Personal Care 101

It’s been a while since I have covered personal care products.  In this series I have covered a number of topics.

Part 1 – Deodorant

Part 2 – Natural Soap

Part 3 – Toothpaste

Part 4 – Facial Products – Cleanser and Moisturizer

Today, I will cover Part 5 – Hair Care

I have been using this all-natural “product” for a little over two years.  It is called “no poo”, because it isn’t shampoo.  I use baking soda to wash and apple cider vinegar (or citric acid) to rinse.  Click here for more information. You can also Google “no poo” and get lots of information.

Did you know that shampoo was only invented in the last century?  Before that people used to wash their hair once a week, on average, and they used bar soap or borax.  Shampoo is detergent and it is very harsh.  It strips our hair of natural oils and then we have to use conditioner to soften our hair.  But conditioner is just building up unnatural waxes and chemicals on our hair.

I don’t really have a problem putting a chemical on my hair, I do color my hair after all, but my issue is what goes on my scalp.  There are various toxins (click here to learn more) in shampoo and these toxins can be absorbed through the skin.

Now, I know that washing my hair with baking soda may sound really odd, but I absolutely love it.  I assure you that I am no hippy, I don’t wear dreadlocks, and my hair is not greasy.  My hair behaves better with the baking soda than with conventional shampoo.  It doesn’t lie so flat, it has more body (and I need that).  And my hair is so soft!  I used to have bad split ends all the time and now even my hairdresser has noticed that my hair is much healthier.  I still use a hair dryer and flat iron.  In fact, people are always surprised to find out I use baking soda.  They can’t tell the difference, that’s how well the baking soda cleans.  I have heard from people with curly hair that baking soda makes their hair behave better, too.  So don’t worry about my comment about more body.  Perhaps you don’t need more body.  It seems that the baking soda brings balance, whether that be more body or less.

The general recipe is 1 tablespoon baking soda to eight ounces water to wash.  Then you rinse with either apple cider vinegar or citric acid.  I used to use 1 tablespoon ACV to eight ounces water, but now I use 1/8 teaspoon citric acid to eight ounces water.  I was using 1/4 teaspoon citric acid for a time, but noticed my hair was a bit dull.  When I lowered it to 1/8 teaspoon, it brought back the shine.  In the summer months my hair can be more oily (in this humid climate), so I increase my baking soda to two tablespoons in eight ounces water.  It’s something you have to try out and see what works best for you.

I let the baking soda wash sit on my hair and scalp a few minutes and massage my scalp with it.  Then I rinse thoroughly with plain water.  Next comes the rinse.  I let it sit for about a minute and rinse it out with plain water.

This may sound interesting to you.  It may sound crazy!  Some other options are to use a shampoo bar instead.  This is a natural soap that suds nicely and won’t strip your hair of its natural oil.  It’s not a harsh detergent.  I have used one from Heart of Iowa Soapworks that I liked a lot.  It had castor oil in it and lathered very well.  I know that you can also buy shampoo bars through the Oklahoma Food Coop.  I’m sure most natural soapmakers sell a shampoo bar.  Just ask.  You don’t want a regular soap bar, but one that is meant for the hair.  Then follow this wash with either the apple cider rinse or a citric acid rinse.

Still too daring for you?  Try going farther between washes with your regular shampoo.  I used to think I had to wash my hair every single day.  My hair is oily and if I skipped a day it wasn’t pleasant.  But then I tried it.  I tried washing every other day and realized my hair got used to it, my skin produced less oil.  So then I decided to try washing every third day and that worked, too (after a little adjustment period).  I now wash my hair only twice a week.  This has really helped with the split ends since I blow dry and use a flat iron every time I wash.  Cutting back on heat from seven to two days a week is a big difference.  So if you’re not comfortable with baking soda or shampoo bars, you can cut back on your chemical load by washing less.  Remember that 100 years ago, women only washed their hair about once a week.  And they typically had very long, beautiful hair.  Women that grow their hair really long will tell you that washing often is damaging.

If you want to give the baking soda method a try, here are a few tips.

Adjustment Period Your skin is used to producing a certain amount of oil to moisturize your hair.  When you stop stripping your hair of this oil, it takes a bit to adjust.  The first couple weeks may be a bit oily.  If you want, you could start out using the baking soda wash every other time you wash.  Then slowly back off the shampoo, try it every third time you wash, then every fourth, and so on, until you don’t need it anymore.  That’s the way I made the switch.

Vinegar Smell Some people are put off by the vinegar smell of the apple cider vinegar.  Citric acid on the other hand (this is the same acid in lemons) does not have a smell.  You can buy citric acid crystals at the grocery store, they are usually sold with the canning supplies, it’s a natural food preservative.  I had some on hand because I made bath bombs a few years ago.  I bought my citric acid from Majestic Mountain Sage.

Fragrance You can add essential oils to the wash and rinse for fragrance and health benefits.  Here is a list of oils and their benefits.

No Detangler?  I’ll never be able to brush through my hair! Your hair is slightly less manageable when wet, using the baking soda/vinegar routine (as opposed to using conditioner and being able to pull a comb right through it).  I find that if I just brush through my hair before washing, though, it is fine and manageable.

Learn From My Mistakes A mistake I made at first was not rinsing out the vinegar rinse solution.  For some reason I thought that my hard water would be bad on my hair after washing (I did read this somewhere).  This was a bad idea, my hair felt like straw most of the time.  I almost gave up on “no poo.”  Then someone mentioned rinsing the rinse out.  I tried it and wonder of wonders, that was the trick.

Trial Period Give your hair a good two-week trial to see if you like this method.  Like I mentioned, your hair will need to adjust the amount of oil it produces.

Redistribute The Oil You may consider buying a natural bristle brush, it will help distribute your hair’s oils down to the ends where it needs it most.  Remember in Little House on the Prairie, Ma and the girls would brush their hair 100 strokes per night?  I don’t do that, but I do use the natural bristle brush occasionally.  I just take sections of my hair and brush each one 10 to 15 strokes.  I wash this brush out often since it’s picking up the oil from my hair.

Hair Loss? You may notice more hair in your brush, switching to this baking soda wash.  I did.  But don’t be alarmed.  I also noticed that there was a lot less hair in my drain.  So it seems I’m shedding the same amount of hair, it just isn’t coming out in the shower as before.  I think this is because when you use regular shampoo you are scrubbing more and the shampoo creates a slick environment, the loose hair is easily rinsed out.  With the baking soda, I am massaging my scalp, but I can’t run my fingers through my hair as I could with shampoo.  This means those loose hairs aren’t being displaced until I brush my hair.

Adjust If Necessary My hair is naturally oily.  You have to see what works best for your hair type.  If your hair is dry, you will want to use less baking soda than I use.  Search a little online and ask me any questions you have.

November Links

These are the articles that caught my eye this month:

I have not said enough about soy on this site, even though I feel very strongly about it.  My focus has primarily been showing people that packaged food is so terrible and I admit that my favorite area of interest is healthy fats, so I tend toward that topic.  But this article is one of the very best I have seen on why soy is so bad.  It goes hand in hand with my interest in helping people ditch packaged food.  Strangely enough, soy is in practically every single package of processed food out there (if not all).  But isn’t soy a health food?!?  You have got to read this!

If you’ve read this blog very long, you know I am a raw milk fan.  I won’t touch pasteurized milk with a ten-foot pole!  I am very thankful to live in Oklahoma where I can freely buy raw milk.  It saddens me that not everyone in these United States has that freedom.  This letter from a Georgia man put a smile on my face.  Click here to read.

Apparently because of the above situation, and/or the letter, legislation in Georgia may soon be changed.  Click here to read that story. I love good news!

Advice from the experts – 7 Food That Should Never Cross Your Lips – lower your toxin intake.

I feel very strongly about what my children watch on television.  There really are no television shows they watch on TV, except we all watch America’s Funniest Home Videos as a family on Sunday nights.  We check out DVDs from the library for them, or just grab something off our home movie shelf.  One reason is time, we just don’t have the time for TV.  We’re either eating, doing school, cleaning, or running errands.  The other reason I limit television time is that I am so opposed to commercials.  I won’t have my children bombarded with toy and junk food commercials.  There really are very few safe commercials.  One evening we were watching AFV and a commercial came on for a prescription sleep aid.  I didn’t think that would be offensive, so I didn’t mute or change the channel (we now mute all the commercials that run during AFV).  My son (he was 8 at the time) said, “I think I need that,” because it takes him a bit to fall asleep at night (doesn’t it for everyone?).  Needless to say, we had a discussion about prescription medication and now are on a higher level of guarding what is going into their little minds.  This includes philosophies that I don’t agree with.  There are a lot of them on children’s television these days.  This is why this article caught my eye – New PBS Show Fizzy’s Lunch Lab – read all about it.  Seems harmless?  I know a whole generation of people that don’t believe what their parents believe, because 1)their parents didn’t teach them and 2)they had unguarded access to television growing up, and so were exposed to values their parents didn’t agree with.  I want my children to know what I believe and why, not what the television has taught them.

And finally, this recipe for Bruschetta Stuffed Potatoes looks SO yummy!  Check it out.

Making The Switch

When I started studying about healthy fats about six years ago, I realized that I was using very unhealthy fats.  I was buying butter (went through a very short phase on margarine because it’s so cheap, glad that didn’t last long), but I was using canola for cooking.  I read Dr. Mary Enig’s very in-depth book, Know Your Fats and my eyes were opened!  At the same time, my suspicions about butter were confirmed.  Yeah!  Butter really was better for you.  I learned how bad canola is and why.  I learned that of all the vegetable oils, peanut oil is the most stable.  It contains omega-6 fatty acids, whereas the other vegetable oils contain a combination of omega-6 and omega-3.  I know, I know, we hear a lot about omega-3 and how good they are for us.  BUT, omega-3 oils are damaged when heated.  All the vegetable oils in the general grocery store are very refined and have been heated to high temperatures.  Omega-6 oils are not damaged as bad with heat.

So, I switched to peanut oil for most of my cooking.  It has a high smoke point and thus makes nice crispy french fries and is great for stir fry, which is done at a high temperature.

But that was six years ago and I have since learned that while peanut oil is better than canola and soybean oil, it isn’t the best.  In fact, consuming too many omega-6 fatty acids is detrimental to our health, one example is inflammation.  We hear a lot about this lately, how inflammation is at the heart of a lot of diseases, click here for a great article on that topic.  Then I read this article in Prevention magazine that said omega-6 oils are responsible for a slower metabolism and fat storage.  I don’t know about you, but I don’t need a slower metabolism!  So I started looking for alternatives.

I have used tallow for our french fries quite a few times now and I’m happy with it.  Best of all, my picky family is happy with it.  :)  I decided to try making my homemade croutons with coconut oil instead of peanut oil and they turn out great.  Next up was hash browns.  These are the shredded potato variety, not those pre-formed patties–those are loaded with trans fat.  Last Sunday I tried using half coconut oil and half butter (because I needed them to brown, coconut oil alone doesn’t brown very well) and they, too, turned out great.

On Monday night I tried making fried rice with coconut oil.  I have always used peanut oil.  There were pros and cons.  On the positive side, I was happy that the oil didn’t smoke at all.  I drizzled the oil in the pan immediately before adding the eggs to scramble and the rice to fry.  If I had left it very long, it would have smoked (coconut oil has a lower smoke point than peanut oil).  Another positive was that this seemed to be a good fat for keeping the rice from sticking to the pan.  But we lose points in the taste category.  The coconut flavor was too predominate.  My family wasn’t thrilled.  My son hates coconut oil (but I do require he take a dose everyday for eczema, he just holds his nose).  My husband is a picky eater and didn’t care for the taste, although we did eat the entire batch of rice.  I am going to buy a refined coconut oil for this recipe, it won’t have a coconut flavor.  This will still be healthier than peanut oil, so I am happy.  :)

Remember, we all need to be taking our babysteps, don’t get stuck in a rut.  None of us has “arrived.”  Keep changing, keep learning, keep growing.

A Healthier Holiday

Make this holiday season healthier with these tips.

 

-Use butter wherever margarine or shortening are called for.

-Use raw cream in place of evaporated canned milk in pumpkin pie.

-Top those pies with homemade whipped cream, skip the Cool Whip.

-Make homemade egg nog.

-Use homemade broth instead of canned.

 

What tips do you have?

 

See also:

Thanksgiving Menu - includes recipes for Garlic Mashed Potatoes and Cranberry-Orange Sauce

Mystery Food Revealed

Tammy, you must be a label-reader!  You were aware enough of ingredients that you guessed correctly!  It was a Coffeemate creamer, Amaretto to be specific. That is fantastic.  We all need to be as label-savvy as you.  :)

 

Here are those ingredients again -

Water, Sugar, Partially Hydrogenated Soybean and/or Cottonseed oil, and less than 2% sodium caseinate (a milk derivative), natural and artificial flavors, dipotassium phosphate, disodium phosphate, mono- and diglycerides, cellulose gel, cellulose gum, color added, carrageenan.

 

Let’s see, we have water, not bad, then sugar, not good, but not as bad as number three–the big, bad hydrogenated oil we talked about last month!  Given the choice between good old-fashioned cream and this pseudo-cream substitute, I’ll take the cream please.

 

But what about the fat?!?  Cream contains a high-percentage of butterfat (around 40%).  This fat actually contains vitamins A, D, E and K; antioxidants, selenium, CLA (conjugated linoleic acid–an anti-cancer nutrient), and lauric acid (an antimicrobial fat–a germ killer), and more.

 

But soybean and/or cottonseed oil can’t be that bad?!?  This pseudo-cream substitute contains a man-made hydrogenated oil (read trans fat) that causes cancer, type II diabetes, heart disease, infertility, obesity, hinders the immune system and a lactating mother’s milk.  In a pregnant woman, trans fat can cross the placenta and hinder brain development of the child.  In a nursing mother, trans fats will be present in breast milk and can interfere with the child’s neurological and visual development.

 

So you can see why I choose cream.  I’ll take vitamins and a strong immune system any day over cancer, diabetes, heart disease, and infertility!  We don’t even have to go into the details of the rest of the ingredients, that third one is so bad.

 

Remember, if God created it, it is healthy; if man has messed with it, it is not!

 

Read more here:

All About Trans Fat – a very informative brochure.

Butter Is Better – another short brochure, both are must-reads.

Gardening

Still gardening here in northeast Oklahoma.  We had frost this morning, but this afternoon it was 77°!  Last week I harvested the last of my cilantro, one carrot that survived among the dill, and one last red bell pepper.

I am now in the mode of preparing for next year.  I planted some garlic bulbs yesterday.  I’ve never grown garlic.  I know it’s a bit late to plant, but I thought it was worth a shot.  I’m also researching what seeds I want to buy for next year.  I plan on ordering from Baker Seed Company.

The past few weeks I have spent preparing my new beds for next year.  I’m excited to try square foot gardening next year.  You can check out the book, Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew, or the website Square Foot Gardening.com.

I went to the hardware store and intended on buying 1 x 6 boards, but the 2 x 6 size were actually cheaper.  I had them cut into 4-foot lengths and my husband built these for me (these are 4 x 4):

I have them spaced 3 feet apart, on all sides.  I put down a layer of newspaper (had to water the newspaper to get it to stay put) and then layered grass clippings on top.  (Note for future projects:  Do not do this on a windy day!)

I then layered some leaves into each box.  These are called lasagna beds.  This is a way to avoid tilling and digging.  The leaves and grass will decompose and provide lots of organic matter to enrich the soil.Then I layered what soil I already had, from my containers used last summer. I will buy some mushroom compost in the spring to layer on top.  Then each year, I will keep adding layers of grass and leaves and keep feeding the soil.

Further out in the yard, I have built a heap.  I laid some newspapers down and then I piled up my zinnias, the pumpkin vine, my basil branches, and pepper plants in a pile.  On top of that I shoveled all the compost I had (it wasn’t completely decomposed, but it has some good dark matter in it and it smelled good).  Then I layered some leaves on top.  In the spring I will add some mushroom compost and this will be my pumpkin hill.  I will plant a couple varieties of pumpkin and let them roam around the yard.  (You can see the heap in the foreground of this picture.)

I am in the process of building herb beds to line my patio.

And I would also like to expand the flower bed for next year.  This year I grew zinnias and marigolds (below), we’ll see what next year holds!

I’m so excited for next spring to get here!  How has your gardening gone this past year?

What Is It?

Water, Sugar, Partially Hydrogenated Soybean and/or Cottonseed oil, and less than 2% sodium caseinate (a milk derivative), natural and artificial flavors, dipotassium phosphate, disodium phosphate, mono- and diglycerides, cellulose gel, cellulose gum, color added, carrageenan.

 

Time again for the mystery “food.”  I put food in quotations because packaged food is fake food.  Let me know what you think this might be.  I will reveal in a few days.

Challenge Update

A little late on my report, but here it is.  I challenged you to abstain from nitrates for seven days.  You can read more here.

 

How did you do?  I don’t have a lot to report this time.  We didn’t eat any processed meat that week.  I’ve been trying to keep us stocked up on uncured hot dogs and bacon for when we are craving them.  And no surprise, they taste better!  Check into it for yourself.  Your family deserves the best.

A Reminder…

…to put your trust in the Lord.



It can get overwhelming when you dig into a subject, be it nutrition or anything else. Sometimes I feel a little helpless and want to throw up my hands. But then I’m reminded to trust in the Lord with all my heart and lean not on my own understanding (Proverbs 3:5). I think it hit me when I was reading about how many toxic chemicals are out there that we breathe and eat and even absorb through our skin. I felt powerless in the fight to stay healthy. I think that was a good place for me to get to because I had done so much research I was starting to feel in control of my health. This is a hindrance, when we no longer rely on God, but feel we’ve got it under control.



I heard someone say about a year ago that there is a problem with being too intellectual. I bristled at this thought! I LOVE to learn and am always reading and trying to educate myself. But I see, now, what this speaker meant. The problem with intellectualism is that you feel like you know it all and can solve all your problems and as a result you lose a trust in God. There is nothing wrong with learning, we should in fact be learning all the time. But the problem comes when we lose trust in God. This applies to all areas – healthy eating, finances, raising kids, etc.



God was reminding me that first and foremost I must always put my trust in Him. So I started to dig into that passage that we’ve all heard so many times in Proverbs. I noticed something. The verse that tells us to trust in the Lord is prefaced by promises. Verses 1 and 2 tell us that if we keep God’s laws we will have a long and peaceful life. Verses 3 and 4 tell us that if we are merciful and truthful we will have favor with God and man. This tells me that God does not expect a blind trust, but rather faith in the promises in His word. So we must find out what His promises are if we are going to put our trust in Him. This will take a little study.



So whether you want to change your eating habits or are believing for healing in your life, first put your trust in God and do not lean on your own understanding (intellect). Acknowledge the Lord and He will direct your path (verse 6). God wants to direct our path in all areas, not just the big life decisions, but our everyday life as well. And finally verse 7, do not be wise in your own eyes – never reach a place where you think you have it all figured out and you’ve got it under control and don’t need God’s help. As Barnes commentary puts it, “The great hindrance to all true wisdom is the thought that we have already attained it.”



As you do your research, know this, man does not have all the answers. The doctors and scientists have not figured it all out yet. Our bodies are intricately engineered machines and only our Creator knows everything about them. So trust in God’s wisdom as you learn more about nutrition. Test all things against the Word of God.



We are obligated to do what we know to do. I try to make the healthiest choices I can. Sometimes, I’m sure, I’m ingesting toxins and don’t even know it. God promises us protection from unknown toxins in Mark 16:18 – “If they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them”. So rather than be overwhelmed by the knowledge of countless toxic carcinogens out there, I will trust that God will protect me from them if I am unknowingly in contact with them. I will make healthy choices based on what knowledge I have and know that my life is in God’s hands and He cares for me (I Peter 5:7).



Find out what God promises you in His word and put your trust in Him.



This article was originally published on this blog on August 6, 2007.

Drink Orange Juice?

It is time for another post about a recommended read, but this came across my desk today.  This is a video clip, but I think the book mentioned will be my recommended read for this month.  I know I want to check it out.  This is a prime example of my basic philosophy–that processed food is not as nutritious as we are led to believe and it certainly isn’t equal to the unprocessed counterpart.

 

Check it out.