Reducing Personal Care Products

Treehugger.com has an informative article about ingredients to avoid in cosmetics, and I just might use this info, in conjunction with the much less succinct EWG's database, Skin Deep, to help pare down and clean up my personal care product selection.

This is quite the overwhelming task to undertake; I have tried many times to switch over to healthier products and always seem to return to mainstream products. Part of the reason is the difference in feel and performance - as my shampoo-switch experiment clearly illustrates! Another reason for me is simply the difficulty in finding "alternative" products in my neck of the woods. (insert big sigh here) I miss living in more liberal areas of the world. ...but I digress....

I really do want to make the switch to healthier and more eco-friendly products. So I think for my first month of a real change, I will commit to purchasing personal care products with a maximum rating of 6 on the EWG site. I'll strive for lower, but sometimes the availability in my neighborhood is really limited!

Anyway, check out the article on Treehugger.com, or reference Skin Deep when thinking about your next purchase.

My August Results, So Far

I realized I have not posted anything related to my August One-A-Month pledge to follow through 100% with my previous changes, challenging items especially!

I have to say that when it comes to not using plastic bags, I have managed to bring home 3 plastic shopping bags so far this month. I am still using plastic produce bags, and therefore want to make some re-usable produce bags out of sheer curtains. I am on the lookout for some at my local re-sale shops to use for just that purpose but have not found any.

I have faithfully taken my 5 TJ bags (that I LOVE because they are so strong and large) to the grocery store. Those 5 bags are usually more than enough to bag up my weekly groceries, but this week I purchased more than my 5 bags could hold, so I ended up needing one plastic bag for the remaining items. (And it never occurred to me until just now that I should have asked for paper! duh!!) I did purchase a roast last week and the bagger put it in plastic, even after I had already used a plastic produce bag to contain leaks.

The girls and I went out to eat one evening and we had leftovers. The take out container was, of course, Styrofoam. I managed to stuff my leftovers and Ziggy's leftovers into one container, but it was VERY full, so I did use the plastic bag they provided. We were doing some back to school shopping and I did not want the food to leak in my purse! So plastic bag #2 was brought home.

My large purse has worked wonderfully for stashing the odds and ends that I purchase when I am out and about. I stuffed fabric in it one day, I stuffed it with 5 or 6 shirts and some old sheets from a resale store.

I also brought home a plastic bag with a new school outfit for Ziggy and a shirt for Gherkie. They like to carry their own stuff, and I did not bring a separate bag since this shopping trip was rather spontaneous. I have since decided to make a little fold-up bag to keep in my huge purse for just such purposes. (I also try to purchase used clothing for them, but I do promise them that they can have one new outfit each; I try not to let them look too "recycled.")

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So bags have really not been an issue this month! But composting my food scraps, well, I've been really bad!! My worms died a year ago, and our compost bin is just awkward to get to and the evening is just not my prime-time to want to go climbing over rocks and garden to dump my food waste. Lazy. I know. I am working on this, and actually want to get more worms. That seems to work well for me.

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Organic dairy: I know I should purchase only organic dairy. But since milk prices dropped so drastically I have a hard time justifying $5.30 a gallon when the non-hormone milk is only $1.40 gallon. I do buy organic yogurt, or use organic milk to make yogurt, but I rarely see organic cheese or other dairy items in our local grocery store. So, yea, organic dairy is still a stumbling block.

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All in all, I think I have done really well. And I even made some pretty cool bags to tuck into my purse so that when the girls and I go shopping on a whim, I can whip out my own bag for them to carry! Now I need to commit to a September change soon!

Resuable Bags & Big Purse

Awhile ago I purchased this really big purse. I normally carry a smallish purse, because quite frankly, I don't carry much in my purse. But something about this, hippy style, purse just struck my fancy, and I bought it.

Turns out I like a big purse! But not because I carry lots of stuff inside it. Nope, I like it because when I run to the store for a few items, I just put the items inside my purse rather than using a plastic bag. There is no need to store a reusable bag inside my purse; my purse is my bag! And being that it is so large, and flexible, it holds quite a bit of extra stuff.

Today I bought about 7-8 yards of fabric for a pioneer dress outfit for Gherkie. Fabric, buttons, thread; it all fit inside along with all the other odds and ends already stuffed inside my purse.

Yea! I love this new discovery.

Homemade Deodorant

I came across this blog post today, thanks to one of my fellow Granola Moms. It describes a pretty easy sounding way to make your own deodorant. And my two guinea pigs both say good things about it.

Hmmmm, this just may make the short list for one of my changes to adopt. I still really want to reduce and change my personal care products, but I simply have not found a good replacement for forgoing those items that I deem "give-up-able." Vanity is, apparently, not green.

I Feel Like Farah Today!

Washed my hair with traditional shampoo, used traditional conditioner, applied mouse, and blew it dry. Ohhhh what luxurious hair I have today. Unfortunately, it was 90 degrees and I was outside all day, so it is sweaty and messy now.

But it does feel good. Looked pretty good (for me) too.

Hair Woes & Wonders

My poor hair has not looked its best this summer. It is not due to humidity, because really there has not been much of that this summer. (ahhh!) But I think it is due to removing the "silicone" derived hair-care products from my showering regime. (And I really have no idea what the official type of ingredient I'm missing, I'm just lumping it as a "silicone" type product for lack of better label.)

If I use traditional shampoo and no conditioner my hair seems to be fairly normal afterwards. If I use my "natural" shampoos and traditional conditioners it also seems fairly normal afterwards. However, if I only use the "natural" shampoos, my hair looks frazzley. It also feels gummy and gets greasy really fast. Well, this gummy and greasy effect takes a few days to develop. It is like I have to wash my hair 2-3 times to remove all the build-up off it. (Oddly enough, I did not believe in build-up before; I just thought it was something the cosmetic industry created to make us women buy yet another product. Now, I just may be a believer!)

So after almost a month of trying this natural shampoo and no conditioner (off and on, to be honest) I have been seriously considering the "no poo" method of hair-care. I know, I know, most bloggers give it up after a month or so. (and seriously, after this past experience I can understand why!) If I were going for the big sacrifice and not trying to strike a balance in my life, I'd just push ahead and forget the fact that I look kinda scary. But I don't want to look scary! I do have a small scrap of vanity.

Sigh - what to do?

The biggest draw back to all of this hair-debate? I cut my hair short (for me - I guess technically it is medium, as it touches my shoulders) and really cannot pull it back in a pony tail. I was trying to look a little "fashionable." HA! Frazzley, yet stylish.

Well, Green is in style, right?

3 Weeks for A New Habbit

I was talking to the girls the other day and somehow the concept of it taking three weeks to form a new habit came up. I laughed, thinking that my little One-A-Month inspired activity was a great way for me to form new and healthy habits.

Never really thought about it that way before. I was totally inspired by Green As A Thistle, but felt that one change a day would be WAY too much for me .... remember I want to maintain a balance! I do want to make some changes, so I aspire to maintain my changes I adopt over the course of the following year ... and who knows, I just may continue making one more change a month even after my official year is over.

No pressure though.

Styrofoam Take-Out Containers

My mother-in-law was visiting us all last week, and we did a bit of traveling and dining out. Which always leads to bringing home leftovers in the dreaded Styrofoam containers. I wish I could tell you how many said containers ended up in our trash last week, but surfice it to say that 5 people x 2 meals eaten out a day x 5 days is a lot of containers. I try to double or triple up, but still, it is a lot of Styrofoam! (Which we cannot recycle in our local curbside recycling service. I have to look into other options.)

I mentioned something about needing to bring our own take-out containers to restaurants, and was met with a very strange look from my table mates. I had to remember that balance thingy I am trying to achieve here ... balancing my green goals with the traditional status-quo of my society .... and thought, "hey, why not just leave the food at the restaurant." FM is too frugal for that thought! We were leaving behind a whole meal!

So, then I argue about the wastefulness (and waist-fulness) of the quantity of food served. Lets try meal sharing, I argue. FM eats too much, there would be very little left for me to eat! And the kids long ago decided that they wanted their own meals at restaurants. It was, after all, getting hard to pick a meal that sounded good to me and to one of my kids.

So here I am again, trying to decide what I need to do with restaurant left-overs. The easiest solution is not to eat out. But when traveling, it is rather difficult. So I sit here and continue to ponder.

I guess I need to look at my county-wide, independent recycling station.

Hair v.2

So yesterday I washed my hair with the usual Dr. Bronner's lavender soap. But thought I'd put some of my "old" conditioner on ... the stuff I have been going without for the past two weeks or so.

Guess what? My hair felt normal again! And today I just washed it, no conditioner again ... it was a bit "frazzlie" like the past week, but not as bad. Hmmmm, maybe my thought of having washed out the build-up was correct. This makes me really wonder about lots of stuff ... like residue "polluting" my body, what my hair is really like without all this stuff on it, and, well, lots of stuff in general.

The experiment continues, and my little head is spinning about what to do with my end results!

Comming up to a No-Chemical Cleaner Challenge

Our beloved dog has terminal cancer, which lately has made him throw up about once a week. Bright yellow puke on our off-white carpet, that stains no matter how soon we discover it. As of now the dog seems to be feel OK, and we are treating the symptoms, so living with a puking dog is status quo for a few more weeks still.

Which means that our carpet cleaner machine and our usage of spot remover has gone into overload. I have managed to use a simple solution of soap and vinegar in the machine, and it seems to work well for most purposes. I admit, that with the bright yellow dog puke polka-doting our house I have been using a decent amount of carpet-spot cleaner. I think I may try some sort of homemade version of a spot cleaner, but I bet that FM will run out and purchase a bulk supply of spot cleaner soon.

This one may prove to be a bit of a challenge.

Stick-to-it-tive-ness, Revisiting Old Committments Is My 1st "Give-Up"

I guess I should let everyone know what I am giving up for the first month of my 12 month journey. Somehow the beginning of the month just snuck up on me!

After MUCH deliberation and some research, I have decided to ease into my grand idea of making one change a month. I have made a handful of changes over the past 10 years, most of which I have stuck with pretty faithfully. Some, I admit, I am not so good with maintaining. And then some are just ideas to reduce the amount of water bottles or paper plates (for example) that I use - I have not pledged to forgo those wasteful things completely. After all, I am opting for a balance in life, not a militant outlook.

So I am going to pledge to stick to my current "changes," 100.% This will mean that if I decide to use an eco-friendly cleaner, I will *always* use an eco-friendly cleaner ... not just most of the time as I currently interpret my goals.

What changes am I sticking to? I have a list on the side of the blog, well 2 actually, that tells you what changes I have Incorporated, and what changes I am struggling with. Point of note here ... I am calling it fair game to use any "banned" item that I already have in my house. So from here on out it is "use up, and not re-purchase."

...now, just to get the rest of my family on the same mind set!

Hair Update

I'm feeling a bit "Frazzley" without the conditioner. My hair is usually quite silky, but as of late it is not. Also ... it feels a bit dirty really fast; like I did not rinse it all the way and the dirt just sticks to my hair within a few hours.

Is this because I have been using ONLY the "natural" shampoo/soap for about two weeks now, and have therefore stripped all residue of conditioner and other shampoos out? Hmmmm ... between this and a not so good haircut (or bad shampoo that exaggerates a not so good haircut) I am not happy with my short term results.

See .. this is why I have to experiment before I commit to a full year of this!