Frugal Friday

[ecosophia]

Welcome back to Frugal Friday!  This is a weekly forum post to encourage people to share tips on saving money, especially but not only by doing stuff yourself. A new post will be going up every Friday, and will remain active until the next one goes up. Contributions will be moderated, of course, and I have some simple rules to offer, which may change as we proceed.

Rule #1:  this is a place for polite, friendly conversations about how to save money in difficult times. It's not a place to post news, views, rants, or emotional outbursts about the reasons why the times are difficult and saving money is necessary. Nor is it a place to use a money saving tip to smuggle in news, views, etc.  I have a delete button and I'm not afraid to use it.

Rule #2:  this is not a place for you to sell goods or services, period. Here again, I have a delete button and I'm not afraid to use it.

Rule #3:  please keep it to one tip per person per week. Data dumps are tedious for me to moderate and also for readers to use. If you have lots of tips, great -- post one per week. This is an ongoing project. If you want to comment on someone else's tip, that's welcome, but again, don't use that as an excuse to post a second, unrelated tip of your own.

Rule #4:  please keep your contributions reasonably short -- say, 500 words or less. If you have something longer to say, please post it elsewhere -- a free Dreamwidth account is one option -- and simply put a link here. Teal deer comments won't be put through.

Rule #5:  please give your tip a heading that explains briefly what it's about.  Homemade Chicken Soup, Garden Containers, Cheap Attic Insulation, and Vinegar Cleans Windows are good examples of headings. That way people can find the things that are relevant for them. If you don't put a heading on your tip it will be deleted.

Rule #6: don't post anything that would amount to advocating criminal activity. Any such suggestions will not be put through.

With that said, have at it!

Comments

Re: Are you using too much soap?

[(Anonymous)]

Can you detail how you do the "soak with apple cider vinegar to exfoliate the scalp"? I use a very gentle shampoo bar once a week, and have to condition after, and I still get itchy, scaly scalp from time to time. I'd be very interested in how to go further to restore my hair to not needing shampoo at all, but it is *so oily* that if I don't wash it at least once a week I can give myself a near permanent mohawk from natural oils alone.

What's the transition process from this to shiny no-poo joy?

Re: Are you using too much soap?

[hearthculture]

Time. For me, I did no-poo for a while and then (couple years ago) used shampoo after a particularly dirty job; took weeks to get back to balanced state of oils. My technique was to start with a daily rinse with vigorous towel drying (nearly wiping off the hair,) and then every three days or so, I'd "wash"with diluted apple cider vinegar (quarter mason jar with water added then pour over hair and vigorously scrub scalp with fingers.) Then I crank that back to a rinse and towel every 2-3 days, and acv wash. When it stabilizes after a month or two, I can rinse and towel every 4-6 days and acv rinse every 7-10. This is when I'm working indoors, obviously those increase when I'm sweating or doing dirty work.

Re: Are you using too much soap?

[methylethyl]

I second that question. I have the opposite problem-- where oil is concerned, I only need to wash my hair about once a week, but to avoid scalp issues, it ends up being twice. Doesn't actually matter what it looks like-- nobody sees it outside my house-- but itchy scalp is not OK. So if there's a solution-- do tell!

Re: Are you using too much soap?

[(Anonymous)]

OP here. The ACV actually controls the itching, as well as a good rough brushing. When I said that it takes a while to revert to normal I was referring to that "oily" condition. Soaps are alkaline and strip the natural protective oils from the hair and scalp, thus the body goes into overdrive.

Conditioners are basically silicon ('cause it's cheap) which messes up a lot of stuff. I would recommend a couple of drops of a vegetable oil on wet towel dried hair. Caster bean oil is amazing stuff, thick, and slippery it absorbs totally. I've read that in parts of Africa it is used to promote hair growth. I have straight(ish) hair so by now I don't need the oil.

Re: Are you using too much soap?

[(Anonymous)]

So... we are talking about scrubbing vinegar, or dilute vinegar, into the scalp? How often? Do you rinse it out after or let it sit? What concentration? And then afterward a vigorous brushing? Is that while the hair is wet or after it dries?