Alternative hair and skin is a big business. People sell books and sell stuff. Some use scare tactics saying that some common ingredients are very bad. Some just appeal to those organic people that what you don't eat shouldn't put on your skin and hair.
Those are long stories. The problem is, you find the same home made receipts all over. I bet most promoters didn't try it themselves, not to say if they ever rely on the alternative stuff long term. I bet even authors will use the most expensive shampoo and conditioner when they have to appear in public. Those with good results are hardly applicable to many other people.
By engineering approach I mean looking into cost, and time. Tell a man to do an oil treatment every few days! Also, what's the long term effect? What can go wrong?
Some receipts are hardly practical. A few dollar a bottle of shampoo and it lasts for months. No hassle. If you are afraid, try to buy expensive ones with mostly good ingredients. So I almost gave up. But I am interested in answering the question - are the skin and hair care company selling you a big lie? That you hardly need any shampoo, or at least much cheaper.
Friday, January 25, 2013
Monday, December 24, 2012
It's so easy: fix your misaligned door and jammed locks
Keywords: deadbolt / door latch misalignment, door gap
It's not even New Year resolution because I did it.
My entry door lock jammed because a plastic component inside chipped off. I wanted to replace it long ago. But either I have to change all the locks, re-key the new lock, or carry two keys.
Worse, my entry lock has a deadbolt and lock in one piece. There is no obvious replacement in the local hardware stores. I can do away with the deadbolt because I have another separate one.
Without direct replacement, I hate to repaint the door. I would have replaced the door if the dimension is standard. A beautiful lock on a beaten old door isn't sensible.
There is a new smartkey system that you can rekey in no time. I don't know if it will work for my old key. Anyway, I found out that it's easily breakable, at least if you follow the instructions in Youtube.
At the end, I fixed the lock by stuffing strips from cardboards into it. That limits the trajectory of the broken plastic piece so it won't run off the rails. It's not a security risk. It just won't jam.
The bigger problem is the door. It's heavy, in bad shape near the bottom due to weather, and badly misaligned that you can feel the chill when there is wind.
I always thought it's a two men job at least for the realignment. And you have to be precise - need good power tools to drill precision holes next to old holes, which is rather impossible.
I found out that I was totally wrong when I tried out some of the instructions on the Internet, which tell me to use index cards or cardboard strips to fix alignments. I wasn't hoping much but try it anyway. It's so easy and let me explain.
You don't need to take out all the hinges. You don't need to drill new holes. You don't need help. It takes may be 5 minutes. No more wind blowing from outside the front door. No more enlarging the deadbolt strike hole again and again.
Typically an old door like to "fall" down. At the opening SIDE of the door, there will be a gap near the bottom. The gap will be larger at the bottom than at the top. There will be gaps at the top and bottom but that will be confusing you. Just look at the side of the door, and not the hinged side.
All you need to do is to unscrew some of the screws at the bottom hinge and screw them back, plus some trivial adjustments. 5 minutes or less.
First check if all the screws in all the hinges are tight. Replace any broken screws or loose screws with slightly larger sizes. You may not need to do anything else. Otherwise go on.
Open the door and support the door with stack of wooden shims at the opening corner.
Unscrew only the bottom hinge, and only the screws attached to the door, NOT the door frame. It should be easy to unscrew screws in an old wooden door. No power tools needed. Just be careful not to break the old screws.
Pry the hinge from the door using a screw driver. It should be easy unless you don't want any minute scratches on your old door.
If you can feel wind through the gaps, and deadbolts cannot get into the strikes, use thin pizza boxes in the following. For lesser misalignment, use index cards or nothing at all. For anything, you can always use two stacked together.
Cut the cardboard or index card the same size as the hinge plate on the door. It does not need to be precise as long as it can fit under the hinge plate and cover most of it. Just cut with scissor free hand.
Put the strip of cardboard under the hinge plate, and screw the hinge plate back as it was.
You door is fixed. If you still have significant gaps, use thicker materials or two of the same. If you cannot close the door, use thinner materials.
That's it. Why nobody told me since 10 years ago?
Update: The cardboard filler plate got compressed and I need to replace it every few months to a year or so. Also, the required thickness seems to be increasing and I need to use two cardboard thick and them some.
I thought of using hard plastic or metal instead but you need to saw, drill to match the hinge. The desired thickness is hard to match.
It's not a bad method nor it fails totally, but I have tried other usually recommended method such as longer screws to pull closer to the door jam. It's hard work and doesn't work that easy.
At the end I bought a wood chisel to enlarge the holes on the door jam so the locks can fit in. I have a oscillator tool to cut out the raw necessary shape before that. It's a relative quick fix to have a few years of a smooth locking door, and that's not bad.
The door may be weaken a bit but many doors and locks can be opened by a hard kick.
It's not even New Year resolution because I did it.
My entry door lock jammed because a plastic component inside chipped off. I wanted to replace it long ago. But either I have to change all the locks, re-key the new lock, or carry two keys.
Worse, my entry lock has a deadbolt and lock in one piece. There is no obvious replacement in the local hardware stores. I can do away with the deadbolt because I have another separate one.
Without direct replacement, I hate to repaint the door. I would have replaced the door if the dimension is standard. A beautiful lock on a beaten old door isn't sensible.
There is a new smartkey system that you can rekey in no time. I don't know if it will work for my old key. Anyway, I found out that it's easily breakable, at least if you follow the instructions in Youtube.
At the end, I fixed the lock by stuffing strips from cardboards into it. That limits the trajectory of the broken plastic piece so it won't run off the rails. It's not a security risk. It just won't jam.
The bigger problem is the door. It's heavy, in bad shape near the bottom due to weather, and badly misaligned that you can feel the chill when there is wind.
I always thought it's a two men job at least for the realignment. And you have to be precise - need good power tools to drill precision holes next to old holes, which is rather impossible.
I found out that I was totally wrong when I tried out some of the instructions on the Internet, which tell me to use index cards or cardboard strips to fix alignments. I wasn't hoping much but try it anyway. It's so easy and let me explain.
You don't need to take out all the hinges. You don't need to drill new holes. You don't need help. It takes may be 5 minutes. No more wind blowing from outside the front door. No more enlarging the deadbolt strike hole again and again.
Typically an old door like to "fall" down. At the opening SIDE of the door, there will be a gap near the bottom. The gap will be larger at the bottom than at the top. There will be gaps at the top and bottom but that will be confusing you. Just look at the side of the door, and not the hinged side.
All you need to do is to unscrew some of the screws at the bottom hinge and screw them back, plus some trivial adjustments. 5 minutes or less.
First check if all the screws in all the hinges are tight. Replace any broken screws or loose screws with slightly larger sizes. You may not need to do anything else. Otherwise go on.
Open the door and support the door with stack of wooden shims at the opening corner.
Unscrew only the bottom hinge, and only the screws attached to the door, NOT the door frame. It should be easy to unscrew screws in an old wooden door. No power tools needed. Just be careful not to break the old screws.
Pry the hinge from the door using a screw driver. It should be easy unless you don't want any minute scratches on your old door.
If you can feel wind through the gaps, and deadbolts cannot get into the strikes, use thin pizza boxes in the following. For lesser misalignment, use index cards or nothing at all. For anything, you can always use two stacked together.
Cut the cardboard or index card the same size as the hinge plate on the door. It does not need to be precise as long as it can fit under the hinge plate and cover most of it. Just cut with scissor free hand.
Put the strip of cardboard under the hinge plate, and screw the hinge plate back as it was.
You door is fixed. If you still have significant gaps, use thicker materials or two of the same. If you cannot close the door, use thinner materials.
That's it. Why nobody told me since 10 years ago?
Update: The cardboard filler plate got compressed and I need to replace it every few months to a year or so. Also, the required thickness seems to be increasing and I need to use two cardboard thick and them some.
I thought of using hard plastic or metal instead but you need to saw, drill to match the hinge. The desired thickness is hard to match.
It's not a bad method nor it fails totally, but I have tried other usually recommended method such as longer screws to pull closer to the door jam. It's hard work and doesn't work that easy.
At the end I bought a wood chisel to enlarge the holes on the door jam so the locks can fit in. I have a oscillator tool to cut out the raw necessary shape before that. It's a relative quick fix to have a few years of a smooth locking door, and that's not bad.
The door may be weaken a bit but many doors and locks can be opened by a hard kick.
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
Two step bug killing using organic ingredients
I had great success using soapy solutions to kill ants and a lot of other bugs. But I noticed that flies return to life after they are dried. And that big spiders are very much disturbed but not dying.
Someone suggested to add vinegar to the soapy solution to kill flies. It worked. But unfortunately I used to aim at flies like AAA. So the whole area smell of vinegar after the battle.
It dawned on me that I can use two steps to get the best of both worlds. The bugs aren't going away after the first.
The first step is to immobilize the bugs using soapy solution. I use Dr Bronner's organic liquid soap. 1 tsp to 1 cup of water. I just have it and it should be safer than dish washing liquid. You can use a more concentrated solution for big spiders, and less concentrated for ants.
The ants still dies. Flies will be grounded and struggling.
For step two, you can put a few drops of anything strong to kill the bugs. A few drops of 70% rubbing alcohol will kill flies in seconds. Alcohol are safe on most surfaces and skin. You can also use vinegar, hydrogen hydroxide, or citric acid.
Someone suggested to add vinegar to the soapy solution to kill flies. It worked. But unfortunately I used to aim at flies like AAA. So the whole area smell of vinegar after the battle.
It dawned on me that I can use two steps to get the best of both worlds. The bugs aren't going away after the first.
The first step is to immobilize the bugs using soapy solution. I use Dr Bronner's organic liquid soap. 1 tsp to 1 cup of water. I just have it and it should be safer than dish washing liquid. You can use a more concentrated solution for big spiders, and less concentrated for ants.
The ants still dies. Flies will be grounded and struggling.
For step two, you can put a few drops of anything strong to kill the bugs. A few drops of 70% rubbing alcohol will kill flies in seconds. Alcohol are safe on most surfaces and skin. You can also use vinegar, hydrogen hydroxide, or citric acid.
Sunday, October 14, 2012
Two step approach organic insect killer spray
Soapy solutions kill ants instantly. It also immobilize larger insects but normally don't kill them.
Someone adds vinegar to diluted washing liquid to kill flies. It worked.
Flies are a different matter. If you don't want to wait until they rest on somewhere close, you have to spray a lot in the air and everywhere just to stop one fly. Even diluted washing liquid isn't that safe.
So for flies the first step is a wide angle spray bottle filled with diluted organic soap. Soap from soap nuts are certainly organic - food grade. I think Bronner's soap is organic too, at least the ingredients are. I just have some for the bathroom and they are good to be diluted.
The organic soap still stop ants at the spot and kills them. Flies have to find a place to land if you hit them. Water may work to some extend but you can see that they have difficult walking in the soap.
When the fly is grounded, you can move in for the kill - with drops of vinegar, lime or lemon juice. Totally organic. Even better, I have citric acid crystals. So I can make very concentrated lemon juice if some insects need that. Dry crystals can be stored much longer than juices.
The two steps also work for spiders. First they are caught in their own net with the soapy solution. Then the acid kills them.
I have no cockroaches to test. But I guess you have to have a very sticky solution to trap them, and a very strong acid to penetrate their defence. I got both.
Someone adds vinegar to diluted washing liquid to kill flies. It worked.
Flies are a different matter. If you don't want to wait until they rest on somewhere close, you have to spray a lot in the air and everywhere just to stop one fly. Even diluted washing liquid isn't that safe.
So for flies the first step is a wide angle spray bottle filled with diluted organic soap. Soap from soap nuts are certainly organic - food grade. I think Bronner's soap is organic too, at least the ingredients are. I just have some for the bathroom and they are good to be diluted.
The organic soap still stop ants at the spot and kills them. Flies have to find a place to land if you hit them. Water may work to some extend but you can see that they have difficult walking in the soap.
When the fly is grounded, you can move in for the kill - with drops of vinegar, lime or lemon juice. Totally organic. Even better, I have citric acid crystals. So I can make very concentrated lemon juice if some insects need that. Dry crystals can be stored much longer than juices.
The two steps also work for spiders. First they are caught in their own net with the soapy solution. Then the acid kills them.
I have no cockroaches to test. But I guess you have to have a very sticky solution to trap them, and a very strong acid to penetrate their defence. I got both.
Saturday, September 22, 2012
Launching Evorganics line of personal care products
Ha ha, it's next to free so I don't bother to market it.
Step 1: Greasy
Coconut oil. First of all it's a kind of reverse conditioner for hair or skin. You massage straight into your scalp or skin, then you try to rinse it off as much as possible. So it is self equalizing. People have been looking for the conditioner just right for them. That's a wrong or expensive approach.
Some use it to kill bacteria responsible for dandruff. Some use it to repair damaged hair. Some use it to soften tough skin. In any case, I don't advice to leave it on for more than a few minutes. It should also work if you do it more often.
The research is to dilute oil with glycerin and then water. You can apply a lot less that way and feel better in the process.
This step is optional of course if you hair don't need conditioner. I used to but I don't after switching to Evorganics.
Step 2: Soapy
I would suggest Dr Bonner's liquid soap. The best part is that it can be diluted with water to a concentration that you like. Avoid this step if you can. The body should produce the right amount of body oil given the chance. You don't want to strip off all the body oil. But if you put oil in your hair, probably you want to use soap to feel better.
As with all other steps, you should feel good about it. But don't judge when you are wet. It will not be squeaky clean as we are all brain washed to feel. Say when your hair are dry, you should feel like having shampoo and then conditioner. That's why you don't need them because you will feel the same with Evorganics.
Step 3: Salty
Baking soda solution in purified water (or tap water of course). One teaspoon per cup is salty enough for your tongue. Use it to rinse your hair. Baking soda can dissolve grease in bulk, which is different than soap that only works on the surface. It is pretty safe, used in and out of the body in medical applications.
Rinse thoroughly with water after each step. If they can be combined I would have combined them. Combine Greasy and Salty will result in soap. That's why some morons on youtube cry foul, generating skunk in their hair.
This step is optional if you don't feel that your hair is dirty at all.
Step 4: Fruity
One teaspoon of citric acid crystals for several cups of water to suit your own taste. If you can drink it, it won't be too harsh for your hair and skin. This is an alternative to the more common vinegar rinse. It's acidic but smell nice.
People use citric acid (or vinegar) to cure or prevent dandruff. I think it's believable but don't leave it on over a minute. It has cleaning properties at opposite of the pH scale of baking soda. So you will have best of both worlds. Mixing fruity and salty will give you carbon dioxide bubbles, and cancels each other. But that's what some morons do in their washing machine. Citric acid is also an excellent water softening agent.
I think I feel a lot of difference between vinegar and citric acid. With citric acid, I feel my hair is shiny, fluffy, and the greasy feeling on my face disappeared at an instant. But maybe that's just psychological.
This is optional if you don't feel your hair or skin dirty, and you don't need to prevent dandruff everyday.
People use lemon juice to lighten their blond hair and skin. I agree that lemon juice contains more things and the process is more complicated. I don't think that dilute citric acid and immediate rinsing will do anything to your hair or skin.
Step 5: Sweety
One teaspoon of glycerin per cup. It's extremely common in personal care products as a water soluble moisturizer. You know if you wash with just water, you will feel bad and dry. I was hoping to compensate that by adding a moisturizer. I'm not sure it do anything but I don't feel bad at all washing my hair and body with just glycerin water. You can even leave it on as a moisturizer or conditioner.
Sweety combines with fruity to produce a little bit of polyester for making cloth fibres. So don't combine. This is the only essential step, or otherwise you are not even washing anything. Glycerin also dissolves oil so it has it's cleaning powers. It is also used in washing out ear wax.
You must add enough water to glycerin, say half and half, or it will take water from your skin. Otherwise, the more glycerin the better but this is the only ingredient that cost some money.
Step 1: Greasy
Coconut oil. First of all it's a kind of reverse conditioner for hair or skin. You massage straight into your scalp or skin, then you try to rinse it off as much as possible. So it is self equalizing. People have been looking for the conditioner just right for them. That's a wrong or expensive approach.
Some use it to kill bacteria responsible for dandruff. Some use it to repair damaged hair. Some use it to soften tough skin. In any case, I don't advice to leave it on for more than a few minutes. It should also work if you do it more often.
The research is to dilute oil with glycerin and then water. You can apply a lot less that way and feel better in the process.
This step is optional of course if you hair don't need conditioner. I used to but I don't after switching to Evorganics.
Step 2: Soapy
I would suggest Dr Bonner's liquid soap. The best part is that it can be diluted with water to a concentration that you like. Avoid this step if you can. The body should produce the right amount of body oil given the chance. You don't want to strip off all the body oil. But if you put oil in your hair, probably you want to use soap to feel better.
As with all other steps, you should feel good about it. But don't judge when you are wet. It will not be squeaky clean as we are all brain washed to feel. Say when your hair are dry, you should feel like having shampoo and then conditioner. That's why you don't need them because you will feel the same with Evorganics.
Step 3: Salty
Baking soda solution in purified water (or tap water of course). One teaspoon per cup is salty enough for your tongue. Use it to rinse your hair. Baking soda can dissolve grease in bulk, which is different than soap that only works on the surface. It is pretty safe, used in and out of the body in medical applications.
Rinse thoroughly with water after each step. If they can be combined I would have combined them. Combine Greasy and Salty will result in soap. That's why some morons on youtube cry foul, generating skunk in their hair.
This step is optional if you don't feel that your hair is dirty at all.
Step 4: Fruity
One teaspoon of citric acid crystals for several cups of water to suit your own taste. If you can drink it, it won't be too harsh for your hair and skin. This is an alternative to the more common vinegar rinse. It's acidic but smell nice.
People use citric acid (or vinegar) to cure or prevent dandruff. I think it's believable but don't leave it on over a minute. It has cleaning properties at opposite of the pH scale of baking soda. So you will have best of both worlds. Mixing fruity and salty will give you carbon dioxide bubbles, and cancels each other. But that's what some morons do in their washing machine. Citric acid is also an excellent water softening agent.
I think I feel a lot of difference between vinegar and citric acid. With citric acid, I feel my hair is shiny, fluffy, and the greasy feeling on my face disappeared at an instant. But maybe that's just psychological.
This is optional if you don't feel your hair or skin dirty, and you don't need to prevent dandruff everyday.
People use lemon juice to lighten their blond hair and skin. I agree that lemon juice contains more things and the process is more complicated. I don't think that dilute citric acid and immediate rinsing will do anything to your hair or skin.
Step 5: Sweety
One teaspoon of glycerin per cup. It's extremely common in personal care products as a water soluble moisturizer. You know if you wash with just water, you will feel bad and dry. I was hoping to compensate that by adding a moisturizer. I'm not sure it do anything but I don't feel bad at all washing my hair and body with just glycerin water. You can even leave it on as a moisturizer or conditioner.
Sweety combines with fruity to produce a little bit of polyester for making cloth fibres. So don't combine. This is the only essential step, or otherwise you are not even washing anything. Glycerin also dissolves oil so it has it's cleaning powers. It is also used in washing out ear wax.
You must add enough water to glycerin, say half and half, or it will take water from your skin. Otherwise, the more glycerin the better but this is the only ingredient that cost some money.
Saturday, September 15, 2012
Glycerine - the universal ingredient for personal cleaning
Using baking soda for a while, my hair is OK. I thought of getting rid of body wash too. But I can't do without moisturizer lotion, even if I use Dove for body wash. I also suspect my dandruff is due to dryness. I wash my hair everyday so the flakes are carried away without too much visibility. But if I don't wash for a few days, the flakes come off in large visible pieces.
So I thought of adding moisturizer to my formula. Glycerin fits the bill. It's used in many many personal cleaning and cosmetics products. You can get it easily online. It's not expensive for the amount you need.
My objective is different from many other home made product blogs. It have to work better, saving time and money are bonuses. I believe in evolution work best, or sufficient. I don't want to change the texture, smell, of my hair or skin. I just want to give my body the chance to adjust and balance itself. It also have to work for the kids.
Basically I wash everything with diluted Glycerin, roughly one teaspoon per cup of purified water (or tap water). You must dilute Glycerin with water or it will absorb water from your skin. If the whole family uses one teaspoonful per day, the 32 oz bottle will last for 3 months, which is pretty good.
I didn't add any other thing because you could leave it on your hair or skin. People use it as hair detangler and it works pretty good. But if you don't use shampoo to strip all the body oil, you can just wash with Glycerin water and then rinse thoroughly with water. Yeah, I use Glycerin water like shampoo. After "washing" the hair will feel sticky when wet, but after the hair dries, my hair feels better than having shampoo and then conditioner. It looks better. And the next day I don't really need to wash my hair in order to make it tidy. So basically I could have wash my hair once every several days, not dedicated by the morning look.
My skin feels good too without using any moisturizer.
If money is no object, you can just pour a cup or two Glycerin water (diluted) on your hair, and spray yourself all over the body. $10 per bottle per month isn't bad at all. But my cheap shampoo and conditioner probably last longer.
To save Glycerin, I use a 97 cent Walmart spray bottle to wet my hair, which works pretty good. For the body wash I created a gel. I dissolve one to two teaspoon of tapioca starch per cup of purified water and heat in the microwave to boil. When cooled, you have a translucent gel. When you squeeze it out from a bottle, it just look like a clear gel. Of course, I also dissolve the Gycerin before heating.
Actually the best delivery bottle is probably the cheap squirt water bottle with a valve. The water won't come out even when upside down, until you squeeze the bottle a little. To get a proper and cheaper one, it's called (medical) cleansing bottle, or perineal irrigation bottle. It's also very good to squeeze out gel. It's easy to use for the kids, and water can't easily get in inside the shower even when the valve is open. That's kid safe.
I also tried to wash my hair with the gel. It doesn't make noticeable difference. But I just don't feel right adding a lot of sticky starch onto my hair. Though the gel can easily be rinsed away.
If I feel dirty, I'll spray myself with baking soda water first.
I also brought some Dr Bronner soap just in case. The liquid soap can be diluted so it's not expensive. But I don't think I need it except for my face and neck area.
I think vinegar rinse on hair may be useful. Acid can remove some oil (and dirt). It can neutralize the residue baking soda in solution form absorbed at the scalp. But it assumes leaving the hair slightly acidic is better than slightly alkaline. But I don't want one more step everyday for the kids. I also tried diluted lemon juice rinse. I think there's some difference from vinegar. Lemon juice is a lot easier and smells good.
My hair looks and feels great, and still do waking up in the morning.
So I thought of adding moisturizer to my formula. Glycerin fits the bill. It's used in many many personal cleaning and cosmetics products. You can get it easily online. It's not expensive for the amount you need.
My objective is different from many other home made product blogs. It have to work better, saving time and money are bonuses. I believe in evolution work best, or sufficient. I don't want to change the texture, smell, of my hair or skin. I just want to give my body the chance to adjust and balance itself. It also have to work for the kids.
Basically I wash everything with diluted Glycerin, roughly one teaspoon per cup of purified water (or tap water). You must dilute Glycerin with water or it will absorb water from your skin. If the whole family uses one teaspoonful per day, the 32 oz bottle will last for 3 months, which is pretty good.
I didn't add any other thing because you could leave it on your hair or skin. People use it as hair detangler and it works pretty good. But if you don't use shampoo to strip all the body oil, you can just wash with Glycerin water and then rinse thoroughly with water. Yeah, I use Glycerin water like shampoo. After "washing" the hair will feel sticky when wet, but after the hair dries, my hair feels better than having shampoo and then conditioner. It looks better. And the next day I don't really need to wash my hair in order to make it tidy. So basically I could have wash my hair once every several days, not dedicated by the morning look.
My skin feels good too without using any moisturizer.
If money is no object, you can just pour a cup or two Glycerin water (diluted) on your hair, and spray yourself all over the body. $10 per bottle per month isn't bad at all. But my cheap shampoo and conditioner probably last longer.
To save Glycerin, I use a 97 cent Walmart spray bottle to wet my hair, which works pretty good. For the body wash I created a gel. I dissolve one to two teaspoon of tapioca starch per cup of purified water and heat in the microwave to boil. When cooled, you have a translucent gel. When you squeeze it out from a bottle, it just look like a clear gel. Of course, I also dissolve the Gycerin before heating.
Actually the best delivery bottle is probably the cheap squirt water bottle with a valve. The water won't come out even when upside down, until you squeeze the bottle a little. To get a proper and cheaper one, it's called (medical) cleansing bottle, or perineal irrigation bottle. It's also very good to squeeze out gel. It's easy to use for the kids, and water can't easily get in inside the shower even when the valve is open. That's kid safe.
I also tried to wash my hair with the gel. It doesn't make noticeable difference. But I just don't feel right adding a lot of sticky starch onto my hair. Though the gel can easily be rinsed away.
If I feel dirty, I'll spray myself with baking soda water first.
I also brought some Dr Bronner soap just in case. The liquid soap can be diluted so it's not expensive. But I don't think I need it except for my face and neck area.
I think vinegar rinse on hair may be useful. Acid can remove some oil (and dirt). It can neutralize the residue baking soda in solution form absorbed at the scalp. But it assumes leaving the hair slightly acidic is better than slightly alkaline. But I don't want one more step everyday for the kids. I also tried diluted lemon juice rinse. I think there's some difference from vinegar. Lemon juice is a lot easier and smells good.
My hair looks and feels great, and still do waking up in the morning.
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Hair care update
I use 1 teaspoon of baking soda per cup of reverse osmosis water and put them in a large juice or milk bottle. Then pour them into an old shampoo to apply to dry hair, until they are thoroughly wet. You can dissolve a lot more soda but the taste is shockingly salty. I don't suggest more concentrated solution because it's alkaline (base) after all.
I rinse with water thoroughly before vinegar rinse. I don't use apple cider vinegar because I use white vinegar for clothes and white stuff is cheaper. I mix 1/8 cup of vinegar to 1 cup of soft water. This is mild enough not to stink your eyes. Again I put the mixture in a large bottle and pour them into smaller shampoo bottles to rinse my hair. In winter, you can make double concentrated solution and dilute with warm water when use.
Always rinse thoroughly. It's not a good idea to leave alkaline or acid in your scalp.
I've been using this for over a week and very happy with it. I have to wash my hair because of the desert climate and to bring my hair strands down. During wash, the hair felt a bit oily. But when my hair is completely dry, it's the same feeling after I shampoo and then apply plenty of conditioner. What a waste of time before. The clean feeling last a day or may be too. Since I have to wash hair everyday it's perfect.
You can't go wrong with baking soda because it's a deodorizing agent. It can dissolve grease and calcium deposits. I doubt if the vinegar does anything, but most people suggest that as rinse. I read an article that the optimum hair condition is acidic. That looks like a technical article. It may be bluffing but as long as it has claims, somebody can fact check it sooner or later. But I won't try to leave any trace on the hair. Maintaining a certain pH without exact control of the amount of materials is tricky.
The alternative to vinegar is citric acid. It's a good chelating agent, meaning it can prevent calcium from depositing on your hair. It won't have the vinegar smell. You can get it in powder form or lemon juice. I don't know how much to dilute them for use. It could end up quite expensive than vinegar.
I rinse with water thoroughly before vinegar rinse. I don't use apple cider vinegar because I use white vinegar for clothes and white stuff is cheaper. I mix 1/8 cup of vinegar to 1 cup of soft water. This is mild enough not to stink your eyes. Again I put the mixture in a large bottle and pour them into smaller shampoo bottles to rinse my hair. In winter, you can make double concentrated solution and dilute with warm water when use.
Always rinse thoroughly. It's not a good idea to leave alkaline or acid in your scalp.
I've been using this for over a week and very happy with it. I have to wash my hair because of the desert climate and to bring my hair strands down. During wash, the hair felt a bit oily. But when my hair is completely dry, it's the same feeling after I shampoo and then apply plenty of conditioner. What a waste of time before. The clean feeling last a day or may be too. Since I have to wash hair everyday it's perfect.
You can't go wrong with baking soda because it's a deodorizing agent. It can dissolve grease and calcium deposits. I doubt if the vinegar does anything, but most people suggest that as rinse. I read an article that the optimum hair condition is acidic. That looks like a technical article. It may be bluffing but as long as it has claims, somebody can fact check it sooner or later. But I won't try to leave any trace on the hair. Maintaining a certain pH without exact control of the amount of materials is tricky.
The alternative to vinegar is citric acid. It's a good chelating agent, meaning it can prevent calcium from depositing on your hair. It won't have the vinegar smell. You can get it in powder form or lemon juice. I don't know how much to dilute them for use. It could end up quite expensive than vinegar.
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