Just yaking about shampoo bars... And other ramblings

[kattymcgie]

So a few years ago I moved from a relatively humid part of Canada to very dry part. Which was as you can image was quite a transition for my skin and hair. My skin got climatized pretty soon after the move but my hair was never really "quite right". For the first year and a bit I had a huge bottle of chem-laden salon shampoo and conditioner, which then all of a sudden decided to stop working. My hair felt greasy and thin and well as having flakes on my scalp. For he next 6 months to a year I tried half a dozen different shampoos and the same thing happened. After a few weeks I would get an awful buildup along my scalp and gnarly unmanageable hair. I had a bottle of fairly natural shampoo and conditioner for a while which worked well but left my hair dry. Finally I started reading about no-poo and shampoo bars. I now use shampo bars (from various places including chagrin valley and various farmers markets) and occasionally use just baking soda. I always use an ACV rinse, spicing it up by occasionally adding essential oils, herbs and other things and maybe using organic argan oil or morroccan oil (not natural i know but its a good product). It has done wonders and I recommend specifically rosemary shampoo bars for brunettes in dry climates. My hair grows in thicker from using these more natural products and I have no dandruff or buildup. I can grow my hair long again and have it not look gross. Has anyone else noticed their hair grows in thicker and theres less hair loss in the shower and when brushing when you use natural hair care? The downside to having such thick hair now is when I go to get it cut I tell the stylist to schedule an extra 15 minutes. They usually appreciate the recommendation though. The other down side to thick hair in where I live is f***ing ticks! I was out in a lightly wooded area with a friend of mine the other day and we both got attacked by ticks (this year for some reason is awful for them in my region). I found one in my hair on the truck ride home, one in my coat the next day and yesterday I pulled one off my head (actually my friend did while I freaked out... I can't stand ticks).

So this brings me to my two questions for this comm... Do you have any hair rinse recipes you like to use and do you have any recommendations for natural ways to repel ticks? Yes, this is a very odd combination post ;)