Guest Post Crunchy Tuesday- No Pooing

Yesterday as I was blog scanning I came across a subject I have been trying to figure out how to write about- but frankly, I have never tried. So I was very excited when my friend Jackie over at 3 little ones - said she would do a guest post about it! YIPEE! SO here is a little about Jackie and her takes on No pooing!

My name is Jackie - I am a wife to a great husband and a mommy to 3 little kids: a 3 year old boy, a 23 month old girl and a 6 month old girl. Before becoming a mom, I was a hardworking CPA (certified public accountant) at a local public accounting firm. I worked many long hours and put lots of effort into having a very rewarding career. And then came kids....I decided to stay at home after my second baby was born and haven't had an regrets! I love spending my days with them and knowing that I am the one raising them. Once I stopped working, I made many changes in our house to try to save money. As it turned out, many of those things were also things that were getting our family more "green". With my full time job as a mommy now, I look at so many things differently. I am always looking for new ways to go green & help our environment and to also save some money in the process!


Yes, I am going to go for round 2 and try to go "no 'poo" again.

When I first heard of "no 'poo" about a year ago, the first thought that came through my head was no more changing poo diapers!! As a mom that has had 2 kids in diapers for about 2 years now, you can probably understand why that would be on my mind. There are days when I feel all I do is change diapers (and more with poo in them that I would like to admit!)

But in all seriousness, "no 'poo" has nothing to do with dirty diapers. It is actually going shampoo-less. That's right, not using shampoo anymore! And why would I do such a thing? There are many reasons actually - avoid chemicals, it's healthier, less waste, and cheaper!

Avoiding Chemicals: There are so many harmful chemicals in many of the common brands of shampoos found at your local drugstore or grocery store. If you are ever curious about how harmful (or safe) your current personal care products are, you can always visit Skin Deep: Cosmetic Safety Database website. This website is a database of thousands of personal care items (shampoo, conditioner, lotion, shaving cream, bubble bath, sunscreen, etc.) that are evaluated by the researchers at the Environmental Working Group to determine the safety of these products. Based on the ingredients in the particular product, the product is given a safety rating on a scale of 0-10. O being the lowest rating while 10 being the highest. If you haven't been to this website before, I would strongly suggest heading over there and taking a look around. It is extremely interesting (and scary) to read about the various different ingredients that are in so many common name brand items and what types of health effects they could have on you or your children.

It's Healthier: Your body produces oil naturally to condition your hair and help keep it healthy. When you use shampoo on a daily basis, it upsets the natural balance and can cause you to produce more oil than necessary to compensate. I know my body does this because I tend to always have to switch brands of shampoo every so often because it starts to seem like my shampoo isn't working anymore.

Less Waste: There is a lot of waste produced with all those bottles of shampoo & conditioner that the average family goes through. Even if the plastic bottles are recycled, there was a lot of energy used to produce the bottles, ship the bottles and then to recylce the bottles.

It's Cheaper: And let's face it, shampoo can get expensive. Especially when your family is growing. When I was single, I didn't mind spending more money for salon hair products. But now there are 5 heads of hair that need to be cleaned in our house!

So after all that, I still haven't explained what "no 'poo" is. It is using baking soda and apple cider vinegar (ACV) to clean your hair. When I was first introduced to "no 'poo", it was about a year ago through this article I found on the web - The No Shampoo Alternative - No Poo . I did try this method last October but stopped after about 2 weeks. At the time, I was pregnant with my third baby. In all of my pregnancies, my hair got very thick and also very greasy. I know many people loved their hair while they were pregnant - I was the complete opposite!!! I would go through so many different brands until I could finally find one that worked for my hair. So I stopped after a few weeks and told myself I would try again after my baby was born. It has been 6 months since she was born and I just finished up my bottle of shampoo yesterday, so there is no better time than today to start again!

After my first wash today with baking soda and ACV, I am very happy with the results. My hair is very soft and only a tiny bit greasy (I was expecting some since I know that there will be a transition period). Wish me luck! I hope this time goes better for me - and I will keep you all posted!