#228 - Hands Up!

Replacing Liquid Soap With Bar Soap in the Bathrooms

This is the fourteenth change in my month-long pledge to give up plastics for Crunchy's Extreme Eco-Throwdown.

Growing up, we had a little soap tray in our bathroom, right next to the sink, that held a bar of soap. Any time we needed to wash our grubby little digits, we grabbed the bar, lathered up, rinsed off and headed out. Sometimes, the bar would get all slimy on the bottom and someone (Mom?) would clean off the soapdish and life would be good again. It was quaint, it was functional, it was all we ever knew.

Fast forward 'hmm-hmm' years and I have a four year-old visiting my house who is in need of a little hand washing. He exits the bathroom all drippy and perplexed, asking me where the bottle of soap is hidden. Sitting on the counter is a rectangular mass with a slimy bottom.

How could the kid possibly know that the green blob next to the sink is hand soap? After all, it doesn't look like hand-soap. It looks like soap-soap. And, to further his defense, he probably has also only ever known baby wash, so the soap-soap just looks like a mushy brick or something. Hell, maybe he thinks it's decoration.

So I give up and buy a bottle of Dr. Bronner's Liquid Castille soap to put in some ceramic soap dispensers in the bathrooms. Eco-soap -- eco-solution. Yes? Well, I thought it was a great idea until I started this dingity dang "no plastics" challenge.

Fortunately for me, the lovely and talented Mary of Goat Soap Lady Fame comes to the rescue again. I stopped by her booth at the market today and picked up a bar of honest-to-goodness hand soap. How do I know it's hand soap? Just look at it:

Kind of says it all, doesn't it? Soap even a four year old can understand.

#225 - Raise Your Hand If You're Sure

Switching to an All-Natural Deodorant Stone

This is the eleventh change in my month-long pledge to give up plastics for Crunchy's Extreme Eco-Throwdown.

Yeah. Does the idea of a "natural deodorant crystal" just make you think of miracle supplements to enhance breast size and other quack remedies? Me too. In fact, I was so sure I was throwing money down the drain when I ordered my Thai Deodorant Stone that I also purchased a new Degree antiperspirant / deodorant stick the same week. Call it a leap of non-faith, if you will, but I wasn't ready to risk stinking all week long.

The stone arrived last Wednesday and I was all excited to try it out. So, of course, bright and early Thursday morning I forgot I had it and used my regular stick instead. Ooops. Well, I remembered to put it on Friday morning and gave it a full workout. We were heading out camping for the weekend and since hubby was working all day, that meant I had to pack everything up and load it all in the minivan, all while keeping the children amused and cleaning the house. Does anyone else out there HATE to come home from vacation to a messy house?

Anywhich, I packed the stone to bring with me on our trip too. Talk about putting it to the test! We hung out at the beach and went for long nature walks. We sat by the campfire at night and chased the kids around on their bikes during the day. By all accounts I should smell like a dirty jock strap. But I don't. In fact, I don't smell like anything. No body odor, no flowery deodorant smell, no nothing. It's like smelling my elbow. Just nothingness. I am amazed.

I have either spontaneously morphed into a non-sweat producing hominid, have developed an acute case of anosmia, or, and this would be the option that is most surprising to me - this shit actually works.

For those of you who aren't familiar with these magical stones or why we should consider using them, let me give you the low down on traditional deodorants and antiperspirants. This information is from a recent article on Green is Universal:

Thirty years ago researchers first detected significantly elevated aluminum levels in the brain of Alzheimer's patients, and subsequently proposed a link between the heavy metal and the disease. Though scientists still debate the connection, certainly aluminum is a toxic heavy metal that has no useful biological function, and which we don't want building up in our bodies, ever.

Manufacturers long discounted any such effect from aluminum salts in deodorants, which they claimed would not be absorbed through the skin. This assumption has proven wrong, and over time users of commercial deodorant do accumulate the stuff, sometimes in significant levels. A recent medical report described a woman who ended up with severe aluminum toxicity directly as a result of her deodorant use.

Most commercial deodorants also contain parabens, which act as preservatives and stabilizers, but which like aluminum can be absorbed with systemic effects. Parabens mimic estrogen, and though the amounts we absorb on a daily basis might be small, over time, the accumulation can be significant. A report from England in 2004 documented a relationship between parabens and breast cancer.

The deodorant stones, however, are made from potassium alum, which occurs naturally in such minerals as Alunite (alum stone), Bauxite and Kalinite. The alum that is used in the deodorant stone is in the salt form, not the metallic form, which is used in commercial deodorants. The alum is also too large (molecularly speaking) to be absorbed by the skin. Also, the stones contain no other ingredients, such as parabens, fragrances and what have you.

To use the stone, I simply wet it a bit and rub it on my underarms. It feels like a roll on and dries pretty quickly. The stone itself is oval shaped and fits in the palm of my hand. Supposedly, it will last me about a year, as opposed to my Degree deodorant, which lasts about three months.

Now the stone was NOT totally plastic free. As you can see from the picture, it came wrapped in a little plastic wrapper and included a small plastic tray. However, if you compare that small amount of plastic with four plastic deodorant holders, it's obvious that this change would dramatically reduce the waste associated with destinkifying my pits. I smell a miracle, folks!

#220 - A Mug of Sudser, a Leather Strop

An Apron, a Towel, a Pail and a Mop

This is the sixth change in my month-long pledge to give up plastics for Crunchy's Extreme Eco-Throwdown.

So the first thing I learned about shaving with a safety razor is that you wants lots of thick, foamy lather to help the razor glide across your skin. Unfortunately, my "no plastics pledge" precludes me from picking up a can of Skintimate Shaving Gel at Walgreens, because, although the can is made of recyclable steel, the packaging includes a big plastic cap and spout.

So enter once again - Mary, the Goatsoap Lady. Last week at the farmer's market, Mary hooked me up with a shaving kit - complete with ceramic mug, goats-milk shaving soap and shaving brush. Unfortunately, it also included a disposable razor that I didn't see until I got home. Ooopsie. I considered taking it back to Mary with a stern lecture about the evils of plastic, but thought better of it. One should never piss off a goat-milkin', soap-makin' woman, you know. It creates bad karma and you're likely to find more than goats milk in your next bar of soap. Instead, I'm going to keep the razor in my "I forgot it" box of toiletries that I keep on hand for friends and family who come to visit.

But I digress. Again.

My new plastic-free solution to creating a thick, creamy lather works quite well. I place the soap circle in the bottom of the mug, add some hot water and stir. I feel like Sweeney Todd, minus the whole vengeful, homicidal-maniac thing. In fact, I find myself singing "Swing your razor high, Sweeney...." every time I shave. And yes, it does creep out my husband.

#219 - Safety First

Switching From a Plastic Disposable Razor to a Safety Razor

This is the fifth change in my month-long pledge to give up plastics for Crunchy's Extreme Eco-Throwdown.

The timing on this change just happened to be perfect. For several years I have been using a Venus plastic razor with disposable blade heads. These heads are made of plastic and come individually sheathed in mini plastic cups. The whole package of six blade heads is, of course, then wrapped in more plastic. None of which is recyclable in my area.

Last week, I finally used my last plastic blade. Like I said, the timing was perfect.

So instead of purchasing more plastic replacement heads, I hopped on eBay and purchased a "vintage" (translation: "used"-but-can-charge-double-because-"vintage"-sounds-cool) woman's Gillette Safety Razor. It's a butterfly twist-to-open model that takes a single, stainless steel blade. So far, my source for the blades has been a bit disappointing -- they are sold in a plastic container at Walgreens-- but if I continue my search I'm hoping I can find them in a cardboard box (translation: little help here!).

Surprisingly, I have not cut the crap out of my legs with the new razor. But I also am not getting as close a shave as I'm used to. From what I've read, though, using a safety razor does require a certain technique that takes time to hone.

Yeah, sometimes I just write these posts to amuse myself.

#216 - A Salty Bitch Am I

Switching from Traditional Toothpaste to Baking Soda

This is the second change in my month-long pledge to give up plastics for Crunchy's Extreme Eco-Throwdown, and I must say, it was easier than I thought. I dumped a couple tablespoons of baking soda in an empty glass spice container. I shook some of it out onto my recycled toothbrush and proceeded with the ol' Burbanmom tooth-brushin' routine.

It did a great job getting my teeth clean, but I must confess, my mouth still tasted a little funky. I'm not talking about the extreme saltiness of the baking soda (which I actually like) I mean that I can still taste what I had for dinner. So I'm thinking I would need to supplement this new toothpaste with mouthwash, which comes in a plastic bottle, thereby defeating the whole idea of going tubeless.

OR...

Now, align yourself here....

The purpose of this challenge, for me at least, is to find creative ways to avoid plastic. I'm looking for something minty, perhaps even slightly medicinal, to remove the stale taste from my mouth. And it must come packaged in a glass bottle. Hmmmmm.....

Is anyone else here thinking "Peppermint Shnapps"?

No? What's that? "Peppermint extract" you say? Well, that doesn't sound nearly as much fun for Burbanmom, but I guess I'll give it a go.

And in honor of my new plastic-free oral cleansing routine, I present to you -

The Burbanita:

Serves 4 1

12 oz. Vodka
6 oz. Rumpleminze Shnapps
2 oz. Jagermeister

2 oz. Blue Curacao Liquer
3/4 tsp. sugar
2 -2 1/2 cups of ice

Add ice to the blender first and then the above ingredients. You might have to adjust the amount of ice you use depending how thick you like your burbanitas. Play with this until you get the consistency that you like, or until you get bored and/or sober. Be sure to rub the rim of a margarita glass with your tongue and dip in salt. Pour burbanitas into the margarita glass and garnish with mini candy-canes. Or, if no one else it there, just stick a straw in the blender and have at it.

Invite some with friends tonight. Hell, have some tomorrow night too, it's the weekend! In fact, Cinco de Mayo is Monday, why not make it a long weekend and just get plastered? Your mouth will feel minty fresh every time you puke! :-)

#215 - Making A-Toner-ment

Swapping My Neutrogena Toner for Burt's Bees Garden Tomato Toner

Today starts Day One of my participation on Crunchy's Extreme Eco-Throwdown. I have pledged to give up plastics for the month of May and, in typical 'Burban style, I'm gonna pussyfoot my way through it, one change at a time.

Today's change has me dropping my old faithful, but plastic-packaged toner with an all natural toner that comes in a glass bottle with just a small plastic top. The added bonus is that its ingredients consist of words I can actually pronounce.

Here's the down side. I have a nice diagnosed case of postule rosacea. Which means any changes in my diet, the weather, or my face care regimen will turn my face into zit city. And I'm not talking little whiteheads that you can pop with your fingernail, I'm talking big-ass, subterranean pimples that hurt when the wind blows on them. It takes about two weeks from the date of the "incident", so I'm expecting to look like a real purdy chick by mid-month.

But I'm hoping that once my skin adjusts I'll be able to keep my new toner and will have permanently eliminated yet another plastic bottle from our home.

#213 - End of Discussion: Period.

Yeah. So. Whatever...

I guess it's not as gross as I had originally thought. But I'm still not putting any of it on my tomatoes.


Savings:

As if you all haven't heard enough gory details about my period and my birth control, I'll recap my monthly schedule. Because I use Mirena, I really don't have a monthly period. Just a couple days of spotting each month, barely enough to justify the disposable pantyliners I've been using. So the savings are small, but still, it's a savings. I'd say, oh, five pantyliners per month.

Difficulty Level:

Because my 'flo is so light, I don't have to worry about pre-rinsing the pantyliners, they just get tossed in the laundry with everything else. For those of you who have a heavier flo, you might want to consider the Diva Cup or The Keeper, as they both seem to have many, many satisfied customers! In fact, Crunchy is having another Diva Cup Challenge in May!

#212 - Bah, Bah Black Sheep

Have You Any.... Soap?

It was only three months ago that I found Dr. Bronner's Castille Soap and already I'm saying goodbye. It's not that I don't like the product... I do. In fact, I LOVE that soap. It's all natural, organic, and fair trade. It has a great lather and a yummy scent. It's not tested on animals. Hell, it's even got nice packaging. The only, and I mean only downside to that soap is the distance it travels to arrive at my home. You see, Dr. Bronner's soap is manufactured in a factory out in Escondido, California and I live here in Richmond, VA. That means that every bar that finds its way into my home has traveled over 2,550 miles to get here.

Now, I know that since reading Omnivore's Dilemma, we're all working to get our food miles down under the average 1,500 miles traveled per meal. And according to Deep Economy, we should be doing the same for other purchases. And so I am. In fact, I'm going to begin sourcing as many local products as I can and I'm starting with my soap.

Why start with soap? Because I already found it. Last week at the Farmer's Market, I stumbled upon Wild Heaven Farm Handmade Goat Milk Soaps. Mary, the woman who was selling them, was beyond chirpy and upbeat, but I bought from her anyhow. And I found out that she doesn't just sell them, she's also the one who makes them. And she makes them right here in the Richmond metro area.

According to Mary, the soaps are made from "fresh squeezed" goat milk, palm oil, coconut oil, olive oils and, depending on the soap, oatmeal and/or natural essential oils. I picked up the unscented castille-style soap so that I could try it on my face and (hopefully) replace my Neutrogena face bars, in addition to my body soap.

I'm still using up what's left of my existing soaps (no sense tossing them in a landfill, they've already been purchased) so I won't be using the goat soap exclusively for another couple of weeks, but I have given it a test lather and it's amazing stuff! It lathers up nicely and seems like it won't disintegrate after three uses. Also? I don't know if it's just the castille-style (which is extra-moisturizing), but it has left my skin AMAZINGLY soft. It feels like I'm all lotioned up - and not in a greasy way. Of course you know I had to try it on my hair too and it worked quite well. In fact, it left my hair feeling softer than the Dr. Bronners or even the Burt's Bees shampoo.

Savings:

I picked up my bar downtown at the Farmer's Market last week, less than 25 miles from my home. But get this, after I checked out the brochure, it turns out the goat farm is located just a hop, skip and a jump away (that equates to approximately 15 1/2 miles). But let's not split hairs here, we'll just call it a savings of 2,500 soap-transporting miles.

Assuming I use one bar of soap every two weeks, and each bar of soap weighs 5 ounces, I would be purchasing over 8 pounds of soap per year. Based on the data I found here, that means that it takes .75 gallons of gas to transport my annual soap allotment. Which is not much, but, when you consider I'm going to the Farmer's Market anyhow to pick up my CSA bounty, it is an annual savings of .75 gallons of gas per year.

Again, you're saying "big deal", 3/4 of a gallon of gas. Whoopdie-doo. But what if everyone in the greater Richmond area purchased their soap locally, rather than truck it in from the opposite coast? Why, we'd save over 902,255 gallons of gas each year! And Mary would now be the wealthiest goat-milker this side of the Mississippi. Which is good because I'll bet she'd need some serious carpal tunnel surgery at that point.

Added bonus? Wild Heaven Farm uses even less packaging than Dr. Bronner. Just a simple paper ring around the center of the soap that lists the ingredients. In fact, I'm betting if I asked real nice, I could even get my soap sans wrap.

Difficulty Level:

Super easy. I'm already at the market, I just swing by the Wild Heaven Farm stand and pick up a bar. But you're thinking "homemade soap? that's gonna be pricey as hell". Well, depends on what you're comparing it to, I guess. If you compare it to cheap-ass Walmart brand soap made with a carcinogen-filled chemical concoctions... well, yeah, anything would seem expensive. But really it's not anymore than what I've been paying. Homemade soap from Wild Heaven Farm: $4.00. Dr. Bronner's soap from California: $3.99.

All in all, I'd say this switch isn't half baaaaaaaaad. Unlike that joke.

#199 - Brusha Brusha Brusha

Choosing a Greener Toothbrush

Brush your teeth. Round and round.

Circle small, gums and all.

A small, soft toothbrush the round-and-round way, will keep your gums healthy and stop tooth decay.

So brush very carefully three times a day.

Go round and round. Round and round.

OK, those of you between the ages of, I'd guess 30 - 40, are all singing along and reminiscing about Captain Kangaroo and Mr. Greenjeans. The rest of you, however, are starting to wonder if I'm off my freakin' rocker. The good news? You're all correct. There are no wrong answers here.

Today's post, if you haven't guessed already, is about brushing my teeth. Which, btw, I only do twice a day and I do the up-and-down thing, not the circle small. Does that make me a bad person? No. What does make me a bad person is the fact that, for the past five years or so, I've been using an electric toothbrush. Yes, apparently Burbanmom is too lazy to move her wrist up and down for four minutes a day. Well look out Richard Simmons because from now on, that's going to be my new exercise regimen.

Yes, last week my electric toothbrush finally kicked the bucket. I replaced it with a new eco-friendly alternative - the Preserve Toothbrush. According to their website:

The Preserve's handle is made of polypropylene. It is an efficiently recycled material--its strength does not break down in the recycling process. Polypropylene's recycling efficiency means it is commonly reprocessed and cleaned... Polypropylene is available in many sources of post-consumer and pre-consumer recycled plastics, labeled #5. Presently our main source is from recycled Stonyfield Farm® yogurt cups... The Preserve's materials are also completely recyclable. The handle and bristles are effectively recycled together--the polypropylene and nylon actually strengthen as they combine in the recycling process. Preserve's postage-paid envelope assures that your used brush will be turned into plastic lumber.

So that's nice, right? After I use it for six months I can mail it back to them and they'll downcycle it for me. OK, it's not as earth-friendly as using my finger, or brushing with a willow branch or something, but it's definitely a step in the right direction. And so, in honor of my new toothbrush, I present to you my version of the Tommy Toothbrush jingle (sung to the tune of Three Blind Mice):

Brush your teeth. Up and down

Unplug from the wall, it's not hard at all.

A small soft toothbrush made from poly-propylene.

Will keep your teeth healthy and you'll feel a little green.

But not in a green-teeth way, cuz that doesn't seem clean.

Go brush your teeth. Brush your teeth.

[Sitting here, waiting for Preserve to call me and either offer to buy my song or pay me to stop]

Savings:

Two batteries (albeit rechargeable ones) every six months. Also will avoid all the impossible-to-open clamshell packaging they use to encase the replacement heads.

Difficulty Level: 1 out of 5

It's nice to go back to a manual brush. Really. I screwed up when I bought this one, though and got a soft bristle brush instead of a medium. Now I'm stuck with it for six months. Oh the hardships I must endure to be green.

#192 - Head Over To The Bar

Switching From Bottled Shampoo to Bar Soap

Organic Needle did a post the other day about some cool green products she's tried and one of those products was a Burt's Bees Shampoo Bar. I've seen shampoo bars before but have never talked to anyone who has actually used one. But according to 'Orgie', as I've taken it upon myself to call her, "It's a Keeper".

I'm not usually one that is easily swayed (lie), but that's a pretty good review, so I had to try it for myself. Of course, being the impatient one that I am, I didn't bother to actually go out and buy a properly sanctioned shampoo bar. Instead, I just grabbed my Dr. Bronner's All-One Hemp Peppermint Castille Soap and used it this morning. Hey, it says "All-One" right in the name, which, to me, means "use it for any damn purpose you can think of". And you know what? I did. I rubbed that rectangular little bar all over my noodle and it worked like a frickin' charm.

It foamed up really nice (which my Burt's Bees Bottled Shampoo didn't do very well) and of course had that yum-o-licious peppermint smell. Unlike the aforementioned BBBS, it also did a good job of making me feel like it had stripped my hair clean. You know, in a scrub-down, antiseptic, Silkwood-decontamination-scene sort of way. Which I like, because it lets me go a day between washings without feeling all slimy and gross. But it didn't dry my hair all out either. My hair still feels pretty soft, but not greasy. All in all, I agree with Orgie, the concept of a shampoo bar is definitely "a keeper".


Savings:

I go through a bottle of BBBS every three months or so. That means a savings of four plastic bottles per year. If all the other 30-something American beauties joined me, together we could save about 360 MILLION plastic bottles each year.

And, with this (hopefully) final change to my shower routine, I am down to two bars of soap - both of which come wrapped in recycled/recyclable paper and/or cardboard. WOOHOO! I finally have plastic out of my shower! Except for my razor, but with Shavin' Season rapidly approaching, we'll be visiting that issue soon I'm sure.

Difficulty Level: 1 out of 5

It's a little awkward at first, wielding a rectangular bar across your head, but I'm sure I'll adjust.

#178 - Your Face Will Freeze Like That

Changing Up My Nightly Face-Washing Routine

Despite my previously discussed pre-rinsing compulsion, conserving water is actually one of my favorite things to do for the environment. Water conservation changes are nice, immediate-feedback kind of changes. They're easy to calculate, requiring just buckets and measuring cups. And I love that I can visually see what I'm saving, rather than just talk about invisible kilowatts or therms.

So whenever I find an opportunity to make a little water change, I jump on it. In fact, I started instituting this face-washing change several months ago, but didn't have it tweaked to where it was a convenient enough that I was sure it would stick. Until now.

Let's say it's time for bed. What do I need to do? Well, I need to wash my face, put on astringent and my rosacea cream, then brush my teeth before hitting the sack. Now I already managed to save 76 ounces each day with my new tooth brushing routine, and I needed to cut down on the face-washing water waste as well.

The biggest problem I had was waiting for the water to warm up. For some reason, it takes a good 30 seconds or so before the hot water gets up to our bathroom sink. In the meantime, all this perfectly clean water is being lost down the drain. What a waste. Then, even when the water is warm enough, it's still running down the drain while I wet my face, lather up and rinse off. All told, it took 18 cups of water to wash my face. And I was repeating this process every. single. night.

So here are the issues I've been facing (pun intended) while trying to tweak my routine:


1. Washing my face with freezing cold water at bedtime? Not so much with the relaxing, getting sleepy feeling.

2. I have to use splashy water on my face. I can't use a washcloth because my lovely rosacea skin will have a nasty reaction to the scrubbing and I'll be the one googling scab terms.


So, bearing those two issues in mind I've come up with a workable solution. It's not perfect, but it's better than it was:

First off, I've mimicked my handwashing rountine so that now I don't turn the faucet on full blast and I shut the tap off while I lather up. That saves six cups.

Secondly, I switched my face-washing routine from bedtime to "get in our jammies" time, which happens at 7:00 pm sharp (I have kids, ergo, I have schedules). So now it doesn't matter if the faucet is spittin' ice cubes. In fact, the cold water actually helps me get through the rest of the evening without dozing off. So not waiting for the warm water saves another six cups.

The downside to all of this is that, being such an Anal OCD Annie, this means that I also have to brush my teeth at 7:00 pm because you can't wash your face and NOT brush your teeth. But, as it turns out, this is also helping me with the NO WASTE challenge, since it means I can't eat anything after this point.

So now with my every-so-tweaked face washing routine, I'm saving twelve cups of H2O down the drain - that's a 66% reduction in what I had been using.



Savings:

From where I was six months ago: twelve cups per night! But, again, I've been working on this and tweaking it for a while now, so the true change from yesterday to today is considerably less. However, I like to accentuate the positive, so I'm going with the 12 cup figure and say that I'm saving nearly 275 gallons of water per year, just by changing my routine a tad.


Difficulty Level: 1 out of 5

Obviously, the difficulty in this change was devising the plan. Now that I've figured it out, it's as simple as can be. Just shows you what perserverance (and the ability to withstand frigid icewater being splashed on your face) can do.

Bad Idea #5 - Smells Like Teen Spirit

Switching from Degree to Natural Deodarant

I'm a hot mama. Not so much in a "MILF" kind of way, but definitely in a "something is wrong with my internal thermostat and so I sweat like a pig" kind of way. But the word "hot" is still an appropriate adjective, so I'm going to continue to use it when describing myself to strangers. It's not my fault if they misinterpret.

Anyhow, I've heard a lot of rumors about how awful the mainstream antipersperant/deodarants are for you. I've heard that women, especially, are prone to horrible maladies related to the wearing of these deodarants, due to the fact that we shave our underarms, allowing more of the chemicals to come in direct contact with our skin. Is any of this true? I dunno. But I figured it wouldn't hurt to cut out some more chemicals on my quest towards a greener lifestyle.

Turns out, this is another threshold I just can't seem to cross. It's not so much the deodarant part that I disliked, it's the antiperspirant I desperately missed. That awful feeling of soggy armpits, the nice tell-tale wet marks on my shirts. The only word I can think of to describe it is: YUCK! or maybe DOUBLE YUCK!

And so, with head hung low, (to sniff-test my pits), I hereby concede defeat to the Gods of Mass Marketed Hygeine Products. You have won this battle. I will continue to wage the war though. And, hopefully, will come out smelling like a rose.

Bad Idea #1 - Lighten Up

Bleaching My Hair With Henna

OK, I can deal with the no manicures thing. I can deal with skipping the conditioner and wearing dirty jeans. I can even deal with my weekly "To Hell With Personal Hygiene Day". But I cannot - repeat CANNOT - deal with the fact that I am sprouting grey hair!

Call me a girly-girl if you must, but I just couldn't take looking at those silver strands another day. And give me credit for not heading down to the salon for a round of chemical highlights. Instead, I found some natural henna hair color stuff at the crunchy-granola store and gave it a try.

Tell me what you think....


Here's the before shot (I'm the big one ;-)

And here's the after shot (again, the big one):

See the difference?

Yeah, me neither. I think the only thing that got lighter was my wallet.

To add insult to ugly, the hair color kit included a pair of disposable plastic gloves and shower cap. Grrr.

#160 - Watching My Soaps

Switching From Dove to Dr. Bronner

Every time I think I'm done trading out my mainstream products for side-stream products, I run out of something and realize there are greener options available. I love these changes because 1. swapping one product for another requires no extra daily work and B. changing products is kind of like shopping, which gives me a nice little Compact fix, without the guilt.

Today's product switcheroo is my body soap. Remember when I started showering like a man? Well, I was so focused on reducing the amount of products I used, that I forgot to worry about the type of products I was using. And so I have been happily lathering up with my Dove Sensitive Skin Body Bars for several months now, unaware that the product I'm using rates a 3 (Moderate Hazard) on Skin Deep's Cosmetic Safety Database. Further aggravating the issue are the facts that Dove has not signed the Compact for Safe Cosmetics and they test their products on animals. Bummer. I used to love Dove. You know, campaign for real beauty and all that. Something comforting about seeing chicks almost as fat and old as a normal person hocking facial cleansers.

But now I have a new love (besides the butcher). It's Dr. Bronner. No, not Dr. Bruce Bonner AKA The Incredible Hulk. Dr. Bronner, of Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps. I picked up a bar or Dr. B's All-One Hemp Peppermint Pure Castile Soap last week. By way of comparison, Dr. B's soap gets a Low Hazard Rating, IS a signer of the CSC and does NOT test on animals. Their products are Certified Organic and Fair Trade. They also use minimal packaging - a paper wrapper made from 90% post-consumer waste and printed with soy ink. Holy crap that's some green soap.

There is a down side though. The peppermint oil. The smell makes me want to eat the bar. Probably not the whole thing, but at least a little nibble. Between that and the Raspberry scented Burt's Bees shampoo, I feel like I should be following up with some sort of Hershey's body lotion. Seriously. Incorporating this change on the heels of Crunchy Chicken's No Waste Challenge? Probably not a good idea. I get out of the shower with a big hankerin for a peppermint mocha with extra whip. Mmmmmm.

Good God, I'm freakin' starving here. Somebody throw me a head of lettuce or something.

Savings:

Once again, saving lots of nasty chemicals that I didn't even know were in my bath bars. Also saving the additional packaging and some poor bunny's burned retinas.

Difficulty Level: 2 out of 5

Saying goodbye to a product brand that I have been loyal to for so many years was actually a little difficult. Don't know why. It's not like they ever did anything for me personally. And I picked up my Dr. B's soap at the crunchy-granola store up the road, so I'm not even sure if Kroger sells it or not. And I'm ready to eat my arm. This might be more difficult than some other product changes I've made.

Day 143 - Paraben There, Done That

Ditching All of the Hazardous Children's Personal Care Products

I know you've heard me go on and on about the nasty carcinogenic petro-chemicals in makeup, shampoo, nail polish, kids' babywash and the like, but get ready to hear it again. This week, the folks over at Today's Mama will be featuring my little ol' blog and I wanted to be sure that any of the moms that surf over to my site are made aware of the possible chemical dangers lurking in their kids' bath and body products. (Those of you who are regular readers may be excused, but don't forget, there'll be a quiz on Thursday.)

Many personal care products marketed for infants and toddlers contain a myriad of chemicals that have been proven to carry certain health risks. In fact, some chemicals still allowed in US products have actually been banned in other countries, due to their toxic nature. These chemicals are easily absorbed into the blood stream through our relatively porous skin and new research shows that they spend a lifetime accumulating in our bodies. Scary? Yes. Especially when you consider that we're rubbing this crap all over our little kiddos on a near daily basis. But the good news is - you do have lots of options available and, fortunately, you don't need to be a chemist to find some safe alternatives.

A very simple way to determine the toxicity of the products you're using on your little ones is to surf on over to Skin Deep, a database of personal hygiene products compiled by the Environmental Working Group. There you can simply type in the product name and get a hazard rating, ingredient list and description of possible health concerns related to the item. They even have a great Parent's Buying Guide that will help you quickly find safe alternatives for your children's personal hygiene products.

So, if you're a mom who stumbled on my site and this is the only post of mine you ever read, please, please - take a moment to look up the products you are using on your child and make sure they are the safest ones available. It only takes a moment or two of your time to check them out and the benefits of doing so are great.

Just last night I found a nasty product that I will be ditching in favor of a kinder, more gentler alternative. The kids' bath upstairs had a bottle of Kandoo Foaming Hand Wash which gets a hazard rating of 6 out of 10 on Skin Deep's Database. In fact, according to the site, 90% of liquid hand soaps have fewer health concerns than this soap! Freakin' YIKES!


Savings:

I can't really quantify the environmental savings here, other than to say that if it's not safe to put on my kids' skin, then it's probably not a very good idea to put those chemicals into our lakes and streams either. And we all know that the sewage treatment facilities simply cannot remove all those chemicals that flow down our drains.


Difficulty Level: 1 out of 5

The Skin Deep site makes checking out your products a simple task and a lot of the alternatives are readily available at your local grocery or drug store. But be forewarned - you may have to wander over into the weird crunchy granola health-nut aisles in your local Krogers to find some of them!


**Special thanks to Beth Terry over at Fake Plastic Fish for bringing the awesome Skin Deep database to my attention! Hope you're enjoying your retreat!

Day 134 - I'm Gonna Wash That Sodium Laureth Sulfate Right Out of My Hair

Switching to a Naturally-Derived Shampoo

I think this may actually be the last chemically-infused product in my bathroom and I'm so glad I'm finally done with it! It took me a long time to use up the last of my Redken shampoo, but it's finally all gone and I can now switch to a more environmentally-friendly alternative.

I'm not quite ready to go the homemade baking soda shampoo route, but am very excited to be switching over to another product from my new best friend: Burt, of Burt's Bees. I know, I know - BB was recently brought out by the nice folks who bring you Clorox Poison Bleach, but until you can find me a better smelling solution than BB's Very Volumizing Pomegranate, I'm sticking with it.

As with the kids' baby wash, the BB shampoo is Sodium Lauryl/Laureth Sulfate Free, Paraben Free and Phthalate Free. Although made of plastic, the bottle contains 80% post-consumer content. And, according to the label, the shampoo is not tested on animals (I'm assuming the bottle isn't either ;-).

For you hard-core plastic avoiders, Burt's Bees does make a shampoo bar, which is sold in a cardboard box. I would have picked that up to try but didn't even know it existed until I did an online search, which was after I had purchased my bottled version. If I can find a shampoo bar locally, I'll give it a try. "Shampoo Bar" -- sounds like a salon that serves drafts, doesn't it? Someone should open one. I would definitely go there. Even a drunk stylist couldn't give me a worse haircut than I already have and I'd probably tip better if I was sloshed.


Savings

Mrs. Pigpen is now down to washing her hair only four days per week. Eek. When I write it out in black and white it makes me sound gross. But really, I'm not. Or rather, I am, but not because of my hair.

So anyhow, that's about 1 teaspoon of chemical goopiness avoided per day, about 3 ounce per month, 36 ounces per year. Join me, and we'll make it 72.


Difficulty Level: 1 out of 5

Redken. Burt's Bees. As long as it gets the dirt out, I don't care about the brand name. What I do care about is the consequence of its use.

Day 133 - Wash N' Wear N' Wear N' Wear...

Wearing Clothing Until It Actually NEEDS Washing

Remember last month, when I thought I was so clever to come up with the idea of wearing my jeans twice before washing them? Yeah, well, turns out -- that's a pretty slippery slope.

Apparently, wearing previously worn jeans is like the gateway drug of garment re-use. Because, folks, I gotta be honest, I am checking damn near every article of clothing to see whether or not I can get a second run out of it. My very scientific method for determining the wearability of any garment is: The Sniff Test. Not all items make it to the test lab (there's a difference between "green" and "gross"), but lots do -- like sweaters, sweatshirts, hoodies, and sweatpants.

Surprisingly, most of my items pass their initial post-wear sniff test. They don't always pass the no-coffee-stains-or-toddler-snot-trails test, but they seem to hold their own against the old nose radar. At least, I think they do. If you see me out and about, maybe you could be a pal, take a whiff, and either confirm or refute my results.

What does my rapid decline into pigpen-mode have to do with the environment? Water. And lots of it. Sweaters are bulky. Sweatshirts are bulky. Hoodies, sweatpants and jeans are all bulky. And they all take up loads (pun intended) of space in the washing machine.

Savings:

If I can get two runs from 8 bulky items per week, I'll save two loads of laundry every month throughout the whole cold weather season. That translates to a savings of over twelve loads of laundry per year: About 144 gallons of water and over 28 kWh saved.

Difficulty Level: 2 out of 5

You always have the fear that your nosedar is wrong and you're walking around smelling like a middle school locker room after basketball tryouts. But, just remember: Those that mind - don't matter; and those that matter - will tell you when you're stinky.

Day 127 - Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

Bathing The Kids Just Twice a Week
Caveat: Unless they're really gross.

Summer is officially over. Well, it has been for a while now, but it finally feels over here in Richmond, "hotter than the surface of the sun" Virginia. I know, you desert dwellers out there are laughing at me, but remember - I'm from Northern New York where 45 is considered "shorts and a sweatshirt" weather and you don't wear a coat until your snot freezes.

Geez Louise, I've just started this post and already I'm off on a tangent. What the hell was I supposed to be posting about anyhow?

Oh yeah, fewer baths for the kids. Right.

Anyhow, this cooler weather translates to cleaner kids. Less sweating, a lot less mud to play in, and fewer worms to dig. They don't sparkle or anything, but they don't leave sludge trails either. So, to conserve some more precious H2O, I will be dropping the number of weekly baths for the kiddos from three to two.

It helps that both of them are now officially potty trained and tend to urinate on themselves a lot less these days. Of course, this whole plan gets tossed out the window if one of them rolls in dog crap or vomits on themselves.

And don't go feeling all sorry for them -- they're not huge bath fans anyhow. Ethan has some hydrophobia issues that are cured only by the lure of a plastic submarine and Daphne has her Mommy's white Irish skin that dries out like the Sahara in winter. Trust me, they'll both be happier this way.


Savings:

I fill their tubs up pretty full, so I'd guesstimate it's about 30 gallons of water for each bath. I'm a mean mommy, though and make them bathe together, so that one tubful covers both of them. At 30 gallons per week and the cool weather lasting through till the end of April, I'd say we're looking at a savings of roughly 720 gallons a year.

Now think about this: If the entire "dirty dozen" of Ethan's preschool classmates did this, together we'd save nearly 9,000 gallons of water. And, if the whole preschool joined us, it would be about 78,000 gallons per year. For perspective, that's enough clean water to meet the drinking needs of over 200 people for a full year... from just one preschool.


Difficult Level: 1 out of 5

Another one of those changes that it's real easy to get behind! No more whining, no more soaking wet Mommies, no more unintended floor moppings. Dude, Sign Me Up.

PS... HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!!!! :-)

Day 119 - Girl Talk

Having an Eco-Friendly Period

****WARNING WARNING WARNING****

THIS POST IS ABOUT MY PERIOD. IF YOU ARE SQUEAMISH ABOUT THIS TOPIC, OR IF YOU ARE MY DAD, PLEASE STOP READING NOW!

OK, ladies, looks like the men all left. Now we can do what we always do when the men think we're talking about our periods and continue our plot to take over the world. Now, Hillary called me last night and she thinks....

What? They're still here? Oh crap. Never mind, I guess we'll really have to talk about it then.

Let's rewind to a time about five months ago when I was so rudely awakened from my hypnotic, disposable-loving, consumeristic euphoria. Sister Heather and I were discussing various eco-friendly changes we could be making and she relayed the following story about her friend, whom I'll call Amber.*

Amber is a pretty eco-conscious gal who borders on crunchy-granola. She had recently attended some sort of fair or vendor gathering or whatnot where she met a woman who was spouting the virtues or reusable pads.

As she explained to Amber, the pads were made from organic cotton and could be fastened to your underwear with little snaps. When the pad needs to be changed, you simply unsnap it and place it in a bucket of water to soak off most of the blood. At the end of your period, you would then ring out your pre-soaked pads and run them through a wash cycle. The woman went on to explain that the "soaking water" should not be dumped down the toilet, but should be used for watering the garden, as it is extremely high in nutrients and acts as sort of an all-natural Miracle-Gro.

According to Amber, the vendor wasn't very successful in trying to convince women to switch to the eco-friendly pads. She also wasn't having much luck selling her home-grown tomatoes.

Well, I'm not quite ready to go that far with my period yet, but I am going to dip my toe into the pool of period-protection options by switching to NatraCare brand panty-liners. Unlike my Kotex liners, these ones are manufactured using non-chlorine bleach, they are plastic-free and biodegradable.

Savings:

Due to my selection of birth-control (a whole other post), a dozen panty-liners per month usually covers all my girly needs. In the course of one year, that's 144 plastic-backed panty-liners I'll be avoiding.

Difficulty Level: 1 out of 5

Once I found where the store kept them (because GOD FORBID they put them with all the OTHER panty-liners) this became another one of those super-easy changes to make. Now I really can have a happy period, despite what Hubby says.

*Please note, Amber may actually be her name. As usual, I wasn't really paying that close attention to the details. I'm more of a "big picture" listener.

Day 106 - Forever in Blue Jeans

Wearing My Jeans at Least Twice Before Laundering

OK, now that I've got you all humming Neil Diamond songs from the seventies, let's talk about my pants.

The cool fall weather that I love so much is finally upon us and I have put my three ill-fitting but comfortable pair of dungarees back into the ol' wardrobe rotation. These were all purchased just last year, after I finally decided that 18 months post-partum was a little to long to be wearing maternity jeans. Being relatively new, they are all that dark-blue, looks-like-I've-been-wearing-them-to-work-in-a-coal-mine color. What I'm trying to say here, is that a little dirt is hardly noticeable on these jeans.

So, I've decided that, to save water, laundry detergent, dryer energy and denim wear-and-tear, I will be wearing my jeans until they can practically walk themselves to the hamper. Or twice. Whichever comes first. Hubby always wears his jeans at least twice and it's not like I notice it on him, and his jeans are the older, nearly-faded-white color, so who the hell will notice on me? And if someone does notice and has the balls to say something, God help 'em - cuz I'll go all Song Sung Blue on their ass.


Savings:

In the fall/winter/spring, I usually wear jeans five days per week. Rather than washing after each wear, I will wear them twice. So in one week, instead of washing 5 pair of jeans, I'll be washing 2.5 pair. Now let's assume that it takes 10 pair of jeans to fill a load of laundry (they're bulky and heavy). I will be saving an entire load of laundry every four weeks. Jean season lasts November - April or 26 weeks, so that's a savings of 6.5 loads of laundry per year. That equates to 78 gallons of water and over 20 kWh saved.


Difficulty Level: 1 out of 5

The only difficult part is that I'm a slob and I'll need to try a little harder not to spill food, coffee or the kids' paint on my pants. I know I can do it though. I'm a Believer.