bicarbonate of soda for hair and house

I would like to start using bicarbonate of soda for my hair and the kid's hair and for deodorant (for me) and for cleaning the house. I understand vinegar and possibly lemon juice and possibly essential oil play a part too. Coudl anyone help me out on how to start and what to expect (especially for my hair). What amounts of what do I use and will I smell like vinegar? I get very greasy hair so how would it be affected?
Any insights and tips would be greatlty appreiciated!

anyone? Would you use it for your kids is another question.

Sounds like you are looking for the "no-poo" method. I don't remember any of the details. I think I learned about it on Jay3fer's blog, though, so maybe PM her? IIRC, it's basically not using shampoo on your hair, and using other natural things to clean it with.
Maybe google it?

Thank you for the ideas. I guess it is called no poo, I just really dont like that name, somehow it doesnt convey 'clean hair' ykwim. Anyways, in practise I am looking for adivce on no poo on what to expect and how to do it etc I'll try googling it with the name no poo and perhaps pm Jay3fer.

I know we're not supposed to mention other boards on here but there used to be a thread about this at mdc (google "mothering no poo" maybe?)

Thank you. I didnt know we werent supposed to mention other boards. I have done in the past so now I know not to again.

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Thanks for clarifying, Chavi

Buy baking soda from the grocery store. I keep some in a jar on the edge of teh bathtub, the steam makes it harden up, I put a bit of water in it while I'm showering and grab a handful (its pasty) and rub it in my hair instead of shampoo. Then I rinse it out. Then I have a bottle of 50/50 apple cider vinegar mixed with water. I put that into a Peri bottle. I spray that over my hair and then rub my hair like conditioner, and then rinse it out. Done.

It takes a couple of weeks (up to a month) for your scalp to realize it doesn't need to over-produce oil. So however oily your hair is now, expect it to get a lot worse before it gets better. If it helps to feel cleaner, just shower with water in between No-Poo's to get a slightly fresher feel. After you go through the yucky oily phase, my hair feels like that perfect 2nd/3rd day post wash. Never the oily state of waiting too long to wash, and not the dry fluffy stage of just washed hair (thats the part I miss, the just washed fluffy stage feels nice even if it doesn't look so great), just those perfect in between days. I think that's it.

I do it on the kids too. At first I called it Shampoo and conditioner, but then later just called it what it is and they never cared. Actually, for the boy/short hair I just use whatever bar of soap I've washed his body with, but I don't rub the soap into his scalp. For kids, once in two weeks is enough washing of hair (except for spot washing stuck in food). For me, once a week to once every two weeks is often enough to wash my hair.

And it doesn't smell like vinegar, now that I've watered it down to 50/50.

That baking soda paste is a good consistency for washing around the house too.

Thank you!

Do you keep the baking soda in the bathroom with water in or do you make your hands wet from the shower and then scoop out a handfull and it becomes a paste? Can you leave a bigish amount in the bathroom so you dont have to remember to get it every time?

Also, does it have to be apple vinegar? can I use white vinegar and can I add some essential oil to make it smell nice?

For cleaning the house, do you keep it mixed, or mix it when you need it? I heard that vinegar and lemon juice helps clean, can I make a mix of baking soda, vinegar and lemon juice in a spray bottle and use that?

Regarding the oily stage, my hair is very fine and gets oily the day after I wash it, although I have managed to stretch it out so to wash it every third day, instead of every second day. It does get oily by the third day but not very bad, just sort of annoying and if my hair wasnt cvered I wouldnt go out like that. I used to have to wash it every day but I have managed to stretch it out a bit now.
Will that be a problem though, that my hair getd really oily? Dh's hair is worse, he washes it in the morning and when he goes to bed, its oily again.
The kids actualy only get their hair washed once a week. I used to feel really bad about that. My sister harps on about how they need it every day, but if they dont get food stuck, I dont see why, they dont get greasy hair at all, although dd does have cradle cap still.

Thank you so much for the advice!

I just chose a half-size jar i had left over from food, filled it halfway with baking soda and left it on the edge of the tub. At first I put the powder in my wet hair, but then it became sort of solid in the jar from the steam. So then I realized that if I just drip a bit of water in when I'm ready, it makes that paste, and I just grab a palm full with my fingers. I've refilled my jar two or three times over the last many months. It hasn't gone bad from being in there. It probably does deoderize the bathroom a bit, so I guess I"m washing my hair with stinky baking soda (I could put the lid on, but I've been lazy).

I've only heard of Apple Cider Vinegar being used, but I wondered about white vinegar too. I don't know. Maybe google that.

I have an old spray bottle from windex that I filled with white vinegar, water and maybe some lemon juice. If you add baking soda to that you'll have a volcano = no good. So, just choose vinegar or baking soda to clean with. Vinegar is good for counters and windows and fixtures, tiles, etc. Baking soda is good for scrubbing (its like Ajax), so water deposits, stove tops, stuck on dirt, etc. I just sprinkle it where I want to clean and take a wet cloth to scrubbing it.

Sometimes you can deliberately mix vinegar and baking soda to try to loosen up something, like a semi-clogged drain. Google for instructions.

Your hair is very oily because you wash it so often. Stretching out the washes is great, but it doesn't solve the problem. When you wash with Shampoo, you are stripped the oils off your hair, and scalp. When your scalp feels it has no oil, it produces more, and more, to compensate. And thats how you get oily hair. Same for your husband. Kids got to start from scratch, so they haven't developed that yet. When they are teenagers and encouraged to bath daily because they stink so much, maybe they'll unknowingly shampoo too often and cause the same problem? Thats a theory, I don't know if it really works that way. Maybe teenagers are more oily.

Anyhow, Baking Soda actually cleans your hair, deodorizes, gets rid of dirt, but doesn't cut grease/oil. So at first your scalp continues to produce so much oil, thinking that you are going to shampoo soon and strip it again. But after a while, it somehow realizes that there is plenty there already, and stops producing. Just makes enough to maintain your hair.

I would say your sister is wrong. Babies don't really need to be washed with soap at all. Kids might stink after a while, but there is no way that they need to be washed every day, body or hair. I just can't fathom that. Most of the time, my kids just play in the bath, no soap. I'm happy if they sit and soak their privates. Once a week, or two weeks, I force the hair washing.

Thank you, for clarifying. I will google white vinegar for it because I have it already.
Doesnt the bicarbonate of soda fizz out if you put water in it each time? am I misunderstanding you? Sorry for not understandign well.
How often do you bathe your kids if you dont my asking, I dont bathe mine very often and am not sure if I do it to infrequently.
I will relay the info to dh as well, he is a bit unsure of it still.

My baby gets a bath every day because my babysitter does it as a pre-nap activity.

But when she's not around, he'll go 3 days easily without one. I'll throw him in the bath or shower (no, not literally) with ds1 sometimes - it keeps them occupied.

I usually have ds1 take a shower every 3-4 days, but we've been known to go coast-to-coast (one week).

As a kid I would take 1 bath or shower a week. That was sufficient (until puberty & B.O. hit...)

Speaking of the wonders of Baking Soda, did you know it's also good for Polishing Silver?!!!

Take a big pot of boiling water, lay a piece of Aluminum foil on the bottom. Drop in the utensil to be polished, sprinkle baking soda into the water (the aluminum foil will turn tarnished and the silver will be tarnish free). Add more baking soda as you add more silver. (remove them with a strainer).

what do you mean by 'fiz out'?