Life Without Plastic - Day 6

[siglinde99]

The girl is almost out of shampoo and conditioner. Again. Not that any of the multitude of bottles in the bathroom are completely empty! Finishing off the dregs is my job. What are my options for refilling bottles with bulk shampoo, or making my own, or finding a completely different alternative? Quick research showed that no-one offers the bottle refilling option in Ottawa any more. However, I did find these:

I have a bar of http://puresoapworks.com/shampoo.htm at home. I am deeply distrustful of shampoo/conditioner combinations, but I'll give it a try.

https://ottawamommyproject.wordpress.com/2011/06/05/may-results-are-in-all-natural-shampoo-and-more suggested this:
"In keeping with my theme of evaluating a home made solution when possible I also tried washing my hair with plain old baking soda. A lot of people swear by this super cheap option. I put a few tablespoons in a little bowl and added water to make a paste. Once I had my hair wet, in it went and I scrubbed as best I could. There is no lather with this but that didn’t bother me at all. It washed out nicely and left my hair squeaky clean. I’m impressed with the result. My hair was nicer that day as though a lot of gunk had been washed out." That seems like a reasonable option.

But what about a shampoo that lathers? I turns out David Suzuki has some ideas. http://www.davidsuzuki.org/publications/downloads/2012/QueenofGreen-haircare.pdf

Unfortunately, they require liquid Castille soap, and that seems to be sold only in plastic bottles. However, https://ashleyshomemadeadventures.wordpress.com/2012/07/27/making-your-own-homemade-liquid-castile-soap/ has an inexpensive alternative made with bars of Castille soap. If you're really hard-core, you can make your own bars of Castille soap. Ashley also has a recipe for shampoo that I really like (and will help me use up the xanthan gum I bought for a cooking experiment I don't intend to repeat): https://ashleyshomemadeadventures.wordpress.com/2012/01/24/homemade-shampoo/

Hair conditioners seem to be much more challenging. The best I could find was this: http://www.easy-aromatherapy-recipes.com/natural-hair-conditioner.html#buy natural hair conditioner. These recipes somewhat resemble regular conditioner but getting emulsifying wax is proving to be a challenge. At best, I can order it on-line. Or, I could try mixing together a bit of beeswax and borax, and/or maybe a little xanthan gum. From this lady's instructions, something might be possible: http://www.lavenora.com/emulsifierswaxes.htm

Much to think about and play with....

Update - a work colleague just sent me this link: http://www.terra20.com/about/ecobar/ecobar-body/. One is in the Ikea mall, and the other is on Wellington West. How exciting is that?

Comments

[cortejo.livejournal.com]

You can over use baking soda and fry your hair. Just fyi.

John hardly ever uses shampoo.

[siglinde99.livejournal.com]

I know a few people who have done that. The big challenge seems to be getting over your body's addiction to soap, so that it stops producing as many oils. John is lucky that he has managed to do it; I give up after about three days.

[ilanikhan.livejournal.com]

Many people are conditioning with pure coconut oil, which you can find in glass jars.

As for shampoo, you can use diluted vinegar to rinse out the extra oil. There is also a medieval dry shampoo recipe, that I can probably find, that will help you get over that hump. I admit - neither of these foam :)

[siglinde99.livejournal.com]

I would love that shampoo recipe. Now you have me thinking I need to go through my late period recipe books, which might also have something.

[buttongirl.livejournal.com]

Daniel loves the shampoo/conditioner bar. We bought it for camping/cottage originally and now it is all he will use. I don't like it as much as I feel my long hair needs more conditioning. However, I also only wash my hair 2x a week, Dan showers and washes hair daily (and he has very different hair than I do)

I occasionally deep condition with Olive oil (rub it into all my (dry) hair length, wrap my head in plastic (to keep it off everything else) for 15-30 minutes, then go wash). It makes my hair lovely at the end.

[siglinde99.livejournal.com]

I have read about the olive oil treatment. It sounds like a lovely option, if only because I would have an excuse to lounge around for 15-30 minutes. I tend to be a morning shower person, and mornings are just too busy to contemplate that kind of treatment. On weekends, I am either showering at the pool or skipping a shower altogether in favour of a few extra minutes of sleep before church. I love how olive oil makes my hardwood floors look.

[ilanikhan.livejournal.com]

Hey, I saw your posts about your planting experiment - do you still need the bottles?

[siglinde99.livejournal.com]

No, but thanks anyway. I am already a couple of weeks behind on a six week course so I needed to get it going.