For several years I washed my hair with raw egg and apple cider vinegar. My hair never ever looked oily and I could go about three weeks without washing, without odor, without greasiness, and without flat hair. How to: Beat an egg in a container. I used a plastic cup (glass no good in shower). In a second plastic cup I put about 1/4″ of apple cider vinegar (cheap grocery store brand) and when I got to the shower I filled up the cup of vinegar with warm shower water. So, first put the egg in your wet hair and massage just like you would shampoo…it will not lather up. Use all the egg. Massage thoroughly then rinse thoroughly. Then pour all the vinegar water over your hair and rinse again. Your hair will not smell like egg, or vinegar, or mayonnaise. Very cheap, very easy, fresh, completely natural, absolutely no petroleum products or harsh chemicals. I used this for several years. And honestly, I started using shampoo again because I missed the perfume of shampoo. Crazy, I know. Maybe I’ll go back to the egg. It’s wonderful!! You could do it every day if you’d like and there are no ill affects. I just kept going longer and longer without washing and like I said before, got to about three weeks without washing. Give it a try!

I noticed that your friend at “little house in the suburbs” also recommended rinsing with cider vinegar… said it was soothing and healing. Maybe that alone would help you.

also I was gonna mention the winter itchies due to the lower humidity. (i see that you’ve already factored that in) I think drinking more water is helpful to dry skin. Sure wouldn’t hurt to try that.

I would try drastic measures before giving up sugar!

I have been using homemade laundry soap for awhile now and it does a great job. I use vinegar for a softener. I do miss the smell of store bought laundry soap so I am planning on getting some essential oils to add and then it will be perfect.

I have recently been looking into making my own bar soap and I think I will give that a try in a few weeks. My husband, one of my sons and one of my daughters have exema and I think one of the recipes I found would work great for them. It will most likely cut down on the amount of lotion I use in the winter. I didn’t know till a few months ago that they remove things that keep your skin moist from the soap and then sell it to you in lotion! What a rip off!

As for the sugar, um, I can’t help with that. I wouldn’t even know how to go about removing that from our lives. Honey could be used as a sub. in some cases but till I can get a hive (even then I don’t think it would produce enough) this not not really a budget friendly option.

Best of luck, Carrie

I too had the itchies. The only thing that worked for me was a apple cider vinegar rinse. Actually a hold I should say….I wash my hair with regular shampoo and rinse. Then I lightly towel dry hair and then poor on and massage 1 cup of ac vinegar. I rap it up in the towel and let it sit for about 1 hour. It can sting, but just take it! It’s a good sting knowing that there will be no more itching! Then just rinse out and shampoo and condition. When I first started doing this I had to do it about every week. Now I just do it when I notice I am starting to itch which is about every 3 weeks. The Family Homestead has some great ideas for all that homemade stuff. The site is http://www.thefamilyhomestead.com I seam to go to her site alot and re read all her great articles! Have a great weekend.
Karrie

This isn’t going to help with your desire to cut down on chemicals and whatnot, but I had a barber tell me to pour a little Sea Breeze facial astringent on my itchy scalp. (It was kind of the very top of my head.) It worked like a charm and I didn’t have to use it forever. I think I’ve had that itch pop up a time or two in the five years since and with a dose or two, it would be gone.

As for laundry detergent, I mix 1:1 borax and washing soda. I use a tablespoon of that with around two tablespoons of Tide (double each for husband’s farming clothes). I’ve been pleased with it.

I also use the b/ws mixture in combination with powdered Cascade in the dishwasher. So, I take 2 cups of the b/ws (should be about 1 cup of each) and mix in a cup of Cascade. I use two tablespoons of this for each load. With our hard water, I have just found a product called Lemi-Shine that has taken the grunge off our dishes and they look brand new (even with the b/ws/c mixture). After the first few loads, I dropped back the amount of Lemi-Shine. I figure it’s all about balance, you know?

Now please excuse me while I go eat a spoonful of sugar before the baby gets up from her nap . . .

Sugar – I love and will keep, LOL!! I do make my own dry laundry soap and it’s great. It’s cheap, cleans really well and there’s not scent or irritation for my Dh and kids. Here’s a photo tutorial from my blog:
http://deuteronomy6.blogspot.com/2008/07/homemade-dry-laundry-soap.html

Oh, and my hair didn’t go through a “greasy phase” with the change to soap shampoo. It actually went through a dry, fly-away phase, until my head got used to not being stripped. Then, once it re-balanced, it started getting greasy again. That’s when it was time to take out the oil from the poo. If it’s greasy right off, then omit the oil from day one.

I struggle with going natural and using all my free products from CVS. It has seemed like such a luxury to get all the high priced good smelling soaps and shampoos free!
However, I have done some research on these chemicals and think it is great that you are going to try to remove then from your household.
I am much more careful about what my younger kids use and we use cloth diapers.
I try to get only the free and clear laundry soaps and use only a couple of tablespoons in the wash.
Looking forward to hearing how it goes!

I’ve been doing that same laundry detergent recipe for over a year. Its great at getting out any odors. Not good for getting out tough dirt stains. So I’m forced to use some spray and wash if I want to get out deep down dirt. And keep some packaged detergent on hand for busy times when you can’t even spare a few minutes for making it. Oh, and don’t use fels naptha, just some regular soap. I used fels once and it smelled like poison when melting in the water! Seemed to negate any of the good part about making you’re own detergent.