February 2020 – From The Overflow

After a few heavy posts, it’s high time we lighten things up and discuss matters of the hair. You may already know the slightly unconventional products I use in lieu of off-the-shelf shampoo and dry shampoo, but in case you don’t, today’s your lucky day, my friend.

Disclaimer before we begin: I am NOTHING CLOSE to a hairstylist, nor do I possess the false notion that I have fabulous hair BUT I do pride myself in washing my hair only once a week (men don’t get this, my husband least of all, but us ladies know this is MAJOR accomplishment). So……

I’m writing this post in case you’re interested in decreasing the number of washes per week without looking like a wet cat. This is the goal, people!

Firstly, the shampoo. I wash and condition my hair about once a week and the only product worth mentioning in this process is this bad boy right here:

Like I said, unconventional. I credit my actual hairstylist for this one. With all the build up she saw in my hair when I’d go for a cut, she recommended this inexpensive way of stripping the build up from my hair. It truly works better than regular shampoo. I haven’t looked back.

This dish soap has been the easiest, fastest, and cheapest way to thoroughly clean my hair after applying lots of products into it all week long.

So once the hair is squeaky clean, it is ready for styling and more products. Yay! First, I dry my hair upside down with a hair dryer. I then section it off to style it with a curling iron. In each section, I apply a tiny bit of this powder on the roots and work it in. I then tease the sectioned-off hair with a comb before curling.

Apply to roots when styling for volume and hold, but it also acts as a dry shampoo.

I love this volumizing powder sooooo much! For someone with fine and flat hair like mine, it helps my hair look fuller for longer and I’m all about that. When styling is complete, I finish with some hairspray.

My go-to hairspray. Been using it for 20 years!

And now the pièce de résistance! (who says I’ve lost my French?)

After a day or two, my hair begins to get oily and stringy, especially in the roots and at the base. This is when I would normally wash my hair and start the process all over. However, I value my sleep and my family (not in that order, but maybe?), so I don’t want to waste any more time on my hair than necessary.

Enter…. the homemade dry shampoo, with honourable mention to my food pantry.

I know what you may be thinking, let me explain. But before I tell you why I like this combo for dry shampoo, I’ll explain why I don’t like conventional dry shampoo.

Why I don’t like aerosol dry shampoo:

Aerosol dry shampoo is probably the most commonly used dry shampoo. And although it’s pretty harmless when used occasionally, it can damage your hair in the long run, causing breakage or thinning.
In my humble opinion, it is overpriced for the quantity you’re buying, and in my case, the rate you’re using.
It’s bad for the environment. As are all aerosol products.
It’s overpriced! Oops, did I say that already?
It doesn’t work as well as this homemade option. NO JOKE.

Some old dry shampoo I have lying around collecting dust.

So this is the deal: CORN STARCH for dry shampoo! And here’s why…

Corn starch absorbs oil
Corn starch absorbs oil
Corn starch absorbs oil
And if you’re even a tiny bit of a granola hippie type… it is ALL NATURAL and not damaging to your hair
Also, super cheap!

Here are the steps to making your own dry shampoo and good luck not loving it, for real.

INGREDIENTS:

corn starch!
mason jar (for storage)
blush brush (for application)
that’s all folks

Self-explanatory, but just in case: *corn starch in mason jar*.

Ok, ok so I know the first picture of the ingredients up there also includes cocoa powder and lavender essential oil. Here’s why: I add cocoa powder because I have dark hair and it helps mask the white corn starch colour. You can adjust the ratio of proportions to match your own hair colour. I usually do 2:1 corn starch to cocoa powder.

Behind the scenes on being a blogger. Always glamorous and professional.

Anddddd nailed the second attempt at cocoa powder.

Once you’ve cleaned up your mess of cocoa powder, you can carry on with adding a few drops of lavender essential oil. Note: this is optional and I personally skip this step.

The lavender essential oil can be added to help make the dry shampoo smell like an actual hair product and not like a dessert. Like I said, I personally forgo the lavender altogether because I can’t be bothered. There isn’t really any scent otherwise. But lavender IS good for your hair so feel free to load up on it if you fancy that.

Shake the jar (with the lid on!) to fully combine the ingredients.

Once you’ve finished making your dry shampoo, use a designated blush brush to apply it to the roots and/or any areas where you notice oily build up.

Pro tip: don’t use the same blush brush you’d use on your face!

You can also use your fingers to work it in once the brush has been used to apply it.

What I especially like about this dry shampoo is that it doesn’t leave my hair feeling stiff and crunchy like most store-bought options. The product naturally absorbs the oils in my hair and make it look as fresh as it did on the day I washed it.

Pro tip: Apply the dry shampoo before you go to bed. It WON’T get onto your bedding (not even sure how, but it doesn’t. And I use white bed linens). It WILL absorb all the excess oil while you sleep leaving you looking and feeling fresh and fly in the morning.

Repeat these steps until you feel like washing your hair. Which may be never. Don’t say you weren’t warned.

Hair was washed 6 days prior to this photo. Can I get an AMEN…

Disclaimer:

If your hair gets wet unintentionally, for example:

you get caught in the rain
caught in a water balloon fight
thrown into a pool
etc…

… your hair WILL smell like brownies. I leave it to you to decide if this is a pro or con. Definite pro: when you’re finally ready to wash your hair, it will smell like brownies!! You’re welcome.

So there you have it, from the pantry to the bathroom! And if you’ve read nothing until that line, I’m sure that sounds super weird.

This video is a step by step on how I style my hair after washing.

This video is a step by step on applying the dry shampoo so you never have to wash your hair again!

Pleaseeeeeee tell me in the comments below if you’ve tried this dry shampoo, or if you want to try it, or if you have any questions or recommendations!

I am now living through my 4th decade of life. I don’t know what it is about the 4th year of each decade, or why they’ve been significant, but they have been. And I’ll explain shortly.

But first, the inspiration behind today’s post came to me from a small but special moment in the book of Joshua from the Bible. You’ve likely heard of the battle of Jericho. The walls of the mighty city of Jericho came crumbling down miraculously, all because God’s people walked around the city. Well, before that happened,

the Israelites had to make a long trek across the Jordan River to get there. Without boats or a bridge, this was an impossible task preceding an impossible battle against Jericho. But the Lord pulled through! He stopped the water’s flow so that the entire nation of Israel could cross the Jordan River by foot, on dry land.

Once they had crossed, the Lord told Joshua to have twelve large stones stacked together, one representing each of the twelve tribes of Israel. But why?

…*that all the nations on earth would know that God is powerful*. Jsh 4:24

In Joshua chapter 4 (no coincidence on the chapter number!) it says that these stones were to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever. So, for no other reason than to commemorate what God had done! It continues with Joshua telling the Israelites,

“In days to come, your children after you will ask their parents, ‘What do these stones mean?’ Their parents must tell them, ‘Israel went across the Jordan River on dry ground.’ The Lord your God dried up the Jordan for you until you had gone across it… He did it so that all the nations on earth would know that He is powerful. He did it so that you would always have respect for the Lord your God.”
– Joshua 4:21-24

So this blog post, in a small way, represents four stones that I’m stacking together as a memorial. Here is the story behind each one:

Being raised in a home…

with parents who follow Jesus, it is not uncommon for the children of Jesus followers to want to follow Jesus as their parents do. So it wasn’t a surprise that at the tender age of 4,

the first Year of 4,

my parents prayed with me to accept Jesus into my life as my Saviour; the formal beginning of my faith journey. I asked God to forgive me of the wrong things I had done and would do. I accepted that Jesus died for me so I could be free and could live with Him in heaven forever. I didn’t fully understand all of it, I still don’t. But I knew I needed Jesus, and that was an important start.

Sassy little Tina at 4 years old. Owning that Etch-A-Sketch like it’s 1990, because it was.

Fast forward a few years and by junior high I was teetering between following Jesus and doing my own thing. A little too loud, and a little obnoxious, but sincerely trying to see how God actually fit into my life! At the age of 14,

the next Year of 4,

I went to the Christian summer camp that I had attended for years, but now as a staff member for the first time. I wasn’t prepared for what the Lord had planned for me that summer. On my agenda: hang out with friends and meet all the boys, if we’re being honest…

Well the Lord had other plans because there were no takers. Nada. Not one. God was after my heart and everywhere I turned I was faced with staff who were modelling Jesus to me. They were kids themselves, just a little older than me, and I really admired them.

They knew how to pray. They knew how to worship. They knew how to read their Bibles. They knew how to love on people, especially the outcasts. And even though I had been a Christian my whole life, I had never really seen that kind of Christ-like love modelled by people my own age.

It was contagious. A fire was lit inside me, and a real change in my spirit occurred. I changed from the inside out, and it showed.

People began to notice and tell me I even looked different. It was an external indicator of real heart change. The truth is I was actually and genuinely so full of joy that it was bubbling out of me. I was so happy, I couldn’t stop smiling. I finally understood how much the Lord had done to rescue me by sending His son, and I was excited to finally start living for Him. Following that summer, I got more serious about reading my Bible and praying, which was also when I started journalling my prayers. This change in me was also the beginning of exploring my career path. I started volunteering at a youth drop in centre and my desire to pour into youth was born. After a few years of being a leader at youth group, I knew I wanted to be a high school teacher.

Tina at 14 years old. Drawing blanks on a caption here for painfully obvious reasons.

After getting married and starting my career as a high school history teacher, I had fallen into a complacency in my faith. I knew I would never deny the Lord, or walk away from Him entirely, but I got lazy. I had fallen into a routine and the spark was gone. During my second year of teaching, I was 24 years old.

The next Year of 4 was upon me. I just didn’t know it yet.

I had time off before my teaching contract was due to start so I had the freedom to take a trip! I was invited by a group of women to attend a women’s leadership conference in North Carolina. I didn’t really have a reason to go since I wasn’t actually a woman in leadership. I was helping out at youth group, I led a small Bible study, but that was it. Nothing glamorous or note-worthy. Still, I went because I felt called to go, and it was truly life-changing. I was on fire once again, and excited about my encounters with the Lord and what would come of this new change in me. During one of the last nights at the main session, I received a word from the Lord.

With a heavy beating in my chest and my hands shaking, there were two things the Lord was asking of me. The first was to get more serious about my prayer life.

To carve out real time each day to approach the Throne of Grace with confidence (Heb. 4:16). To intercede on behalf of the people He loves. And I did. The journaling I had started 10 years prior had slowly become more of a report on life events and that changed right away. Being intentional in praying about the things that matter has spurred on my faith as I’ve seen the Lord answer, provide, and move on my behalf.

The second thing I knew the Lord wanted of me was to start memorizing scripture.

I memorized a handful of verses as a child, but besides that it just wasn’t on my radar. But the Bible says that these words are to be on our hearts. (Deut. 6:4-9) We’re commanded to memorize scripture! And for good reason! I’ll have another post about this with more detail, but suffice it to say that this has been one of the richest aspects of my faith. I couldn’t stop memorizing Bible verses after that.

24 year old Tina. Happy as a clam because she still sleeps through the night uninterrupted by children.

Since then, we’ve moved churches, homes, and cities. So much change within each decade and being an ’86 baby, I am embarking on

my fourth Year of 4.

I already feel the Lord stirring and moving and pushing me into new territory with Him. I’m so excited for what’s to come. I won’t turn 34 for a few months yet but oh Lord, I. AM. READY. And I have a sense that this blog is part of that!

Can you relate to having significant milestones or special moments around certain dates, numbers, or ages?

Numbers are meaningful. And establishing memorials for yourself to remember the special things God has done is important too! We saw that through what God commanded Joshua and the Israelites to do thousands of years ago, and we’re encouraged to do the same today.

My prayer and hope is that in a small way, this blog can serve as a reminder to me AND to you that the Lord is still moving and saving and doing impossible things. To Him be the glory. Another Year of 4 is just beginning.

Month: February 2020

From Pantry Aisle to Hairstyle