No Poo Update

Week 2 of “no-poo”. That just sounds wrong. Nonetheless this is my update on NOT using shampoo and conditioner…



Last week I washed my hair twice. It started to look a little greasy on top – I think I used too much coconut oil. It’s a bit of an adjustment in how thick it is compared to the Bio-Silk that I’ve been using for years now. I’m officially OUT of Bio-Silk – at least at the Paisley Cottage. There’s a small container of it at the Robin’s Nest. At any rate, so far so good.


I’m looking for one of my old water bottles, the kind with the “sports cap” – I looked for the small version that used to be readily available in the beauty section of Walmart or Target. Now all they have are little tiny bottles like mini body wash that are TSA approved. “The Man” strikes again. *ugh* That was when I thought “HEY! What did I do with those dumb free water bottles?” yep – perfect. One for my baking soda mix and another for my vinegar water mix. Lids, squeezey goodness. Yep, that will work. I did end up buying two containers for the coconut oil. One is a travel size pump/spray bottle, the other is a slightly larger trigger style spray bottle – I bought that one to use on my skin, not my hair.


So back to my hair. No frizz! Most awesome thing EVER. I can let my hair AIR DRY – seriously. In Florida!


I’m thrilled with not having to blow dry my hair. I like the separation that I’m getting and the little bit of natural cur / texture that it’s bringing out.


So there’s my update on not using store bought shampoo. Gonna continue with it for awhile and see how much curl turns up.

Ch ch ch changes...

Ok, so I haven't been using my treadmill AS much as I should, but at least I AM using it - and not for hanging clothes either.

I've been squeezing in 15 minutes in the morning before work. Some days it's harder than others, thus far it's happened daily. Baby steps right?

I also started drinking more SoBe Life Water instead of Diet Coke. I was rather happy with myself, until I realized that they aren't all 0 calorie. The first 2 I grabbed off the shelf were. The other 3 were not. NOT COOL. On the plus side, I actually liked the 0 calorie ones better. So just a note if you're thinking about  making a change in that department, check ALL the labels.  The last bottle I had was Pomegranate Cherry and it was so-so. When I glanced at the label it was 100 calories and 24 grams of sugar! So much for the calories I burned on the treadmill that morning. At least I know now. Won't make that mistake again!

Another change I made this morning was ditching shampoo and conditioner. This morning I decided to give the "all natural" cleansing a shot. I need to tweak.

I mixed 1/2 a cup of Arm & Hammer baking soda with 2 cups of hot water in an empty water bottle and dumped most of it on my head in the shower. No doubt it stripped out any product residue. Wow.

I followed that with a rinse of 1/4 cup of white vinegar mixed with 2 cups of cool water.

It certainly made a difference after the baking soda wash. My hair felt - hmmm. How to describe? Almost like straw - I guess that's the super clean, stripped feeling.  Couldn't run my finger thru it, felt like it was all stuck to itself. After the vinegar rinse It felt silkier - even though it was wet.  I rinsed that out and donned a Turbie Twist while I figured out what to wear to work.

Still felt kinda - eh when I ditched the towel. So I worked a little virgin coconut oil thru. Then I pulled out my TIGI Bed Head tourmaline light up hair dryer and got to work.

It sure seemed to take WAY longer to dry. I thought i'd never get done with it.

My hair FEELS good. It looks okay. It doesn't smell like anything. It doesn't look greasy, but it's separating if that makes any sense. It also wasn't 100% dry when I left the house and it's NOT frizzy from the Florida humidity. That right there is a bonus! It also seems to have a little bit of the natural curl coming out. Hmmm...

We'll see how this goes. I'm going to pick up some squeeze bottles and a spray bottle and do a little more tweaking and experimenting with my mixtures and see what kind of results I get.  I love my Bio Silk, but it's $25 a bottle...if I can get similar (or better) results with baking soda, vinegar and coconut oil...wow - cha-ching money in my pocket.

I will keep you posted.

Recipe Fail.

Mr. Paisley and I whipped up this dish Monday night for dinner. I was super excited about it. So i'm bummed that I didn't care for it.

I found the recipe on Pinterest and it looked soooo good. It's from Cinnamon Spice and Everything Nice.

Roasted Lemon Garlic Herb Shrimp

(adapted from Fine Cooking)

1/3 cup olive oil


1 lemon, zested then half cut into thin slices and other half into wedges


3-4 fresh thyme sprigs, leaves removed


sea or kosher salt and fresh black pepper


spaghetti/pasta, couscous or rice for serving


1 pound fresh shrimp, medium-sized, deveined with tails off


5 cloves garlic, minced



1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. In a 9x13 baking pan combine olive oil, lemon zest and thyme. Season with salt and pepper. Bake in oven for 12 minutes. Meanwhile cook pasta, couscous or rice.


2. Remove pan from oven, add shrimp, garlic and the thin sliced lemons (don't squeeze them), toss to coat with oil mixture. Bake for 8-10 more minutes or until shrimp turn pink and start to curl. Serve over pasta, couscous or rice tossed with extra-virgin olive oil and fresh-squeezed lemon with additional lemon wedges for serving.



Ours did not look this pretty and bright. The lemon was over powering. We put it over angel hair spaghetti.
 
Mr. Paisley took the leftovers for lunch the next day and said it was better. I dunno...I wanted to like it. I might have to play with it a little and see if I can make it into something I like.
 
You might like it better - maybe my tastebuds were having an off day. Mr. Paisley wasn't ready to write it off, so I say give it a shot. If you make it or change it up, let me know what you did and how you liked it! I love shrimp...

Recent finds...Updates, the usual.

I've been away too long. Lots going on. Not enough hours in a day.

There's some drama involving Robin's Nest. There's issues with the truck. I got rear ended - so now there's issues with the car. On top of that, my parents have been in and out of town and when they're out, we keep their dogs. 

I haven't had time to shop...not a bad thing really. However, I do have a few things I picked up somewhat recently that I thought I would share.

How about a pair of Ralph Lauren (Chaps) throw pillows for under $4 each?


One is a hunter green cable knit sweater pillow.


The other is a large square pillow - cream with leather trim.

I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that they are leftover stock from last year because I can't find the sweater pillow in the rectangular shape online (nor the dark green color) and the leather trim pillow has gone from tan leather to dark brown leather for this season. Actually, I can find either of them anywhere online. They are CHAPS Home - which I did find mention of - evidently earlier this year it because a Kohl's exclusive line...who knows. I just liked the pillows. It comes in cashmere or linen. On the RL website it's $395 for the linen and $595 for the cashmere! WHAT?! I mean, they are LARGE as far as throw pillows go, but my goodness. I'm pretty sure I paid about $600 for my entire bedroom furniture set...DELIVERED. $600 for a single throw pillow? Yikes.

You can see the leather trim pillow HERE on Ralph's website. I do love his designs. I love them even more at $4.


What have you found lately? Point me to your blogs!

Another contender for Nifty Thrifty Tuesday over at Coastal Charm!