No Poo and Indian Museum

Four years ago I stopped shampooing my hair. I was concerned about the chemicals in shampoos and conditioners, and my scalp was so oily that I had to wash it every morning to avoid greasy hair. I also had (since childhood) a layer of flaky skin on my scalp that I could scrape with my fingernails. Yuck! I began to run across "no-poo" websites and decided to give it a go. The transition wasn't too difficult. I replaced shampoo with a cup of very warm water and 1 tablespoon of baking soda stirred well until completely dissolved. I wet my hair, massaged it into every inch of my scalp with the balls of my fingertips for a full 45 seconds, then rinsed well. I followed this with a rinse of 1 cup warm water and 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar. Rinse again.

At first I did this daily, but within a few days I skipped a day, then two. I currently wash my hair twice a week. It is so nice not to have to wash it daily! The flaky skin disappeared within a few weeks, and my oil production decreased steadily. And my hair looked good! Interestingly I have found that my hair is softer when I wash it in California than in New Jersey. Possibly because of the lack of humidity and the softer water.  Occasionally I will use an egg wash or some other recipe, but mostly it is the baking soda/vinegar combo.

I also stopped using my hair dryer, finding that a microfiber hair wrap used for about 10 minutes after getting out of the shower takes out most of the water. It then dries quickly.

But enough about my hair! What did we do today? I had hoped we could visit the Canyon De Chelly Since it's only 83 miles from here. Unfortunately that 83 mile trip would take over 3 hours each way. That's just too far for a day trip. So we will have to visit the canyon another time. Because of this change in plans we decided to go on to Albuquerque today. But first, we walked over to the Indian Museum next to the campground.

This was a great little museum! We were greeted by beautiful murals outside the building.

Inside were sand paintings, pottery, jewelry, woodcarvings, and woven rugs and bands.

We left Red Rock Park just before noon and arrived in Albuquerque about 2:00. We will be here a week and have lots to see. Stay tuned!