Have you ever thought of the alternative to the commercial hair care products? I have and through the years, tried several suggestions from the internet. The first one was to just wash your hair with plain warm water. Sounds like a brilliant idea, doesn't it? Well, the result was everything but. My hair looked nearly just as dirty as before.
The internet gurus stated that it was normal, at first, later your hair would adjust, they claimed. I must have a wrong sort of hair, because mine never did. In fact, it was looking progressively worse so I had to return to the default method (shampoo).
The next tip I tried was to use plain soap instead of shampoo. My hair looked nearly as bad after using it as when using nothing at all. I saw little point in continuing to try, and soap, after all, is a commercial product, too.
Another internet site suggested using baking soda. This actually did work, at first, and my hair looked rather decent. After several times, I noticed that it somehow started falling out, more than usual. I guess baking soda is too harsh for me, so I quit.
And now I present the Grandmother's method, which is gentle and works on most types of hair. It's nourishing and you can use it as often as you need. It's a bother though, so I still use my shampoo brand (all natural) quite often.
You will need an egg and some buttermilk (you can use yogurt, I guess, but just a tiny little bit, since it's rather thick, naturally, in all cases you go for an unflavoured variety). You mix them in a bowl, like shown in the photo above.
Next, you'll need to put a plug into your sink and fill it with hot water, as hot as you can bear since it tends to cool off rather quickly. Add the egg mixture to it, and whip it up with your hands, so that it gets all foamy. Use the foam to wash your hair. It helps to keep in mind that the stuff you use is much less strong that your average shampoo and to get your hair really clean, you'll need to wash it more thoroughly (and probably longer) than usual.
You can rinse it under the shower afterwards.
Another thing which is good for your hair is beer. Don't worry, you won't have to drink it, but if you have a bad hair day and don't want to wash your hair, you can use beer as a conditioner of sorts. You'll need to heat it to the boiling point (don't ask me why) and let it cool a bit (naturally, otherwise you may burn yourself!). With the help of a cotton pad, transfer it onto your hair. If you have long hair, like mine, it's better to do it in the evening, so that your hair has time to dry. It's supposed to look better next morning, but don't forget that it still needs regular washing:)
I have tried everything troughout the years, since everything seems to make my scalp itch.
ReplyDeleteBar soap works to an extent but you have to rince your hair with vinegar water afterwards, to get rid of the soap remains.
Nowadays I use just an egg yolk, it washes your hair perfectly, and then some vinegar water for conditioner. But even egg yolk is getting too drying for my scalp, even if I wash only once a week. So recently I have started to wash with honey, and suprisingly enough, it works. I add tiny amount of ACV to make my hair really shiny and easy to comb, though it is not necessarily: honey is slightly acidic itself.
I like this honey method because we have no running water at our cottage. Rinsing long hair after shampoo (or egg yolk) is such a nuissance at those conditions. Honey comes off so much easier, and it does not matter if there are some tiny remains.
I have noticed that after I stopped using shampoo and conditioner, my hair gets less and less dirty, even if it is dirty it does not smell and most amazingly, it dries so much faster.
BTW, in all these old methods the water you use is a huge factor. If your water has lots of minerals in it, it is so called hard water, they do not work that well. Here in Finland water is mostly rather soft, so they do work.
How do you wash your hair with honey? Doesn't it get all sticky? Also, I think I heard somewhere that if you add vinegar to hard water, it'll get softer.
ReplyDeleteI mix spoonful of honey with 2 dl of lukewarm water. It is not sticky at all.
ReplyDeleteI have read from old books that borax makes hard water softer, but it is forbidden in EU. In US people seem to use it a lot for all kinds of cleaning purposes.
I googled a bit that hard water and vinegar. Apparently it will help to keep your dishes and sinks clean. I don't think it can actually make the water softer, but I think it does something that minerals wont stick to surfaces (including one's hair?)
One more comment about hairwashing: I also tried water only -method for a while but to make it work, you have to brush and brush and brush your hair ad infinitum. I hated it. My hair did look stunning, and it was not smelly at all, but it never felt quite clean.
Do you use real honey(like not processed)? Does your hair get really clean with it? I'm thinking of trying this method...
ReplyDeleteObviously real, pure honey. I don't even know what processed honey is.
ReplyDeleteMy hair does get clean, but I have noticed that I must wash with egg yolk (one egg yolk mixed with 2 dl of lukewarm water) maybe once in a month. But my hair has never been that greasy, I just sweat a lot and sweat comes off more easily. And the less I was my hair with shampoo, the less it seems to produce sebum. Nowadays it feels that even eggyolk washes bit too well.
But I recall you had curly hair? I have raid that curly hair demands different kind of maintenance than straight hair. Mine is as straight as it can get.
Processed like being heated, the stuff which they sell in the supermarket. Here you can buy raw honey in the health store, but it's rather pricey.
ReplyDeleteYeah, it's more on the curly side:) I wonder how did they wash their hair in the past? Should prob do research on it!
P.S. I tried the honey method yesterday. My hair looks surprisingly decent, but I did have to use a lot of honey, I'm afraid:) Not the most economical method, but well convenient...
ReplyDelete