Hair - Shampoo and conditioner can be replaced completely with baking soda. Actually, you will find you need less styling products as well. I usually don't style my hair. For 3 months now I have changed how I wash my hair by not using shampoo or conditioner. Shampoos strip your hair of their natural oils, oils which actually help your hair hold styles. Now for the first while it was weird to not have sudsing on my hair, and I felt like my scalp was overcompensating in the oil department, but now having had no shampoo for three months, I can honestly say this works well! My hair even has a little bit of a wave to it, it has more volume, and it holds ponytails better. No hair products. To do this, use baking soda mixed with water in an old shampoo bottle. Shake and apply to the roots of your head. Scrubbing well is difficult, but you really want to rinse it all out. Use apple cider vinegar on the tips of your hair as it helps repair any damage. A spritz bottle works nice for this. And don't worry about the smell, it rinses out completely.
Added bonus - not using shampoos and conditioners means having less chemicals, and xenoestrogens (you know, the ones that have caused an awareness for BPAs, but still manage to make it into most of our skin care products?) that are entering your body! And yes, your skin is an organ and will absorb a portion of what you put on it. And fragrances? Most of these are actually phthalates, which are a source of xenoestrogen (source - a book called 'Jump Off the Hormone Swing' by Lorraine Pintus... I highly recommend it!). I have a high sensitivity to fragrances and phthalates, so I have had to limit my exposure to them already. Doing the 'no shampoo' treatment has actually decreased my exposure even more! As for my eczema... still there, but not nearly as debilitating as it once was. And it just feels good knowing that I'm decreasing my kids exposure to xenoestrogens, which have been shown to cause problems with not only the feminine cycle, but have also decreased the testosterone in men...
Toiletries - You can also find recipes to make your own deodorant, toothpaste, etc. I haven't tried any of these yet. I'm hoping to start... mainly with toothpaste!
Razors - Did you know that you can save your razors and use them beyond what you normally do? When your razor starts to feel like it just isn't cutting it (snicker), just push it backwards over your arm. No kidding. Some would rather use a strip of leather specifically for this purpose, but my husband and I have been using our arms, since, you know, we have that readily available! ;) I am not even kidding you, since we started doing this, my husband has not needed to buy razors near as often. He used to go through one per week... two if he was stretching it. His last one has lasted over a month already. In other words... HALF the cost on razors, just by pushing it backwards on your arms once it starts feeling like it just isn't working for you. As for me... my razors last a REALLY long time. I think I've pushed this one over a year now. Not sure if that is amazing or kinda sad...
BONUS:
Sunscreen - This will probably throw some people off... but this is actually NOT a necessary purchase. There are parabins in sunscreen that are known carcinogens... and these parabins work in relation to the sun. What? Yeah... your sunscreen may actually be the one causing those strange marks on your skin that the doctor is a bit concerned over. I'm not kidding. I decided to forgo the sunscreen this year (using a hat instead... and the shade)... and I found another trick that I'm using to boost my natural SPF. No soap. You heard me. Instead of using soap over my whole body, I use it sparingly where needed. Otherwise, I use a scrubby to wash... without the body wash. And I noticed that my skin has upped its SPF. I usually burn so quick, and I haven't burned yet this year... and this weekend we were at the fair, in the sun, for hours at a time. My kids... they haven't burned either (only soap where necessary for them as well). Washing your body daily with soap actually burns out your skin (again, by stripping it of your body's natural oils which are produced to protect your skin). Yeah. So in addition to having a higher natural SPF, I also don't need moisturizers anymore! Ta DA!
Just as a side note, I've been learning more and more about how wonderfully God has designed our bodies through this process (and through the whole healing challenge... my eyes have been opened to more and more). To put it in a nutshell, here it is...
God's design is perfect.
Only in man's methods of trying to make things 'better than perfect' have we actually been causing more harm to our bodies than good. I could write an entire book on things I've found, from the way our bodies remove harmful substances, to the remineralizing of cavities in our teeth, all of which have been hindered by the very products that are supposed to 'make them work better'. Look up tooth remineralization and be amazed. Research our skin and it's oils and sit in awe. Then there are all the organs we cannot see, and the amazing things they do to make our bodies heal themselves. And why do our bodies need to heal themselves? Actually, most of the problem is found in our 'food products'... the ones that were processed by men to 'make them better'? Yeah. And the pesticides in our water and on our produce? That too. Then there are GMOs (one of the biggest reasons there is a much higher allergy rate to things like gluten and nuts than ever before), sugar (basically, look at this as though it is a drug... because it sure is treated like one in our bodies), soy products (xenoestrogen alert)... I could go on. Basically, I want to get back to doing things as naturally as possible lately. Back to what God made, not what Man made. I won't be doing this 100%, but definitely more than I used to.Oh, and if I could tell you one thing to NOT do... DO NOT consume any Aspartame (or Sucralose). Just... don't do it. Look it up, it is terrible. Oh, and since companies have figured out that consumers are figuring that out, they are changing the name that these man-made sweeteners are labelled as. I am not kidding you (don't believe me? Look that up too. I don't remember where I saw it, but I've seen it in a few places now).
Just a little food for thought... that I somehow decided should go on this 'Savings Sunday' post... cause it's a Wednesday, not a Sunday, and I'm weird like that! ;)
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