Don't pooh-pooh going without shampoo

Even if you buy the cheapest store brand of shampoo, you're still paying.

Shampoo costs include:

• $1.50 or more at the store


• The damage the chemicals do to the planet


• the money it takes to remove those chemicals from the water to make it potable again


• The money it costs the recycle the bottle, if it's recyclable plastic


• The energy lost in manufacturing the package and product


• And the damage it does to your hair that makes you buy conditioner, starting the cycle all over again.

Yuck. But no one is stepping up to going shampoo-free either.
Except me.
The shampoo-free movement is gaining ground, and not through alienation of those around us. About six weeks ago, I decided on a whim to stop using shampoo. I read about it on the Angry Chicken blog, which included a link to a very handy blog entry that acts as a shampoo-free how-to.
The short version: You don't have to be a slave to the packaging and chemicals of commercial shampoo. People got along without it for centuries and were still pleasing enough to get mates.
The shampoo-free thing involves using baking soda - the environmentalist's friend - in lieu of shampoo. It's cheap, it's consistent, it's not tarted up. Then, I use apple cider vinegar as a conditioner, just like my mom and grandma did back when we thing people were just being frugal but they were also being green.
Follow the link I provided for a way better explanation of why you should do it and how you can do it.
A word of warning: For the first two weeks, your hair freaks out. It's like a meth addict going cold turkey. Your hair is addicted to the chemicals in shampoo and breaking that's going to be ugly before it gets pretty.
Not one of my co-workers has said, "What's up with your head?" so I think it's going OK. And the two co-workers who know what I'm doing said I pretty much look the same. (I did make one do a sniff test to disprove her theory that I would smell like vinegar.)
Now, of course, I'm going to feel like one bad hair day will make everyone think this green option is not an option.

The way I figure it, I'm:

• saving money.


• keeping the chemicals and packing out of the environment


• and staying away from the products that I frequently had allergic reactions too.

Nice.
For more, just Google "shampoo free" and "baking soda." You'll hear everyone's tales of success and get tips if you're having trouble breaking your addiction.
Have you gone poo-free? Am I behind on the curve?
Or do you think I'm a hellacious beast bent on destroying the one thing that elevates us about the rest of the animals? Sound off below.