How'd I wind up here?! (pt. 3)

The story continues with a cautionary tale about boredom and browsing the internet.

No...not THAT kind of internet browsing! Sheesh.

It's been several years since the great Bathtub Epiphany. Life has gone on, kids have grown, and I now somehow find myself a homeschooling mother to kids ranging from upper elementary to high school. The super intensive, kid on the hip, no privacy ever years have turned into the 'is your schoolwork done?', multiple activity, taxi driver years. I am simultaneously busier than ever and bored. Yup, bored. Turns out you do a LOT of waiting around at this stage of life. Waiting for the homework to be done. Waiting for _insert activity here_ to end. Waiting for them to get done with work. Lots and lots of waiting.

So what does a mom with an internet connection and large quantities of waiting time on her hands do?

Well, she starts out by researching cool school activities, and ends up never washing her hair again. (or maybe that's just me...)

I was on the 'hang out and be social' area of the homeschooling forum I belonged to, and a conversation caught my eye. People were saying they didn't wash their hair. At least not in the traditional sense. They were talking about this thing called 'no poo' and how their hair was healthier and better looking than it had ever been. My first reaction was "Gross!". But boredom will cause you to do strange things, and I kept on reading. Then I typed 'no poo' into the search bar, and read some more. And it started to sound interesting.

Remember how, as a kid, I would try to mix up various bath products to produce one that would do it all?

Well, no poo appealed to that kid. And it appealed to the young mom who had a deep love for baths. And it gave the currently bored woman something to play with. So, I got out the baking soda and apple cider vinegar and gave it a try. After all, I had nothing to lose. If it worked I had just found the cheapest way ever to clean my hair, and if it didn't I would just go back to shampoo.

Much to my surprise, it did work. Very well in fact. I loved the way my hair looked and felt, and I loved that I only had to wash it once a week. I have a lot of hair. Washing it takes a long time!

So I kept it up. And I discovered another benefit. Not only did my hair look amazing, but my migraines disappeared. Just gone. Now, I had had these since my teen years. I got them a couple times a month, and they were killer - vomiting, slurring my words, dark room, no noise or jostling, please just cut my head off migraines. So imagine the bone deep joy when I realized that I hadn't had one - not one! - since I started my hair washing experiment.

I don't know about you, but those kind of results made me wonder what would happen if I replaced the rest of my bath products with natural versions. So, a run to the local health food store, a revamp of the shower shelf, and I was ready to be wowed.

I wasn't.

I tried different brands. I read reviews. I detoxed. I just wasn't thrilled with any of the results.

So it was back to - you guessed it - browsing the internet. I tried several DIY recipes, and they were ok, but I wanted something more. I wanted to know how to make my own, specific to my skin's needs. Something luxurious, pampering, natural, and not $300 a pop. More internet time later, and I'm signed up for the first of many natural skincare courses.

See what happens when you're bored and have internet access?