No-poo measurements

The typical 'benchmark' is 1 tablespoon of baking soda. You can either make it into a paste with water, or you can put it in a travel sized shampoo bottle or something and dilute it with a lot of water. For longer hair, you may need a little more baking soda. Add some drops of essential oil to the baking soda mixture if you'd like. Squirt or place the baking soda mixture on your scalp and do the scalp massage method. Leave in your hair and scalp while you do other shower stuff. Rinse with water completely.

Apple Cider Vinegar -- doesn't matter how much, you'll have to play with how much your hair needs, but the benchmark dilution there is 1/2 water, 1/2 apple cider vinegar. You can use a spray bottle so that there's little waste of the apple cider vinegar and you can control how much you put on your hair. It's easier to manage too. After you put the apple cider vinegar in your hair, rinse completely with water.

Use a wide-toothed detangling comb when you get out of the shower so you don't break your hair. Style as usual. There is an adjustment period where your hair gets used to the new routine as well as a period where you have to play with how much baking soda and apple cider vinegar to use for your hair needs. You'll also begin learning how often to 'shampoo' your hair.

http://www.naturalfamilyonline.com/1...no-shampoo.htm

Perfect, thank you! I tried it tonite, but I used more baking soda than that and less acv. It still worked well, though. I am so excited about this!

Baking soda is an abrasive until it is disolved. That's why it's good at cleaning the tub or your teeth. And that's why I would never use it dry or even a paste on my hair. Hair does not need to be scrubbed to get clean. I always disolve it in hot water, and then the water cools slightly while I bathe, and then I use the solution on my hair.

Baking soda has a pH of 8.0, not too far from neutral. Which is good, because it's not likely to damage your hair no matter how strong the solution is. I use a tablespoon in a pint (16 oz) of water.

Your hair's natural pH is about 6.5, slightly acidic.

Vinegar has a pH of about 2.4 to 3.4. That is strong enough to damage hair. Even diluted half and half with water, it's still a strong solution, especially if left in contact for very long at all. If you rinse it out right away, it has less chance of causing damage, but why risk it?

I use a solution of 1:9 (one part vinegar to nine parts water) and this is the final rinse I give my hair. It's very close to hair's natural pH, and very gentle. Oily hair often responds to a slightly more acidic final rinse, 1:7. Much stronger than that may cause bounce-back oilyness as the scalp works overtime producing oil to try to restore the normal pH. I treat dry, damaged or delicate hair even more gently, with a 1:12 solution.

Why I use a vinegar solution as the final rinse instead of plain water: Water has a neutral pH of near 7 (distilled water is 7.0, tap water varies somewhat). Hair's natural state is acidic. A DILUTE vinegar rinse leaves hair closer to its natural pH than plain water.

If you have short hair, you may be able to treat your hair less gently (like scrubbing it or using strong acids), but I've learned that my long hair must be treated gently to stay long and healthy.

AnnMarita. I love smarties!