Before we were so rudely interrupted, I was planning to talk about personal care products. Let me start with the obvious disclaimer. We are all impacted, in one way or another, by the cult of youth and beauty that is supported in the Western world by "marketing" or "advertising".
(And before you argue with my use of the word cult here, you should check this Merriam Webster definition for cult:
1: formal religious veneration : worship
2: a system of religious beliefs and ritual; also : its body of adherents
3: a religion regarded as unorthodox or spurious; also : its body of adherents
4: a system for the cure of disease based on dogma set forth by its promulgatorcults>
5 a: great devotion to a person, idea, object, movement, or work (as a film or book); especially : such devotion regarded as a literary or intellectual fad b: the object of such devotion c: a usually small group of people characterized by such devotion
If I define religion carefully, you know I could make a case....)
How we each deal with that is an indication of various factors in our lives - what we're willing to make a fuss over, what we want others to believe about us, where we want to fit in, etc. There are some things about the consumer cosmetics cult that I used to hold in high disregard but spent the last several years exploring - along with, not too surprisingly, the components of "appropriate business behavior". So, a lot of these changes merely represent a return to and then a natural progression from my previous views. YMMV, as they say. And I did this all in baby steps, which I HIGHLY recommend.
So, the quick rundown of personal care changes are really based on just a few ideas.
1. Petroleum products - that stuff is EVERYWHERE. And if I say I have a problem with our oil policies but then do nothing about my personal consumption, then I'm really not helping.
2. Garbage in = garbage out - the stupid packaging decisions. GAH!
3. I bet I can do things better for myself then those silly corporations can....
So, with that in mind, here are a few of the changes:
1. Hair - I wash with baking soda every other day and rinse with a dilute ACV rinse. According to my blog, I started this before January 24th! I had no idea! This works very well with one exception. When I traveled to foreign countries for business, I took a shampoo bar. This is primarily due to the suspicion that customs agents might feel when inspecting my bag and finding a container of white powder.
2. Face - I've been using a mixture of essential oils as face wash since before February 18. My skin is actually clearer and happier. In fact, using hotel face wash in Singapore (no luggage meant no face wash) and then transitioning back made it even more obvious that the crap in most face wash products does not do well with my skin. Blick. I am still using a moisturizer, but that is mostly for the sun protection. If I'm not planning to be out in the middle of the day (a common survival technique for desert dwellers), then I don't even use that.
3. Eyes - I still am exclusively using my own concoctions for this. I can report significant reduction in darkness around my eyes for the first time in my life. Yeah, it was that easy for me to come up with, and yet it was impossible for me to find in commercial stuff. Weird, huh?
3. Body - I've been trying various soaps. There are a few out there that will let me get away with no lotion - even in this desert city. I'm particularly fond of some of the olive oil based stuff from these folks for that purpose. Of course, I still have lotion - and some of the soaps that I bought still require lotion, so that is all working out nicely.
Just as an overall side note: It is all an experiment, you know, so I have actually bought things that really don't work the way I planned. I have one more bar of the "wow, this is gonna be great" soap to get through before I can get back to the lovely olive oil stuff that actually IS great. C'est la vie....
4. Deodorant - one of my last resistance points fell by the way side on the Singapore trip. I had refused to use the rock thing for deodorant. But that is what was in my emergency "you lost your luggage" kit, so I tried it. And it actually worked! So, once again, I am trying to convince myself to use up my remaining supply of the other yucky chemically stuff before moving on to just crystal stuff. This may or may not happen.
5. One pre-lighten up change that I should note here. But first, this warning: ALL MEN SHOULD SKIP THIS SECTION SINCE THIS TOPIC WILL MAKE YOU UNCOMFORTABLE. There is a supply of tampons under my side of the sink that I will never use up. That is because I switched to the Diva Cup for a business trip last year. I don't ever intend to go back to any other style of period management. Ever. My personal experience of those few days a month has so vastly improved that I will go to extraordinary measures to make that the case. Plus - no packaging to speak of, and wow! talk about garbage in=garb ae out!
6. Mineral makeup - this is a fairly straight forward one. I use powdered forms of everything now. Less petroleum products and the added bonus of not having to check my luggage just for the makeup that won't fit in the dang ziploc.
So, that is the personal care recap. Again, just a few simple ideas that, bit by bit, have changed my life!
2: a system of religious beliefs and ritual; also : its body of adherents
3: a religion regarded as unorthodox or spurious; also : its body of adherents
4: a system for the cure of disease based on dogma set forth by its promulgator
5 a: great devotion to a person, idea, object, movement, or work (as a film or book); especially : such devotion regarded as a literary or intellectual fad b: the object of such devotion c: a usually small group of people characterized by such devotion
If I define religion carefully, you know I could make a case....)
How we each deal with that is an indication of various factors in our lives - what we're willing to make a fuss over, what we want others to believe about us, where we want to fit in, etc. There are some things about the consumer cosmetics cult that I used to hold in high disregard but spent the last several years exploring - along with, not too surprisingly, the components of "appropriate business behavior". So, a lot of these changes merely represent a return to and then a natural progression from my previous views. YMMV, as they say. And I did this all in baby steps, which I HIGHLY recommend.
So, the quick rundown of personal care changes are really based on just a few ideas.
1. Petroleum products - that stuff is EVERYWHERE. And if I say I have a problem with our oil policies but then do nothing about my personal consumption, then I'm really not helping.
2. Garbage in = garbage out - the stupid packaging decisions. GAH!
3. I bet I can do things better for myself then those silly corporations can....
So, with that in mind, here are a few of the changes:
1. Hair - I wash with baking soda every other day and rinse with a dilute ACV rinse. According to my blog, I started this before January 24th! I had no idea! This works very well with one exception. When I traveled to foreign countries for business, I took a shampoo bar. This is primarily due to the suspicion that customs agents might feel when inspecting my bag and finding a container of white powder.
2. Face - I've been using a mixture of essential oils as face wash since before February 18. My skin is actually clearer and happier. In fact, using hotel face wash in Singapore (no luggage meant no face wash) and then transitioning back made it even more obvious that the crap in most face wash products does not do well with my skin. Blick. I am still using a moisturizer, but that is mostly for the sun protection. If I'm not planning to be out in the middle of the day (a common survival technique for desert dwellers), then I don't even use that.
3. Eyes - I still am exclusively using my own concoctions for this. I can report significant reduction in darkness around my eyes for the first time in my life. Yeah, it was that easy for me to come up with, and yet it was impossible for me to find in commercial stuff. Weird, huh?
3. Body - I've been trying various soaps. There are a few out there that will let me get away with no lotion - even in this desert city. I'm particularly fond of some of the olive oil based stuff from these folks for that purpose. Of course, I still have lotion - and some of the soaps that I bought still require lotion, so that is all working out nicely.
Just as an overall side note: It is all an experiment, you know, so I have actually bought things that really don't work the way I planned. I have one more bar of the "wow, this is gonna be great" soap to get through before I can get back to the lovely olive oil stuff that actually IS great. C'est la vie....
4. Deodorant - one of my last resistance points fell by the way side on the Singapore trip. I had refused to use the rock thing for deodorant. But that is what was in my emergency "you lost your luggage" kit, so I tried it. And it actually worked! So, once again, I am trying to convince myself to use up my remaining supply of the other yucky chemically stuff before moving on to just crystal stuff. This may or may not happen.
5. One pre-lighten up change that I should note here. But first, this warning: ALL MEN SHOULD SKIP THIS SECTION SINCE THIS TOPIC WILL MAKE YOU UNCOMFORTABLE. There is a supply of tampons under my side of the sink that I will never use up. That is because I switched to the Diva Cup for a business trip last year. I don't ever intend to go back to any other style of period management. Ever. My personal experience of those few days a month has so vastly improved that I will go to extraordinary measures to make that the case. Plus - no packaging to speak of, and wow! talk about garbage in=garb ae out!
6. Mineral makeup - this is a fairly straight forward one. I use powdered forms of everything now. Less petroleum products and the added bonus of not having to check my luggage just for the makeup that won't fit in the dang ziploc.
So, that is the personal care recap. Again, just a few simple ideas that, bit by bit, have changed my life!
2 comments:
oh i should try it all. but am still a bit too lazy... the crystal sounds handy though...
So the crystal thing was a freebie from the hotel??? Now that's new. I think I am really going to try it some time. I'm doing the face thing, thanks to Vicki, but I still can't do the shampoo.
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