January 31st 2016 - The last time I 'shampooed' my hair. It's been a tough ride with many more bad hair days than good but I'm very happy to say those days are now a distant memory. My hair is now strong, healthy and in best of all - chemical free.
Why I went 'No-poo'....That is 'no commercial sham-poo'
I was the ultimate consumer. The target of product brand marketing and a complete sucker for a new and exciting product appearing on the supermarket shelf. The latest object of my attention - a bubble-gum blue coloured shampoo and conditioner set. It promised to repair and moisture my locks and make it smell of water flowers and unicorn dust (or something to that effect).
News flash - it didn't.
My hair felt just as it always had. Not a bad thing but no unicorn dust either. After a couple of washes however I was starting to notice other results of my lastest 'wonder' product. My skin started to itch!! All the main areas that the sweet smelling foam had been in contact with were starting to flare up. The skin on my hands, arms, back and of course scalp were red, irritated and itchy!
Of course I immediately stopped using the offending shampoo - but instead of reverting back to one of my other tried and tested brands I was curious to know what could have caused such a reaction. I read the ingredients. After stumbling my way through a list as long as my arm I suddenly realised that I didn't understand a single word of this concoction. It was a chemical minefield.
While for the most part we see no immediate reaction to these ingredients, they were certainly doing me no favours any longer. Additionally, after my fair share of research, my concern was growing over the long term use of common shampoo/conditioner ingredients on my skin and on my children's skin.
In my introduction, 'Say hello to the Health-nut Housewife' you'll read how I was already well on my way to finding more natural alternatives to commercial products. It seems shampoo was the next to be eliminated......