Monday, 18 March 2013

Natural Hair Care

Did you know that Old City Soapworks makes an all natural solid shampoo bar? Well, we do!


Free from petro-chemicals and loaded with moisturizing oils and butters, our shampoo bar is a great alternative to commerical shampoos. Because it's a solid bar, there's no plastic packaging to recycle. 

Our shampoo bars contain coconut oil, olive oil, castor oil, unrefined hemp seed oil, organic cocoa and shea butters as well as local beeswax. 

I have two varieties: 
a Yarrow bar that's made from locally harvested and organically grown yarrow and scented with lemon and lavender essential oils. These combined are great for lighter coloured hair and those with sensitive and/or oily scalps.
a Nettle bar that's made from locally harvested wild nettles and scented with rosemary and mint essential oils. This bar is great for those with scalp conditions such as dry itchy scalp and for those with darker hair (although it's fine for those with lighter coloured hair too).

Often those who are wanting to try a natural package free shampoo they also want to try a natural conditioner too! I find that commercial conditioner weighs my hair down and the more I use it, the more it's needed (same with commerical shampoos, deodorants, etc). I also find that using our shampoo bars my hair doesn't get as tangled because it doesn't strip the hair of it's natural oils. But because I have  very thick hair, I do like to use something as it can get a little knotted still. I like to use apple cider vinegar in place of a conditioner. 

Why apple cider vinegar (ACV)? 
Well, ACV will help balance the ph of your hair. This is especially important if you use commercial or highly alkaline shampoos. Many other hair care products are also highly alkaline.
It will remove build-up from hair care products.
It will smooth out the cuticle scales on each strand of hair which will help prevent knots and tangles, makes your hair easier to comb and also makes for shinier hair.

How do I use ACV?
To use, simply pour a tablespoon of ACV in a cup of clean warm water. After shampooing, pour over hair. You can either rinse it out or leave it in. I usually rinse it out but have a spray bottle filled with filtered water, a splash of ACV and some rosemary and mint essential oils that I spray on when I get out of the shower. 

Once your hair dries, you will NOT smell like ACV. Promise! :)

Open House, Spring Edition!

This coming Saturday (March 23rd) I'll be hosting our 1st Annual Spring Open House. I've decided to host two a year, one at Christmas and one in the Spring. :)

Our Winter Open House was a huge success! It was busy from 6 until about 8 and then quietly tapered off the last hour, it was perfect. Friends of ours from Old Farm Handcrafts joined us with their hand tooled leather and woolens.

Old Farm Handcrafts will be joining us again along with GypsyLou who creates beautiful screen printed clothing and home decor. We love both of their creations (and the families behind the businesses are pretty fantastic too).

I'll be introducing a few new products on Saturday. Some will be Easter related and some will be products that I've been planning on offering for MONTHS now (when you see them, you'll know it's been a long time coming). I'm also hoping to have my baby gift baskets ready for sale too! I'm just waiting on some packaging to arrive (fingers crossed)!

I really hope that you can join us this Saturday from 6-9pm. :)