No Poo: What I am Learning from being Frugal

I posted on October 7th that I was going to No Poo my hair (Use no shampoo) and see how it went. I am pretty pleased about it so far! Here are some of the things I have noticed so far…

What I Notice with No Poo #1: My Pompholyx is getting better

For those who don’t know what pompholyx is, it’s eczema on steroids attached to the bottom of your feet. They crack, bleed, itch and it feels like you are walking on hot coals. It hurts. It hurts BAD!

The next morning after my first No Poo experiment, I noticed that my feet weren’t burning as bad. Instead of my pompholyx looking flaming red and itching, it was a slight pink. For the first time in a LONG time, I can’t feel the annoying pompholyx on my feet.

What I Notice with No Poo #2: My Skin doesn’t itch as much

After each shower before No Poo, I would spend time itching incessantly and slathering myself with lotion to try and sooth my angry skin. Since I have done the No Poo thing, my skin is nowhere near as itchy as before. I am really starting to like this.

What I Notice with No Poo #3: I can brush my hair!

I am not sure why, but before No Poo, I couldn’t put a brush through my hair twice without my hair turning into a wreck in between brush strokes. I usually resorted to Pink Oil for my hair so I could untangle my hair and avoid breaking brushes. Now, I wait for my hair to dry and then brush it. I have to work out a few tangles but after that, the brush goes right through with no problems.

What I Notice with No Poo #4: My hair isn’t falling out

I am so used to clogging the drain with hair that it became a shower time routine to wrap in my robe and then fish the gobs of hair out of the bathtub. Since going No Poo, I noticed an incredible difference in the hair left over in the tub, or lack thereof. I am no longer worrying about whether or not I am going to go bald.

What I Notice with No Poo #5: My hair feels so much smoother

I didn’t expect this, but my hair feels SO much smoother; So much so that I can’t stop playing with my hair. I can’t help it. It just feels so good! I even have to put it in a ponytail so I will stop running my hands through it.

Is No Poo working?

Yes, I think it is. I am much happier without shampoo. I am using castile soap for my body wash and I have not used conditioner since my second hair wash. My hair feels so wonderful I can hardly believe it!

Any questions for me so far? I’ll post an update with your questions. I know there were a few but I wasn’t keeping notes. So ask away!

Hearing Aids: I can HEAR again!

After the Epidural Steroid Injection, I noticed I can't hear for anything. I was feeling conversationally deaf. Guess what!? I am. Oh...

So I went to costco and had a hearing test done. I am conversationally deaf if there is background noise. Now I have hearing aids and I can hear again! I thought the speaker on my phone was going out... no, it's my ears.

Just for fun... Here are 5 things I am getting used to with having hearing aids!

1. The Expense of Hearing Aids. My they were pricey! Overall, the rest of the accessories that go with it aren't too horrible (like  Hearing Aid Batteries, cleaning wipes and Hearing Aid Cleaning Brushes  but trying to get used to the fact that I am going to have to pay to hear... well, that's a little weird! I used affiliate links to show you the items I bought for mine.
2. The NOISE! I forgot how much noise there was before. Now I am walking around going "What was that noise?" LOL
3. Hearing Aids in my Ear! I am not used to having anything in my ear. This is taking some getting used to but it isn't too bad. It tickles sometimes though LOL.
4. I don't need an interpreter.  Before I left the house, I would make sure I had one of my kids with me so they could translate when I just couldn't make out what the person was saying. Now, they don't need to be with me. They can still go, but I can have a conversation with these hearing aids.
5. Learning ASL is still fun :) My kids and I have been learning ASL and using it. It was getting a little stressful HAVING to learn ASL because we couldn't communicate verbally. Now we can learn ASL because we WANT to learn it, not because we HAVE to learn it. It's a lot more fun now!

Overall, I am very pleased with them. Although I don't keep them in all waking hours like the lady said to. That gets annoying and I end up with a headache. I have to give my ears a break every now and then. But the best part is I CAN HEAR!

I will Heal my Back Injury Myself!

Over a year ago, I injured my back. It's a long story and some day I will sit down and type it out. For now, we'll just say I am trying to find a way to make my back better. My W-husband and I have put our thinking caps on and here is what we have come up with. (and by "we" I mean "mostly it was his idea" and sounds really good.

Back Injury Treatment Plan
I will start a treatment plan that includes:

• Deep Muscle Massage Cushion (OMG! it makes me cry like a little sissy)
• Heat therapy for my back (in small doses)
• Liquid Norwegian Cod Liver Oil (mine is mint flavored)
• Vitamin D-3 (I found some I can actually take!)
• EMU Oil
• Tiger balm arthritis rub 
• Two Old Goats Arthritis and Fibromyalgia Essential Lotion
• Gelatin
• Inversion table (to be delivered by the 24th)

How the Back Injury Treatment Plan went today

Deep muscle massage makes me cry but it does seem to help a little here and there. I have no idea if the part where I piss myself from the pain is normal but I plan on asking the doctor up here. I'll keep you updated. On an up-note: the massager has heat so I killed two birds with one stone.

I took Vitamin D tonight. I will take it every other night so I don't overdose. considering that I get almost no Vitamin D in my diet, I barely go out in the sun and my major source is mushrooms, I would have to work really hard at ODing on it but I figure I don't want to risk it.

The two rubs are different. The two old goats seems to help loosen up my wrist. I didn't try it on my back yet. I waited a while to try the Tiger Balm. That stuff burns! Let me reword that, when you hurt really bad, it burns. In the spots that don't hurt really bad, it feels really cool. I will start emu oil tomorrow.

Cod liver oil I tried twice today because it says to take it 1-3 times daily. Attempt 1: I spent the next 1/2 hour trying really hard not to projectile vomit. I ate a lot of honey sticks, cheese, Pepsi and pretty much anything I could find to help get that taste out of my mouth. I guess I should have known that mint flavored fish oil wasn't going to be tasty.

Attempt 2: I mixed gelatin in my coffee, chopped up 1/2 ounce of cheese, added some sugar to the gelatin coffee, added instant coffee to my coffee, gave myself a pep talk and tried to convince myself that I wanted to do this, pried my mouth open and finally dumped the oil in. I immediately swished my homemade coffee extract Jell-O around my mouth, ate some cheese and sucked on a spoon full of sugar. Note to self: when making coffee Jell-O, add lots of sugar!

The extra strong coffee definitely hides the taste. Now I am going to go brush my teeth and pray to God that I don't belch while I am doing that.

I'll keep you updated on our results.

I am not Shampooing my hair... ever again!

I like to plan ahead for everything, sometimes compulsively so. I'll be talking to my therapist about that tomorrow. Until then, I had this brilliant idea for series of blog posts! Things you can buy on food stamps (or mostly on food stamps). I mean, besides food. You know, like, deodorant, fabric softener, glass cleaner, hair cleaner, soft scrub and more stuff like that.

"OMG... Dotchi has lost her mind!"
I know you probably think I have lost my mind by now but stay with me. 

You call in insanity, I call it frugal!
You see, there are recipes online for making deodorant (and it works quite well), lotion, fabric softener and on and on. I thought it would be a great idea to share my frugal recipes with my blog readers as I experimented with new recipes and of course, use my old ones. 

"And what does this have to do with shampoo?"
One of the things I thought about was that I don't have a recipe for homemade shampoo. I was bummed so I went looking. Somehow I ended up with a recipe for deodorant. I love it! And I ended up with a new recipe for fabric softener. Once my washer is clean, I will let you know how it works. Then I ended up on another site. I can't remember what it was about but they linked to a site about going "no poo". Really. That's what they are calling this trend.

Yea. We are crazy in the US
Just in case you don't live in the US, let me explain something to you... Everyone I know washes their hair every day. I am not kidding. It's a social faux pas to go like... 48 hours without washing your hair. I am one of those weirdos that washes my hair about twice a week. Why? Because shampoo itches. If I have to suffer through washing my hair, it's not going to be every single day of wanting to rip my skin off. I'll be lazy about it and have "hair washing showers" and "happy showers".

No poo speaks to my frugal, non-itching, eco-friendly side
In that order... I am cheap, I am allergic to so many shampoos and I kind of have an eco-friendly bone wandering around somewhere in my body. Since I have no job, I won't be able to get a job and I am probably going to be broke for some time, I figured I would try this No poo method. After all  wouldn't it be nice to get out of the shower not itching and crying like a whining little girl?

My First Shampoo Free Hair Washing Shower
Ah, yes it was! Tonight I started my first experiment with the No Poo. I washed my hair with water and baking soda. Yep. That's it. I just rubbed it right in, let it sit while I cleaned my body with Dr Bonner's Organic Castile Peppermint Soap (say that three times fast!) because it feels quite nice! Then I rinsed my hair with water. I will be buying Apple Cider Vinegar soon so I can rinse my hair the way they suggest... but for now, I am quite happy. I had a hair washing shower and I am not itching incessantly! My hair doesn't stink and guess what, it looks fine.

I'll keep you updated on the progress of my No Poo experiment too! Along with the rest of the ingredients coming up this week. Until then, here is my hair before the first No Poo shower.

Unfortunately, this was the best picture. Ugh. 0.o

So far, my only word of advice is... keep your eyes closed when rinsing your hair. Baking soda in your eyes isn't as bad as shampoo, but it still stings!

To read the two week update, click here.

No, I don't have Meningitis. But thank you for your concern...

Background
A few days ago, my friend sent me links to articles about cases of meningitis that are linked to tainted batches of the steroid they use for Epidural Steroid Injections. Shortly after that, I got more emails and texts concerned about whether or not I might have gotten injected with a bad batch.

The Short Answer
No. But thank you to everyone who asked. I feel pretty good knowing that my friends and family keep me in mind. I love you all!

The Long Answer
My injection was done back in November 2011. The incubation period for Meningitis is 2-14 days (depending on what kind of meningitis you have). If I did get a bad batch, well, I am sure it would have shown up by now and I'd be in the hospital already. 

PLUS, all I had to do was Google which states that got the bad batches and I found this link from NPR. My state isn't on it. And even if it does eventually show up on it, well, my injection was almost a year ago. I think I'll be fine!