PSA - hair and body products for chemically sensitive folks

I've noticed on some other threads that there are a number of people who are very health conscious and/or chemically sensitive, so I wanted to share a couple of recent discoveries...

I was just on a trip where I spent time in the homes of two friends who are extremely chemically sensitive, and while I have been able to eliminate most of the dangerous things from my clothes and body, hair products have been the trickiest. I found a recepie for a hair pomade that I tried (with a few tweaks) and not only did it work well in my super straight, thick, heavily processed hair, but also in my friend's thin, fine, curly hair! The only caveat is that while I can normally go about 4 days between washings, my hair was ready to wash after two because of the oils. Here is a link to the recepie: http://www.thankyourbody.com/d.....de-pomade/
These were my tweaks: I substituted the olive oil for a squirt of grape seed oil because I didn't want to use any yellow oils on my white hair. I also added an extra Tbs of beeswax (I ordered white organic bees wax off of Amazon instead of yellow) because I wanted a stiffer texture. And I left off the essential oil so there was no added scent. The product ended up with a very faint, yummy honey smell! It was also very hard when it dried - I have to scrape it out of the container with my fingernails, but it emulsifies immediately in my hands. On the hair, it feels very soft and pliable, but just gives a bit of separation to the pieces to keep the hair from looking dry and one dimensional. I have included a photo of my hair with this product in.

And as an added bonus, just because I'm excited about it, here is a link to an AMAZING natural deoderant that comes in unscented and lavendar. Over 2,000 reviews gave it 4.5 stars, and I have to say I agree! ALL DAY protection! I have never found this before in a natural deoderant (scented or unscented)
Green Tidings All Natural Deodorant *Extra Strength, All Day Protection* 2.7 oz Unscented https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00E.....OvbPFZW58R

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10 years ago

columbine(erin)

Veteran

Your hair looks fantastic! I really wondered what beeswax would look like on your light hair. Even light hairspray shows on my dark blonde hair. I may have to experiment!

SarahTheWhite

Columbine, I think the key was only using white bees wax and only colorless oils. Nothing shows. I hope you do try. It was really fun and I enjoyed the outcome.

Cococat

I really like the texture it gives your hair.

I was doing oil skin cleansing for a while. It wasn't because I had concerns about chemicals, but it was just something different I wanted to try. I like to try new things.

I imagined that it would be unpleasant to try to clean skin with oil but it felt surprisingly nice, and my skin felt great afterwards. I'm sure it would be good for people who are sensitive to some chemicals.

It's explained here. http://www.theoilcleansingmethod.com/

Great link CocoC. I know what you mean about how weird it sounds but I have also tried oil cleansing and I liked it. It doesn't seem like it should work but it really does!

Gigi

Yay for natural products! I have problems with chemicals and artificial fragrances and have to use natural products too. I recently bought a pomade from a company called Sevi, and it sounds similar to what you made: a hard waxy mixture that you have to scrape out. I've been experimenting with it and haven't yet figured out how much to use. How much did you use for your hair, and how did you apply it? Did you smooth it along the hair strands?

Gigi, what you found sounds great! I am still experimenting a little with amounts and application but I have found that it doesn't take much - less than a dime sized dollop. And then I rub my hands together and sort of lightly ruffle through my hair (like I'm messing it up) then just take a few strands here and there in my fingers and separate them out. I try to go lightly so as not to weigh down the hair too much...

lyn67

That sounds AND LOOKS all gorgeous:-) But I'm more intrigued about how could you achive (and maintain) that beautiful white hair(with no yellows in it!)? Can you tell us more about your hair dying and grooming techniques? I have a similar short cut now, but do have very fine, very thin and straight hair with no body or volume, and always strugle to achieve a modern, choppy and multidimensional look like yours:-)

Thank you, lyn67! So sweet of you! My natural hair color is somewhere between the darkest blonde and lightest brown. It took two full sessions of bleach (straight powdered bleach mixed with a developer) to get the color to come up white. It then had to have a purple toner put over to take out any remaining yellow. That was just over 6 years ago. From that point forward, I have had to go in every 4 weeks on the dot - I try not to deviate unless by a day or so. The roots are touched up with bleach at that 4 week appontment. Occasionally my hair starts to look less sharp and take on a little blonder/yellower cast, so on the next appointment I will ask for the bleach to be run through all of my hair. This only is done towards the end of the processing time and only left in a few minutes so my hair doesn't melt off! (I don't request this often - maybe only once or twice per year.) At these maintenance appointments, he also uses a toner to get the yellow out. It is amazing to wach the hair turn from a pale lemon to a silver white right before my eyes! I also get my hair trimmed at each of these monthly appointments. My hair does seem to like being beat up with the bleach - it tends to give it more body and ability to be molded into the style I want. Without the texture from the bleach, it would fall limply.

My at home maintenance regime is to wash my hair every two to four days (usually four). I use a regular shampoo of some sort, then I put in a mixture of half water, half distilled vinegar and leave it in a few minutes, then rinse out. I follow this up with a purple shampoo to keep out traces of yellow. (The vinegar rinse helps get out mineral deposits and old purple deposits from previous shampoos so that when I do the purple shampoo it is not adding purple on top of purple. That could lead to lavendar hair.) Sometimes I put in a leave-in conditioner and other times I don't condition at all. I then blow dry and put in product and don't have to touch it again (other than add a little product each day) for the next several days.

The short version is that I am VERY high maintenance! But staying on a strict routine makes it seem easy. It isn't cheap though. I spend about $150 per month. I have decided that it is worth it because my hair is like an outfit that I have to wear every single day. With that rationale, I feel like my hair budget should be more than my clothing budget...

I just had another thought, Lyn. If that sort of routine is too labor intensive or expensive, you could get a similar boost to the texture and volume by having heavy highlights out in. You can go longer between appointments that way, but can still get a boost to your fine hair. I used to that, and it worked really well!

Thanks for the info, Sarah! I think that I wasn't using enough (I was using only about a tenth of what you were using), so I was pulling apart my waves and creating frizz by trying to spread the very small amount throughout my hair. I'm going to try using more and see how it goes!

Sal

Your hair does look stunning and thanks for the explanation of how you achieve that. I have considered being a platinum/white blonde before and it sounds like our hair is naturally a similar colour. You carry it off so well.

rachylou

This is cool. I'm one of those sensitive peeps.

Thanx Sarah, for all the generous details here, wow, lots of work indeed, but totally worth it! Your hair is fab! You mentioned 2x the purple TONER. Can you pls. explain what exactly is that? We do have kind of a purple concentrate -it has to be diluted with some water(or hair lotion) to sprinkle on the hair after washing (and not! rinse out) it is that you are speaking about?(or we do have purple volume/styling mousse-thus not very efficient, either. Otherwise we do also have purple shampoos here for "the silver effect", but they really don't do me any job, as it has to be rinsed out in the end...

Lyn, that is a good question. I didn't explain the toner process very clearly. It is an extra step at the hair salon, after the bleach is rinsed out. The stylist mixes something up and applies it to the hair. After maybe 10-15 minutes, all of the yellow tones are gone from the hair. This is then rinsed out. It is only done once at every bleaching appointment. I do also use the purple shampoo you mentioned that rinses out. It seems to help me, but I think that it wouldn't do as much if I didn't get the toner process done every 4 weeks at the salon. I'm afraid that I don't know very much about exactly what it is or how it works...

Thanx Sarah, it seems they never treat me at the salon with a true toner---maybe someone else can clarify? Thanx again:-)

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