1 week in - not looking back

As I return from my very warm beach vacation at the Cape, I feel I should probably write an update on how ditching the chemical products [experiment] is going. In a word - perfect.

You see, seven days in not using any commercial hair or skin products, I'm in love. I love my hair and my skin in more ways than I ever did before. I do have admit that I did use a good, all natural, organic shampoo and conditioner on day 3 to help my hair transition but then realized that it only needed a bit more of the vinegar rinse so it wasn't so dry. Once I had 'washed' and 'conditioned' my hair with baking soda, vinegar, essential oils and water for a few days, my hair promptly revealed years of heat damage [and probably shampoo stripping damage] that had been done to it over many, many years. This wasn't a problem - I used some coconut oil which helped the dry parts as the natural oils continued to travel down the length of my hair. As it turns out it didn't really need the avocado conditioner, so here I am on day 4 without using that and my hair feels great. Really thick, healthy [not at all greasy or smelly like some of you are probably thinking] and pretty stubborn to heat styling! I would consider this a pretty complete success at just a week in and would encourage any one to try it - what have you got to lose, really, except the chemicals that your skin absorbs. Oh, and by the way saw this news story while on vacation that babies are testing positive for pot because of the things used in baby shampoos like Aveeno and Johnson & Johnson. Food for thought for sure. Your skin really does absorb what you put on it! I have a really nice bottle of Vermont Soapworks baby shampoo to use on my little one while I find a good combo to make on my own. But the stuff has five ingredients, all natural oils!

The skin products continue to be unbelievable. My face feels better than it ever has, both clean and moisturized. I've pretty much figured out that coconut oil is good for moisturizing anything. Legs, under eyes, elbows, hair, the stuff is impressive. Although when it got to like 85 degrees at the Cape house, the solid oil turned in to a liquid. It was neat. I'm honestly trying to figure out a way to premix the honey/baking soda face wash. If I can, you may seem me selling it at the farmers' markets around next year.

So, what's next? We're working on formulating our own dish soap, laundry soap and hand soap. Hopefully a body wash. I'm going to also try and create my own essential oil perfumes. Stay tuned, more fun to come! Oh, and here's a few pics on day 2 and 6 of my hair! By day 6 I thought it really look pretty, thick and the ends looked better. Hard to tell probably just by the pics but I can definitely feel the difference.