Experiment time

[stellar_muddle]

What am I currently doing?

Hair
Daily: Unplait, run fingers through til the tangles come out. Replait or restrain in some manner. Easiest to sleep in plaited.
Weekly: Washed weekly - Initially lots of conditioner* on tail and up to neck, bit of shampoo on scalp. Rinse. Drown in apple cider vinegar (ACV) mix - ~1/2 c ACV, spoonful of honey in 500ml bottle which is filled with hot water in the shower and poured over. Slather in conditioner and leave for a while, and get on with washing rest of body. Run fingers through to detangle. Flinch slightly at size of hairballs. Rinse in cold water. Allow hair to dry naturally over next few hours - hair dryer produces PUFFBALL!!!.
Every couple of months: Henna. See LJ tags for details. Occasional self trim of ends when splits get annoying or ends get too dry. Occasional application of aloe vera to ends, but tend to forget.
Experiments:
Coconut oil on ends? Olive oil? Probably not crude...

Skin
Daily: Shower**. Currently washing with sorbelene soap-like stuff. Skin doesn't like this - ITCHY!!! No rash or anything, just ITCHY. Previous body wash (Purple stuff - ran out about Easter) didn't make itchy but isn't available any more. Current bodywash - itchy. Soap Z uses (basic stuff from Soap Shop in Belconnon Markets - smells nice and I like the oatmeal stuff :() - itches. Common ingredient in all but the purple stuff (of the ones which I have ingredient lists) is Sodium Lauryl Sulphate (SLS - stuff what acts as a surfactant and produces suds in a bunch of things from soaps to toothpaste and dishwashing liquid) which apparently can be a skin irritant in some people - mind you, just about anything can be a skin irritant for someone, especially if your google search leads you to the kookier "chemical free" sites***. This leads to...
Experiment:
Ditch SLS. Two ways to do that - find an SLS free soap or ditch the soap and just rinse with water. I am a cheap arse lazy bastard, so have just started on the second option. I already have enough fun and expense with getting aluminium free deodorants, and have enough fun going over the conditioner ingredients. Why not cut the fuss? So, if I get really grubby or icky, go with whatever soap is around (fingers crossed far less frequent use will calm things down) or keep an eye out for the SLS free stuff for occasional use only, otherwise, rinse with water and use flannel etc to scrub down.

Lets see how this goes. Suggestions from those who tend water only (at least wrt hair)?

NB This doesn't giving up on soap for basic hand washing. They don't get itchy and not spreading bugs in food prep etc is a good idea.

(But, cause I am occasionally evil and everyone likes footnotes :)
* Conditioner - avoiding silicon, -cones and other varnishes used to glue spit ends down. Luckily this can generally be done by giving up on the expensive conditioners and going for the cheaparse budget stuff. I'll take $1-2 per L if I am going to be slathering it on.
** Some people use caffiene to wake up in the mornings, I use a shower... and occasional Milo.
*** My rant on chemical free was a couple months ago. Suffice to say, if you wish to be chemical free, I will happily put a sticker on your back saying "Vacuum head" and kick you out the airlock to join the rest... Edit: Though as such, I probably shouldn't snap "No it isn't, it has substance" at the shop assistant going through their soap ingredients and insisting they are chemical free. After their sign for "chemical free" henna, they are 2 down on the three strikes and I am not buying there again after telling them so stakes. Nice smelling soaps though. Will save their SLS free olive oil soap for emergency grubbiness.

Comments

[thelancrewitch.livejournal.com]

SLS in shampoo also ends up with me getting an itchy, weepy, sore and generally revolting scalp. I gave up shampoo for a year and just used water, which was fine when it was short but I found got a bit tedious when it got longer as I was having to rinse every day. Eventually it still looked greasy however much I rinsed it, so I gave up and found some SLS-free shampoo, which I now use once a week. It starts getting lank after about four days so I start rinsing with water at that point. I think I will have to use alpha_angel's tips for the vinegar rinse.

I don't use anything on my face but water, but I have found that my body doesn't mind soap as much, so I use unfragranced, colour-free basic soap in the shower. I can use standard liquid handsoap on my hands okay too, even if it does have SLS.

[alpha-angel.livejournal.com]

If I'm not using soap I use 50/50 white vinegar and water mixture. Then because I don't like the smell of white vinegar I follow it up with an apple cider vinegar rinse - 1T of cider vinegar in a cup of chai tea with pinch of cloves and a teaspoon of honey - the honey is a great moisturiser.