Not Smoking, Yoga & Savonnerie

I quit smoking - 2.5 weeks ago.  I know it seems silly that someone who is allergic to corn would still smoke.  I worked very hard to find a cigarette that I didn't react to very much (American Spirit Lights).  I also discovered that if I smoked regularly it significantly deadened my reactions. 

Of course, now that I don't smoke, I am even more sensitive to corn.  It's a curse.  Feel better by getting rid of corn, but by god if you are around corn at all you will feel 100xs worse than you did before.  Suk!

Yoga doesn't have anything to do with corn ... but it makes me feel wonderful.

I also splurged on shampoo, conditioner, lotion and deodorant from Savonnerie.  I'm tired of fighting with my hair and skin ... I'm tired of hives on my scalp ... and believe it or not, I'm tired of mixing up concoctions to rub on my head in hopes of some skin relief.

I've gone all commercial!  I'll update with my thoughts on the product.

castille w aloe + rice vinegar

I discovered that I can use rice vinegar (Marukan brand). Delphi peeps have had good success. Apple Cider Vinegar leaves my roots looking greasy even when they aren't but I need to balance the ph on my scalp or I get dandruffy bits... So, I used the same old standby shampoo (castille and aloe juice) which is still working wonders on my hair. For a rinse I followed up with roughly 2tsp rice vinegar diluted in about a cup of water (measurements were inexact since I didn't have time to prep beforehand and had to eyeball while in the shower).

My hair is soft and really shiny. My roots are a little greasy looking, but I could prolly pull back the amount of vinegar a smidge and be thrilled.

I'm going to keep this up until I have an issue. The results are reminiscent to my early love of white vinegar before the hives drove us apart (I miss you my darling WV)!

Castille/Aloe Vera Juice (Round 3)

Same recipe as here: http://cornless.blogspot.com/2010/01/castillealoe-juice-shampoo-w-acv-rinse.html

After rinse in the picture.

You should know that I made maybe 1/4 cup of this mix when I first started and I'm still using it. 3 Shampoos later and I've maybe used 1/4 of the 1/4 cup. It's ridiculous.

I used alot this time as I didn't feel I got my hair adequately clean last time. I had lather flying everywhere. I may modify the ratios a bit and pull back on the soap as I clearly don't need quite this much.

Notes: After washing my hair felt a little dry and tangly. I used a small amount of the Dr. Bronner rinse and it came out beautifully. (Note: I didn't dilute like you are supposed to because I'm lazy. I put about a tsp into the middle of my hand, got my hair real wet and combed this through my length with my fingers. It's easier and just as effective for me).

Results:
Day 1 (01.13) - I like this shampoo so much. My hair was gorgeous all day, soft and shiny. Happy me.
Day 2 (01.14) Hair still looks great. I'm going to have to wash it tonight since I have court tomorrow and can't run the risk of it looking even slightly yucky. I'm not going to experiment this time since the last one went so well. More experiments will follow shortly.

Castille soap/Aloe Vera Shampoo (second use)

Okay, I'm shampooing tonight. Same recipe as here http://cornless.blogspot.com/2010/01/castillealoe-juice-shampoo-w-acv-rinse.html but I'm not going to follow up with the ACV rinse, we'll see how it goes. Shampoo only on the scalp and a concerted effort to keep it off the lengths, that's tricky (unless I grow a few more arms on the way to the bathroom) ... but I'm gonna try. Update soon.

Notes
--keeping it off the ends wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. The shampoo is liquidy so I dispense it in a little squeeze bottle. I simply sectioned off my hair and put the shampoo right on my scalp like I was applying hair color (*wistful sigh*). Once I had put a few stripes on my scalp I used my fingers to gently work up the lather. It went pretty well.

--this has absolutely no smell in it's 'virgin' formula. I may add some grapefruit oil to it as I like to smell fruity - but for those sensitive to smells, this is perfect.

Results
day 1 (01.11) Nice. The length isn't tangly at all. My hair is fluffy and a little staticy (but it's -a gagillion degrees outside and my heat runs nonstop), lots of body. Feels a little thick at the roots, but that's likely due to no ACV rinse. I think I'm going to have to toss in an acid rinse periodically or i'll get soap scum. I'm happy. ... oh and so far, no itchiness YAY!
day 2 (01.12) I'm greasy today. It's not awful, but half way through the day I was dreaming of a good wash. My best guess is that I didn't get it washed as well this time since I was trying so hard to keep it only on the scalp. I'm gonna lather like a madwoman tonight and see how it goes tomorrow. I have court on Friday so I figure if I do it tonight I can wash again on Thursday night and have fresh hair for court and still be able to skip a day. it's funny that washing everyday now seems verboten.

Castille/Aloe Juice Shampoo w/ ACV rinse

Shampoo
4 parts castille soap (dr. bronners baby unscented)
4 parts 100% aloe vera juice
4 drops jojoba oil
2 parts water

1. mix
2. apply directly to scalp
3. lather
4. rinse

ACV rinse (closes the hair shaft and restores the ph of the length to a more acidic level. leaves hair shiny and reduces 'soap scum' if you have hard water)

1tsp Spectrum Apple Cider Vinegar
16 oz water
5 drops grapefruit essential oil - Now brand

1. pour on ends of hair only

Notes:
-- First of all, this lathered. I mean real, rich, sweet lather. Dr. Bronners doesn't usually do that for me, so I believe the aloe vera juice had something to do with it. It felt like regular commercial shampoo. I didn't work this down my ends as they have been pretty dry recently with the winter air.

-- The ACV rinse often leaves my scalp looking greasy, so I leaned waaay over in the shower and tried to keep the rinse only on my length. I ran my fingers through my hair lightly until it just started to feel slippery and then whipped around to rinse it out while still bending over. Man white vinegar works so much better ... if only it weren't for the hives!

Results:
Straight out of the shower. Towel dries easily, no dripping ends with very little towel work. Combed it out carefully, but it wasn't tangly at all.

* Day 1 (01.08)- Hair is soft and light. No greasies at the scalp. It does feel a little dry, but I'm not going to mess with it yet. It could be shinier, but this is clean ... and I like clean :)
*Day 2 (01.09)- No wash today. Hair doesn't look greasy at the roots yet, still soft (if a little staticky). Doesn't feel so dry. More shine today after decent brushing (boar bristle baby)! I had some mild hives on my forehead and scalp this afternoon that I attribute to a trip to the grocery (damn detergent/candle aisle).
*Day 3 (01.10) - Woke up to greasy-ish hair. Itchiness completely gone. Did a water only wash, still a bit greasy but nothing I can't work with for a day. Prolly going to wash tonight. Will try to wash just the scalp with no ACV rinse and see how it goes. I'm impressed so far.

elusive hair care hunt!

I posted awhile back about the Dr. Bronner's Shikakai wash for my hair and about going with no shampoo for awhile. Well, I wasn't satisifed with either of those options. See, I'm a bit girly and I want to smell pretty (shikakai wash does not smell pretty). It's shallow, I know. In addition to being a bit girly I'm also really cheap, so buying the Shikai everyday shampoo (at .50 an ounce) or the Savonnerie shampoo (at .80 an ounce) made me cringe to a degree that head shaving became a viable alternative.

My husband is a treasure and bought me a book on how to make your own beauty supplies, but the fool author spent way too much time on picking out mineral makeup and shirked shampoo altogether (she claimed it was easier to just buy *sigh*). So I decided to take on shampoo like I took on cooking for myself. Carefully, methodically and with a zest for happy corn free survival.

We don't need to be deprived, we just need to work harder than others to get what we want.

Thus begins, what will likely prove to be, a series of posts with my shampoo recipes and results.

No shampoo! - Water Only, wait ... what?

yeah, I'm not kidding. I started washing my hair about every three days or so and then just stopped because I'm lazy. Nothing. Hair is great, smells good (like cloves which I put in my stash tea rinse the last time I washed), looks great and my dandruff I've had my whole life... magically gone.

Weird. I'm not sure what to make of it, but I'm pretty surprised by the results.

Oh, by the way. Organic Salt and Ground Black Pepper Kettle chips ... not corn free. I know, I know... no one ever said they would be - but a girl has to take chances.

Shampoo Update!

It just gets better and better. I am still using the Shikakai soap below for my hair and my body and my scalp feels fantastic! I have to smooth on a wee bit of Joboba Oil (NOW brand) on my wet hair after shower because it was getting a little dull and dry, but now it's lovely.

WORD OF WARNING: After poking about online a bit I discovered that some of this brand are scented ... these scented bottles often contain Organic Zea Mays (Corn) Starch.

As always, read labels carefully... reread them EVERY time before you buy! Ingredients change without warning. Be smart.

Shampoo!!!

I've been searching for shampoos that don't give me hives ... and it's been a long horrible battle. I tried going no-poo, but just couldn't take it. This works wonderfully. The PH is very alkaline, so I follow up a wash with a good Twinnings Black tea rinse (Edited to add: Twinnings gave me hives ... Stash tea gives the same results without the hives ... ), and so far so good....

From what I can tell online, Dr. Bronner's Citric Acid is not corn derived (their regular castile soap shows up on the cornfree list). Organic, Fair Trade and very concentrated. I use about 4 squirts to wash all my hair (just below my shoulders) so although it's pricey ($8/bottle), I have a feeling it will last for quite some time.

Ingredients: Organic Shikakai Extract (Organic White Grape Juice, Organic Sucrose*, Organic Shikakai Powder), Saponified Organic Coconut* and Olive* Oils, Organic Hemp Oil, Citric Acid, Vitamin E. *Certified fair trade by IMO. Oregon Tilth Certified Organic.