Day 108- Radical Hygiene Part 5

Day 108- Radical Hygiene Part 5
This week, I will be devoting Road Toward Competency to Radical Hygiene—using traditional practices to make your hygiene regimen more healthy for you, the environment, and your budget.

Alright. We are the home stretch.

We are line drying our clothes that we washed with homemade laundry detergent. We are wet shaving and/or using diva cups. But what is next?

Homemade toiletries!

First of all, deodorant is terrible. Many have aluminum as an ingredient which is a neurotoxin and has been linked to Alzheimer’s, breast cancer, and blood poisoning. Some have strong and irritating fragrances. And more plastic!!!

Making deodorant is not nearly as difficult as it seems. And it costs mere pennies to make.

There are a lot of good recipes out there.

But my favorite is this one for its ease and convenience. I bet you have all these ingredients except for the essential oils.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/video/25473/how_to_make_a_homemade_deodorant_.html

Similarly, toothpaste is cheap and easy to make without any packaging. Sure, you don’t get tartar control, whitening, with fluoride or any of that junk. But, do we really need it?

Here http://sci-toys.com/ingredients/toothpaste.html, we can see all the ingredients in your average tube of toothpaste and exactly what everything does. Let’s just say there are a lot of them. And some things are in there just to counteract other things.

Compare that to just good old fashioned baking soda, salt, glycerin, and essential oils. If you drink tap water (even filtered) you are still getting plenty of fluoride to protect your teeth.

And if you really need/want fluoride and tartar control, then brush with this stuff and rinse with a fluoride enriched mouthwash right before bed. Fluoride does not help if you just wash it away with your morning cup of coffee.

Finally, you can also make your own body cream. I have not tried this yet. But Jessica Gonacha at Indie Fixx swears by the stuff she makes.

“Ingredients:

6 oz. raw shea butter
1/2 oz. jojoba oil
1/2 oz. sweet almond oil
1/2 oz. grapeseed oil
1/2 oz. apricot kernel oil
1/2 oz. lanolin (melted)
1/2 oz. aloe vera gel
1/2 oz. glycerin
1/4 oz. Vitamin E oil
5-10 drops favorite essential oil (some of my favorites are geranium, rose, clove, clary sage, cinnamon, and lemongrass.)

Directions:

Place all ingredients in a large bowl (I like glass or stainless steel). Mush together with your hands to get the lumps out of the shea butter. (Alternatively, you can use an electric mixer, but doing it by hand is the eco-friendlier way, because it saves energy!) Adjust accordingly– if you like a thicker cream, more lanolin and less oil will do the trick; a thinner cream can be made by adding more oil or aloe vera juice)”

I would like to point out that lanolin is not vegan. It is a byproduct of the wool making process. It seems to me though that you could replace it with olive oil and get a similar result.

Well, that is the end of the radical hygiene week. I am planning on posting my thoughts on the things I will begin to make like toothpaste and laundry detergent. If I get any new tips or techniques, I will also let you know with a new monthly segment on radical hygiene.

Day 107- Radical Hygiene Part 4

Day 107- Radical Hygiene Part 4

This week, I will be devoting Road Toward Competency to Radical Hygiene—using traditional practices to make your hygiene regimen more healthy for you, the environment, and your budget.

Ahh, laundry. I love doing it. I love the feel of clean clothes that have been line dried. Or a hot shirt on a cold day out of the dryer. But I am not keen on all the scents and dyes that go into the detergent. I have inherited my mom’s strong sense of smell and perfumes and fragrances have a tendency to bother me. And yet fragrance free laundry detergent tends to cost loads more than the average laundry detergent.

But at beingfrugal.net, Lynnea gives us a recipe for homemade soap that apparently works like a star. I haven’t tried this yet, but it is my plan for a weekend competency tip this weekend.

1 bar bath soap or fels naphtha soap
1 cup washing soda
1 cup baking soda
1 cup 20 Mule Team Borax

Grind together in your food processor. Use 2 Tablespoons for a full load. It costs 2 or 3 cents per use.

I will definitely let you know what I think of it when I am all done.

I have also made my own surface cleaner with white vinegar and water. White vinegar is mildly acidic and it tends to cut through grease and grime like a champ. And if you have hard water, it can really get in under soap scum and toilet rust. White vinegar is also great at absorbing odors, so it can really get your bathroom smelling fresh. For tough to srub places, sprinkle a bit of baking soda on the dirt and spray with diluted vinegar and get a volcano of cleanliness! This is also fantastic for stuck drains.

Diluted vinegar sprayed on glass and scrubbed with yesterday’s newspaper is a great way to get your windows shiny. Some people add some to rubbing alcohol or a drop of dish soap in order to prevent streaks.

Hydrogen peroxide is a great way to kill and bleach mold. Just dilute in a spray bottle and spray right on. But, keep away from colored fabrics as it will bleach your clothes or window dressings.

What tips and techniques do you have for non-toxic, homemade house cleansers?

Day 106- Radical Hygiene Part 3

Day 106- Radical Hygiene Part 3

This week, I will be devoting Road Toward Competency to Radical Hygiene—using traditional practices to make your hygiene regimen more healthy for you, the environment, and your budget.

After yesterday's post about menstruation, I thought today could be for the men oriented bodies out there. Although, any one could actually use at least some of this advice.

Recently, I picked up the habit of wet shaving.


Aren't you tired of how they keep jamming blades on your razor?



And now, there are just random blades coming off from the wrong direction!


Really, there is no reason why we need so many blades! And with more and more blades, means more and more money. Its like 4$ a cartridge for some razors. At times, I was wondering if I could afford to shave and go to the movie I was getting ready for!

And all that goo! It comes out of the metal can--not recyclable. And that goo is surprisingly bad for your skin. A lot of it is not actually conducive to a good shave. Unlike what the good people at gillette tell you, it is not pressure or number of blades that cause irritation. Most irritation comes from you shaving cream.

That is when I discovered wet shaving.

Wet shaving is like the shaving your grandfather or great-grandfather did.


Hell, if it is good enough for the Dodgers, it must be good!!!

Razors these days wont cost a $1.29 like they did in the 1060's. However, that is not far off. Each blade runs about $.50 a piece. Compare that to your $4.50 for your slashco mach 20.

And that goo? Replace it with a delicious shaving soap made from all natural ingredients.

But most importantly, get yourself a really nice shaving brush so that you can make some wonderful, hot lather to smother all over your face.

Wet shaving has been great for me. It has transformed my shaving from something I hated, a chore and a bore, to a new hobby that I love. I find my beard grows back softer, and more even. And my face has not been breaking out as much now that I have an all natural shaving soap.

Mantic59 has a great primer on how to get started. He also has a super blog.


But ultimately, you need to check out badger and blade. It is a forum for wet shavers.

Even if you don't want to invest in the new razor, the blades, the brush and everything all at once (which is understandable) I am urging you to at least ditch the cans of goo and move over to some natural shaving soaps or creams. And then invest in a good shaving brush. You will find the difference amazing.

Day 105- Radical Hygiene Part 2

Day 105-Radical Hygiene part 2

This week, I will be devoting Road Toward Competency to Radical Hygiene—using traditional practices to make your hygiene regimen more healthy for you, the environment, and your budget.

If you have a woman oriented body and are between the ages of 13 and 45, odds are you ovulate and menstruate. I don’t. So, I recognize that what I am writing here today may seems like a strange choice, tinged with breaking social mores and problematic power dynamics. I and I would like to keep that first and foremost.

However, the whole radical hygiene movement at Earlham began here, so I think it is best if I go in this direction today.

Lets face it, I don’t get a period. However, many people in my life do. It is a natural bodily function that society has shied away from. They have diagnosed it as something that is dirty and needs to be “treated”. Tampon ads talk about secrecy. Crinkle proof wrappers that look like sugar packs and smell like flowers or things. And you get all sorts of great ads.

Like this classic one-

But, lets face it, tampons and pads are not good for the environment, your body, or your budget.

Tampons are cotton--the least organically grown material in the global agriculture market. They are packaged in plastic--often with plastic applicators. Sometimes, they have all sorts of chemicals and artificial fragrances. On top of that, they can make you sick. There is a chance of Toxic Shock Syndrome or TSS. Essentially, TSS is a Staph Infection in the vagina. And nobody wants that.

This is where radical hygiene steps in. There are all sorts of products women use for their periods.

The most popular, among the women I know, are the Keeper/Diva Cup.Each are rubber cups that hold the menses back until you are ready to empty it. Each are reusable, so there is no waste and they practically pay for themselves as you no longer need to pay for pads or tampons. They are made from polyurethane so they are hypoallergenic and there is no chance for TSS.

But if you really love your tampons, you can get one made out of sea sponges. At $4.50 each a year, they are much more economical as compared to cotton tampons. And they are environmental since they are not made with cotton (pesticide filled) or bleached (bleaching process gives off toxic dioxins). And the average sea sponge lasts about 6 to 7 months. Compare that to the dozens of tampons or pads you use a year.

Finally, if you use a pad instead of a tampon, there are reusable pads. The company Glad Rags offers a whole line of reusable pads. Pads have many of the same problems tampons do--bad for the environment and costly. So, a reusable pad is cost efficient and healthier for you and the earth.

While I have heard great things about these products from women I trust, I cannot officially endorse any of these products. But I encourage you to go out and try some radical hygiene this month.

Day 104- Radical Hygiene Part 1

Day 104- Radical Hygiene Part 1

This week, I will be devoting Road Toward Competency to Radical Hygiene—using traditional practices to make your hygiene regimine more healthy for you, the environment, and your budget.

When I was at Earlham College, there was quite the rumblings about so-called “radical Hygiene”. It was mostly promoted by the Womyn’s Center. With a DIY flair towards simplicity—which is all too common at Earlham—folks explore old techniques of cleanliness that have been dropped in the name of progress.

Let me first take a step back and say there are few things on my list that I hate more than progress for progress sakes. Now, do not get me wrong. I am hardly a luddite. I love a lot about technology. I love my iPod and cross-continental flight now takes half a day instead of half a year. And technology has done loads to make the world a better, safer place to be.

But there is so much technology we just take for granted. We just assume that we must use it because it is there. And I would like to point out that not all technology is good at what it does. And while we work harder to make this new process “better”, it seems to me we might as well just get rid of it.

And so, this is the basis behind Radical Hygiene: reclaiming traditional practices that are healthier for your body, the environment and your budget.

Today, I will begin with clothes drying. Let’s face it, clothes dryers are pretty darned awful. I wrote the following piece as an environmental justice piece for my office-

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dfctxnv4_15cnqz49f2.

Not only are clothes dryers expensive to buy and run. They are also bad for the environment and bad for your clothing. Sure, if feels good to bring your clothes out of the dryer and fold them while they are still hot and fresh. However, I think line dried clothing feels so much better.

As spring is approaching, warm sunshine and gentle breezes make it a prime-time to hang dry your clothing. Instead of investing in clothes dryers at $350-$900, a piece of rope and some clothes pins will run you less than $10. On top of that, it is free to run a clothes line. And it is expensive to run the clothes dryer.

After November, it becomes difficult to line dry. But that does not mean you have to go back to that nasty old drying machine. If you get a rack (price ranging from $10 to $110), you can still air dry indoors. I love my rack and still use it when the weather is warm so that I can dry multiple loads at a time.

This is what radical hygiene is all about, finding old ways to be more intentional with out health and actions. I hope you try some of these recommendations I have for you this week.

By the way, I am still running the poll to see which debt I should put my tax refund toward

Day 102- Taxes!!! Part 2

Day 102- Taxes!!! Part 2

Well, I got my taxes all done. And I am getting a really nice rebate. $1,365 back infact. This is due to the combination of me paying my tuition and getting my relatively low salary. I qualified for the HOPE Credit. So, I am getting a good amount of money back from the government.

So, this is my plan.

$65-In my savings for a new DSLR
$700-back into my savings account that I had to pull out for my overdue student loans
$600-snowflakes!! Paying off a good portion of my student loans. I don't know which part of the snowman I should tackle.

Maybe you could help. I am going to put up a new survey to see which part of the snowman I should take care of.


Competency moment of the day: Instead of ordering out for pizza and spending forty bucks, I spent half that amount and fed the entire house with homemade, organic pizza made from scratch.

Day 100-Nobody said this would be easy

Day 100- Nobody Said This Would Be Easy

Well it has been a month since my last post. And I am not sure what the heck happened!

I took a wrong turn somewhere and totally got off the road to competency, onto a side street of laziness and found myself on a dirtroad of distraction.

So since my last post, I stopped exercising, I stopped balancing my check book, I stopped keeping my calendar organized and everything fell to pieces.

I totally had to raid my savings to pay for rent. I missed a massive deadline. And I gained a bunch of weight.

So, I am slowly but surely finding my way. I am using exciting new ways to get my life back in order.

I dusted off my calendar and scheduler. My week is all scheduled for next week.
I have created a new to-do list for my big projects based on those Fund-Raising Thermometers but instead of money, each level is another step toward finishing my project. Each time I finish a step, I color in a level on the thermometer.

Christine and I have started going to the gym. The community center down the street has a small, but mighty gym for only $5 a visit or $125 a year. Its been great.

Back on my diet of one meal out a week. It really makes me think more about where I want to eat.

My laptop is on the fritz again with my quicken in it. So, I am not doing so well with balancing my check book. I may just have to go back to an old fashioned pen and paper ledger for a while. But come to think about it, the handiness of pen and paper with out at all times my promote my organization at the time rather than the "I'll take care of that later" mentality that so often hits me.

Tonight, I finish up my taxes and get those sent off. I am getting a really nice refund this year on top of the stimulus package.