It really did. Keith read somewhere one day in December last year that fluoride in toothpaste is actually a poison. And found out they used it in WWII I believe (don't quote me on which war, can't remember) anyway I didn't think much about it. I mean they sell it at HEB, how harmful could it really be? Well, it actually says that you can't swallow it and if you do you should contact poison control. So, we decide to switch to non-fluoride toothpaste and found that it was more expensive plus it still had stuff in it that we didn't really know what it was. I decided to look up homemade recipes for toothpaste since I'm really into "homemade" and found that they used to use just plain ole baking soda. Well, baking soda taste horrible by itself so I found a recipe of equal parts baking soda and coconut oil, plus stevia (if you like a sweeter toothpaste, which I do) and peppermint essential oil. I mixed it up and I'll admit, it took a little to get used to it but I really like it now and love the fact that I know what each ingredient is and it's okay if the girls get into.
Now, stay with me, we're about to get to the whole hair thing. Last year in March, right before I had Kayleigh, I chopped off my hair pretty short and decided after Kayleigh was born that I wasn't going to "cut" it (trim, yes, chop off again, no) again for a year. Well, growing your hair out is NOT easy as most of us know. I made it till about December and I was getting tired of washing, conditioning, blow drying, and straightening just to turn around and do it all again in a couple of days. So, since my hair is naturally wavy I would sometimes go all natural which still consisted of about the same process; wash, condition, air dry for 45 minutes then blow dry and scrunch, scrunch, scrunch. Which was a little easier but once I slept on it it was a pain in the butt to get it to look decent again even though I got a lot of compliments on it. So I decided to look on Pinterest for any curly hair tips and came across a girl who had tried the curly girl method. I read what she did and decided to do a 6 week trial period. I was growing it out anyway so what would it hurt? I didn't really care if I had bad hair days (there is a transition period where your hair's natural oils have to adjust), I was having those anyway. I tried it and it wasn't too bad. I have pretty dry hair to begin with. This is the blog http://www.andreasteed.com/node/1296 I read and decided to try out. It basically explains the curly girl method. This site also has info about curly girl and sulfates http://www.oneshetwoshe.com/2010/07/no-poo-your-hair-she-kate-p.html. While doing the curly girl method, I continued my search for other ways to treat my crazy hair and came across a ton of info which I will be sharing with you (this is the point after all). I read this ladies blog http://www.loving-it-raw.com/no-poo.html about going no-poo, which I had NO clue what that meant but it basically means you use baking soda and apple cider vinegar. So after trying the curly girl method for about 6 weeks, which was my goal, I decided I really didn't care for it. I felt like my hair was always greasy and it didn't allow me to have much volume which I wanted with my curly hair so my next trial was going to be the baking soda and apple cider vinegar. Boy was that an experience! The first time I tried it I think I used too much baking soda to water ratio and my hair was seriously fluffy. It was pretty funny. Then my "conditioner" was the apple cider vinegar rinse which smelled horrible! But I stuck with that for a while too. After all was said and done I did about a 4 month trial period on my hair trying to figure out what would work best so, if you saw me during that time and thought my hair looked horrible, that's why ;) Anyway, after reading the lady's no-poo blog I decided to do my own research about sulfates and found a wealth of information that was actually quite startling. I couldn't believe that sulfates, which are in almost every shampoo, are such a harsh chemical. This site http://killerstrands.blogspot.com/2008/01/sulfate-free-shampoo-list.html explained about sulfates and the bubbles and foaming we've all come to love. I must admit though, that through everything I'm still addicted to the bubbles. That was one of the biggest things I hated about the no-poo method, that and the smell of that vinegar. Here's another link to some very helpful info http://www.im-fabulous.com/Why-Sodium-LaurylLaureth-Sulfate-is-BAD-for-your-hair_b_17.html. After reading all of this info I also learned about dimethecone. The point of this blog is so you will understand that sulfates and dimethicones are evil and very bad for your hair but they are in EVERYTHING! This site had some info about silicones and dimethicones http://blackstrands.wordpress.com/2009/02/17/silicones-and-your-hair-the-good-and-the-bad/. Basically, you have your shampoo which is full of cheap and harmful sulfates (sulfates are connected to hair loss) and you've got your conditioner which is full of dimethicones. BUT lets say you decided to switch to sulfate free shampoo, well you can't do that unless you get rid of the dimethicones because the only way to get rid of dimethicones in your hair is to use sulfate, talk about an evil cycle. So, when you shampoo, the sulfate strips your hair of every natural oil it needs, then you replace it with the dimethicone which is basically a plastic coating, like armor-all, on your hair which allows no moisture to penetrate through, sounds lovely doesn't it. After reading all this, I was shocked but still not sure about making such a huge change. I mean, if I did that meant I would have to accept my hair in its natural form most of the time. This man's information though really helped, it was so informative http://blog.christopherdrummond.com/2008/06/dimethicone.html. After reading this and everything else, I made the switch and got rid of my shampoo and everything that had dimethicones in it. And you would not believe how much stuff that was! Next time you're doing you beauty regime in the morning, look at the ingredient list. You will continually find sulfate and dimethicones listed on almost everything. After reading about the dimethicone and how it was like plastic it was no wonder I had acne for so long. It was in my moisturizers, my make up, everything! Nothing like sealing your face with plastic that doesn't allow anything good in and nothing out; think about it, you face can't breathe! I was so upset that it had taken me this long to figure all this out.
My beauty regime has made a 360, as well as the girls and the beast ;) and it's really working well for us. I'm making my own lotions now, I've fallen madly in love with Dr. Bronner's which can be used on anything and everything. And you're probably wondering what I do with my hair now. Well, I made it the year without chopping it all off but a month later it came off quickly. I have found I hate long hair plus mine was froing out. So now it's short and so much easier. We use an organic shampoo and conditioner that works great for us (and I still get my beloved bubbles). I also use hair gel, mousse and hair spray, all of which are dimeithcone free. Here is a great list of which "cones" are good and which are bad http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=17410. Basically, what you want it a "cone" that is water soluble, meaning it will come out with water alone. I actually really love my hair now. I think it appreciates the switches I've made and is curlier than ever now!
I really hope this has been as informative and helpful for you as it was for me. I know it was really long but hey, there's a lot of info that needs to be said so that you can be informed. Any questions, feel free to ask :) In my next blog I'll probably share the recipes I've tried for homemade lotion bars and homemade sunscreen. My oldest has incredibly sensitive skin and eczema and the homemade lotion bars have worked wonderful and she rarely has any break outs. I haven't tried the homemade sunscreen yet but I'll let you know how it goes in the next blog!!
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