Still Sick (But with Good Hair!)
by Melanie Bettinelli on January 29, 2012
It’s Day Ten and we’re still (still!) suffering from the cold that will not go away here at Casa Bettinelli. Dom went to Mass by himself this morning while I stayed home with the coughing chorus, of which I am a member myself. We don’t seem to feel all that sick any more and I don’t think we’re contagious any longer; but staying home was an act of charity toward our fellow parishioners, who I am certain would be terribly distracted by the coughing and snotting.
We have gone through half a dozen boxes of tissue so far. I am heartily sick of small children coming up to me and yelling, “Snot!” with the expectation that I’ll wipe their noses. (Anthony doesn’t yell Snot! but he does come up to me when his nose is dripping down his face. And then he freaks out when I actually wipe his nose. It’s like he’s torn between wanting me to do something about it but then Oh no, Mama, not that!.
But on the plus side I have very nice hair right now. When I was pregnant with Sophie I suddenly became allergic to the Suave shampoo I’d been using for decades. Since then I’ve tried with varying degrees of failure to find hair care products that don’t make me break out and that do keep my hair looking nice. For a while Mane and Tail was treating me pretty well; but recently I’ve fallen out of love with it. It just doesn’t seem to keep my hair very clean any more. Normally, I change brands when that happens but I’m afraid that everything has so many smells that would either set off my asthma or make me break out. Then to top it all off I couldn’t even find more Mane and Tail at my usual stores.
So the other night in desperation I tried the baking soda and vinegar treatment I’ve read about in many various places. I took two plastic cups to the shower with me, one with a bunch of baking soda in it, the other with some white vinegar. I made a paste with the baking soda and then scrubbed it into my roots until I felt like I’d covered all the greasy spots. Then I scrubbed some more and finally I rinsed it out. Then I dipped the ends of my hair into the vinegar and let them soak in it for a while. Finally, I dumped the vinegar over my hair like a rinse. I let it sit for a minute or two and then rinsed it all out thoroughly until my hair didn’t smell like vinegar. The next morning my hair looked and felt fabulous. All the greasy residue that had been weighing it down was gone and it was shiny and easy to brush. (Which, given that it almost reaches my waist, is very impressive.) Unless someone tells me that eventually this treatment will ruin my hair—keeping in mind that I wash my hair about once a week on average—I don’t think I’m going to go back to shampoo ever again. Not only is this cheaper; but it works so much better.
Comments
I hadn’t heard about the baking soda, but it makes sense. The cider vinegar rinse is one i rediscover every few months and then promptly forget about once the hair has no more dull residue.
Sorry for the tissue crisis, “noses run in our family”, for lots of reasons…
Posted by mamanerd on 01/30/12 at 08:03 PM
I am sorry about your colds. :(
That’s awesome about the baking soda and vinegar, though. I use baking soda and vinegar for everything! Yet I haven’t braved it for hair. I have heard of it… Other people’s reviews weren’t quite as good as yours! Hope you are all better soon!
Posted by Jocelyn on 02/1/12 at 04:30 PM