Secret Project number Fifteen

Hello Internet Friends!

The first secret project of the year comes from my friend Kanna, who as many of you might recall, was the author of  secret project number six, back in October. Kanna is the first second time secret project poster, which of course means if you're still following along, that Kanna will receive another prize for her work. Two prizes for two projects! It could really start to add up if we're not careful.

I thought this was a fitting project for the start of 2010. As a warning, this next secret project could change your life. Or at least your habits.

Enjoy!

Recently, I spent some time with the EWG's Skin Deep Database.  This is sort of a double-edged safety razor, if you know what I mean.  It's incredibly disturbing, because you find out that you have been applying poison to your skin for many years in the form of eyeliner and hair conditioner.  But it's also great, because you can make informed decisions to change your cosmetic and hygiene habits.  (It's also not perfect.  Some of the ingredient ratings are for things as vague as "fragrance," so the ratings themselves are accordingly loose in those instances.)  Over the past two or three years, I haven't totally changed everything about my bathroom routines, but I've changed a lot from my old standard routines.  Here's a sampling of the more successful and enjoyable new habits.

1. Shaving

My favorite, easiest change has been switching to an old-fashioned safety razor.  I now own the Merkur long-handled double-edged safety razor, purchased for me by my handsome permaboyfriend.  It is fricking awesome.  It's a bit of an upfront cost (maybe $30?), but really, it's not that much more than buying a summer's supply of replacement blades for those newfangled glittering-vibrating-5-blade pink monstrosities, which are not so friendly to landfills.  This razor shaves so well. Even though it's just a single blade, my legs are so ridiculously soft afterwards, I can't help but gasp, because it feels like I literally have babies strapped to my legs and I am feeling their skin instead of my own.  But no, it's just my legs.  You know what's even better?  Replacement blades for this baby (not a literal baby) cost like 15 cents each, and you can use both sides of the blade, so it's like two blades in one. I bought a pack of 100 online for $15, and the blades last forever, too.


2. Shampooing


Lately, I've regressed from this particular habit, but I spent a solid 9 months washing my hair with baking soda, and conditioning it with apple cider vinegar. This is no joke!  I swear I am not a dirty person.  It was the softest, shiniest hair I've ever had in my life.  What I did was a filled a squirt bottle with a half cup or so of baking soda, and a bunch of water.  I had another squirt bottle with about the same ratio of apple cider vinegar and water.  To wash my hair, I just squirted about a half cup of the baking soda mixture onto my head, rubbed around like shampoo, then rinsed.  Then, I squirted the vinegar mixture on my hair, and - here's the key - didn't rinse out the vinegar.  Sometimes, I rinsed it out with some cold herb tea I had mixed up (just whatever kind I had around) to add a nice smell, but no water-rinsing.  The not-rinsing left my hair really shiny and soft, and my hair was really clean - not greasy at all - and my scalp felt very healthy.  It was amazing!  I would recommend it to you if you haven't tried it - you might love it.  The vinegar smell goes away as soon as your hair is dry, but if it rains, your hair might start smelling like vinegar again.  I stopped mainly because i got kind of lazy, and tired of mixing up the solution all the time. I also live in Seattle, and I didn't like risking smelling like vinegar when it rained on my head.  But I would definitely recommend trying it.  You have to do it for about a week or two before your hair adjusts, and stops producing so much oil.  Actually, writing this paragraph is inspiring me to perhaps give this another go, because my hair was so soft.  (Currently, I am using some natural-ish shampoo that is fairly innocuous.)

3. Soaping
I have been using Castile soap for years, and I love it. This is the kind in our shower right now:



I use this to wash my face and my bod.  That's right, my bod.  Including my buns.  Castile soap is also a great ingredient for home-cleaning, as is baking soda (see above), but that is another blog post.

4. Moisturizing
I was horrified to learn that my old pal Cetaphil is not as innocuous as it looks/feels, mostly because of the ceteareth-20 and benzyl alcohol. It's not THAT bad, but it's not that good, either.  I now use plain Jojoba oil for my moisture needs, which comes from this plant:



I bought it in bulk from our local grocery co-op.  It feels a little oily when I first put it on, but then it absorbs and it leaves my face super soft.  It's awesome for legs and other dry parts in the winter-time. It's also good as a bath oil.  I also sometimes put it on my lips as a balm.  Another good lip balm I like is pure vitamin E oil, and I've also been known to use honey once in awhile, which is actually quite moisturizing.  I also found a lovely aloe gel (from Aloe Life) - sometimes I get eczema on my hands, and this stuff really works well on that.

Here are a few of my favorite products that deserve mention:


The classic Japanese wash cloth.  My mom is Japanese, so I grew up with these things.  She told me when I was little, if your skin is turning red, it's because you haven't been scrubbing often enough.


This is the toothpaste my sweetie uses.  Apparently Oprah likes it, and it actually rebuilds enamel.  It's quite nice, I just haven't made the switch yet from Tom's, which I hear has been bought by Colgate Palmolive and so it's a big corporate toothpaste now, which is never a good sign.


He also uses these toothbrushes, which are literally made of badger bristles.  I used one for awhile, but I'm just not that hardcore yet.  They're from badgers. Badgers.


This crystal deodorant is pretty effective. If I'm feeling like I need some extra stink-guard, I spray a bit of homemade deodorant in my pits (a mixture of tea trea oil, peppermint, and lavender in a little bit of plain vodka).  Later, if I need a drink, I can just lick my armpits. For the vodka. Just kidding.

In conclusion, there are some things I've plain old given up.  I no longer paint my nails, and I put on makeup only once or twice per month (I can't bring myself to toss out all my expensive eyeshadow, and I figure if it's just once in awhile, I'll be okay).  Things like keeping my nails and eyebrows neat, exfoliating, and giving my scalp a nice massage work wonders for feeling clean and pampered in a way that synthetic chemical products just can't offer, especially now that I know how icky they often are on the inside.

Flossing is important, too.  The end.