So, out of all the dreads ive had (there has been many through the years) the one problem i still find myself having is trusting what soaps to use, tha natural health store where i am does not carry Bronners, but it carrys a supposedly residue soap by a company called Mountain Sky, the soap type i use is called "RASTA BAR HEMP", its listed as a natural shampoo and soap bar and says it is river friendly, but what im not sure of is its contents. Its listed as vegetable based and the ingredients are as follows: Coconut oil, aqua, sodium hydroxide, lemon peel oil, peppermint oil, hemp seed oil, cocoa seed butter, shea butter, nettle leaf extract, and natural color. Does this sound like a dread bar or just a normal hair bar? Otherwise all i have access to is pure tee tree oil or baking soda, what would you all have to recomend, remember as i said before i DO NOT have a store around that carrys BRONNERS, so plse dont tell me bronners.
how mature are your dreads? The more mature they are, the more you can relax a bit about shampoos if them coming out is what you are worried about. That soap sounds fine, even all natural except for the sodium hydroxide but that is just a base to balance the pH so no worries. If all you have is baking soda you can just wash your hair with that...it feels GREAT in my opinion. There is a deep cleanse recipe you can follow under one of the stickies on this forum. Here is what I do: 3/4 cup baking soda in big bowl of warm water. Add a couple tbsp of lemon juice and a tsp of sea salt. You can add tea tree oil if you want but not too much as it can dry your scalp out. Take a cup and pour it over your head over the sink or bath until it's gone. Wrap hair in towel and let sit 15-30 minutes then rinse thoroughly in the shower. IT's kind of a process but worth it.
I use normal body soap for my dreads, and it works wonderful. There is no need to buy special hair soap. It is exactly the same, except they probably charge more for shampoo bars because it's a "speciality" label. Exceptions would include bars that are have herbal or conditioning properties especially for hair; there is no reason you would need a a shampoo bar for those though. That soap is fine, but I think it's meant for hair that needs conditioning because of the shea butter. So it might make your hair overly conditioned and/or oily. However, the soap is natural. The sodium hydroxide is just lye, which is necessary to make ANY soap. It just usually isn't listed because it is pretty much eradicated in the soap making process to the point none remains. All soap has lye.
Thanx alot for all the reply's they have been a great help. So anyway i went to the town over and found a store that sells Bronners (Yeay), i bought the tee trea one. Now i just have to wait 4 days to wash my hair, just washed it 2 days ago, but i cant wait!!! Thanx alot for the offer moondoggie but ill be o.k now, just had to do some searching, thanx for the offer though, by the way i like your quote under your signature!!!
I use the tea tree oil soap and love it. I recently starting adding a big scoop of baking soda in with the deluded soap. My feels cleaner for longer when I do it this way. Although I could never imagine using only baking soda. I must not be doing something right because every time I try baking soda it just doesn't clean a damn thing. Now added to the bronners makes it worth it.
Im going to have to try that,baking soda alone seems to work for me, then again its winter right now and im not sweating as much so im sure in the summer i will be glad i bought the bronners.
