Water Only Hair

Hello dear readers,

I have made the decision to start a Water Only journey after my success over the last 6 months going No Poo which you can read about here. I love my no poo hair and the ease it has brought me, I only have to wash my hair every 10 days with Baking Soda and Apple Cider Vinegar, but I'm after something even easier!

So it's been 15 days since my last wash (bs and acv) and I have water rinsed my hair twice since then. The good news with WO is that you can do it as often as you like, everyday if you want! I'm aiming for eventually once a week.

Here is how it looks today:

It's so big and bouncy, my hair has never been this big and bouncy in all my life. It feels slightly oily which is to be expected for a while, but I like it!

I will keep updating throughout this journey and let you all know how it's getting on!

Are you a no pooer? Water only? Thinking about it? I would love to hear from you in the comments.

Am I still shampoo free 6 months on?

As I haven't done an update on my no poo lifelife change I bet some of you are eagerly wondering whether I'm still a dirty haired hippy? The answer on two parts...  Yes I am still no poo, but no my hair isn't dirty!

In my journey I have used Soapnuts read about the results here, I have used rye flour, read how that went here but foremost in my journey, and still currently I have used the tried and tested method of baking soda and apple cider vinegar.

My first few months of no poo were pretty much typical of anyone transitioning into a no poo lifestyle. My hair attacked me with grease and waxy buildup, there was no more good hair days. Then suddenly, everything just changed. At around the 8 week mark my hair started looking and feeling great!

Where am I at today? Well today I haven't washed my hair for 11 days and that last wash was BS and ACV. I no longer need to do anything else with it between washes other than brush it. My typical week looks like this numbered in days:

1. Wash hair, wear down blow dried and straightened. 
2. Wear down doing nothing to it 
3. Wear down with front braided or pulled back. 
4. Some up some down hairstyle 
5. Top knot 
6. Top knot
7. Top knot 
8. Water only rinse if needed, braid hair overnight 
9. Wear down and curly from braid 
10. Usually wash again. 

Thats about it. I promise I will upload photos later with proof that my hair isn't gross anymore but I need to run! 

Let me know your experience in the comments beautiful ladies. 

Menstrual Cups Revisited!

Hello lovely readers,

I feel like I have been neglectful of both this blog and you guys so I thought I would do another visit to the world of the menstrual cup. I have now been using menstrual cups for 5 months so feel I can now comfortably discuss the pros and cons of their usage, and help anyone trying to make the leap.
I reviewed the Divacup here when I first started to use it, and alot has changed! I also discussed the Femmecup here previously. After going through 5 cycles with these ladies, I now feel like I can give a really honest opinion on them.
So here goes! The Femmecup was, and still is, my favourite cup.The softer medical grade silicone is so comfortable I can just put it in and quite literally forget I have it in for the whole day, until it starts to leak. This is where the love ends, it is quite a small capacity cup at around 15ml so I fill it up in just a few hours on my heaviest day. It is my favourite cup, but only on my lightest days, and I cannot wear it at night.
The Divacup however is on the other end of the spectrum. It is much harder cup, its made from the same medical grade silicone but it is thicker, and a firmer rim. At first I found it very uncomfortable and hard to get in the right place. I found the firmer ring harder to get to "pop" open once in place and just had a terrible few cycles trying to get it right. Until yesterday. Yesterday it all changed with a Eureka! moment. It suddenly just seems to "work". I got it in, kept it in while I was out for 4 hours, and then returned home to a half full cup. Emptied it, and back in it went, no problem. I even slept with it in, which is a first for me in the 4 months since I have had it. The Divacup is a larger capacity, and a longer cup which is why many women have trouble with it fitting in the right place as throughout the cycle your cervix will move up and down.

As far as the cons go to menstrual cup usage ladies, I can honestly say I don't think there are any. I find it cleaner and fresher. You know that uncomfortable feeling in the morning when you wake up with that "wet" feeling on your period? You don't get that. You know that funky smell you get with pads? You don't get that. You know the wet urine soaked string that you have with tampons, you guessed it. You don't get that either. What you do get is a small cup which needs to be emptied into a toilet or sink and rinsed then put back in. Sounds too good to be true doesn't it.

If you are shorter inside I would not recommend the Divacup at all, but if you are a lady with a heavier period it is definitely the one, of the two I have, that I would recommend. If capacity is not an issue then for comfort I would definitely go with the Femmecup.

So there we have it ladies, if you are still unsure about menstrual cups I would definitely make that leap, I did and I am not looking back. Head over to the Facebook group Menstrual Cuppers for advice as they are a great bunch of ladies. Also, if you would like to read more about cups there is a great blog over at Bunnie's Choice which discusses them further with pictures of fold methods etc.

So what do you think ladies? Do you use Cups? Have you? Will you? Let me know in the comments :)

Rye Flour as a Shampoo

So I have been no poo now for over 3 months, I love it. I seriously will not be going back to using shampoo and conditioned ever again. So up until now I have been a regular user of baking soda and either distilled white vinegar or apple cider vinegar. While that was working for me, I felt like changing it up a bit and I have heard some amazing things about Rye Flour.

I picked it up in my local Holland and Barrett for £1.69 for 500g but you can get it cheaper elsewhere it was just easiest for me. So what do you do with this lovely stuff I hear you ask? It's really simple, you can use one of two methods.

Method 1
Take 3tbs of Rye flour and sieve with a very fine sieve or tea strainer to get most of the bits out (or you will be picking them out of your hair all day)
Add just enough warm water to make it a Shampoo consistency

Method 2
Put 3tbs into a sock and tie it off
Soak overnight in about half a cup of water, squeezing a few times in the morning to get all the good stuff out
(with this method you get a Shampoo like consistency, no lumps, but some people say it is less effective at cleaning without the bits in).

Currently I use method 1 but will be trying method 2 soon just for comparison. You just use the Rye flour shampoo as you would normal shampoo, and just make sure you scrub around the roots very well. It's not too important to use on ends as as you rinse it will run through to ends.

Now, some people like to follow with ACV/DWV for detangling and dry ends, but it is not necessary. Because Rye flour is totally pH balanced at 5, it makes it a perfect match for your hair. It also contains lots of amazing minerals and vitamins. I did use ACV on my lengths but only a very small amount to prevent dry ends.

So there we have it, a pH balanced all natural no poo alternative to shampoo. Here is a picture of my hair after washing with Rye flour. Bear in mind that I went 12 days without washing my hair at all before using it so it did an amazing job at removing all the oil and gross stuff out of my hair. The only draw back was combing out the bits that were left behind but it's livable.

So, yea, the picture. Happy no pooing folks. Have you used Rye flour? Let me know!

DivaCup Review!

So as any of my regular readers know by now, I am a monthly user of the Femmecup. The Femmecup menstrual cup served me pretty well for the last few months apart from when on my heaviest day. Many of you told me that you use the Divacup as it has a higher capacity, so I wrote to the guys over at www.divacup.com and requested a sample. They graciously accepted my offer to review it for them and so that brings us to today. First off, let me state, I was not paid for this review. I received a cup to trial and give my honest opinion on it for you, my readers, so let's get down to it.

As I am already a menstrual cup user I am already familiar with the different folds and techniques that come with being totally comfortable with your *ahem* inner lady workings. The cup itself is fairly similar to the Femmecup in the fact that it has a small stem and is roughly the same shape. It is bigger, and it has a firmer rim than the Femmecup. If you want to have a look at the Femmecup review I did a little while ago feel free to head over here to check that out.

Here is how the product looks in the packaging: 

And upon opening the box there is a pleasant surprise, a lovely little satin bag to keep it in and a small lapel badge to proudly wear stating what I already know, that I am a Diva!

The Divacup itself has a capacity of 30ml which is actually more than large enough, most women only lose 30-40ml throughout their whole monthly period! What makes the Divacup more convenient to use is that the company state it can be left in for up to 12 hours at a time, meaning you only have to change it once in the morning and once before bed. Gone are the days of having to change a tampon every few hours ladies.

Another great point to note is that it is recommended to change once a year, that means in total your yearly period allowance is around £21.99 a year! 

It is important when choosing a Divacup to choose the right size for you. If you are under 30 and have never had a baby then size 1 is the right one for you. If you are either over 30 or under 30 and have given birth either vaginally or by c-section then choose cup 2.

So far I have only had the chance to use the cup for a day or so, but I can say that it is comfortable and you genuinely can forget it is there. With tampons I was always told you cannot feel them if they are in right, but I always could, so this is a great plus for me. My biggest love with using the Divacup is the fact that you can leave it in all day. This means no more struggling in the ladies room with changing a tampon or even nasty uncomfortable pads. Just pop it in in the morning before you leave the house and you should be fine until you get home in the evening and empty it. I will update this post once I have used it for a few cycles but so far so good.

If you are thinking about using a menstrual cup and you feel that the Divacup is right for you then check out Divacup's handy Storefinder to find out where you can buy near you, or if you prefer, check out their E-tailer page for buying online.

Also, like them on Facebook and Twitter for more reviews by users and handy advice.

If you have any questions regarding this blog please feel free to comment below. Have you used the Divacup? What do you think? Let me know in the comments.

*UPDATE* after using the divacup this cycle I can view confirm, I don't think it's for me. The cup itself is one of the long-standing in the market and it may just be too long for me. The end (trimmed off) sits very low, almost at the entrance which I find quite maddening when I am out of the house as it feels like it's falling out. I turned it inside out to shorten it, which  has helped slightly though. I also find it is much harder to get it to pop open inside, this is challenging xompaews to my softer femmecup. If anyone can recommend a high capacity, shorter cup please let me know. I have heard good things about the mooncup.