Every Day is Earth Day--Change for the Better #1

I'm not late, really--I have been celebrating Earth Day for months now. ; )

And I am honesty psyched about the few little changes we are making.

It started a few months back, when I was thinking about how I could cut down some of our plastic intake and cut out some of the questionable chemicals I have been using on my family. I had heard about other families going "no poo"--shampoo, that is--and was not sure I could make that switch. I have long, thick, but also fine hair and oily skin/scalp. I have traditionally had to wash my hair every day or it would look oily--at the very least if I did not shower I would shampoo my bangs while bending over the bathroom sink, or they would look so limp and gross. I did not think the hardcore "no poo" solution of baking soda and the occassional vinegar rinse would work well--it is so hard to get even shampoo to the scalp through all my hair, and shampoo has chemicals added (similar to teflon--I am not joking) to make it lather and slide through the hair well. How would I work a paste through my hair?

So I had been thinking about this, but not sure what to do, until I saw a post from Stacy over at Moderate Means, in which she extolled the virtues of a shampoo bar she had been using to replace traditional shampoo. She writes about the results of using shampoo bars here and here. Immediately I knew this was the solution for me. So I ordered some, and got some naturally exfoliating face soaps while I was at it, so that when my Clean&Clear runs out I won't need to replace it with another plastic bottle full of chemicals and plastic microbeads.* I was pleased with the soaps from the moment they arrived:

Beautiful, affordable, natural, and they arrived without plastic packaging.

The two loofahs--"Leafas"--I ordered from the same company to use with the soaps were plastic--d'oh! And they are a little too rough to use on skin everyday, and now that I am learning more about plastics, I don't really want to be rubbing them into my skin--BUT these loofas are PERFECT for holding the soaps in the shower so they don't get waterlogged and mushy and half the bar is wasted down the drain. I just hang them by their string loops from one of the shower curtain rings so they are easily reached and the soap dries quickly after each use. And when the loofahs do get soapy, I can choose to use them on my body or even to give the shower walls a quick scrub**, so no soap is wasted.

So how does the shampoo bar work? Really, really well. The lather the bar quickly produces is much thicker and richer than shampoo lather, and it works through my hair easily. I do find that your hair has to be really wet, though--so I stick one side of my head in the water, then immediately work the lather through to the scalp on that side and scrub (as I tell the girls, you are not washing your hair, you are washing your scalp) and then without rinsing, turn and wet the other side and immediately start working lather through to the scalp there. Then without rinsing I wet the crown, etc., and then look downwards and wet the back of my head, etc. etc. Then my whole head is nice and lathery and I can scrub how I see fit.

One benefit I noticed from the shampoo bar right away: normally if my shampoo lather gets a little dry and I try to quickly dash some water on my hair to help work the shampoo through, even that quick splash of water ends up rinsing away the shampoo lather and leaving nothing to work with. So I usually had to wash my hair twice to get all the way through my thick hair to the scalp and make it feel clean. How is that an efficient use of time or money? The shampoo bar lather is so thick and rich that you can give a quick splash of water to build it up and work it through more. It feels great in the hands and on my hair. And when it is time to rinse, I noticed that it rinses out more quickly and easily than shampoo does, at least in my hair. There have been way too many times when I would rinse and rinse and rinse and then turn off the water and get out to dry off--and toss my hair forward and hear all the little bubbles of leftover shampoo popping next to my ears. Arrgggghhhh. That has not happened once since I started using the shampoo bar.

I also had worried that I would not like the feel of my hair after using the shampoo bar--I have never been a fan of bar soap, and can't stand the feeling of a film left on my skin (shudder). I thought I would have to learn to put up with such a feeling, and would have to use an apple cider vinegar rinse every week or so to get rid of soapy build-up. But no, while my hair does not feel stripped like it does after two washes with shampoo, it feels fine. And when it is dry, I REALLY like the way it looks, feels, and hangs now! I think my hair is less prone to static now, and if there is a soap film being left on my hair, it is making my hair look and feel great, so I am fine with it!

But the BEST part--I no longer have to wash my hair every day. I can--and have, ahem--gone three days without washing my hair, and it looks not only fine, but even good. Amazing! Even my bangs!!! This, from what I have learned in my "no poo" research, is because shampoo actually strips your scalp of all its oil, which then makes your oil glands overproduce to compensate, which makes your hair look greasy, which makes you shampoo, which starts the whole cycle of dependency over again. So most people who go "no poo" say that you have to be willing to go through an initial period of greasy hair (seems to last about 2 weeks) while your scalp re-adjusts to life without chemicals and settles down in oil production. But since I have been using the shampoo bar, I have not had such a phase! So I think the shampoo bar is the perfect middle ground.

So here are the PROS of the shampoo bar I have tried:
--better lather, so I am using less than shampoo (more frugal)
--completely natural and biodegradable (more green)
--no plastic packaging (much more green)
--don't have to wash my hair every day (more frugal, more green--less hot water--and more time efficient)

The CONS:
--the particular bar I am using is made in Canada, not the US, so my dollars are not supporting our home industry (but I am sure I can find something local--suggestions, anyone? But it will have to work as well as this one!)
--Ordering online means paying shipping fees, although this company does not charge you for shipping if you order at least 4 bars of soap, which of course I did.
--the only negative about the way my hair feels and handles is that it seems more prone to tangling. So sometimes I use conditioner just on the ends, which seems to solve the problem.

So, there you have it! My first concrete step towards making choices in our home that are better for us and the world!

And it feels so good.

*and would you all please, please, go here to read why we should all work to eliminate from our bathrooms products that use microbeads

**I can't believe I have not yet written about this. It is one of those things I have been meaning to write ever since I started. It is a simple, beautiful, easy, frugal, greener solution to cleaning your shower: the same soap that left scum on the shower walls/door will take it off again. Seriously. So I have not used anything except cheap shampoo and a scrubbie to clean my shower for years. Seriously. It works perfectly, I am not exposing myself or the kids to dangerous chemical residue or fumes, I am not running harmful waste down the drain to enter the water cycle, and since I now scrub for a minute while I am in the shower already--just chosing a different spot to scrub each time--cleaning the shower has become not a chore but a pleasant excuse to stay in the hot water one more minute. ; )