Before you get your hopes up, I have nothing profound to say. But this post has literally taken me years to write. Years. I also want to say that I am not in any way affiliated with any of the companies or products I want to talk about. It's getting harder and harder these days to tell when a blog is just trying to sell you something, a fact that I find disturbing and frustrating. I am not. I just know so many of you, like me, are searching for healthier ways to live and part of that is purchasing and using products for our bodies that are produced ethically and with basic, pure, non toxic ingredients. So, I thought I'd share some of my experience with you.
Buying and using organic beauty care products is nothing new for me. In 1996 I took my first Tracker Class at Tom Brown's Wilderness Survival School and on the list of supplies to bring was 'biodegradable soap'. At the time I was 18 and had NO idea what that meant. I bought shampoos and soaps based on their price (cheap) and the smell (the fruitier the better). I walked into a local co-op, probably for my first time, to buy a soap that was biodegradable and went to my Tracker class with a bottle of Dr. Bronner's Castile Soap, nothing more. It's still one of my very favorite products and is the soap my whole family uses to wash our bodies. There is nothing more refreshing than soaking in a peppermint castile filled tub in the summer, nothing! We switch to the almond or hemp soap during the winter months. While castile soap has 1,000,000 uses and suggests using it as shampoo I could never use it on my hair. My hair would just feel gross, like straw.
Over the years, I have tried many, many "natural" and "healthy" hair products, most of which are really not that healthy at all and still contain a lot of harmful ingredients. Did you know that you can't just walk into a health food store or your local organic co-op and purchase a beauty product off the shelf assuming it doesn't contain very harmful chemicals? For years, I didn't. I guess I thought that they did the leg work to ensure that the natural products offered on the shelves were safer and less toxic than the ones we find at the regular grocery store. But, it's not always so. I would pay considerably more for some of these factoring in the 'leg work' value and always, always be disappointed with the way my hair looked or felt afterward not even knowing that they were still potentially just as toxic as any other product on top of it. So, eventually I just gave up. We started having lots of kids and going through lots of shampoo and I went the really lazy route, just buying what was on sale in the grocery store. I am embarrassed to show you this but this is what was in our shower just a few months ago.
{look familiar?}
To top it off, I was never happy with any of these products either. But I was addicted to them. My hair never looked great but the price was always right so that when I went past a shelf in the store I wouldn't hesitate to throw another bottle in my shopping cart if it might make my hair look good, you know that cycle. Somebody gets paid good money to figure out the price gap of disposable hair products.
I needed and wanted a simple and safe way to care for our hair! Why was it so complicated? All of a sudden I felt like I needed a degree in chemistry to decode the ingredients lists. So,I tried the apple cider vinegar rinse regiment that has been floating around for a while too. It only took a few tries to know that mixing those ingredients each time I washed my hair wasn't practical for a mom of three, the 'adjustment period' was stinky and my hair looked like I hadn't washed it in months. Yuck. It works for some people but taking a shower is supposed to be a relaxing part of my day and honestly, I didn't want to work so hard just to wash my hair. Other DIY beauty care ideas are appealing to me and popping up all over the blogosphere but here's the thing, I like buying beauty care products. There are very few things that I enjoy shopping for yarn, fabric, vintage, boots and beauty products. So while I know there are lots of great ideas floating around I am in the 'consumer' category here.Then months ago my friend, Rho, mentioned that she had been using J.R. Liggett's Shampoo Bar for years now. I had almost bought it several times in the health food store but always put it back because there was NO way a bar of soap could wash and condition my very thick, very long, wavy hair. No way. But she said she was using it for years, years people. I couldn't even use a bottle of shampoo until it was finished before it 'stopped working'. So, I shelled out my $6 for a tiny little bar of shampoo-and-conditioner-in-one hair soap. I'd been fooled before so why not? Well, my dear sweet blog friends, my search is OVER! OVER!
{hair heaven in a tiny little bar}
Since the very first time I washed my hair with this bar I have wanted to say something on the blog and to practically everyone I meet. But, I wanted to use it for a while to make sure it was good. That it wouldn't crap out like most shampoos. It doesn't. It's amazing. There are FIVE ingredients that make up this bar of soap and you know them all. Olive Oil, Castor Oil, Coconut Oil, Sodium Hydroxide (lye) and pure Spring Water. The one I just bought (pictured above) also has Tea Tree Oil and Hemp Oil added. It even comes in 100% plant based packaging that is entirely biodegradable. Crumple it up into a tiny little ball and throw it in your compost pile.
{look at all that plastic waste!}
Now look back at my first picture of all the bottles. My golly, that is a lot of waste. I feel so relieved. Now, everyone in my house uses this little bar. There are two products in our shower. This bar and a bottle of castile soap. Can you believe that? No clutter! All five of us have been using one bar for two months so far and it is only two thirds worn. I just bought the new one for our downstairs bathroom so we wouldn't have to remember to bring it down if we shower down there instead. And we aren't using any conditioner. None. You just don't need it. And you don't have to wash your hair ever day or even every other day. Really. There is nothing in your hair to make it feel dirty. The waxes and crap they put in mass market products weigh your hair down and make it feel like it needs another washing before it does. Let me just say that even when I was living in the cabin and didn't have running water I still washed my hair every single day. I am the kind of gal that has to shower every day, so when I say you don't have to wash your hair every day, I really mean it.
The texture of my hair is changing since I started using this bar. I sort of feel like I have baby hair again. It's lighter and softer. The only downside is that my hair just doesn't curl naturally anymore. But I think that has more to do with my age, the length, hormones and the coarse gray hair that is creeping in. I could also use a haircut I guess. But my hair seems healthier. I love it. Also, I wash my hair much more in the summer obviously, and I imagine that this bar will still keep it healthy even with very frequent washings. There's nothing in it to strip you hair or to build up in it.It just cleans your hair with simple ingredients. How about that!
I really hesitated even writing this post because even when I read it back it sounds a bit infomercial-ly. It's a long post for a bar of soap. But we are really careful about what we put into our bodies while at the same time being only sort-of careful about what we put on our bodies. It struck me as odd and so this year we made a family resolution to replace all of our 'mainstream' products with non-toxic ones. Body soap is easy. Shampoo, conditioner, deodorant, lotions, shaving cream etc are not. But we are determined to do it yet also not compromise on the quality and effectiveness of the product. Finding the J.R. Liggett's Shampoo Bar means that we just checked two major products off of our list and that feels really good. It turns out to be quite economical too since you are spending $6 for shampoo and conditioner and the bar lasts months.
But this soap has done so much more for me already. It would take me a very long time to wash and then condition my long hair. The rest of the family was always waiting for me to get ready. And showering with the Simonne and Vaughn in waiting was always a stressful production. Now I am done in 5 minutes and on to other things! Plus, I use the soap to wash my face too. It's so gentle, why not? And then there is the visual and physical clutter liberation! We are not polluting our bodies, cluttering up our home or adding any more plastic to the dump by using this bar of soap and that feels even better! It's my personal quest now to stock our home with non toxic beauty care products and I am so thankful for Rho's recommendation in this category that I wanted to pass it along as well.I hope that is ok.
**Just so you know our bathroom really is that slanted! I didn't even notice it until I was taking the pictures! It's not my photography skills. We just live in a really old house ;)
