Silicones,Sulfates and Oils what is a natural girl to do? part 1

Hello to all my lovely followers!

Today lets tackle the natural enemies of our curly hair. I am just joking of course! I will give you some information on these chemicals and my opinion and hopefully help you to come to an informative decision on the subject. Okay so I am pretty sure that you are hearing a lot of negative talk about silicone's and sulfates but sometimes its hard to get to the bottom of these opinions. Lets start at the top with sulfates. Sulfates can be found in shampoos they are a harsh cleaning agent that strips the hair of everything. Now if you are putting heavy products on your hair or using a conditioner with silicone's you will need to use a shampoo with sulfates in them because that is the only chemical that can get rid of silicone's. Sulfates cause the hair to be dry and brittle and will remove all oils from your hair natural and other wise. Now I don't suggest using products with sulfates because they strip your hair and I for one work too hard to keep my hair properly moisturized to have it stripped in one washing. Okay so now on to silicone's there are two types water soluble and non water soluble. For right now lets focus on non-water soluble. Silicone's can be found in conditioners and they coat the hair and like I stated before the only thing that can remove them are sulfates. In my personal opinion I don't want anything coating my hair because then it will not be able to absorb any of the oils that I put in my hair. At first silicone's make your hair look smooth and shiny but this is only temporary many people say that after awhile their hair looks dull. If you think back I am pretty sure that you can recall hearing some hair professional say that after awhile you need to change your shampoo and conditioner. This is because after time the silicone's will cause your hair to look dull and lifeless this happens because of product build up to be more specific silicone build up. Now some people use conditioners with silicone's and they don't have any problem. Non water soluble silicone's usually end in ane,cane,one,and cone. There are a lot of you who only co-wash (natural term for only washing with conditioner) if this is the case for you I don't recommend using a conditioner with silicone's. Water soluble silicone's have a PEG in front of them and they are safe to use in the co-washing process. I suggest before throwing away any of your products keep what works for you and your hair. Now that was a lot! I was going to cover oils but I think I will make that my next post because I have a lot of information on that as well. Please follow and comment and let me know what your take is on the whole silicone and sulfate debate.



Always,


Verano

Home made lavender shampoo

Hello my lovely followers

Okay so I am so excited that I just had to do a quick blog. I made some lavender shampoo a couple of days ago and used it today. You talking about something that was awesome when it first went on my head I could tell that it was going to fully moisturize and clean my hair. I got out of the shower and my hair was bouncy and clean without being stripped. I don't use shampoo I co-wash my hair (co-wash or no poo is a term used when naturals only use conditioners to wash their hair) but I wanted to give shampoo a try and ran across this recipe, it was such a pleasant surprise and not to mention totally relaxing because of the lavender. Unfortunately I did not jot down the website that I received this recipe from but a major shout out to whomever came up with this little piece of heaven for my hair! Try it out and see if you like it as always what works for me might not work for you but my motto is as long as it is a natural product there is nothing that could happen, other than I hate it or love it. The recipe is below please let me know if this works for you


Always,

Verano

Natural Shampoo Base

This is the base I use for making essential oil and spice shampoos. It makes 1/2 cup of concentrated shampoo.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup water

1/4 cup castile soap

1/2 teaspoon of (extra virgin) olive oil

Method:

Mix together all ingredients and place into shampoo bottle.

Lavender Shampoo

Lavender is an time honored aromatherapy treasure. It soothes an irritated scalp and stimulates the hair follicles. Lavender also aids in relaxation and feelings of well-being.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup fresh lavender

2 tablespoons of glycerin

1/2 cup Natural Shampoo Base

Essential Oils:

5 drops of lavender essential oil

Method:

Mix water and lavender together into a heavy bottom pot and bring to a boil.

Let boil gently for at least twenty minutes.

Let cool slightly and add basic shampoo mixture and glycerin slowly to herbal mixture.

Mix well.

Pour shampoo into container and let stand for a few days to allow the mixture to thicken.

Use as you would your regular shampoo.

 

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