Leap year hair

Happy Leap Year! In honor of the occasion (we won't live this day of the calendar for another 4 years!) I made (one of my favorites) carrot cake cookies. Our kitchen and fridge and freezer is overflowing with coconut products so I try to put them to use.

One of my latest discoveries is making coconut whipped cream. Just refrigerate coconut milk (I use the fresh stuff because that's what we have here but the canned stuff will work too), skim the water off the top, add a bit of powdered sugar and vanilla and blend! It takes a few minutes and nearly kills my blender in the process, but it eventually comes to the consistency of whipped cream. Only it tastes WAY better! Especially on pie or my mango-pineapple crisp (with coconut butter topping). Death by coconut and tropical fruits!

In other exciting news, it was a week ago today that I decided to quit my shampoo/conditioner cold turkey and go baking soda/apple cider vinegar. I went into it completely prepared to throw in the towel when I needed to (or at least do it every OTHER washing), but it turns out that it is completely amazing! Some people say that they have a few weeks' transition before their scalp stops overproducing the oil that the shampoo strips every day (hence your need for conditioner to repair the damage done by the shampoo - a Hair Care Conspiracy!). But I must have great luck because my head is not greasy at all! It's actually quite soft like how your hair feels when you come home from a salon.

Downside: Showers just aren't as enjoyable as they used to be. As crappy as Sodium Laurel Sulfate is, I love lathering. Baking soda does no such thing. The most effective way I've found to do it is to put a small palmful of baking soda into the palm of my hand and add a little bit of water to make a paste, which I then rub into my hair (mostly roots). It feels a bit like I'm rubbing grains of sand into my head, but I think I might not be watering down the paste enough. I made up a 1 T. Apple cider vinegar to 1 cup water solution that I've been putting on the ends (I've read putting it on the scalp will increase oil). It's actually been very effective in detangling my hair, which is a huge problem for me with the swimming and running that I do that makes my poor ponytail all sweaty and gross. TMI.

Anyway, my hair never feels squeaky clean as it used to when I finish washing it, but it always proves me wrong when it's dry. It's definitely worth a try!