Green and clean

I lathered my son in soap, as he was in the bath, rinsed him down, then reached for the shampoo. A normal occurrence for every mom, I’m sure, until he asks what shampoo is made of! “Umm, soap and some other stuff” is my lame answer. “What’s in soap?” he asks. Now I feel really stupid! I don’t know, I’ve never really thought about it. I do read labels and try not to get anything too horribly bad for body or environment, and having sensitive skin, I make sure there’s no fragrance or anything I know will bother my kids or my own sensitive skin, but I don’t know how to make the stuff! He looks up at me says, “You don’t know what’s in it and you’re putting it on my body?!” the horror!

So now we’re on a new mission, which will be a great science project! We are only going to try to use natural products on our bodies and in household cleaners as well that are good for both bodies and the environment. I’ll have to see if we can find or make them, and especially if they work! I will be the judge on cleanliness, thank you. I meant to start writing about it that day, but we’re already a few days in, so I’ll catch you up:

Day 1, I looked up  homemade natural shampoo and didn’t have any ingredients for any recipe I found except the most basic of basics, baking powder and apple cider vinegar (ACV). I’ve used both for health & beauty regimens before so they were already conveniently in the bathroom. I had a spray bottle of ACV/water ready to go. It works wonders on dandruff! So my next shower I scrubbed my scalp with the baking powder, scrubbed my body, too, and found it’s a nice exfoliater! After rinsing well, I sprayed the ACV/water on my hair, let it set a minute, then rinsed. Sprayed some on my skin, too, as it’s a natural astringent and antiseptic .

When it was dry it had a lot more body and, though it felt different than normal, it wasn’t too dry nor was it greasy. I was pleasantly happy with the result! It felt clean, smelled good, and had extra bounce! Kudos to my son! I used it on him and my daughter and their hair looked lovely too!

Day 2 &3, I normally wash my hair every other day and by the end of the second day it’s feeling greasy and needs to be washed. However, my hair felt fabulous for 3 days! I was feeling great about this new regimen!

Day 4, Washed my hair again the same way. It felt greasy, but I thought it was just because it was still damp so I blow dried it because I had to go somewhere. I didn’t dry it all the way, but put it up in a ponytail because it still looked dirty to me. My hair felt greasy and gross all day!! I couldn’t wait to get home to take another shower tonight! At least we were just out hiking, so I wasn’t trying to be a fashionista. But I finally just got to take a shower and use all my normal toxic shampoo and conditioner!! (I use Aussie or Herbal Essence or something of the sort) Oh heaven! I feel so squeaky clean!