A Scarf and Some Carrot Shampoo

I made a spur-of-the-moment scarf today. I was sitting on my bed and noticed this white chunky yarn with silver specks in it. I used it to make the star on our Christmas tree and I was thinking I don't know what I'll ever use it for again. That's when I decided to make a scarf with it! It's as simple as can be, and I love how it turned out! You can wear it down, like a necklace, or fold it around again. I like it both ways. I'm going to give it to a friend, as a Christmas gift.

(the color in the pictures is off. The yarn is bright white)

Here's what I did:

Ch 62. Turn.

Row 1: dc into 3rd ch from hook. dc into each st across. (60 dc)

Row 2: Ch 2 (counts as first dc). Turn. dc across. (60 dc)

Row 3-8: Repeat row 2. Fasten off.

Attach both short ends together to make one big loop.

(also, since I was taking pictures of this scarf, I decided to just slip on the circle scarf I made the other day and get a better picture of it. you can actually see what it looks like now. go HERE)

And in other news, as I mentioned before, I've been trying to decide where to go from here with my hair. I was planning on making some shampoo myself, with a recipe I got from a friend, but I was having a hard time getting to the health food store. One day, I was wandering around Target (when I was shopping for Griffy's teacher gift) and I happened across this shampoo, without even looking. I felt like it was the answer to my hair dilemma.

I can't tell you how good it feels to have CLEAN hair!!!! And it feels good to know I'm not going all the way back to my old ways. It's a nice, happy medium. I'm still going to wash every FEW days, but I'll use this [mostly] organic shampoo instead of baking soda (boo!). I'm also still not using any additional products. And, guess what! My hair is holding curl still. AH, the best of both worlds! Clean AND manageable. Hallelujah!

No 'Poo Challenge: DAY 23!!!

I did it! I reached my goal of not using shampoo for three weeks. Some days were easier than others, but I made it.

I'm still trying to decide where I want to go from here. After all that work, I don't know if I want to go back to my old ways of shampooing daily or every other day, but I'm not loving the waxy build-up that I get with using the baking soda. I also feel very accomplished to have gone this long without using a single product on my hair!

I DID end up washing with applesauce on Wednesday and it really helped. My hair felt much softer and cleaner than it ever has with baking soda. For about a day, my scalp looked a little flaky, but it got better after that. This picture was taken the next day. Once again, I used the no heat curl. You can find the tutorial here, at The Paper Mama. I've become a big fan of this hair style.

You can use regular store-bought applesauce, but I made my own. It's very simple:

Set the oven to 350 F.

peel and core two apples

Put them in an oven-safe dish along with 1/8 cup water, and bake for 15 minutes.

Run in the food processor until smooth.

Then you just use it in the shower, the same way you would with shampoo, being sure to rinse out as well as possible.

I used all of this in the shower, but I think you could EASILY split it between two showers.

Put half of it in the fridge and use a few days later.

ps don't forget to enter our giveaway!!

hats are my friend

Okay soooooooooo, this no 'poo challenge is getting difficult. It's DAY 17!

I feel yucky.

I didn't think through this very well. I had to show up at the fire station (where my husband works) for Thanksgiving, looking like a grease ball. I wanted to wear a hat but thought that might be rude, so I opted for the ever so popular bun.

I felt disgusting.

Now we've got church tomorrow and Christmas is coming so we need to do family pictures. . . . not really the best time to have a constant bad hair day.

So lately I either wear my hair in a bun or a hat. It's starting to look really piece-y, so even a hat doesn't hide it. Just look at these pictures I took today. You can still see how bad my hair looks, even if most of it is covered.

I tried to do the no heat curl for Thanksgiving but it just looked stringy so up in a bun it went.

Well, I'm still not going to give up. I've come this far and I need to finish. I only have 4 more days until I reach my 21 day goal, but I don't really want to stop until I see results, so I might try an applesauce wash. I'm just worried about being 'flaky' afterwards.

sigh.

What to do, what to do? We shall see.

Sare and I are working on our giveaway. I think we should be ready in a couple more days! Get excited people! Get REALLY excited. ; )

Bow Headband

I started teaching a friend how to crochet and it made me really antsy to start more projects, so I made this headband last night.

When I decide on a project, I have to make it RIGHT THEN, so I used my yellow Vanna's Choice yarn I had on hand. I'd like to make some other colors though, and maybe a matching one for baby Penelope. I love how it turned out. It'll be great for an ear warmer in the snowy months.

As for the No 'Poo Challenge, I'm still finding things to be happy about. Like I said before, my hair is definitely feeling greasy, but I'll take that as opposed to how it usually is when I wash with shampoo- flat, lifeless, and completely unmanageable.

My hair has a lot more body and is 10 times more manageable than it's ever been!!

I'm on DAY 11 and I'm going for at least 21 days (more, if it the greasiness starts diminishing).

And one more thing- sorry my pictures are always such horrible quality. I always take pictures at night, in my windowless bathroom, after the kids go to sleep, so this is the result. I'd love to take beautiful pictures outdoors, in the daylight, in a pretty setting, but just don't have the time for that. Or the energy to wrestle three kids. Maybe one of these days. . .

Dirty hair is better than clean hair

Okay, maybe that's not exactly true, but I haven't washed my hair (with shampoo) for a week, and it sure does SEEM better than before.

I've had a few ups and downs with how I feel about the no 'poo challenge, but today has been an UP.

In my last post I voiced a concern about what I was going to do with my hair for church.

I also mentioned the No-Heat Curl tutorial, on The Paper Mama. Like I said, I've tried the no-heat curl before, but not since starting my no 'poo adventure. After posting that last night, I decided I might as well try it again for church. I figured curling my hair would be the perfect way to cover up the greasiness, since I can't wear a hat or anything. And it would give it a little extra body, instead of sticking to my head.

OH. MY.

I LOVE LOVE LOVED the result and I was so surprised. I expected to wake up on Sunday morning and have a really hard time getting ready, but it ended up being a breeze.

I was in a rush to get out the door this morning (as ALWAYS, on Sundays), so I quickly snapped a shot of myself in the boys' dirty dirty bathroom mirror, but you get the idea.

Now, to understand why I'm so excited about this, you need to know the nature of my hair. USUALLY, when I curl my hair, it falls 15 minutes later. No joke. As a matter of fact, the only other time I've used this no-heat method to curl my hair, that's exactly what happened. And I spray a whole lot of hairspray on it, too. I've tried curling clean hair, dirty hair, using gel, hairspray, surf spray, curling irons, hot rollers, velcro rollers, sponge rollers, leaving it over night, etc. NOTHING EVER WORKS.

SO, you can imagine my surprise when I decided to use a NO HEAT method of curling my hair, without using ANY product, and it actually WORKED! AND it was still just as curly after 3 hours of church and still hasn't fallen.

I did not put one product in my hair!! Like I said in the video yesterday, the natural oils in my hair ACT as product, without having to use any.

Last night, I took it out of the bun I had it in, brushed through it, gave it a side part, put a stretchy headband on and twisted the hair around the headband like she does in her video. Then I went to sleep. I woke up, took out the headband, and brushed through my hair. I pinned the top back (because the crown is too greasy to wear down, I think), and that's all it needed! It took all of five minutes to complete!

after church:

Just the same as before church.

I have a BIG smile on my face right now. I feel like I've made a wonderful discovery. I like fixing my hair and trying new hairstyles, but it's usually a lot more time consuming than this. Not to mention the little fact that I didn't have to damage my hair in any way to get results. No heat, no chemicals. Pretty awesome if you ask me.

I'm quickly becoming a huge no 'poo advocate!!

No 'Poo Challenge: An Update

So today makes DAY 5 of not using shampoo and I am definitely feeling like a grease ball, but it'll all be worth it when I look in the mirror and see soft, shiny hair, full of the body I never knew I could have!!

Because that's what's going to happen, RIGHT??

Until that day, I'll continue finding ways to hide my hideous, 'in-between stage', hair. I find that I prefer hats when the crown of my head is REALLY greasy (like the second day after washing with BS) and buns ON the days of the BS wash, like today. I don't know WHAT I'm going to do for church tomorrow. Should be interesting.

HATS:

BUNS:

SCARVES:

links:

sock bun tutorial on Cheeky Chicago

head scarf tutorial on Keiko Lynn

no heat curl on The Paper Mama

(I've tried this, but not since switching to no 'poo, so I'm not sure what it would look like. worth a try, though)

Crunchy Betty Blog

Okay, some of you may think I'm a liiiiittle crazy, and maybe I am, but I'm going to stop using shampoo. You heard me! I'm not using shampoo anymore!

'Why', you might ask? Because it sounds so crazy that it JUST might work, that's why.

I'm not a huge fan of my hair as it is, so when I read on Crunchy Betty (which I'm mildly obsessed with at the moment) that there was such a thing as not using shampoo, and getting prettier hair, I was on board. I've read a lot about it in a short amount of time and have to admit that I'm scared. MOST of the reviews I read were GOOD, but there are always the horror stories. If you'd like to join me, I'll be doing updates on the blog. Click here for Crunchy Betty's instructions.

(I have to say, I felt like the biggest DORK sitting in my bathroom, talking to a camera. Hopefully I get a little more comfortable with it, the more I do it.)