No More Shampoo

I have stopped using shampoo.

This is not as drastic as it my sound. My boyfriend didn't even notice. No this isn't a crack on his powers of perception, my hair looks basically the same.

I had a brave friend march ahead of me on this, a little over a year ago she stopped washing her hair. She went through two months of grease-ball and then her hair calmed down and looked great. I myself did not want to go through two months of grease-ball, so I didn't even entertain the notion. In June she informed me she was now washing her hair with a mud mask adapted from the Terresentials hair wash. As you may notice I put a link to terresentials in an earlier post, (like 6 months ago) I had used this hair wash five years ago and loved it, only it was too expensive for the amount I felt I needed to use. After two months of remembering and then forgetting about the new hair cleansing options that had opened up for me I ran out of shampoo. My hair needed to be washed desperately, so I used an egg and some apple cider vinegar. My hair came out so lovely and clean, I immediately called my friend for the hair wash recipe.

I have read online that many people go through an adjustment period of two to three weeks after ceasing to use soap products on their hair. I went though one day. In the two weeks after I started using the hair wash I got a new job, performed in a chorus in front of a thousand people, and got dozens of complements on my hair.

My hair is lovely and longer than its ever been in my life. And I'm not spending $10 a bottle on stuff that says its organic on the label while the Environmental Working Group says is carcinogenic.


Are your body products toxic? Check http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/index.php?nothanks=1 a site run by EWG that I love love love.

Candy and Vinegar

I have started making candy. Yesterday I made Turkish delight. It is delicious and the texture is perfect. I put on my to do list today "don't eat candy." I also made candy canes yesterday, they were not perfect, in fact the only successful candy cane was consumed by my neigbor. Today I have a bunch of nasty candy cane pieces laying all over the counter.

Its cold season so I thought I would share with you my two seceret weapons. Cold snap and Fire Cider. Cold Snap is a chinese herbal remedy that either speeds up your cold if you are in the middle of it, or prevents it from coming. Last September (2007) I fought off a cold by taking Cold Snap every time I sneezed.

Fire Cider is way way better then Cold snap.

I had my first Fire Cider in college. My roomate hade scored some from the herbalist collective. My second fire cider I made myself. Its an easy concoction. The batch I just made had too much cayanne pepper in it. Its far too spicy.

Rosmary Gladstar's FIRE CIDER!

Ingredients

1 quart Organic Apple Cider Vinegar

1/2 cup Horseradish root grated

1/8 cup of Garlic chopped

1/2 cup of Onion chopped

1/2 cup of Ginger grated

1 tsp Cayenne

(I add a tablespoon or two of yellow tumeric root. But only add that if you have it fresh.)

Directions

Place all ingredients in a quart jar and cover with Apple Cider Vinegar. Cap the jar tightly (if you have a metal cap line it with plastic or the vinegar will eat the metal) and steep in a cool dark place for 6 weeks. Strain into a clean jar and then decant into a clean contianer. I put mine back into the vinegar bottle. To decant put a cotton ball or wad o' cheesecloth into the chute of a funnel and pour fire cider in. Occasionally you will need to remove the cotton and rinse it off or it will get all gunked up.

A good dosage is between a teaspoon and a tablespoon a day when you are exposed to illness, or just feel like you could use a kick in the butt. This stuff is strong so I don't recommend it as an everyday medicine. I also add an ounce or two to greens, soups, and other yummies. And I have been known do shots of this stuff.