Baking Soda as shampoo

Image courtesy of babble.com

This weekend, I had to do a sleep study, required by my doctor after my nose surgery. I refused to take a picture of myself at this study because I was loaded down with sensors all over my body most of which were placed in my hair! yuck! Every time I touched my head I was just disgusted.

When I was about to leave I asked the sleep technician if she had any recommendations on how to remove the waxy substance from my hair. Her recommendation; stand in a warm shower and let it melt out. Internally I thought, I have a 19 month old, I can't remember the last time I got to sit in the shower for a prolonged period of time... That is not going to work. I figure now would be a great time to try out the baking soda as shampoo technique.

I grabbed my baking soda and what I thought was my olive oil, a few days later realized I had actually grabbed canola oil. I headed to the shower to get this mess out of my hair. I put the baking soda in my hand added a little bit of water and made a paste. This mound of soda in my hand did not go very far at all. I decided I need to mix it with my shampoo so I could get some distance out of this mixture; after all I have a LOT of hair! It is not only extremely thick, it is also fine, and is considered a long length. So, I got at it again. I am really working the mixture into my waxy areas, it is working!!!!!! the Waxy substance is starting to slide down my hair and "melt" away! Wonderful! So I grab more shampoo and add more baking soda, because wow, the baking soda really absorbs the shampoo. About five minutes later I have the wax out of my hair! Amazing! However, my hair feels really stripped of its natural oils. I do not like this feeling, the hair feels dry and brittle. So I grab the oil, and go to town on the ends of my hair, wow, it did not go very far.... Or my hair is just that dry after the baking soda. So I grab more oil... go for more oil... then after five attempts to put the oil into the ends of my hair, I give up, and reach for my conditioner.

I rinse the conditioner out of my hair pretty quickly because I did not want to overdue it and weigh down my hair. I get out of the shower and start to dry my hair. It is so dry, I am sad. So after stressing my hair out enough for the day, I pull it up into a bun and go on my mary way. I was out in the elements all day that day and so on Sunday I figured it would be ok to wash my hair again. This time, no baking soda, first I didn't like the results and second, I had to use the whole blasted container! Back to my trusty Redkin shampoo and conditioner! My hair is almost back to normal.

I personally do not like the baking soda shampoo techqnique. I did find it effective, if you have a serious buildup going on, give it a whirl, be prepared for your hair to freak out for the next few days. I personally think it would be way to expensive to do it everyday. It stripped my hair which I had already gotten to a really great place by not washing it everyday, and my redkin shampoo helps remove buildup so my hair is pretty healthy. I did however discover that baking soda as an exfoliator, not to shabby! I would recommend being extra gentle with your rubbing technique, do not overdue it, and be conservative, max I would do it is twice a week.

My bottomline opionin - use the good stuff that is made specifically for your hair!