Easy Rosemary Hair Growth Spray
​
* 10 drops rosemary essential oil
* 1/2 teaspoon of a carrier oil (coconut oil, jojoba oil, or squalane oil)
* 4 ounces distilled water
* 4 ounces spray bottle (amber bottles like this will keep the essential oil potent longer)
* mini funnel (optional but helpful)

Instructions
* Add 10 drops of rosemary essential oil to a 1/2 teaspoon and fill the rest of the teaspoon with a carrier oil.

* Pour your oils into your bottle and fill the rest of the bottle to the top with water. Give your bottle a shake and spray directly into roots and then rub it in with your fingers a bit.

* Spray into hair once a day.

That's it.

from A Beautiful Mess

​Can shampoo in a bar really get your hair clean and shiny? Industry professionals explain how the bars can help your hair and, more importantly, the planet.

​If you think you’re already doing your part to reduce plastic use, take a quick peek inside your shower stall. See those plastic bottles of shampoo and conditioner? No judgment, but ahem.

The good news is there’s another, more eco-friendly way to cleanse that magnificent mane of yours. The growing category of shampoo bars is gaining in popularity with folks who want to do the right thing, but who also want their hair to look its absolute best at all times (so, pretty much everybody).

One shampoo bar = Three plastic shampoo bottles

Shampoo bars are a small but significant step in our quest to reduce plastic proliferation. The makers of these bars say their products are essentially all the good parts of shampoo (the stuff that gets your hair clean and beautiful) without a bunch of non-essential water added — and with no plastic bottle required.

“Liquid shampoo contains 80 to 90% water,” Superzero founder and co-CEO Conny Wittke told HuffPost. “The amount of plastic used in the beauty industry is significant, creating 120 billion units of plastic packaging waste every year globally. In the United States, 552 million plastic shampoo bottles are sold every year. But overall, less than 10% of the plastic we create gets recycled.”

Removing the water from shampoo formulations leaves consumers with one small bar that can contain the equivalent of up to three bottles of shampoo, enough for up to 80 washes, depending on the brand. Then there’s the issue of what it takes to get that bottle transported from a factory to your shower stall. “Because you get more product for less weight and volume with shampoo bars, there are fewer greenhouse gases generated during shipping,” Wittke said.

How significant is that impact? “One of our shampoo bars has just 8% of the carbon footprint of the equivalent liquid product,”said Brianne West, founder and CEO of . Allison Teasdale, the chief operating officer ofUnwrapped Life, noted: “We’ve diverted more than 4.5 million plastic bottles from entering our oceans, and we’re committed to preventing more than 20 million plastic bottles by 2025.”

Is there a shampoo bar in your future? It seems likely. “Everyone who uses shampoo eventually will use them,” said co-founder Dion Hughes. “I foresee a time when using shampoo from plastic bottles is as uncool as lighting a cigarette in a restaurant.”

You’ve got to let go of the ‘theater of lather’

You’ll need to manage your expectations with your first few bar uses, starting with the volume of lather you’re likely to see. There’s a “theater of lather” that we’ve come to expect from our cleansing products, but the additives that provide a rich lather aren’t necessarily proof of super-deep cleaning. “Lather is not so much a cleansing effect as a reassuring effect,” Hughes said.

“You’ll notice that your shampoo bar will suds up, but it’s not like the kind of foam you see in a beer commercial, more just a creamy lather,” Shambar founder Jeffrey Qaiyum told HuffPost. “If you’re getting that much foam from a shampoo bar, frankly, you’re using a bar of soap with the word ‘shampoo’ slapped on the label.”

It might take some getting used to

How that small, hard bar will translate into a good shampoo might seem confusing at first, but after a few tries, you’ll get the hang of it. “Just swoosh the entire bar around on your head,” said Erica Vega, brand and product expert for Lush Cosmetics USA . “If your hair is prone to tangles, rub it in your hands first, then rub the lather in, the way you would do with a liquid shampoo.”

After rinsing and drying, your hair might look a little different than the way it does after a traditional shampoo, at least at first. Shampoo bars tend to be gentler than shampoo, so you’ll need to let your hair adjust to that milder cleansing, or you might eventually need to switch up the timing and frequency of your shampoos. “For some people, it takes two to three weeks to ‘break in’ and let the hair become normalized after years of having natural oils stripped away by shampoos,” said James R. Liggett, president and founder of J. R. Liggett’s.

What about conditioner?

Whether you’ll need a conditioner bar is a matter of your particular hair type. Someone with short hair might be just fine, but those with thicker, longer or curlier hair might want to use one.

“Many people with curly hair choose not to use shampoo in favor of co-washing, which is washing with conditioner,” West said. She noted that those products also have eco-benefits. “One of our conditioner bars is equivalent to five bottles of liquid conditioner,” she added.

Travel, shave and even wash the dog with your shampoo bar

Because of their compact size, shampoo bars make sense for travel. They eliminate worries about Transportation Security Administration requirements because — ta-da! — you’ve ditched the liquid altogether. Whether you’re staying at a luxury hotel or at a campsite, you’ll also find that a shampoo bar is a good in-a-pinch way to care for hand-washable clothing when you’re on the road.
​
People can use the bars on their entire bodies, or as a replacement for shaving cream. And you can break them out when it’s time to wash pets, too. No matter what you’re doing with your own particular bar, “They’re absolutely gentle enough to use every day,” Qaiyum said.

For more of this story, click here and scroll down to Shampoo bars to try

If you decide that you want to make your hair less frizzy or straighter, you may choose to go to a professional stylist at a hair salon for a hair straightening or smoothing service. Most hair smoothing or straightening products release formaldehyde gas, a known human carcinogen as classified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, into the air during the hair straightening or smoothing process. Formaldehyde exposure can cause both short- and long-term effects that may impact your health.

What Happens During the Hair Smoothing Process? 

Your stylist usually applies a hair straightening or smoothing solution to your hair and follows it with a heat processing step—typically performed with a flat iron device that seals the solution into the strands of the hair. When the solution is heated, the formaldehyde in the product is released into the air as a gas. If the salon is not properly ventilated, you, your stylist, and others in the salon are at risk of inhaling the released formaldehyde.

Why Exposure to Formaldehyde is Dangerous

When formaldehyde is released into the air and is present in the air at levels exceeding 0.1 ppm, it can cause serious irritation of your eyes, nose, and lungs. It can also cause skin sensitivity or allergic dermatitis.

Formaldehyde Exposure: Potential Short-and Long-Term Effects

The greater the exposure to products that contain formaldehyde in terms of both length of time and concentration, the higher the potential health risks. Individuals who have experienced formaldehyde exposure have described reactions such as eye problems or irritation, nervous system problems (for example, headaches and dizziness), respiratory tract problems (sore or scratchy throat, cough, wheezing), nausea, chest pain, vomiting, and rashes. Chronic effects associated with formaldehyde can include an increased prevalence of headaches, asthma, contact dermatitis (a red, itchy rash caused by direct contact with a substance or an allergic reaction to it as a result of sensitization) and possibly cancer.

It’s important to note that some people are very sensitive to formaldehyde, whereas others have no reaction to the same level of exposure. If you are sensitive to formaldehyde, you should not use this type of product.

Steps to Take If You’re Thinking of Using Hair Smoothing Products 

1. Don’t do it yourself. Don’t apply them yourself at home. Go to a licensed hair professional in a salon. Hair professionals should be trained to take precautions such as wearing gloves and safety glasses, as well as making sure that there is proper ventilation when applying hair smoothing products. For more information, please visit OSHA Hair Salons: Facts about Formaldehyde in Hair Products.
2. Read the list of ingredients. While the FDA discourages consumers from buying these products for home use, if you are considering purchasing a product from a store or online to apply yourself, read the required list of ingredients. If there isn’t one, don’t buy the product. If the hair smoothing product lists one of these ingredient names on the packaging or company website: formaldehyde, formalin, or methylene glycol, then it means the product contains formaldehyde or will release formaldehyde. Of note, not all hair smoothing products contain formaldehyde, which is why you need to read the label to see what is in the product. 
3. You may also want to ask your salon professional these questions: Does the product contain formaldehyde? Is there an ingredient list available for this product that I could read? Would it be possible for me to review the Safety Data Sheet for this product?  Have you been trained to apply this product, and do you know the necessary safeguards to minimize exposure to formaldehyde? May I see your training certificate from the manufacturer and the directions for product use? Does the salon have proper ventilation? Do you periodically test the air for adherence to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s limits for formaldehyde? Do you have an alternative hair smoothing product that does not release formaldehyde when heated?
4. Report bad reactions. If you experience a bad reaction to a hair smoothing product, stop using the product and report your symptoms to your health care provider. You can also report your symptom to the FDA by contacting the Consumer Complaint Coordinator in your area or by  reporting them online at MedWatch, the FDA’s safety information and adverse reporting program. You also may call MedWatch at 1-800-332-1088 to request a reporting form by mail.

​See a fact sheet and an infographic for more information about hair smoothing products and formaldehyde.