SHAMPOO ALTERNATIVE RECIPE

About 2 months ago I started to develop some all natural shampoo alternatives to help eliminate the chemicals in the shampoos that we have been using. I also had several friends ask if I could develop something that would clean the scalp and hair, help restore the healthy oils in your hair, and may even condition it as well. 
So I went to work researching recipes, trying them out and discovering what a lot of people had already found out.... Either the recipes left my hair too oily, or it dried my husband's scalp out too much. (My husband has psoriasis on his face and scalp. Although, he has had GREAT results for his face using my Lavender Lotion.)

So I figured I would have to develop my own recipe for our "Poo" Free hair care. 

I found that Sunflower Oil had great benefits for your hair:

Just like skin, sunflower oil has a moisturizing effect on your hair as well. A wide array of nutrients and antioxidants together with essential fatty acids make it extremely beneficial for your hair. Following are the benefits of sunflower oil for hair.

Due to its light texture and mild flavour, sunflower oil softens the hair and adds sheen. It helps control frizz, tackles dryness, damage and makes you hair manageable. This versatile oil maintains hair’s luster and texture and can be used as a natural conditioner. 

Being extremely light, sunflower oil helps in conditioning greasy hair without adding more greasy feeling. It nourishes the hair and prevents breakage. Also, Sunflower oil is an important source of gamma alpha linolenic acid (GLA) which helps in preventing thinning of hair. It is effective in the treatment of hair-loss, baldness and alopecia areata characterized by round patches of lost hair.

All of this made me know that I wanted to use Sunflower Oil as my primary oil for the "POO" Free recipe.

Coconut Oil is one of my favorite things to use in my recipes. It is a great conditioning agent. I use it as the base for all of my water free lotions. So I thought it would be great for the "Poo" free hair product too. 

So Why coconut oil is better than the average face moisturizer. And hair serum. And body lotion: "Commercial moisturizers contain lots of water, which makes you feel like your skin is being moisturized. But as soon as the water dries, your skin becomes dry again. Also, many commercial brands of moisturizers contain petroleum-based ingredients that can suffocate the skin. In contrast, coconut oil provides deep and real moisture. It helps strengthen underlying tissues and helps remove excessive dead cell on the skin's surface that makes your skin rough and flaky in texture. It also great for shine and as a natural moisturizer for your hair. This made it a wonderful addition to my alternative!

Next I needed a soap, I mean oils are good but we also want to clean the scalp and hair. So I decided to use my homemade pure vegetable glycerin. Although you can buy pure vegetable glycerin at your hobby stores in the soap area. Just make sure that it is says: PURE VEGETABLE GLYCERIN.

So now I had to decide which Therapeutic Grade Essential Oil to use in my recipe. So many essential oils are good for hair but I also wanted a clean refreshing LIGHT scent. (especially since this was for myself and my husband). So after researching which oils are beneficial to hair, I decide to go with White Grapefruit. White Grapefruit can also help with hair growth. So I figured that it would be great to help body and thickness.

You can order some White Grapefruit Therapeutic Grade Essential Oil by clicking this link and then going to Affiliate Join. You will then be able to purchase your own. 

So now you know why I choose the ingredients I did. I have been using the "Poo" Free alternative for about 3 1/2 weeks now and am still loving it.

Here is a photo I snapped today to show how healthy my hair still looks.

Prayers, PittBulls, and Barley Green: Our Families Cancer Journey

Natural Healing and Cancer: My 1st Experience with Natural Healing

When I was 14 years old my mom developed a lump near her collar bone. At first she thought this was a goiter. But as time passed she became concerned by the rate of growth of this lump. After many months of denial and fear, she went to the doctor. They did a biopsy of this now large growth on her neck. I remember that mom and dad both tried to shield my sister and I from the events and their fears. That was until the day mom got her results back. 
I remember walking into the house after school to my grandma crying in the living room. She told us that mom had something to tell us and we were to go to our parents bedroom. My sister and I walked slowly down the hallway to the back bedroom where mom and dad were. We could hear sobs coming from behind the door. I think my sister knocked and suddenly the sobs stopped. Mom tried to mask the emotions in her voice as she gave us permission to enter. 

My mom has a baby. With my Grandma and Grandpa in 1947. Sorry mom for letting the world know your age. :) Love you!

As we walked into the room, I noticed dad wiping his eyes. Something I hardly ever saw was dad crying. Mom sat on the bed and motioned for us to join her. I don't think either me or my sister said a word. I do recall thinking that someone had died. I know that this was the feeling I remembered from when my grandma Marcene had passed away a few years before. 
Mom took a deep breath and then told us the new reality of her life. She had CANCER! I thought at that moment that my mom was going to die. I mean doesn't cancer mean death. At least to a naive 14 year old, whose only knowledge of cancer came when someone famous died from it, that is what it meant. 
Mom said she had an appointment with a surgeon for the very next day. They were going to remover her tumor. Her tumor! Oh my goodness, that sounded too scary! Surgery, cancer, tumor; These were probably the worse words I could ever imagine. 
The next day mom met with the local surgeon and they scheduled her surgery for just a few days later. They were going to cut her neck open and hopefully they would be able to get the whole tumor out. 
The day of the surgery arrived and mom refused to let my sister and I to go to the hospital. My dad and, I think, my older brother went with mom. But my sister and I went off to school as usual but nothing felt usual to me. 
The surgery did go well. The tumor was removed and sent off to a lab for further testing. Mom was allowed to come home the next day. Life carried on for the next week without much talk about what had happened. Part of me believed that this was over. That mom had all of the cancer removed and that our lives were going to be back to normal. Little did I know the next things to come. 

My mom with 2 of her younger sisters.

Mom was at work when she got the phone call, I remember that she had to be driven home by a coworker. She was home before we got home from school, which as a working mom that wasn't the norm. When we got home she was sitting in the living room with Grandma. (We lived with my Grandmother throughout my whole childhood.)

There were no tears, no sobs, just a silent uncomfortable feeling coming from them. Mom told us to sit down. NEVER A GOOD SIGN!

The doctor called and said that the tumor they removed was a secondary tumor and that she would have to have more tests to locate the primary tumor. She was going to a specialist. She told us not to worry that she was a fighter and that we all would be okay. Of course we wanted to believe her but it was hard when her words didn't sound too convincing. So mom started to make doctors appointments and I asked to go to the library. 

Why the library? Well, we didn't have computers, internet and so back then you went to the library to research things. And I was going to research Cancer and how to get rid of it. At least that was my goal. I checked out every book I could find and brought them home for mom and I to read. 

Mom went to her 1st specialist and was told she had squamous cell cancer. He told her that he thought the primary tumor was on her vocal chords and that she was going to have to have them removed. She would no longer be able to talk. I was not with her and dad when they were told this but I know it was very emotional for them both. Mom refused to schedule an appointment for this surgery. She came home and we found out that the best place to treat cancer in Missouri was up in Columbia near the Mizzou campus. So she made the appointment up there. It was a 3 hour drive but well worth it for a second opinion. 

The next weeks she and dad, sometime accompanied by myself, drove back and forth to Columbia. They did more tests and discovered that in fact she did not have squamous cell cancer but had malignant melanoma. A form of skin cancer that causes 75% of the deaths from skin cancer. She was told that she didn't have a very good survival chance. I think they told her something like a year or 18 months. They began to do test to locate the allusive primary tumor. 

As they began their work mom and I continued ours. We got books on alternative treatments for cancer patients. I remember one that told her every night to picture her white blood cells as pit bulls and in her mind to tell these pit bulls to attack the tumor. Since she was unsure where the tumor was, she would have these pit bulls start in her head and had them move down her body until the reached her toes. 

During this time the doctors up at Columbia said they thought they located her tumor in her chest. They began discussions of what to do next in her treatment. We were told that even if she went through chemo and radiation, her chances were not good.

So we put her on every prayer list we could. We prayed as a family and asked God for something that would give us more time. Then one day, while driving through town, we stopped at a new Natural Foods store. Mom and I went into the store and asked the guy behind the counter if there was anything that was good for cancer patients. He led us to a weird green powder, called Barley Green. He told us that he knew someone who said that this helped with his cancer experience. So mom bought it. Yes it was kind of expensive but if it helped, it was worth it. And at this point anything that may help was what we wanted. So mom began drinking barley green mixed in orange juice. She said that it tasted better in OJ. Apparently it is pretty yucky. But she drank it every morning and every night. 

All the time she continued her trips to and from Columbia. They wanted to start her treatments soon. But mom wanted more information. (I do not recommend not doing treatments but it was what mom decided for her situation)

So she waited, continued her appointments, her pit bull visual, and her barley green. After 3 months mom asked for a second scan. When the results came back the doctors were DUMBFOUNDED!

The tumor they said was in her chest 3 months ago was gone. But it was more than that. There was no sign of cancer. They checked her skin, had her do scans, and lots of blood work. And they found nothing! NOTHING!!!

Was this our miracle? Well, the doctors told us time would tell. They wanted mom to keep coming every month to get a new check up, scan and blood work. And she did. A year of monthly visits back and forth to Columbia. Yet nothing. 

Mom stopped taking the barley green around this time and stopped having her pit bulls attack the bad cells throughout her body. Our lives went back to normal, except once a month. After a year, NO SIGNS OF CANCER! The specialist in Columbia extended the time between the visits, now she had to go every 3 months.

After another year with no signs of cancer, they extended it again to every 6 months.

Another year and still no signs of cancer, extended to every year. 

Another year and still no signs of cancer. The specialist then released mom to her regular physician. They told her to be aware of her body and if she noticed any strange growths on or under her skin, she was to come back to Columbia.

Mom and Dad 2010

Mom was diagnosed with cancer in 1990. Today September 14, 2013 and still NO CANCER!!!! That is 23 years survival! 

I do not know if the our miracle occurred through prayer, Pitt bulls, or barley green. I like to believe that God gave us the combination of the 3.