I washed my hair, blew it dry and flat ironed it every day. I have curly hair. And like most girls with curly hair, I LOVE straight hair. Call me high maintenance, but I like my straight hair, so I continued to follow this process day after day, year after year.

Over time, this hair recipe resulted in a dry hair disaster. When I realized that people were distracted by my fly-away hairs wavering above my head, I knew I had to do something about it. Something other than going curly.

First, I took advice from a friend who filled me in on the benefits of not washing my hair every day and I started to use dry shampoo in between washes. It made a difference, but because I work out a lot, it wasn’t sustainable. I returned to my daily washing, and the fly-aways emerged once again.

Then I began making my own natural soap. It was great for my skin, so shouldn’t it be great for my hair too? I had read that using natural bar soap was a healthy substitute for shampoo. And, I noticed that shampoo bars were becoming popular at those handmade cosmetic stores in the mall.

Months later, I finally gave it a try. At first it felt odd rubbing my natural soap all over my head. But to my surprise, it built up a pretty nice lather. The results were even more surprising – my hair felt thicker and fuller; I had no fly-aways; and friends were commenting on how great my hair looked. Now, I have to be honest… There is a different feel when I wash with handmade soap. But I got used to it because the benefit of having clean, straight, fly-away-free hair, far outweighed the dry hair I had before.

Now, when I get distracted from fly-away hairs, I’m thankful they aren’t mine! And, I’m happy to share my advice with others.