No, this is not just some random photo of 2 bottles of shampoo. These are my now emptied bottles of shampoo.
Guess how long it took me to use up these 2 bottles?
I used both of these bottles up in 7 MONTHS. I switch off every week using one and then the following week I use the other one.....then I--pardon the pun--rinse and repeat. hehe
So if it takes me 7 Months to finish both bottles, it would take me 3.5 months to finish one if I didn't alternate brands.
Got it?
Good.
My hair, though thin, is a bit longish. 4" below shoulder length so I have a bit of hair to wash. I use an amount the size of a nickel when I 'poo. I wash my hair 2-3 times per week....a little more in the summer if I am getting sweaty. But in the winter months 2-3 times is sufficient.
So if I extrapolate this out, I go through less than 4 bottles(12-16 oz. each)of shampoo a year. A 2 yr. supply(which is what I like to keep on hand)would be 8 bottles tops for me.
By combining coupons and sales, I can usually get high end 'poo for $1 or less per bottle especially at Rite-Aid, meaning at most, I spend $4 on 'poo per year tops.
Considering a regular retail price on 1 bottle of name brand shampoo can run you $4-$8, I have cut my spending on 'poo by 75% from what it use to run before I used coupons and bought on sale almost exclusively.
A tip on shampoo--change up your brand every couple of weeks! Your hair gets 'use to' whatever you use and stuff accumulates on your hair shafts. You need to strip this gunk off every now and again so using a different brand usually is enough to do that. Each shampoo can have different surfactants, conditioners, scents so by changing brands, the new ingredients will wash away the old ones giving you cleaner feeling hair. As you continue to use the same 'poo over and over the new ingredients are left behind on your hair shafts causing a new build up of the new 'poo ingredients. This is what they market the 'clarifying' shampoos for...to wash off the build up from your old shampoo. But be careful using clarifying 'poos all the time as they tend to be harsher on your hair.
How many bottle of 'poo do you go through a year and what is it costing you?
I tried going the Baking Soda/No 'Poo route. It was difficult getting use to it at first. With shampoo, your hair follicles are use to producing lots of oil, because you are stripping away the natural oils every time you 'poo. The baking soda isn't stripping but your follicles continue to over produce oil so you will go through a stage in the first month or two where your hair gets greasier to the touch. If you can tough this part out, once your follicles calm down, things get better. But a lot of people can't get past this part and give it up since they don't feel clean.
While baking soda did work, for now I prefer a good lather on my head now and again.
Have you ever tracked how long a bottle of shampoo lasts you? Let us know your thoughts on 'Poo, ok?
I'd love to mark and keep track of how long/how many bottles of shampoo #2 son goes through. Of course, he has more hair and it's longer than mine....plus he is in that teenage showering/shampooing/grooming overkill stage of life. Here he is about 6 months ago in what I refer to as the "sheep dog look".....the girls he knows are all jealous of his hair.lol
Sluggy
It takes us forever to use shampoo. About 5 years ago, I bought something like 15 bottles (most 18 oz., a couple of them bigger than that) that were in the grocery store's clearance bins, all marked at 50¢ each. We've used them for shampoo, and sometimes for body wash, to scrub the shower, and to scrub the toilet (which I do daily). We still have four bottles left! On top of that, there are another three bottles that I got free with coupon deals. Like I needed them or something.
ReplyDeleteNow we're all using the handmade bar soap for our bodies and hair, so we're going through even less shampoo. I guess I can consider myself overstocked.
I'm waaaay overstocked for just me (and that's after distributing 'poo to DH and DS whenever possible). I can't do the no-'poo route. To me, if there ain't lather, it ain't clean, regardless of what all the advocates say.
ReplyDeleteI have never tracked how much 'poo we use. But I do know my kids go through a lot, as they need some almost every time they come to see us. LOL!
ReplyDeleteI get high end stuff pretty cheap. (And free bottles on occasion...thanks, Sluggy!) But before I became a couponer, we used whatever was cheapest. Suave and VO5 were our friends.