Wednesday, February 10, 2010

No Shampoo

I’m going no shampoo again. I’ve done it a couple of times before, but with limited success. Over the years I have found that no matter which shampoo I used, my scalp itches. It is so annoying, I just want it to stop. A couple of years ago, I read about going “no shampoo”. The theory is that the more we wash our hair, the more we need to wash our hair, because shampoo strips all the oil from our hair and then our body responds by producing more. I did find that I had gradually worked up from washing my hair once a week, to twice a week and was finding that wasn’t enough. So I decided to stop washing my hair. The blog I read suggested just stopping, and only using water on your hair, it promised that if I could hold out for 12 weeks, my hair would be terrific. Well I held out for 4 months and my hair was just lank and oily. It was a total disaster, well not quite total, my scalp felt better than it ever had. So I went back to shampoo and found I could now wash once a week, and my hair was fine, so partial success.

After a while I tried again, this time with carb soda and vinegar. The blog said mix carb soda with water and use it to wash your hair, then rinse in vinegar. Again no success, my scalp felt great, but my hair was lank and oily. So back to shampoo. Next idea was to try conditioner only, total failure this time, my hair was lank and my scalp still itched. I gave up on the idea of no shampoo and bought myself some really expensive salon shampoo that my hairdresser promised would not itch. The itch remained. I was getting desperate. I thought about going no shampoo often, but knew it would lead to lank oily hair, so I decided I just had to suffer the itchy scalp.

Then inspiration. I realised I had diluted the carb soda too much. I had been putting a teaspoon into 250ml of water, it had dissolved and basically had no power left for my hair. So I changed the plan. 1 tablespoon (or there about) into a container, and about the same vinegar into another, take them to the shower and mix just before I used them. I put just enough water in the carb soda to make a fairly runny paste, probably a couple of tablespoons, then put it in my hair. I could feel the granules in my hair, but best of all it tingled on my scalp, I could feel it reacting with the oil and water in my hair. When I rinsed it out, my hair felt clean. The vinegar rinse was very effective and now my hair feels good, and my scalp, after three washes, no longer itches. I have found the solution to my hair problem. No shampoo is definitely the way to go.

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Back to School

School resumed this week. The kids were very excited to get back to see their friends and to have a change from being with me all day. We had a bit of an exciting beginning, I’d spent the whole holiday thinking that school went back on Tuesday. So we had a relaxed weekend, planning to spend Monday making sure everything was ready. Just before bed on Sunday a friend from Perth mentioned her kids were starting back on Monday, I just thought we were starting later because we are country folk. Then Monday morning, I wondered, so I checked last years newsletter, and surprise, surprise we were starting that day. So I roused the kids out of bed, and they rushed into their clothes, I packed their lunch boxes and off we went. Luckily everything except the tissue boxes was already organised. Monday I bought the tissues and they took them in on Tuesday.

They have all had a great first week, enjoying their new classrooms, with new expectations, and enjoying seeing all their friends. Amber and Lily are enjoying the new challenges of harder classes and higher expectations, Techno Boy is wishing he could spend his days at home, free to do as he wills. On Friday Techno Boy’s teacher pulled me aside in the playground to tell me that he had homework, apparently his teacher is very organised (yes I should have known as Amber had him for two years) and gave out homework on day one. Lily won’t be getting any homework until next Tuesday, and of course Amber in High School has homework from day one, but at least she does it (with a lot of prompting, she’d rather read).

Possum and I have been having lots of fun, going to the park each morning after we drop the kids off. I’m looking forward to flying start so he can have some structure every week. He loves it, and so do I. The biggest thing is that we miss the kids, it gets lonely during the daytime with just the two of us at home. Still we have lots of fun in the park and at the shops, but I’ve got to do some work sometimes, and he wants me to play with him as he misses is brother and sisters. Then they come home and just want to chill, and he’s excited to see them and wants to play. Hopefully we’ll sort this out soon.