No Poo

One of my 101 goals is, "#85 Try going 'no-poo' with my skin and hair care." Some of you might be wondering what that even means. I mentioned something on my facebook and a friend commented, "Is the goal not to poo...cause that doesn't seem right." And no, it actually has nothing to do with my bowels or the toilet. Basically it means to switch to using products on your face and hair that don't contain any "cruddy" ingredients. Yes, just like how what we put into our bodies needs to be good for us, so does what we put on our bodies. Think about it, your skin is the bodies biggest organ, you don't want to be putting yucky stuff on there that could then make its way into your body!

Check out this great list/blog about the yucky stuff you want to avoid over at Cave Girl Eats. She covers it pretty well, be sure to check it out. She also links to some of her blog posts about various ways to go no-poo, from hair to deodorant. I highly suggest reading those, too. That is where I've gained quite a bit of my information.

Another great resource with tons of recipes for homemade beauty and home products is Wellness Mama. That is where I've found quite a few of the "recipes" that I plan on using during this transition. I know that there are companies out there producing "organic" skin and hair care products, and those probably work just fine. However, my transition from commercial skin/hair care products to "no poo" isn't just about quality products, but it's also about simplifying. I want to do/use less on my hair/skin, and I want to spend less on both as well.  So I've decided not to spend the big money on premade products and instead go with the simplest and/or homemade option instead. Making my own will enable me to know exactly what is in them, just like cooking things from scratch at home allows me control over what goes into my mouth. 

So, as I venture into this very unknown, I will be sharing my adventures, failures and hopefully, successes with you! I finally finished gathering all my ingredients today (I don't have all in hand as I had to order some online) so I was excited to try my first recipe, "Sugar Scrub". Why that one? Well, I had all the ingredients and I didn't have any body scrub left in the house. My plan is to gradually switch over to no-poo products as I use up the remainder of the commercial items I still have. Yes, I know it's probably better if I throw that stuff away and start from scratch, but I can't fathom the wasted money and I don't want my hair or skin to go into shock. It's also less stressful for me to do it gradually.

So, sugar scrub. I gathered the ingredients:

Sugar (I used sugar in the raw), olive oil and some lemongrass essential oil.

I mixed it and found it rather oily. So I rechecked the recipe online and realized it was suppose to be 2 parts sugar to 1 part oil, instead of one to one. So, I added another cup or so of sugar to get it looking more like the scrub on Wellness Mama. I tried some on my hands they felt oh so soft afterwards, I can hardly wait to try it in the shower! :)

Some of the other hair, skin and household products I'm looking to replace are: cleanser, eye-makeup remover, moisturizer, shampoo/conditioner, hairspray, lotion, shave cream, deodorant, laundry detergent, all purpose cleaner, and stain treat/oxiclean. I'm so excited, I can't wait to share with it all with you!

So, have you gone "no poo" with your skin or hair care? What's your go to natural product for skin/hair care?