Can you tell I have girls?
Making: ...Homemade Honey Facial Cleanser.
... Experimenting with a homemade kids' shampoo. Ideally, using no shampoo at all (just warm water) is best for kids' hair, but I seem to have unusually filthy kids who delight in rubbing banana/ peanut butter/ playdoh through their hair, which means I need something stronger than just water to wash it out. Two of them also have curls which matt into dread locks if you look at them sideways, so I need to use a conditioner or detangler, but just shampooing is enough of a traumatic experience so I use a spray-on detangler at the moment, rather than prolong the agony in the bathtub by using a conditioner.
I tried going no 'poo with them (i.e. using bicarb soda) but I found that they really need the vinegar rinse afterwards to neutralise the bicarb (their hair ended up horribly knotty and scratchy), and since the 2 youngest don't even like water poured on their heads, trying to pour dilute vinegar was always going to be a recipe for disaster so I didn't even try.
Hence I'm now experimenting with homemade shampoos to see if I can find something mild that doesn't require a commercial conditioner or detangler afterwards. The recipe I'm going to try with them this week is based on herbal tea, so I've got a couple of sprigs of fresh rosemary steeping in a saucepan, and I will use that as the base. I'll post the recipe when I see how it works as I'm not following anything specific, just making it up as I go along.
In the Garden: Picking fresh herbs and kale for dinner.
Don't you love the bubbly, lumpy leaves of the tuscan kale?
Dinner: Spinach and ricotta pie using the kale instead of spinach, served with a greek salad.
12 comments:
Julie, that pie looks absolutely fantastic! Do you have the recipe? I don't have kale, but do have lots of spinach!
Gav
Disregard my previous comment. I should have paid closer attention and clicked on the link! Sorry.
Gav
Hi Gavin,
I do things like that all the time, LOL. Enjoy the pie, it's delish.
Cheers, Julie
What a gorgeous blog!
Thank you! Your blog will be a resource that I will enjoy coming back to & refer to on my green journey.
Thank you
Sarhn
www.greenerme.wordpress.com
P:S I am going to add you to my Australian Blogroll.
That pie looks amazing! I think I;ll have to try that! I have massive amounts of both kale and spinach.
Hi Sarhn,
Thanks :-) I've bookmarked your blog and will definitely be back later for a proper read of it, it looks great.
Hi Rachel,
It does look good doesn't it, LOL. It tasted good too :-) Have fun cooking!
Cheers, Julie
Hi Julie
I really enjoy your blog and have been inspired by you for a few weeks now. Think I found you through Rhonda at Down to Earth or Mel on Day to Day.
Anyway I am inspired to grow more veges organically and from seed. I have grown herbs for years but now want to take that further and grow organically from seed. It will come. We have virtually no backyard here so will stick with just some beans and tomatoes for this year until we finally move to somewhere with some yard.
Your piles of fabric inspired me a few weeks back. I visited Spotlight's $2 bargain table and came home with my own pile now being made into gorgeous ruffle skirts and twirly whirlies and some other things also. Love to see it all come to fruition.
Regarding shampooing hair. I recently discovered from my hairdresser that all our hair needs after washing is something acidic to snap shut the cuticles. As I am allergic to vinegar (not handy for cleaning :( ) I have started using lemon juice with great success for myself and my little girls. They seem to respond really well to it and love the fact their hair is now smooth and virtually knot free - usually.
We wash all our hair and bodies with a crystal wash called Deonat which we purchase from Golden Glow's website. I'll have to research whether I can make this myself.
Anyway thanks for your inspiration and I hope you find the lemon juice tip useful. I would be most honoured if you would like to visit my blog.
Cee
Hi Cee,
Thank you so much for your kind words - it's comments like yours that in turn inspire *me* to do what I do :-)
Thank you also for the lemon juice tip. Do you find that it lightens your girls' hair at all? I vaguely remember a friend used it in high school to give herself frosted tips, LOL. It make sense though. Do you use it as a rinse, or spray it on afterwards? I wonder if putting a dilute solution in a spray bottle would have the same effect, or would it need to be rinsed out afterwards because it's too sticky? It must smell nice and fresh!
I'm off now to check out your blog :-)
Cheers, Julie
Wonderful Julie. I am glad you are inspired.
I am afraid I can't help you much with the lemon juice idea as we have only just started a couple of weeks ago. I don't mind about the lightening though as both my girls hair is darkening as they get older so keeping some of those blonde highlights is lovely if that happens - for me too!! I love my natural blonde highlights!
My hairdresser did recommend that you could spray on some lemon juice but we didn't talk about the consequences of that. I am not spraying on simply because the recycled bottle I am using to store the lemon dilute allows it to drip out so we just drip it onto our hands and ease through the hair then rinse it out. I am not too concerned about how much rinsing happens as my hairdresser also told me that just washing with water will open up the what the acid needs to shut. So I am still a little confused but might try to talk more with my hairdresser next time she comes to trim us all.
We'll have to keep in touch about this one Julie. For the meantime, we are all really loving it. I am back to washing my hair only once per week as I did as a child and even then it sometimes doesn't feel it needs a wash!
Cheers
Cee
Hi Cee,
Yes I agree, I'll be interested to see how the lemon juice goes on my kids hair (if I can convince them to let me put it on their hair in the first place LOL). I am really keen on getting rid of anything commercially-produced on the girls.
Cheers, Julie
My suggestion for the girls hair is do what I use on myself - very slightly diluted vinegar in a spray bottle. I 'shampoo' using a bar of natural soap, then get out of the shower and spray my hair with the cider vinegar and brush it through. The water in my hair from washing it is enough to dilute it.
Hi Em,
Oh thanks for that, that sounds great. Very easy. It doesn't get sticky at all?
Cheers, Julie
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