There is nothing more wonderful for a gardener than sharing the love of gardening with another. In this case, we are talking about sharing that love with your chickens! Not only will chickens love to be included in your garden, but they also can take some of the gardening work off your shoulders. In this post, we will go over how you can work with your chicken’s instincts to prep and clean up your garden during the growing season, fertilize your soil, and till your cover crops under when the timing is right.

Getting chickens out on your lawn has a ton of benefits, for the grass and for your hens! I ran into a serious conundrum when I wanted to free-range my chickens, they would never fail to stray a bit too far, get on the wrong side of the fence, and into our neighbors' yards. When I would open the coop door every morning, offering them their free-range freedom, I found myself checking on them every 45 minutes. It would disrupt my day, I was constantly stressed out, and the hens would always wind up into some sort of trouble. At that point, the only alternative was to keep them cooped up (hah), forbidding them access to all the wonderful things a free range chicken would have.

In Part One of this blog series we talked about why it's crucial to switch over to a natural hair care routine, in Part Two we set you up for natural shampoo success with the acclimation period, and now we are going to talk about the top five toxin-free shampoos and conditioners I've used. Let me be clear and state that everyone’s head of hair is different. There is no definition of a good or bad head of hair here. That’s why there are five choices and not one be-all end-all choice. I encourage you to try one, stick with it for a month, and then try another if it isn’t working for you.

Allow me to personally vouch for these shampoos and conditioners, as I have tried all of them for extended periods of time (at least 1.5 months). At the moment my hair is somewhat thick, un-dyed, medium length, slightly wavy, and gets greasy in about three days. My post-shower routine is to not blow dry unless I have to be somewhere special, which ends up being maybe three times a month. I used no post-shower product while implementing these shampoos and conditioners. I have blow dried with each of these products though, and all of them passed the test.

Typically, post-shower I run a wide toothed comb through my hair as sparingly as possible. Next, I turn my head upside down and shake my wet roots loose from my scalp to give them some drying oomph. I look like a wet dog when I shake my hair out - I promise it’s fun! Then I’ll let my hair air dry. If I’m feeling sassy, I’ll twist it up into a loose top knot once it’s halfway dry with a singular bobby pin and let it get a slight curl to the ends. That’s it!

Alright, let’s jump into my top 5 favorite toxin-free shampoos and conditioners...