Curcuma, black tea, egg, yogurt, vinegar, lemon, honey, cocoa, fizzy digestive thing, karkadé, red tea, red fruits herbal teas, of course henna (lawsonia, indigo and cassia too), long long ago also hairdyes, peroxide, coloured shampoo & co, oils (sweet almond, coconut, jojoba, shea butter… extravirgin olive!).
All this stuff ended on my hair. Next time you search a dictionary you’ll see a picture of my head near “lab rat” definition.

No, I'm not an Ikea endorser, though I'd surely like that! :D

My last experiment is with shikakai (from Raw Gaia, kindly offered by Goddessinspired) instead of shampoo and last rinse with citric acid (kindly offered by Anna) instead of conditioner. Yes, I have generous friends u_u

5 gr citric acid in 1 lt of water, these are the proportions; roughly 15/20 gr of shikakai and maybe 5 ml of water, I just go by eye, untill I have a yogurt-like consistency.

Once the preparations are ready here’s what to do:

Fase 1 – Detangle your hair well before washing them

Fase 2 – Step in the shower, wet your hair and put handfuls of shikakai paste all over, massage it well and leave it there

Fase 3 – Take a shower like you always do… to kill time you can sing a song or have a scrub with an hammam glove (I recommend joining both activities)

Fase 4 – Rinse soap then rinse the shikakai paste, really well (and you should already feel soft hair). Then I usually fill the empty glass where the shikakai paste was, with water and use what comes out as another washing rinse. Rinse that too.

Fase 5 – Once everything’s well risned, look at your ceiling and have your last rinse with citric acid. If it goes into the eyes it burns slightly, that’s why I’m telling you to look carefully at your ceiling. Let your last rinse go down slowly, for all the length. Squeeze your hair and step out of the shower.

Fase 6 – Pat them dry with a towel (I recommend microfiber, I’ve seen it really dries faster and makes drying time shorter), then shake your head like a golden retriever and a metalhead at the Gods of Metal when it rains. After that wrap your hair in said microfiber towel.

Dry them as you please, enjoy your hair.

Now that the job is done, let’s see some after-thoughts: let’s say that it’s not comfortable. You could say “I’m sorry, tonight I can’t go out, I have to wash my hair” and be saying the truth.

If it is the first time you shift to some eco-friendly product you might not have a nice result: to remove silicon&co buildup it takes at least two weeks. I was already used to eco-friendly products and I’ve waited to use shikakai+citric acid three times before I wrote this review.
Sadly my hair aren’t washed that well, maybe I have too much maybe I have to find a way that works, but I always have a spot on the back of my head that doesn’t come out that well… I can’t say if they are shinier, they were shiny before, but since I tried acid rinse before I can say that yes, there must be a shine-effect.

And they’re doubtlessly softer, conditioner is not needed! If I am telling you, with my meter and some more hair, you can believe me. Plus it also fixes your scalp.
Before I tried shikakai+citric for a while I’ve been using some random (non ecofriendly) shampoo and conditioner, the result being I had to wash my hair super frequently and my head was itchy (ah, so poetic). The first time I tried the citric acid rinse I felt some prickling… I think I scratched myself before… But once my hair dried, it stayed clean longer, no more itching and, when I tried again shikakai+citric, no more burning!

I think I’d like to try shikakai again, maybe pairing it with other powders with washing properties (just a sprinke of baking soda, maybe) on eBay or Aroma-Zone you can find it for better prices than Raw Gaia, anyway I think I’ll use it once a week maximum, it’s really messy and time consuming, though the results are worth it!

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