Thrifty Thursday ~ Shampoo and Conditioner

This may seem like a silly thing to be thrifty about, but if you have a very large family (or even just very long hair) these are items that can rack up cost rather quickly.

My hair is a little longer than waist length and it is of a texture that I *have* to use conditioner on it. And, I can't use just any conditioner, because some are just not effective in keeping it from tangling. Cost doesn't really seem to be a determiner, expensive might be just as bad as el cheapo when it comes to tangling. However, even Suave can get spendy when you use it every day.

I realize some of you may not wash your hair everyday, but I need my shower! :-D It's a short period of time each day when I am alone, and I can just relax under the hot water or take time to pray uninterrupted. I have also never really been able to do much with my hair once it is dry, so I always do my "styling" (braid, bun, etc) while my hair is wet.

Okay. On to the "thrifty tip". I wish I could give credit where it is due, but it's been so long since I read this tip, that I honestly don't remember which website I got it from. However, if you have time and are so inclined, I would encourage you to look up different hair care sites, there are many of them and they have some neat hair care tips. I only use a tiny amount of shampoo. Somewhere I read that if you are getting suds (and weren't we trained that a good shampoo suds-up?) you are using too much shampoo! I also only shampoo my scalp. Once every 3 months or so I will wash the full length of my hair, but for the most part, I just wash my scalp. The length of my hair is cleaned by the shampoo as I rinse it. It truely does work! I bought a "family size" bottle of Suave shampoo the beginning of September and I am probably not even a third of a way through the bottle ~ *that's* savings!

In contrast, I only condition the length of my hair ~ not my scalp. I still use more conditioner than shampoo (there's a lot of length to my hair), but not the amount I was using before.

I believe that my hair is in better condition now than before I changed the way I washed it. There has to be less soap build-up, just because I'm not using the amount of soap I used to, and my scalp is healthier because it's not getting extra oils from the conditioner that it doesn't need.

This will even make expensive shampoos and conditioners affordable ~ if you can break the cost down over several months. And if you are already using inexpensive brands, this will break the cost down to just pennies!

Just one more place to cut a corner, but still get the job done well. ;-)