DIY Dry Shampoo

When it comes right down to it, I can be a little lazy sometimes.

I am happy to make my own vegetable stock, soak and sprout lentils, make my own kimchi, and cook practically every meal of mine from scratch, but styling my hair everyday? Now that's a lot of work.

I can't be bothered with this. I mean, I have more important things to do. Like... watch my cats chase their tails. Or watch Arrested Development on Netflix. Or figure out how to make my own soap (someday!).

This is where a simple dry shampoo comes in.

Much to my surprise, my post on How to Wash Your Hair with Baking Soda and Vinegar has become the most popular post on this blog. Lots of readers have had great results with making the switch away from conventional shampoo, but some folks have struggled with an 'adjustment period' where their hair is a bit oilier than normal. This gave me the idea to create my own natural dry shampoo that could be used to keep hair looking fresh in-between washes as well as help folks transitioning to the 'no-(sham)poo' method.

It only requires two ingredients - which I'm pretty sure you already have in your kitchen. So, let's get started!

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How to Wash Your Hair with Baking Soda & Vinegar

Awhile back I blogged about the baking soda and vinegar hair care method and I wanted to give an updated post about this. Baking soda and vinegar is an incredibly simple and easy way to clean your hair without shampoo. Since I am always on a mission to reduce my exposure to potentially harmful chemicals and simplify my beauty routine, it felt right to be using a natural, time-tested method to clean my hair.

Now, you might be asking, what's so bad about shampoo? Shampoos can contain a lot of harmful ingredients. I am by no means an expert on this, but in my research, I've repeatedly found the worst chemical-offenders to be:

• Sodium Lauryl/Laureth Sulfate (used as a foaming agent in shampoo and is a possible carcinogen)
• DEA/Diethanolamine (an emulsifying agent that can create carginogenic compounds when combined with other chemicals found in personal care products)
• Parabens (used as preservatives to extend shelf life, but many of these chemicals have been linked to breast cancer)
• Fragrance (the word "fragrance" on a label can mean the presence of over 4,000 separate chemical ingredients; scary!)

When I found out what was really in shampoo a year and a half ago, I vowed to stop using it and so I switched to the baking soda and vinegar method.  This worked really well for about four months. Then I fell off the baking soda wagon.

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