Green Product Review: Kiss My Face Castille

Green Product review time again. And again, I'm not getting paid. Just to clarify. They don't know me. And they don't care about me. Thankfully the Man cares about me. Phew.

Moving on.

Oh. My. Dear.

I can't tell you how excited this product makes me.

So excited.

Why you ask? Well. Well. Well. Let me tell you.

Because I already love castile soap. You may remember me yammering on about Dr. Bronner's which is coincidentally also a castile soap. I have been using this for just about any and everything for a long time (and this is what I mean by everything: I wash the baby, myself, my face, the floor, my windows, the shower. Get what I'm saying?). What is castile soap you ask? Allow me to direct you to this fine wiki article. That will tell you all you ever didn't need to know about castille. Fascinating.

So I was shopping the natural cosmetic section at Target and I stumbled upon this item:


Kiss my Face castile soap. They call it Peace Soap. I don't know why. Probably because castile soap was associated with hippies. For more on this read here. This has little to do with castile and more to do with how to be a hippie (I like #4, but #8 explains why you should use castile). I think they are trying to appeal the the trendy hippie crowd. Whatever, I don't judge a company for tryin. If it'll get people to care then go for it. Castile is good. It's good you and for the environment. Win. Win.

Impressions: It's not any *different* than Dr. Bronner's really. It's still castile. It still cleans everything imaginable. It's about $10 for a 17 ounce bottle. This may seem like a lot but this lasts for a LONG time. Like a long long time. Also 10% of proceed go to Seeds of Hope (oh it just occurred to me, maybe THIS is why they call it peace soap. Hm. Whatever. As you were.). In any case, you can't hate that.

But there is one little difference... if heaven exists, it smells JUST LIKE THIS SOAP. It comes in like 4 different scents but I'll be a monkey's uncle if I ever buy another one. This one is minty and grassy and just, well, lovely. And all I'll ever need. Like the Man. Only he doesn't smell grassy. Or minty. Mostly garlic-y and like coffee. Sniff. Yum. Ahhhh.

Ahem. Anyway.

I mix this like so (in a spray bottle):

2 cups of water
1 tsp of delicious soap (don't eat it)
2 tsp of vinegar

And I spray everything I can think of to spray with it. Counter. Stove. Microwave. Table. Bathrooms. I clean stuff that isn't even dirty.

Don't come over I might spray you with it.

I'm not even kidding.

Buy this now. I mean you don't HAVE to buy it *now* but I'm just sayin, you won't be sorry. Take my word for it. I wouldn't lie to you.

peace(soap) out,

j

defeat

I know when to admit it.

I admit it.

I am defeated.

It's the baking soda. And the vinegar. But mostly the baking soda.

The poo-free experiment is over. Thank you for playing. It was a long three weeks.

Some time last week the Man asked me if I was ready to throw in the proverbial towel. The dialogue went something like this:

Man: So are you ready to use shampoo again?
Me: No.
Man: It's ok to say something didn't work. It gives you credibility.
Me: I'm not giving up yet. I'm tweaking the recipe.
Man: Well I think it's pretty clear why people use shampoo. It's kind of easier...
Me: I'm tweaking the recipe. It's going to work.

Yeah. No. It's not.

I should say the poo-free experiment worked out ok for him. His hair is soft and really feels fantastic to me. My hair though? Not so much. The main issue is that because of the length of my hair (long-ish) and the fact that's it's already on the dry side (except the scalp which is oily) I can't seem to get it to stabilize. Either I put something like coconut oil on it and it's a greasy slick or I don't and it's dry as hay. Neither of which is very attractive.

This is not to say that I couldn't continue to tweak and fiddle and make it work. This is just to say, I'm not going to.

It was yesterday that I committed myself to de-committing myself.

It was 10:30 am. I had just showered. My hair looked bad. My scalp itched. I couldn't get a brush through my formerly lovely locks. We exchanged looks. It was understood. I mentioned to the Man that I had seen what I thought was a nice organic alternative (not containing sodium laureth sulfate, the key chemical offender in most shampoos/detergents) at Whole Foods. For $10 per 13 oz bottle (both shampoo and conditioner, which I clearly need). This is about three times what I was paying for Pantene and it's in a plastic bottle. So fail on those counts. Baking soda and vinegar, $.50 per week probably. But again, cost was not my primary motivator and lo and behold Walmart carries the SAME brand. Avalon organics. The Walmart price is a smidge less at $6.47 per bottle.


All I could think about all day was going to buy shampoo.

And taking a shower.

My hair looked bad last night and I said to the Man, "How's my hair look?" (It looked bad. I knew it.)

He said, "Not bad." I said, "Really, it's looks bad you can say so." He said, "Yeah it looks a little like straw." I said, "I can't wait to wash my hair."

I never wanted to wash my hair so badly in my life.

I had dreams about shampoo. (Not really. I only had a dream about having to be a clothing model and not fitting in the clothing and not remembering how to apply lipstick. It's got nothing to do with this post but I think you can sense I have some issues with clothing at present.)

This morning I did yoga for a bit. I would have done it longer if I didn't want to wash my hair so bad.

Then I washed my hair.

I wanted to luxuriate in the silky softness of conditioner and the sweet smell of lavender.

But the baby was screaming.

So I just hurried up and washed and conditioned and got out of the shower. Then I laid down with the baby to nurse her (and stop the screaming) and she fell right to sleep.

And I fell right to sleep. With wet hair. For like 20 minutes.

I woke up when I heard the Man coming up the stairs. "Crap I'm getting your pillow all wet. And now my hair is going to to look bad."

Now it's soft but looks awful anyway.

Defeat.

Better luck tomorrow I guess.

Green product review: Method dryer sheets

This may or may not be interesting to you. If it's not, I apologize. Come back tomorrow. I promise to be more interesting then.

Anyway... I thought that I'd start a weekly product review of some of the things I use that are more "green" in nature.

Note: This is not sponsored content. Method does not know who I am nor do they know I am using or reviewing this product. I simply like this enough to tell you about it :). My blog isn't wonderful enough for Method to even care. At all.

Moving on.

So what are we talking about?

Method dryer sheets.

Continue.

You may remember a couple of weeks ago when I mentioned that I liked the Charlie's for laundry washing but that I missed the softness of fabric. Well I tried to get over it and, aside from hating the crunchy socks, I really did in fact, get over it. However, I was at Whole Foods last week and I was just walking around the store looking at all the wonder that is that place and I always like to check out the cleansers and whatnot and I saw these:

This package is very small (though the photo may not indicate). It is about the size of say a small box of tea bags. And I was intrigued. They had a few 'flavors', which you can see here. I picked the "baby" version which is rice milk and mallow. Just so you're aware, mallow is a plant. They also have unscented but I found this scent to be very light and pleasant. A little like sweet milk.

Impressions:

1. They are wet. Like a baby wipe. Only slimy They are actually even the size of a baby wipe. (I don't use baby wipes.) This I find strange but ok.

2. They are good for two uses. Wow. Ok . That's awesome. And they really are.

3. Five-ish bucks for essentially 80 loads. Not too shabby. As long as your kids don't switch the laundry and lose it (I'm not naming names but it was my middle son). Also I bought them at While Foods but Target sells them and frankly it's probably generally cheaper to buy there but they were on sale at WF's so nothing lost.

4. The clothes are not static-y.

5. Also they smell good. Like really good. But not perfume-y or overbearing. Nice.

6. No animal testing (a must, but worth mentioning). Necessary.

7. The ingredients are natural:

See:

All in all I feel pretty good about using the product as far as it's environmental impact is concerned (except what do I do with the wipe-y thing when I'm done. I mean I'm not even using paper towels.) Also I feel fine putting this on my peeps skin because it's not chemical-y.

And my socks aren't crunchy anymore.

Amen.

new look plus shampoo free day 7/8 and I should live in my car

Not because I'm homeless. Stick around, will explain.

Let me know what you think of the blog redesign. I obviously didn't need all that header. I found something smaller.

I'm typing up the post at a time when I wouldn't normally be blogging. It's dark. I think you get what I'm saying. Today is going to be a wild ride for this mom of 4. I'll get to that later.

First things first.

Poo-free update. We are now on day 8. My head itches. This is apparently normal. Frown. I'm not enjoying this but I am sticking with it. I think I've combatted the dryness by using honey in the ends of my hair and reducing the baking soda (and still rinsing with AVC). Here's hoping. I'm not a fan of the dry hair feeling so honestly if I can't combat that, I can't not use something. Presently I'm using almond oil and the coconut was just too greasy. The Man is having no issues but agrees that people use shampoo because it's easy. So far this has not been. I'm holding out hope that once we get the kinks worked out it will be. Hoping. Now that I feel like I'm conquering the hair, I'm ready to start the oil cleansing method for face. More on that later.

Secondly:

This is the kind of day I'm going to have. The 3 big kids have to be at 3 different schools at 3 different times. 6:45. 7:45. 8:45. They also have to be picked up at 3 different times. One of them has a jazz band festival in a town about 35 minutes from here which begins at 9:00. Somehow I have to get kid #1 to school at 8:45 and still get to the festival by 9:00. Kid #3 has to be picked up at 12 because he has a minimum day. And kid #2, the jazz band kid? Well I don't even know when he has to be picked up. Crap. I hope I don't forget him. Thankfully Ella can't walk or go to school yet.

I'm going to just move my stuff into the car today.

I need coffee.

Immediately.

And a clone.

Poo-free day 6/7

Well we are a week poo-free. OK it's been 7 days. I started last Tuesday. That's a week right? Thanks for joining us on this adventure in green living.

Here's the update:

Sadness has set. Please read on. While the Man's hair has taken well to the poo-free experiment mine is in full fledged protest. I will say two things. One: I expected my hair to be super duper exxon valdez oil spill oily. But in reality it is Sahara desert dry. Or at least the ends are anyway. We haven't reached horse hair status but we are coming close despite a variety of treatments. Conventional wisdom would suggest that I ought to skip a day of washing (or baking soda-ing as it were) but if I do that the hair that is closest to my head would be oily while the ends may recover. I will not be thwarted though. I will continue to tweak the recipe to less baking soda and more apple cider vinegar. I will probably do an egg, or avo-mayo treatment or some coconut oil to the ends tomorrow or later this evening. It's not that bad. It's just not that good. Also I have read to expect some scalp itching around the one week mark which has started. Two: I'm sticking to it. In the name of chem free living.

In other chem-free news: I took one of Ella's blankets from her armoire (it's a dresser really but it has a cabinet so technially an armoire) yesterday and it smelled so incredibly perfume-y I was downright nauseated. Here's the funny thing, previous to this experiment I was an absolute fabric softener fanatic. Like if the load ran and I forgot to put it in I'd RUN IT AGAIN. Like that. Now, I can't even stand it. Same with perfume, floral body lotion, plug in air fresheners and pretty much anything artificially smelly (though it's been a while since I didn't like the smell of those). Weird. Also weird, when there is no artificial smell you can just smell people. I have a theory about the smell of people though. It seems to me, though admittedly my experience only, and not a scientific experiment, the people you love smell good to you. Take away the perfume and see what you're left with. Turns out I like the smell of my sweaty husband. Hm.

What I smell right now is an apple pie baking.

As for the cleaning: I'll admit I haven't done a thorough cleaning of the house without any chemicals yet. This is mostly because I haven't done a thorough cleaning of my house ever. In any case as far as the chem-free thing goes I've scrubbed the floors and tubs and whatnot but I haven't run into anything really nasty that a little baking soda and vinegar or Dr. Bronner's can't handle.

In cooking news: I made two delicious loaves of french bread this weekend and was asked about how to make bread without a bread maker (I've never owned one so don't ask me how to make it with a bread maker because I can't). Look for a recipe and tutorial soon.

This is a lot to take in in one blog post. If you're still reading, thank you.

If you care to comment tell me what your favorite natural remedies and house cleaning tips are. :)

Poo free day 3

OK here we are. Day 3.

So I've been doing to poo-free thing now for three days. And I'm pleasantly surprised. My hair doesn't look bad at all. It actually looks pretty good. I keep waiting for the hammer to fall but so far so good. I'm guardedly optimistic. The shocking thing today was that while I was most worried about my hair being too oily it's actually dry. So today I put a little coconut oil on the ends after my shower (and while it was still damp). This was a FAIL. But operator failure I'm sure. The coconut oil made my hair really soft but I clearly used too much and now my hair is oily. Back to the drawing board. I'll work out all the kinks so none of you have to subject yourself to my failures. It's a process.

And on the chem free front, a couple of things:

1. I ran out of baby wash (we've had the same bottle since she was born) so I used the Dr. Bronner's lavender on Ella. Like two drops on a washrag. It's what I already use on her cloth wipes anyway but I honestly didn't want to give up the baby scented smell of wash and lotion. I love that dang smell. BUT, in the interest of being chem free I ditched it AND I also ditched the lotion and did our routine post bath massage with coconut oil. She loved it. (I mean she always loves it. It's a massage. Come on. ) If you have a baby go look at the back of your Johnson and Johnson. It's scary. I can't even pronounce the things in there. That can't be good.

2. I've been exclusively using the Charlie's on the dirtyclothesbusiness now for three days too and I have no cleanliness complaints. My only complaint is that I like soft fabric and I miss that a little (mostly in socks). I've been putting vinegar in the rinse but it's not the same. I make no guarantee that I can stick with the no softener deal. I'm a soft blankie junkie. Anyway, worst case I can get something less chemical-y.

3. Also coincidentally I ran out of toothpaste. The Man would be content to use baking soda (he is serious people) but I just can't do that. That's hardcore. I like a little mint. I've used Tom's which I like ok but I don't LOVE. Walmart was out of Tom's anyway but had Burt's Bees so I got that. It's 99.2% natural. Whatever that means. And it has fluoride. They make a fluoride free version but Walmart didn't have it (Have I mentioned I hate walmart). In any case, I like it pretty well. I'd buy it again. But I'm thinking of getting some toothsoap. Warning: If you like fluoride, don't read that.

4. TP Free. Well I'm still TP free. Nothing to report without a total overshare which no one wants so I'll leave well enough alone.

5. Birth control. While we are talking about being Chem free let me answer a question from one of the moms on a natural parenting group I am a member of. What do you use? Well... We don't use any. Not technically. I don't want to knock the pill takers out there, because I know it's a good option and I know that it's good for other things like cycle regulation and PMS management, but I think the pill is awful. I took it. I hated it. The Man hated it because I hated it. So I no longer take it. Depo is worse than the pill (don't even get me started). A diaphragm is a pain in the butt (also obv doesn't work as evidenced by my 12 year old). An IUD is less bad but still foreign and does release hormones. Also it prevents fertilized eggs from implanting. I'm not going to go all pro-life on everyone and I don't want to get in an abortion debate (Like the Man says, "No one really LIKES abortion.") but I don't personally like the thought of washing out a fertilized egg. That's just me. Anyway that leaves spermicide (chemical) and condoms (ew.ick.yuck.) and... natural family planning. So that's what we are doing. I takes a little planning and some paying attention on the momma's part (knowing your cycle, watching for your ovulatory signs etc) and either a backup or some other form of intimacy during fertile times. So, it's not for everyone. But it works for us. You know, until it doesn't work.


And time for quick reflection:

My dear friend Staci starts nursing school today. This calls to mind the memories of a January not that long ago when I too was starting nursing school. The 2 years passed quickly and before I knew it I held life in my hands. Literally. It was one of the best decisions I ever made to become a Registered Nurse. And I miss it. I miss holding the hands of the dying. I miss catching new life in my hands (if you don't know, I was a L&D nurse and then a Hospice nurse). But I don't miss it as much as I love being at home with my babies. And to Staci and all my Nurse friends: Bless you for choosing a path where sometimes the pay isn't worth the foot pain and sometimes you don't get lunch and sometimes people don't respect you and sometimes you question what the heck you got yourself into. You are chosen.

day two no poo (Chem free update)

Day two:

OK it's day two of the "poo and TP free experiment". We are well under way and moving in the chemical free direction. Yesterday was technically day one but was not my normal daily routine as I didn't get a shower until 6:30. PM. Don't ask. That's just how it went down. Anyway technically I've (not) washed my hair for two days and I've been TP free 24 hours. Plus the other things I'll get to later.

Let's do the shampoo first.

Disclaimers: I like shampoo a lot, but mostly, I'll be honest, I like conditioner. I like the silky way your hair feels after you rinse it out. I like how the brush glides through wet hair. It's magical. I'm completely convinced that my hair would look hideous without it. Sigh. I also like soft hair. I have pretty soft hair and I like to keep it that way. I like my husband to run his fingers through it and not think, "Wow, is my wife a horse?" Conversely, I do NOT like hair products. I'm an odd duck. I acknowledge. I don't like mousse or gel or hairspray or mud or pomeade. I tolerate a smoother called Moroccan oil. I use it pretty frequently (or at least when I actually DO my hair). I can't make any guarantee what's in it but it tames my frizzy ends and it smells pretty fantastic. I don't like chemicals and I don't like watching them go down the drain. I'm just like most Americans, I use them because they are convenient. Aside from that that I use nothing on my hair. I just (used to anyway) wash/condition/brush/blowdry. In fact, most of the time I only blowdry the very front of my hair and the rest ends up in a damp bun where it stays until I repeat the process the next day. All that being said, I am committed to trying to use nothing chemical on my head. On with the discussion.

This is what I did. I found two cheap water bottles ($1.47 each) at Walmart. To be frank, I don't like Walmart, but it's what I've got. They aren't ideal but they'll work in the absence of something better (and squeezier). I filled one with 2 cups of water and 2 tablespoons of baking soda and wrote a "B" on it. Not that I could get them confused. Vinegar and baking soda aren't really similar in scent. Same ratio of apple cider vinegar and water in the other and a "V".

This is my shower.

Note: there is a razor. See, I still shave my legs. I'm not THAT crunchy.

First impressions: Baking soda and water doesn't feel like it's 'washing' anything. Of course it's not 'washing' because there is no soap. I'm trying to get over the need for suds. I rubbed it in basically all over my scalp. I paid special attention to the oiliest parts ( ie the area near my face and neck) because I have pretty oily skin (monumentally oily really) and that is the thing that freaks me out most... Having a grease vat on my head. I left it on while I washed my face (with Bronner's) and then I rinsed it out. Then I just poured the vinegar all over. This time I paid more attention to the ends because aside from being worried about oil on my scalp, I'm worried about having dry ends. I let it sit while I washed the rest (again with my Dr. Bronner's). Then I rinsed it out really well and said a prayer:

Dear god of hair (no offense to any other god intended),

Please please please let this work. I am trying to care for the earth and I don't feel like I'm asking much. Let my hair not look like crap.

Amen.

After I towel dried I was shocked to see that the brush went right through my hair. Like right through it. Zero tangles. Conditioner never took out all the tangles.

Outstanding. We are off to a good start. Same basic results for day 2 (it was a little more tangled after the shower but I was hurrying because the baby was being a crab).

Here's day two hair photo:

I want to say a couple of things:

A. I do not color my hair. I can't explain why my hair is multi-toned. That's just my hair.

B. I did absolutely nothing to my hair before I took this. I just let it dry. I did this, not because I like to embarrass myself, but because I really want everyone to see what it looks like when I'll I've done is the baking soda/vinegar routine. If I had added products or curled it you wouldn't be seeing the genuine result. So there it is. As god made me. No makeup. No hairspray. Not even lip balm.

C. I slept like an hour last night.

D. I'm wearing a t-shirt.

E. I'm not trying to impress anyone, obviously.


Kids reactions (they are brutally honest after all)

15 year old: Mom your hair is so SOFT (oh she is SO going to switch over)!

12 year old: Mom (frown), your hair doesn't smell like shampoo any more (that's kind of the point).

10 year old: I think it's making your hair lighter mom (no son, those are just gray hairs).

4.5 month old: She just continues to pull my hair out (meets her approval obviously).

As for the TP free movement (Haha, get it? Movement.) so far I'm the only one taking the plunge (yuk yuk). The kids just aren't ready to make that kind of ecological commitment yet. Hubs is doing his day in the bay gig for work but he'll convert once he gets home. Based on how I knew I'd feel I'll say I'm pleased with the end result (harhar). I just took some white washrags (Again, Walmart... We have a love hate relationship.) and poured two cups of water and 1/2 ish tsp (I confess I don't measure) of Dr. Bronner's (lavender scent) over the top. There are a dozen rags so should last a couple of days at least. I don't make it to the potty that often. I'm a busy lady. As for the dirty storage... I have an extra wet bag of Ella's that I hung on the bathroom door to put the used it. That's all. I'll wash them with the diapers which is typically every day or two depending.

And that's all that probably needs to be said about that.

In other news... As part of the chem free movement, I made my own deodorant. I don't actually even wear deodorant and haven't for about two years (and neither does my husband) but I do have an emergency bar of lavender Tom's in the drawer for those days I really don't want to stink (and if it's a real emergency I have some Mitchum). I became deo free after I read the study on aluminum and Alzheimers I was pretty scared to use it (since my family has a history and I don't think I need to say no one wants Alzheimers). Since then the study has been refuted (or at least argued) but I'd rather not take any chances. Anyway I made my own.

1/4 c. baking soda
1/4 c. cornstarch (in he form of same baby stuff I had, but regular ol cornstarch would work)
6 T. coconut oil (give or take)

I mixed that all up (think of it like mixing pie crust and incorporating the solid with the powder) and put it in an upcycled cream cheese container from panera. To use it you just scoop it out and rub it in. Note: need bigger container of coconut oil. It's amazing. Also it's solid at room temp but don't let that scare you, it's not like crisco and it's melts at a very low temp (in your hand). I heated mine a tad to make it easier to work with (It's pretty chilly in the house).

It smells awesome. I don't know if it works but whatever. I'll smell like a tropical sensation either way. Since I don't wear perfume I sure hope Hubs likes coconut. That or BO.

Speaking of husbands, I should note, I'm lucky to have a husband that is an eco-aware guy. If there was a green scale of 1-10 and I was a 5 he'd be a 7 at least. In that light he is absolutely on board with there being no shampoo in our shower and no TP in our potty. Also he told me if I didn't want to shave my legs he thought I shouldn't. Same thing for bra wearing. And he likes me better without makeup. And with my hair in a ponytail, because he like my big ears. Seriously? How did I find this guy? Oh yeah, 6th grade spelling bee. I'm the luckiest lady.

In other news: I cleaned out the cleaners. I wish I'd taken a photo of under my kitchen sink but the baby was crying so you know. If you saw yesterdays cleanser confessional you know what I was up against. This is what's left.
(If you're going to ask, those mugs are from Cost Plus and they are super cute and were purchased by the Man who has great taste.)

Anyway... What's in there?

*baking soda (for tubs, toilets, showers etc)
*Meyer's scrub for whatever else needs scouring (it's mostly baking soda with some smelly oils)
*spray bottle with 2 c water, 3 T vinegar, 1/2 t castille soap (Dr. Bronner's peppermint) for windows and mirrors
* 3 microfiber cloths (one for windows, one for counters, one for wood)
*Murphy's oil soap, a good old standard I've used since I knew how to mop, for mopping and such (I could use the castille for that but I like the way Murphy's smells A LOT)
*a recycled sponge (I don't know what it's recycled out of but it's brown and has something that look like stems in it, most likely strategically placed by the Scott company to make the consumer feel like they really are using something recycled when in fact it's probably a sponge dyed brown. I digress.)
*a microfiber duster (and housewife cleaning partner)
*a Mr Clean magic eraser (Do I really need to say why? It's magic. )
*Bon Ami (I just had that under the sink already, I like it in the kitchen sink. Tangerine oil makes it smell. Yum.)
*a spray bottle of Meyer's basil scent (for the kitchen tables because I already had it and my daughter likes it and if it'll get her to clean then I'll keep it, once it's gone I'll just use the water, castille soap spray, but it's non-toxic and all that good jazz)
* rubber gloves

That seems like a lot of stuff but it's less that half what I had. And nothing toxic. I wouldn't recomned drinking Murphy's oil soap, but it won't kill you.

OK that concludes today's green update. I still have a roll of paper towels.

Come on people, I'm not crazy.

Tomorrow we talk toothpaste and laundry soap.

Poo-free

And no, it's not what you think it is.

I've been giving a considerable amount of thought to making a few simple, but impacting, life changes. I cannot make them simultaneously, lest my body and mind be shocked into a chemical free coma. But you know, we are overrun with chemicals in our daily lives and I don't think they can be that good for you. I've known this for some time but honestly I just wasn't ready to take to the plunge all the way. I'm getting there. Here they are, in no particular order.

1. Make my hair shampoo free. Yes you heard me. More on this later.

2. Make my face chemical free. I plan to use the oil method of face washing. It's sounds counter intuitive but really the reality is, the more we clean our faces with harsh chemicals, the harder our face works to produce oil to replace the oil we strip off. What you need isn't an oil free face, but a dirt free face. I'm going to give it a go. I already gave up makeup. It's not as awful as you think.

Please don't stop reading my blog. I swear I'm not crazy

3. Make the complete switch to an eco-safe phosphate free laundry soap. I already do this for the baby's diapers. Currently we are using Charlies. It's not offensive smelling and coconut based. I really do love it. Also I bought if from ebay and it came with a bottle of spray cleaner which I love. However, despite this love, I haven't yet been ready to take to plunge into using it for the whole family because, well frankly, because I have boys and they are dirty and I'm worried about getting clothes clean. Here's some of what I'm currently using (minus the fabric softener which I just ran out of). On the right... what I will be using. Charlies and vinegar (with the occasional bleach I confess)


4 .Begin systematically removing the chemicals from the cleaning product stash. I've got a LOT of cleaning products. Here they are:


Some of those I'm not proud to say I use. In any case, you'll see there is quite a variety there. I make green choices when I can but I've yet to give up the hardcore stuff like the comet bathroom spray which cleans a shower without you even having to touch it. It also smells like it's probably giving you cancer (or at the very least a bleeding lung) in the process. What I have been using a lot of is this:

Dr. Bronner's castille soap. It's fair trade and organic and made with coconut oil and hemp. You can use it for like a jillion things. I've used it in the bath, on my face, on my body, on my baby, on our reusable baby wipes and to mop the floor.

I'm not a hippie. I swear (but I think my friend Karen would be proud. Karen, I love you.)

It's about to get serious.

5. Use significantly less paper towels/toilet paper. Yes, I said toilet paper (more on that later). I already use towels for mostly everything and I'm practical, I'm not trying to say we shouldn't use paper towels at all but if you can use a towel, why not? I bought these on etsy.

As for the toilet paper, brace yourself for a radical suggestion.Braced?

ok good. Why not use cloth instead?

Don't get nauseated. Take a breath and get back to me in a second.

Back?

OK. I realize that you might be running for the hills right now but wait. Before you do, read this. And then consider. Did you know Americans use 4.6 million tons of TP a year. A YEAR. It takes 78 billion tress and 32 trillion tons of water to make all of that. Trillion people, TRILLION. It seems radical at first glance but it's really not. This idea came to me in a flash of ecological brilliance one day when I was changing Ella. If you read the cloth-diapering post linked above you know we use cloth wipes for Ella. This is basically a bunch of cheap walmart washrags (no they aren't fair-trade or American made of organic cotton, just $2.50 washrags. I'm cheap too.). I would have preferred flannel honestly but my sewing machine was broken and I didn't want to deal with fraying flannel all over the dern place (Yes, Jen I want to borrow yours. Please.). This was the quick and easy alternative. Anywho, I just toss them into a tall tupperware type container and pour a couple of cups of water with about a teaspoon of Dr. Bronner's in it over the top. Bingo. It takes like 15 seconds and I haven't bought wipes since Ella was born. Anyway, as I was getting her little rear so clean I was actually thinking, this seems like a better way to wash a grown up bottom. I mean how fresh and clean is that? Right?

Right.

So the next hangup we have to overcome is having wipes with grown up ickies on them around and I think that this can be solved with a simple flip lid trash can. You don't have to LOOK at the wipes. Just toss them in the can and them toss them in the wash with the whites. The good news is if you put a little Bronner's on there (say the lavender scent) they'll actually make your potty smell nice.

Next: Have a hang up about using the same wipe your husband used on his man bottom? (I don't, but I realize I'm unique in that way because I will also use my husband's toothbrush). Solution: color code the wipes. He gets brown. You get pink. Problem solved. The great thing about all of this (besides your fresh and clean backside) is it will SAVE YOU MONEY. I solemnly swear.

Also I swear, I still wear a bra. Well, most of the time.

I'm not THAT crunchy.

Come along with me on my green adventure.

Tomorrow: Poo-free update #1.