WOO HOO! Week Two!

[sasha]

Yes, week two is starting two days after week one. That's cause I'm keeping this site in sync with the original group at NaBloPoMo. Week three will start in a week!

Sooooo....

Greetings, plastic annihilators! So what's it gonna be? What do you buy regularly in plastic, but you're not gonna anymore? What brilliant green alternative have you thought up?

For week two, I'm getting bulky. Although I do make our own bread, some of the ingredients come packaged in plastic. Same for the yogurt. So this week I'm turning to the bulk department of our Henry's (just discovered them!) where I'll be buying my flax seeds for bread and powdered milk for yogurt in reusable containers that I bring from home. While I'm at it, I'm going to scour their bulk herb/spice department for tea and cumin, which I've run out of this week.

What are you changing?

[Deb]

Well, this is an inauspicious start - I need a do over! My first challenge was to work with my dry cleaner to not wrap our clothes in plastic. Seems that she sends the clothes out for processing and they come back in plastic. She was willing to remove it, but it would only be thrown away. I need to use this cleaner, because she is the only one in the area that doesn't use PERC. ::sigh:: We will have to focus on reducing our dry cleaning instead.

OK, so my new first challenge will be to make permanent my current non-use of plastic bottled hair products. I've been experimenting with this for several months, but haven't been willing to commit. I switched to baking soda, vinegar and essential oils for cleaning and flax seed extract in lieu of styling gel. It actually works really well (my curly hair has never been curlier), but I've been reluctant to completely eschew those accoutrements of civilization. Worried about really turning into a Crazy Compost Lady, I think.

Now's the time to be loud and proud about it, right?

[sasha]

Baking soda, vinegar, and essential oils? Whoa, Deb...you rock! I just tried my first bar of Burt's Bees shampoo. It lathered great and left my hair squeaky (literally!) clean. No more plastic bottles of shampoo here! Do you have any non-plastic suggestions for conditioner?

[Deb]

Personally, I use the vinegar and essential oil rinse. The way it works is that the baking soda cleans, but leaves your hair feeling strange. That's because the Ph gets out of whack (too alkaline). The vinegar restores the Ph balance, and my hair feels really nice - better than with the salon products I was using before. The essential oils (just a tiny bit - 3-4 drops to a reused squeeze bottle of vinegar) were something I added so my husband wouldn't be craving salad in the mornings when I cleaned my hair. I like sweet orange myself. The vinegar smell is there when your hair is wet, but dissipates when dry. Now that I've balanced my hair, I only do this every three or four days.

If you are considering anything like this, there are three things to think about. First, your hair will look really nasty for about two weeks as your body adjusts to not having all the oil stripped out so you would need to be prepared. Second, I had to clean my hair much more frequently when I started (same reason). The only other important consideration is that it is essential to brush your hair daily with a natural bristle brush. That distributes the natural oils into your hair.

I got the flax seed gel recipe (and a number of other really cool non-toxic, non-plastic ideas) from a book "Better Basics for the Home" by Annie Berthold-Bond. It does have several conditioner recipes, but I have never tried them. The book has personal and home care alternatives that use natural ingredients. Saves me lots of money too - I was spending $50 a month on hair products.

[Laura]

Ooh, cool to hear about the "flax seed extract in lieu of styling gel". I gave myself over to curlyness a while ago and it is so much easier to get ready in the AM. :) I go gel free but a au natural alternative might be nice. Is extract different than the regular ol' flax seed oil?

[Deb]

The flax seed hair gel is different from regular flax seed oil. Sadly, I learned this the hard way. : ) I got this from the book I referenced in my last post, "Better Basics for the Home" by Annie Berthold-Bond. Here it is:

1 Tbl flax seed
3/4 cup of water, or to cover

Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer until gelatinous (about 10 minutes). Strain out the seeds (you may need to use a spoon at the end - flax seeds are herd animals and get skittish when there are only one or two of them). Dilute with water if the gel is too thick. I add a couple drops of essential oils, just because I like the scent.

The gel keeps in the fridge for about a week in a glass jar. It takes about 15 minutes to make.

[Laura]

I use Kerr wide mouth glass canning jars (tall and short), cotton kerchiefs and string to carry my lunch to work. Works great and they are alot easier to hand wash too.

I'm already doing this so, it's not really a change. I changed this relatively recently, though. So, maybe I can get 'credit' for it? ;)