7 ways to moisturize your hair in the dry, winter months.

It doesn’t matter if we are raven-haired, red-headed, blonde or brunette. It doesn’t matter if our hair is thin, thick, textured or kinky. During the dry winter months, we might as well hook our heads up to outlets for all the static electricity we produce. The cold, dry temperatures of winter can siphon the moisture from our skin and hair like a sponge. So how best to fight back against winter?

Stop washing your hair every day
We live in a world where most people make best friends with anti-bacterial wipes. Dirt is the enemy. But so is washing your hair too much. Over-washing can strip important oils from your scalp, resulting in dry, over-stimulated tresses. Plus, what’s better for dry hair then your own, natural oils? At the least, try to skip a daily washing.

And when you do wash, consider a homemade shampoo like this one from beauty expert Narine Nikogosian: Combine one tablespoon of dried jasmine with one teaspoon of honey with two eggs yolks. Boil the dried jasmine with one cup of water for five minutes. Steep for ten minutes, then strain. Blend the jasmine, honey and egg yolks. Apply to your hair, and then rinse with cold water.

Install a water filter on your showerhead
Municipal waters contain drying chemicals that can strip your hair of its essential oils. Chlorine and other chemicals used to clean our water supplies can wreak havoc on our hair. Anyone who has spent a significant amount of time in a swimming pool knows that hair follicles will eventually make hair like a Brillo pad if not properly rinsed. Here’s more information on shower filters.

Wash your hair backwards
Horst Rechelbacher, founder of Aveda and Intelligent Nutrients, is also famous for this hair care tip. First, apply half a teaspoon of your favorite oil to your scalp and work it through. You can use jojoba, olive, or sweet almond oil. Second, apply your conditioner and let it sit for a few minutes. Third, use a small amount of shampoo to wash out your hair. Finally, if your hair feels tangled, put a little remaining oil on your fingers and comb through your hair. The oil treatment helps loosen and attract dirt which the shampoo then washes away.

The avocado: not just for salads
The avocado is a triumph of moisturizers, oils and vitamins. But before you add some to your salad, you might want to consider treating your tresses to a homemade avocado mask. Take one small avocado, mash it together with one tablespoon of honey and one tablespoon of olive oil. You can even blend them together. Apply to damp hair for at least 30 minutes, then rinse. This recipe works on all hair types.

Rinse with olive oil
You can give yourself a fancy “hot oil” salon treatment with a mere tablespoon of organic olive oil. First, rinse your hair with warm water. Then work the olive oil through your tresses with your fingers. Let it sit for twenty minutes. Then rinse with cool water, following up with a bit of shampooing if your hair feels too oily.

Sooth your scalp
An irritated, dry scalp can throw your hair out of balance. Organic stylist and expert Felicia Howe recommends Simply Organic Scalp Spa Treatment ($23.99) to tame your irritated head. As Felicia Shares, “I’ve been using this all season, it’s been saving my hair and scalp. It’s amazing.”  This professional-grade product contains olive leaf extracts.

It’s all about serums
Sometimes you need a serum to act like the really great sequel to your favorite conditioner. Serums can leave your hair extremely hydrated while giving you the fresh out of a spa smell. Basically, a serum delivers the goods to your hair in a concentrated punch. So you want to make sure you use one that has clean, green ingredients.

Yarok Hair Care offers a serum entitled Feed Your Youth ($25) containing hydrating Yarrow and avocado. John Masters Organics has their Dry Hair Nourishment and Defrizzer ($16.00) which combines certified organic jojoba, lavender and rosemary. Both can be used in a “set it and forget it” fashion where you work the ingredients into your hair in the evening, only to be washed out in the morning.

Image:Erintaylormurphy, hulagway, wordridden, [g] [e] [r] [y]

It’s the tail end of back-to-school season, and that means it’s time for brand new books and pencils and backpacks…and the school year’s first autumnal infestation of head lice.

Lice can happen to anyone, but they are frequently found on the one kid in class whose well-intentioned but misguided parents will turn their backs on medically approved treatments and choose to handle  the outbreak holistically (“holistic” from the Latin, meaning does not work.) These clueless hippies will douse their poor child’s head with a host of loosey-goosey new age remedies that will do nothing to kill the parasites that have made a home in the kid’s hairdo. Why do I care? Because this unfortunate child will go back to school where he or she will inevitably sit next to my daughter, exposing her to a head full of vermin.

I have seen it happen time and again: the school nurse finds lice on a child’s head and sends her home to parents who distrust medicine and think that all pharmaceutical companies are as evil as their corporate cousin, Big Tobacco. These parents opt for nature-based home remedies to get rid of lice and nits – they try cat shampoo and Listerine, minced garlic and lavender extract. They wave burning sage around their kid’s head and rub her down with a mixture of coconut oil and ylang ylang – it is the Lillith Fair of parasite removal.

Tea tree oil is the best known holistic lice remedy and I’m here to tell you it doesn’t work. Tea tree oil does not kill lice – it doesn’t even distract lice. But holistic-minded parents will try it night after night, along with camphor oil, onion juice and apple slices. And each day their child will go back into school with an army of tiny insects still marching resolutely through her hair.

Lice are not the result of poor hygiene or parental negligence. There is no shame in having lice, only in refusing to treat them in an effective manner. The American Academy of Pediatrics (an organization not known for its callous disregard of children) recommends low-toxicity medicated shampoos for the treatment of lice. It very clearly does not advocate trying to vibe lice into submission with positive thoughts and a home remedy made of cloves and baby aspirin.

Olive oil is another natural remedy that parents turn to without much success. Unfortunately, olive oil – while an exceedingly good choice for salad dressing – is no match for an invasion of ectoparasites. White vinegar is another holistic treatment, and it too is an appropriate topping for a head of lettuce, not a head full of lice.

I understand that there are downsides to using strong chemicals so close to your child’s brain. But there is also a downside to being known as the girl who had lice for seven whole months while her mom futzed around with patchouli oil and organic mayonnaise.

The simple fact is, it behooves parents to keep their children’s lice from spreading to other children. Of course, if your kid has a nasty infestation of head lice, harsh chemicals are not your only option. There’s always home schooling…

Image: edenpictures

Some of us like to shower. And some of us have long hair. This often leaves us with a dire dilemma. How long is too long to get all the shampoo out? How much water does it take to get clean hair? It’s enough to make you hang up your brush, take to the woods, and live a life of transcendental solitude with fulfilled souls and really stringy hair.

I just threw a Google on how much water we waste washing our hair. (You failed me this time, Google. This time.) But it doesn’t take a Google to know we use up more moisture lathering and rinsing. And we do advocate a good hair washing if a green girl wants it. But are there ways to make it a little less wasteful?

Cue fireworks and the Rockette’s kick line – there is! Dry shampoo is an age-old product that can grab onto dirt and oils from your hair, all H20 free. It’s not a substitute for an actual hair washing, but it can help extend the times between lathering up. And consequently, it can save a little water along the way and let those natural oils build up.

Dry shampoo is easy to make at home. One of the best homemade recipes calls for one tablespoon of fine corn meal combined with one tablespoon of corn starch. This combination apparently works best for absorbing oils and grabbing dirt. You pour the mixture on top of your scalp and work it in with your fingers. Then use a comb or brush to run it through your locks. You can use less for short hair and more for long hair. Just be sure to use it in an area that is easy to sweep up, as powder under any circumstances can fly about.

Recently, I had the pleasure of checking out skinnyskinny’s Black Pepper and Rose Organic Dry Shampoo ($32.00). (And yes, this is their grammatical preference, not a typo!) This product contains certified organic ingredients and is 100 percent vegan. The packaging also gets high marks for eco-friendly biodegradable labels. Its ingredients read almost like a baked good – it is made with cornstarch, brown rice powder, white clay, horsetail powder, baking soda, orris root powder, and essential oils.

How does it work? I have long hair and work from home, which means that I try to extend my hair washings for as long as nature and politeness allows. So I was good and ready for a dry shampoo-ing when I picked up this product. It smells lovely and works like a perfume for your hair. Be careful how much you use – I went a little overboard and had a George Washington powdered wig moment. (Not to be confused with a Mary Todd Lincoln penchant for hats and temporary insanity.) But want to take a break between shampoos? This is a great product to check out.

FTC Compliance

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My life is ripe with babies. I have babies in Los Angeles, babies in Chicago, and babies in New York City. Not to mention, toddlers and pre-teens galore. No, I’m not Octo-Mom on speed, delivering progeny across an ungrateful nation – I’m in my late thirties and all my friends have babies. This means much embracing of the cuteness and chubby cheeks. This also means a lot of “what are the best natural products for my adorable baby?” Generally followed by “can you babysit Saturday night?”

Well, moms and sensitive-skinned adults, I found a great product. California Baby’s Calendula Shampoo and Bodywash is about as pure and sudsy as they get. It is great for the little ones, but also a fantastic product for those of use with sensitive skin. This product gets a rating of ONE from Skin Deep – this must be in capital letters because it is the first natural product I have reviewed to receive the highest of ratings from the Environmental Working Group cosmetic database.

Why is it so pure? It contains organic and sustainably grown ingredients – calendula has been known to soothe skin for centuries. It is free of fragrance, scent masking agents, sodium lauryl sulfate, and DEA. It is biodegradable and free of common allergens. And it is naturally tear-free without the use of numbing agents.

But enough of the PR ingredients list – how does it work? Very well, I’m happy to report! I considered offering the product to my friends to use on their babies. After I finished attacking Tokyo – (because that would be monstrous! Who tests on babies?) – I decided to shower up and let the suds roll into my own eyes. And yes, the product does not sting. It’s not pleasant to have soap in your eyes – I rubbed at them exactly like I was an infant – but stings there were none. It has a light, pleasant smell that comes off really minty in application.

All in all, this is a great shampoo/bodywash for babies and sensitive big kids like us. Just heed this one warning – this product is highly concentrated, so a little goes a long way. I did not read the instructions to use only a dime-sized amount and basically almost drowned in a monster explosion of suds. It was totally akin to Bobby Brady using the washing machine

For further reading:

7 Squeaky Clean Non-Toxic Bath Products for Babies and Kids

FTC Compliance

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We brought you the goods on great green hair conditioners. Naturally, now we’re following up with the best eco-friendly, natural, organic shampoos! (Or should it be the other way around?)

But first, why do we want to go organic and nontoxic with our shampoos? One reason: it’s called sodium lauryl sulfate.

This chemical is what makes regular shampoos suds up. Among other things, it can lead to skin damage, permanent eye damage in children and even liver toxicity.

The news is not much better for sodium laureth sulfate (SLS). On the up side, SLS cannot be metabolized by the liver. But that just mean the other bad things about it hang out that much longer in your body.  And don’t forget, it is also used to degrease engines.

There are alternatives. Some natural shampoos use disodium laureth sulfosuccinate, which can be considered the lesser of two evils. (Skin Deep rates it only a moderate health hazard.)

Better than that, there is decyl glucoside.  This is a mild sudsing agent certified for its eco-clean production. And some natural shampoos don’t use any sudsing ingredients at all – though this means they don’t foam up very well and if you’re accustomed to the foaming action of most shampoos, it can take some getting used to.

Confused? Not to worry. We went through quite a few natural and organic shampoos to sort out the best picks for your different hair types. And we point out the good and the bad.  So get ready to get lathered up!

And Our Top Pick Is”¦

Tasmanian Lavender Shampoo from Sea Chi Organics

Out of all the shampoos I sampled, this combined the best of everything. It had a fantastic scent that can best be described as “spicy lavender.”  It really foamed up in the shower and didn’t leave any build up. Best of all, if left my hair feeling silky and light.

Its ingredients read like a breakfast menu: seaweed extract, nettles, marshmallow root, comfrey root, calendula blossoms, oat straw, kombucha tea and more. It does not contain any solvents or sodium lauryl or sodium laureth sulfates. Bravo on the organic suds! And finally, it is great for all hair types.

Best for Normal Hair…

Lavender Rosemary Shampoo from John Masters Organics

This is another great product from John Masters Organics. It was a bit thick and heavy going on, so it is probably not best for every day use.

It is free of sodium lauryl sulfate, using decyl glucoside to get sudsy. It contains 13 other certified-organic ingredients and is cruelty-free.

Pampering Carrot Juice Shampoo from Yes to Carrots

This fun product has a fresh, light floral smell.  It lathered well, rinsed well and left my hair feeling light.

This paraben-free shampoo is blended with organic carrot, sweet potato and pumpkin, which act as potent antioxidants to cleanse and moisturize the hair. It also contains Dead Sea Mud (seriously), melon, orange and honey. However, it does contain some sodium laureth sulfate, so be warned.

Best for Dry Hair…

Teatree Mint Shampoo from Organix

Out of all the samples I tried, this is the best bang for your buck. It retails for about $6 and has a delicious mint smell that lingers. It left my hair feeling soft and clean, and there’s a good suds factor.

It has organic Australian tea tree oils, moisturizing milk proteins and micro-infused peppermint oils for hydration and balance. It is sulfate free, but does contain disodium laureth sulfosuccinate.

Burt’s Bees Super Shiny Grapefruit & Sugar Beet Shampoo

This smells exactly as you would imagine – sugary and grapefruity. It is pH-balanced, and sodium laury/laureth sulfate-, paraben- and phthalate-free. And it contains decyl glucoisde.

I found it rather hard to work through my hair and had to follow with conditioner. But it did leave my hair feeling clean and refreshed.

Best Clarifying Shampoos…

Why do we want an occasional rinse with a clarifying shampoo?  Well, to remove chlorine and mineral buildup. Use them once a week and you will notice a difference in your hair. Just be sure to follow with a great conditioner, as overuse can strip your hair of all the good oils.

Hair Detoxifier from Aveda

By far, this is the best product for the task at hand. It has a clean, camphor smell that perks you up. It is almost magical how clean and silky your hair will feel after use. (And trust me, it has to be magical to get me to use the term magical.)

It contains certified organic aloe and no synthetic reducing agents. And it suds with disodium laureth sulfosuccinate. Like all Aveda products, it is cruelty-free and contains 80% post-consumer packaging.

Clarifying Shampoo from Alba Botanica

This has a pleasant fruity scent that didn’t disappoint. My only complaint is that it is a bit thick, so leave some time to lather it out of your hair.

Alba Botanica’s shampoo is made with eucalyptus, which has antiseptic and cooling qualities. It is free of sodium lauryl sulfate, parabens, artificial colors and of course there is no animal testing. It also contains 100% vegetarian ingredients.

Best Volumizing Shampoos…

Volumizing Shampoo from Nurture My Body

This product lathers sufficiently and left my hair feeling full and clean. It contains oat extract and honey to help strengthen the hair.

Nuture My Body’s product does not contain sodium laurel sulfate or any harsh detergents. It is supposed to be fragrance-free, but it smells more like light vitamins. Not bad, just not exactly fragrance-free. (Though it is free of the “fragrance” that is often used in non-organic brands which is nothing more than parabens.)

Big Body Shampoo from Kiss My Face

This product has a complex, fruity scent. Another great value, it is made with certified organic ingredients like floral water of rosemary, chamomile, lemon balm and more.

It contains no animal ingredients, sodium lauryl sulfate, artificial colors, or unnecessary chemicals.

Image: Meg Yarsh