One of the things that I have developed over the years after working so long in the food industry around heavy duty oven and floor cleaners and whatnot, I have developed a chemical sensitivity. Doing the GAPS/SCD diet has made me more aware of what is affecting my body in adverse ways. I have also become increasingly frustrated for how much money I have to spend for a bottle of shampoo and conditioner that doesn’t have a zillion names I can’t pronounce included in the list of ingredients. Anyway it turns out you can just use baking soda and vinegar very successfully as a shampoo and conditioner.

There are various other ingredients you can add to these basics, I have tried a few. My first attempt washing my hair with my own shampoo was with bentonite clay and marshmallow root, I think I also used soapnut detergent in that. I didn’t really like the results for that, as my hair is quite fine and the bentonite dried it out too much. I haven’t tried adding marshmallow to the shampoo since then, if I do, I’ll let you know.

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Bentonite clay has been a real life-saver for me. I am blown away by the powerful detoxing abilities of this clay. I don’t remember where, why or when it was that I first started using bentonite, but I do remember the first place I ever heard of anyone eating any kind of earth was when I read One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marques. I remember being quite shocked by the idea at the time, but I think it did make me more willing to try bentonite clay originally .

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I first came across soapnuts when I was living in Myanmar/Burma in 1999. I was working at a remote hotel on the shore of the mystical Inle Lake in Shan State. My oven was made from a large barrel and was wood-fired, whenever the kitchen staff noticed me making a move to try to get the fire under the oven going myself, they would quickly send the kitchen’s expert fire-maker to take over. They had already learned the hard way that they would be completely smoked out of the kitchen if they let me attempt it myself.

The staff at the Inle Princess Resort were really a fun bunch of people, we would go to the five day farmer’s markets early in the morning and stuff ourselves with treats of fried Shan tofu and cups of sweet, strong and delicious Burmese tea, on the walk home the girls would always amaze me with their taken-for-granted knowledge of nearly every plant and it’s medicinal benefits that we passed by. They would rave to me about the wonders of the traditional Burmese shampoo. The next time we were at the market they showed me bags hanging from strings full of a yellowish liquid with these soapnuts, tamarind pods and various other herbs in them. I gave it a try and was soon a convert. Although the shampoo didn’t suds up quite as much the shampoos I was used to, my hair was soon gleaming with a healthy shine.

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