair was behaving itself. I decided to let my hair air dry and though I've read that some people's hair dried quicker, I did not notice this for myself.

As I have read multiple times, there is a time around 2-5 weeks that the hair basically wigs out on you (pun totally intended) and the oil production in your hair increases, because it can't figure out what it's supposed to do anymore without the stripping effects of the chemicals it had to compensate for.  However, with time, patience, and hats, you'll eventually get to the other side of it, and your hair will be healthier, shinier, and stronger than ever before.

Today, I've already noticed a slight difference in my air dried hair.  Although it is still poofy, it is not actually as bad as it usually is.  Maybe it's all in my head (yep, another pun) but it really did feel like there was a slight difference in the quality of my hair.  At the very least, it certainly wasn't worse that with my usual shampooing, so there is something to be said for that.  I have had my hair go from normal to dry & brittle in just one washing if I am forced to use certain brands outside of my 2 usual brands, so to have my hair feel great after this, well it makes me want to definitely say farewell to the cost & damaging effects of conventional hair care products.

As for the smell, one of my other great fears in this project, my daughter's nose is very keen to the smell of vinegar-poor girl hates it but I use it everywhere! When asked to give my damp hair a whiff, she said "Smells like wet hair-I expected it to stink!" 

As my weeks progress, I will give more details as to the condition of my hair, as well as taking a look into what shampoos & conditioner companies are really trying to sell us.  If this works out well, I plan to try & convert the entire family *Muah ah ah ahhhh* into Baking Soda/Apple Cider Vinegar cleaners like me.

In the mean time, I've been reading up on home made deodorant, and I'm just about out of my main stream brand....

Ending My Chemical Dependence

Being a stay at home mom, I have always tried to find ways to save money wherever it is practical.  Growing up, we used cleaners, foods, and products that reflected that as well.  While the modern day movements of "greenies" is to reduce our carbon footprint, I have been using products that do that naturally, but save money first & foremost.  The same goes for food.  Eat meals made at home with minimal processing, and not only do you feel better & fuller, but you also save a pretty penny in the process.

I also grew up in a house where things like nitrites, nitrates, hydrogenated ingredients, and processed foods were not a part of our lives, or were taken out as we learned their ill effects.  Now,  we did eat things like white breads, canned vegetables, and the" normal foods" (moderation and balance being a component) before we learned that there were better products for us out there.

These days my family of 5 strives to eat a mostly organic, minimally processed diet.  We clean with more natural products when possible because of pets & young children, and the ever present "let's save money!" theme runs deep.  We recycle, re-purpose items, buy used, and donate to local charities.  I still firmly believe in quality vs price, so I will buy things of a better quality if I know that in the long run it will save us money.

My blog's intent is to document & write about the ways I'm finding to achieve more of these goals.  I am always trying new things & I often refer online to what works and what doesn't. Ever curious, I like to find out the reasons "why" something works or doesn't-and the science behind things, along with the tools & deceptions of marketing schemes-and today's "acceptable norms"  I am fascinated with how these advertising concepts fuel our consumerism-curious decisions.   As I try new ideas, my goal is to write honest, reflective pieces that others may find helpful in their daily lives.  

Please feel free to reply with questions or comments, and I will try & answer to the best of my knowledge.