It's not what you think!
This is one I just can't get on board with. It's a line of thought that if you don't use shampoo and conditioner your scalp will stop producing as much oil over time(think of the olden days). Apparently, commercial shampoo strips your hair and gets your ph out of balance. Eventually it will get where you can wash your hair with plain water. Until it gets to that point, baking soda can be used to clean the scalp. Apple cider vinegar can be used to condition and shine the hair up.
I tried it. Too much work. My hair is not even that long. I would have had to make parts all over my head to get the baking soda worked in over the entire scalp. The ACV stinks. But I will give it some credit. It shined my daughter's hair up nicely. However, I don't find the work and small benefits worth it.
Soooo, I'm sticking with my shampoo and conditioner. However, I'm using Desert Essence Organics that I got from my local health food store. It claims that it's free of parabens, Sodium Lauryl/laureth sulfates, phtalates, artificial fragrances and colors, silicones, EDTA, glycol or petroleum based products. It also says it's wheat and gluten free. I don't know why that matters but I'm going with it.
I think that's a good compromise.
Friday, March 26, 2010
Spoiled Heiny
I love cloth diapers. ~sigh~ :-)
I really do. I so wish I had CD-ed my first 2 babies. But no, I had to be hard headed because it sounded too hard. Folding, Pinning, plastic pants, dunking/swishing in toilet water, washing. I'm a modern mom. Who wants the extra work? Besides, it's just plain gross. Right?
Turns out, not so much. Modern cloth diapers are UH-MA-ZING! Folding, pinning, plastic pants, dunking/swishing not required! Yes, they still have to be washed. But it's actually not so bad. I rather enjoy it. CD adds about 3 extra loads a week in addition to my regular laundry. The great thing about it is that it doesn't need to be folded like other laundry. All I do is sort it. And it's not like I'm actually washing the diaper. My washing machine does the washing ;-) Now, if I had to hand wash that would be a different story.
As for the gross-out factor, yeah, you have to deal with pee and poop JUST LIKE with disposable diapers. The only difference is that the dirty sposie goes in the garbage (managing to stink up the whole house) and the dirty CD goes in a diaper pail to await laundry day (and amazingly doesn't stink at all). I swear sposies smell a million times worse.
Besides the love of the cuteness and comfort of cloth, I love the fact that I'm not putting sposie chemicals on my baby's fanciful heiny. I had no idea that the process sposies go through leave them ridden with chemical residues. They are white because they are bleached with chlorine which leaves behind dioxins. Dioxins are carcinogenic.
I'll have to write more later since the kiddos are up and ready for breakfast.
I really do. I so wish I had CD-ed my first 2 babies. But no, I had to be hard headed because it sounded too hard. Folding, Pinning, plastic pants, dunking/swishing in toilet water, washing. I'm a modern mom. Who wants the extra work? Besides, it's just plain gross. Right?
Turns out, not so much. Modern cloth diapers are UH-MA-ZING! Folding, pinning, plastic pants, dunking/swishing not required! Yes, they still have to be washed. But it's actually not so bad. I rather enjoy it. CD adds about 3 extra loads a week in addition to my regular laundry. The great thing about it is that it doesn't need to be folded like other laundry. All I do is sort it. And it's not like I'm actually washing the diaper. My washing machine does the washing ;-) Now, if I had to hand wash that would be a different story.
As for the gross-out factor, yeah, you have to deal with pee and poop JUST LIKE with disposable diapers. The only difference is that the dirty sposie goes in the garbage (managing to stink up the whole house) and the dirty CD goes in a diaper pail to await laundry day (and amazingly doesn't stink at all). I swear sposies smell a million times worse.
Besides the love of the cuteness and comfort of cloth, I love the fact that I'm not putting sposie chemicals on my baby's fanciful heiny. I had no idea that the process sposies go through leave them ridden with chemical residues. They are white because they are bleached with chlorine which leaves behind dioxins. Dioxins are carcinogenic.
I'll have to write more later since the kiddos are up and ready for breakfast.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Eating local fresh food
I just found out where to buy fresh produce around here. I can't wait for April and May so I can start buying. I might actually do some canning. Might is the operative word here. The one time I tried to make Jam I wound up with blueberry candy. It was hard! Had to throw it all away, jar and all. My feelings have been too hurt to try since.
The only thing I couldn't find was a close meat market that sells untainted meat. I'll continue to be on the lookout for that.
Here's the links I checked out to find the closest farmers' markets.
http://www.localharvest.org/
http://www.eatwild.com/index.html
The only thing I couldn't find was a close meat market that sells untainted meat. I'll continue to be on the lookout for that.
Here's the links I checked out to find the closest farmers' markets.
http://www.localharvest.org/
http://www.eatwild.com/index.html
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Chlorine chlorine EVERYWHERE!!
Most people are aware of the use of chlorine in our drinking water and pools. It kills off bacteria that could potentially make us sick. But are the trade offs really any better? Drinking chlorinated water does the same thing to the good bacteria in our gut that is essential to our immune system. While chlorine is deemed "safe" in small amounts I have to wonder how safe it is in small amounts over a long period of time.
Chlorine is used in everything to our water and pools to everyday disposable products that we use. Toilet paper, paper towels,disposable diapers and wipes, disposable menstrual pads and tampons (yikes!), coffee filters, and even white bread. Just about anything white was probably bleached with chlorine. Chlorine bleaching leaves behind a small amount of dioxins known to be carcinogenic. In other words, it has the potential to cause cancer! I don't need Gardasil to prevent cervical cancer. I just need to keep chlorine off my hoo-haa. :-/
I recently read that a 10 minute shower soaks up as much chlorine through our skin as drinking chlorinated water all day. Not only does it soak into our skin but we also breath it in while showering. The heat of the shower turns the chlorine into it's gaseous form. Want to know what that gas is called? Chloroform!! I love to take a shower in the a.m. (lasting about 30 minutes) and a nice long soak in the tub in the p.m. I have to wonder what I'm doing to my body. Even worse, what's happening to my children with every bath?
What to do, What to do? I can tell you what I'm doing. First, my baby is already in cloth diapers and we use cloth wipes. For the occasional need of a disposable wipe I use chlorine free ones that Seventh Generation makes. This company also makes chlorine free toilet paper and paper towels. I've switched to unbleached coffee filters. No more white bread except on rare occasions. Just unbleached whole wheat breads. No more disposable menstrual products (more on that in another post). Lastly, and most importantly, carbon shower filters so I can take a shower in peace.
Chlorine is used in everything to our water and pools to everyday disposable products that we use. Toilet paper, paper towels,disposable diapers and wipes, disposable menstrual pads and tampons (yikes!), coffee filters, and even white bread. Just about anything white was probably bleached with chlorine. Chlorine bleaching leaves behind a small amount of dioxins known to be carcinogenic. In other words, it has the potential to cause cancer! I don't need Gardasil to prevent cervical cancer. I just need to keep chlorine off my hoo-haa. :-/
I recently read that a 10 minute shower soaks up as much chlorine through our skin as drinking chlorinated water all day. Not only does it soak into our skin but we also breath it in while showering. The heat of the shower turns the chlorine into it's gaseous form. Want to know what that gas is called? Chloroform!! I love to take a shower in the a.m. (lasting about 30 minutes) and a nice long soak in the tub in the p.m. I have to wonder what I'm doing to my body. Even worse, what's happening to my children with every bath?
What to do, What to do? I can tell you what I'm doing. First, my baby is already in cloth diapers and we use cloth wipes. For the occasional need of a disposable wipe I use chlorine free ones that Seventh Generation makes. This company also makes chlorine free toilet paper and paper towels. I've switched to unbleached coffee filters. No more white bread except on rare occasions. Just unbleached whole wheat breads. No more disposable menstrual products (more on that in another post). Lastly, and most importantly, carbon shower filters so I can take a shower in peace.
Made of Earth
Go green! Hug a tree! Save the Planet!!
To be honest, such exclamations used to make me roll my eyes. That's never been a bandwagon I wanted to jump on. My thoughts were that this planet isn't going to be around forever (according to Revelations) so there is no point in trying to save it.
HOWEVER, I find that natural living (trying to live safer) also is kinder to the planet. Trying to reduce the toxin load on my body is better for the planet. For example, using safer cleaners and eating organic. Then, I got to thinking. Could it be that being nice to the planet is better for the body? We are, after all, made of earth and when we die we'll be turning back into it. Could the things that hurt the planet hurt the human body as well?
I still take the strong stand that Earth is not going to be around forever and there is NOTHING we can do about that. But I can be a wise user of Earth. It is where I live and it produces valuable resources to me. I should be a good steward of it.
To be honest, such exclamations used to make me roll my eyes. That's never been a bandwagon I wanted to jump on. My thoughts were that this planet isn't going to be around forever (according to Revelations) so there is no point in trying to save it.
HOWEVER, I find that natural living (trying to live safer) also is kinder to the planet. Trying to reduce the toxin load on my body is better for the planet. For example, using safer cleaners and eating organic. Then, I got to thinking. Could it be that being nice to the planet is better for the body? We are, after all, made of earth and when we die we'll be turning back into it. Could the things that hurt the planet hurt the human body as well?
I still take the strong stand that Earth is not going to be around forever and there is NOTHING we can do about that. But I can be a wise user of Earth. It is where I live and it produces valuable resources to me. I should be a good steward of it.
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Why does living healthier cost more?
I'd really like an answer to that. I'm sure that it's not always the case but I find that most of the time it is. Organic food costs more. Glass is usually more expensive than plastic. I've been pricing shower filters to remove chlorine from the water. It's going to cost me about $150 just to make it safe to take a shower or bath! Keeping it simple isn't cheap.
Deodorant/antiperspirant
Ingredients to most easily accessible antiperspirants include aluminum, triclosan, and zirconium based compounds.
aluminum:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deodorant
http://naturalmedicine.suite101.com/article.cfm/aluminum_in_deodorant
Sounds like one to avoid to me! There seems to be alot of controversy over this one. Whenever there's a big stink there's likely to be something rotten. I'd rather play if safe and avoid it.
triclosan:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triclosan
zirconium:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zirconium
I'm most concerned about the first two ingredients. I won't be giving up my deo but I have given up antiperspirants. I traded my Dove clinical strength for Tom's Natural Care of Maine. I'm not real happy to find that Tom's in apricot fragrance, which is what I'm using, is still rated 5 on cosmetics data base. The higher rating seems to be due to the apricot fragrance. I think I'll finish what I have and then switch to one with a lower rating.
I've seen that you can actually make your own deodorant. I might look into that more later.
aluminum:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deodorant
http://naturalmedicine.suite101.com/article.cfm/aluminum_in_deodorant
Sounds like one to avoid to me! There seems to be alot of controversy over this one. Whenever there's a big stink there's likely to be something rotten. I'd rather play if safe and avoid it.
triclosan:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triclosan
zirconium:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zirconium
I'm most concerned about the first two ingredients. I won't be giving up my deo but I have given up antiperspirants. I traded my Dove clinical strength for Tom's Natural Care of Maine. I'm not real happy to find that Tom's in apricot fragrance, which is what I'm using, is still rated 5 on cosmetics data base. The higher rating seems to be due to the apricot fragrance. I think I'll finish what I have and then switch to one with a lower rating.
I've seen that you can actually make your own deodorant. I might look into that more later.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
