Health and Beauty: Lightening your hair naturally UPDATE

So here's the before...

And here's the after...

Mostly I've been using the vitamin C and dandruff shampoo method on a daily basis for about a week...I did try the peroxide/honey/baking soda method today and decided the results were weaker than the prior method, and the stench was just too much too handle. I never noticed the smell of hydrogen peroxide before today, but it definitely smelled of bleach...and it was a most uncomfortable feeling: stinging, burning...that applies not only to my scalp, but my nostrils as well!

So, I'm continuing with the Vitamin C/Dandruff shampoo method until I achieve my desired hair color. I'll post as I get closer and closer to the goal with images, so stay tuned!

Health and Beauty: Lightening your hair naturally

Trying to stick with current fashion trends, yet still remaining earth-friendly, can be QUITE the challenge!

-source

As a woman, I know the pressures of keeping my appearance up-to-par with society's standards. Keep in mind, this doesn't mean I agree with them all, but there are definitely still parts of me that like to represent myself through my appearance, as it's the first thing people notice.

Obviously, an intelligent mindset, respectfulness, and a non-judgmental, positive attitude go a much farther way once the visual "first impression" is made, but I know that this is the way society currently works, and attractiveness is a way to ensure that others take the time to get to know you beyond your appearance. Not only does self-care show self-respect, but it also shows your concern for health, confidence, and how those things reflect on others and your relationships.

That being said, I don't wear much makeup (if ever), I wear a lot of used clothing or articles I've made myself, and I hypocritically do judge people who cake on the foundation, wear only designer clothing, and don ridiculously uncomfortable shoes, just so their "derrière" looks better...

Yup, I'm human. I am not perfect, and I will clearly admit that.

Now, on to the hair-lightening...

I scoured the web trying to find the most natural way to lighten my hair from the dark color it was (very dark brown, almost black), and came across a few videos on YouTube.



The video above was what initially led me to start this endeavor to lighten my hair without harsh chemicals...

From there, I followed a link to the one below, which had another method which shows the end result as well:



And finally, I came across THIS video that goes through 6 different methods; I have yet to try the raw honey/distilled water or conditioner/cinnamon/E.V.O.O. method, but from what the vlogger says, it did work for her (and I will not use the sixth method she explains, as it uses bleach powder (EEK!):



So far, I've been using the anti-dandruff shampoo and crushed vitamin C tablet mix each day for the last week. My hair has gone from a considerable dark color to a lighter, more auburn shade. I'm looking forward to trying the the raw honey mix, as well as the hydrogen peroxide & Baking soda method...so stay tuned for images when my final results have been reached!

Thanks for reading! And please share any natural alternatives for beauty regimens in the comments, as I'd be more than happy to do further research and make a blog about it!

♥

Oak Knoll Audubon Center

WOW! What a couple of weeks it's been here in Attleboro, MA! We started the week off with unending lighting and thunderstorms, and then realized how lucky we were to have the rain, instead of what's going on in Colorado right now.

A few of my friends are in Boulder, and as I watched more and more news footage of the fires entering neighborhoods in their area, I became more and more worried. A quick Facebook message to them revealed that they were still in the clear, yet they could see the fires along the mountains...can you imagine? I can't.

So, in the midst of being worried about my Colorado-residing loved ones, I am also very grateful for the beautiful mellow summer weather we've had here, preceding the thundershowers and lightning storms. As soon as the the sun came out, my son, Tobi, and I headed straight to the local Audubon center here in Attleboro; the Oak Knoll Nature center. Not only is he partaking in a creative writing class which incorporates many of the natural habitat at the center, but he's also opened my eyes to a sacred place to enjoy for the both of us.

Today we took another bike ride out to the center, to walk the trails, enjoy a brief picnic, take some pictures, and eat fresh ripe wild black raspberries!

We got carried away upon entering the "meadow"...and while I was taking photos of grass-dwelling creatures...

...Tobi laid back and listened to birdsong for a little while.

That was before we hiked most of the trails and came across a frog who seemed to be "pond"-ering...

All in all, it was a great day to spend in this place...and we will soon return, because, as you can see, Tobi loved it.

Meet my Campaign!

21 Days left to reach my goal!!



Thanks for all your support!!

Poverty? ...meh.

-I wish I could give you all a source for this, but I found it on Facebook and it was the perfect accompaniment to this post!



My son and I are in the abyss of financial poverty:



~We carefully tear apart our incoming mail envelopes and re-fold them inside out, securing them by a glue stick or some tape, so we don't have to purchase new ones



~I make our own salsa from canned tomato sauce a la food shelf, one chopped up Roma tomato, 1/2 an onion diced, and add hot sauce. Tortilla chips are a luxury around here (even though we know the issues with corn)

~I'm teaching my son how to do laundry in the tub with shampoo samples from hotel stays as detergent, and white vinegar as fabric softener



~Meals are invented - tonight was the last of the mayo, with the last half of spinach dip seasoning, a thawed bag of frozen spinach, and our coveted organic vegetable twirly pasta. A chunk of diced onion and another Roma tomato chopped up along with some shredded carrots made an interesting pasta salad



~We are literally growing as much of our food as possible, even drying our own herbs, and planning to can for the winter months with any bounty that we are unable to eat before it goes bad.

~Pasta water (salt- and oil-free) fertilizes our plants



~When we cook, we put aside enough for our pet to feed on, as well, minus any ingredients that may harm him (such as onions or tomatoes, garlic and raisins)

~We also cook in a way that will use the least amount of energy, yet feed us as long as possible: More pasta than usual at one time, making the leftovers into something new for the next day's meal, soaking beans overnight instead of using energy for a long amount of time to cook them faster, and things like pancakes or bread are made in huge batches, so that the freezer will provide us with a fresh loaf when needed, and pancakes can just be popped into the toaster instead of using the electric stove to make new ones



I could go on and on, but what I'd rather focus on, after emphasizing how money-poor we are, is that we have become rich in resourcefulness.

I'm happy to see my son following this trend, too. He was outside the other day, and learned that there was a nearby basement clean-out going on, where everything was free for the taking. He dashed to it and brought home dishes, a couple used Star-Wars toys (also a luxury), a book he thought I should read, and even a new stuffed animal for our dog, Dutch.



So, in being less of consumers, we have found ways to live within a "societal standard" (clean clothing, nutritious food consumption, entertainment for family and pets) that are relatively easy changes to make, and also save us quite a bit of money, not to mention fossil-fuel energy consumption.

I hope to awaken people with our shameless ways of doing things, the "broke" way, as it seems that it is an enormously effective way to help ourselves, as well as the earth's issues, by making simple sacrifices such as convenient purchases, expensive services, and the notion that "having more means having a higher social status".

Hard to swallow? Maybe...but, easy to make the changes? For sure. :)

DIY-er: Up-cycled Hanging Wire Basket

Here's another DIY project that's been making it's rounds in our household frequently as of late. We have two hanging wire baskets, both of which were either found at the dump or at a thrift shop for under a dollar.

No, I have no shame in going to a dump and finding things to re-use - I actually am happy, and even a little proud, to say that I'm putting it back to use instead of filling up the landfill with it.

Anyway, the bigger one of the two we use near the door as a space-saving catch-all. It's purpose changes throughout the seasons: in the summer, we keep sunglasses, bike helmets, re-usable grocery bags, bike gloves, and sunblock in it; during winter, gloves, hats, toe-warmers, and ear muffs tend to take up most of the space in it, although sunglasses still remain (and goggles!). During the in-between months, all kinds of stuff can be tucked away in there, like take-out menus (we even eat take out? Yup...sometimes...we're human, after all), mail that needs to be sent out, magazine clippings, and recipes we haven't found a home for yet.

But the smaller one doesn't seem to have much room for that type of stuff. It really doesn't provide room for much at all, even if we were to use it traditionally as a fruit or vegetable holder...which we never would because keeping our produce out for more than a day in a city dwelling can bring in many unwanted houseguests...cockroaches, ants, the ever-horrifying SPIDER...*shiver*...besides, I was lucky to have won a beautiful handblown glass bowl recently that has become our fruit bowl, and since we go through fruit so fast, we've been lucky enough to keep the bugs at bay!

So, question: what do we do with this little one? Answer: we put on our thinking caps and put it to use somehow!

Up-cycled Use for a Hanging Wire Basket:

Yup, that's it, there's no rocket science here. Just some old miss-matched bowls and maybe a cleaned out glass jar from shrimp cocktail sauce, or even a tuna can filled with water.

But, what's growing in there?

~The ends on a bunch of celery, growing NEW celery!

~The ends of Romaine lettuce bunches, growing NEW lettuce!

~The end of a red cabbage head, GROWING NEW CABBAGE!

~Rootlings, or clippings, of baby spider plants, English Ivy, and other houseplants destined to be bigger one day!

The smaller hanging basket works perfectly because it lets the light reach all three tiers/compartments/baskets, yet is just the right size to start these little growing friends until they are bigger and have started a root system in order to be planted in soil. The bigger basket may have held them, but one wrong nudge and the jars or bowls would have spilled water everywhere. The smaller size works best, as it supports and stabilizes the smaller containers.

I'm thinking there's definitely promise of using this as a permanent tiered garden, by lining the sides of each basket with Spanish moss or some other absorbent organic material...but my only concern is that it may drip, and we have hardwood floors...

So there you have it! Enjoy and use the idea, or share how you've used YOUR hanging wire basket non-traditionally! Thanks for reading!

Reducing your waste: a great article link and more.

This is a GREAT article on how the Johnson's produced only a handful of waste in the last six months.

(click here to read the story)

There are some great links within the article, too, so take the time to read through them or bookmark them for later reading if you can.

We find right now that our kitchen wastebasket, an 8 Qt. Rectangular Wastebasket (first instituted due to the fact that our dog, Dutch, was constantly getting into the garbage, and we needed to keep it under the sink which is a smaller space than traditional larger kitchen wastebaskets would contain), gets filled up about two to three times a month. Although that comes nowhere near the Johnson's low-waste footprint, we still feel we are making a big difference by reducing our garbage amount.

The shame with this, is that in our city, we are required by law to contain the garbage in a white plastic bag, which creates more garbage.

We would have significantly less waste if we had a bulk food store near us (but we have no car and are only able to make it such a store when the chance arrives and the funds are available), as well as if we composted. We did start the year off composting, until we realized that our landwoman (definitely NOT a lady) wouldn't allow us a space to compost outside, and we have found it difficult to keep fruit flies to a minimum by doing it inside. We do appreciate any suggestions you have to keep composting completely within our home, as it would benefit our porch garden as well as reduce our waste!

How do you keep your waste to a minimum beyond just recycling?

DIY-er: Up-cycled Toilet Paper Roll Holder

Alrighty, let's get things started on here! I've been gaining some momentum on my donation site at indiegogo.com (here's my campaign), and I'd like to start giving some of my contributors a little sumn' sumn' to feed off of until I get started on the BIG projects that are upcoming and will require the use of said donations.

So, today I'm going to give you all a DIY-er project that has made a small, but big in an experiential way, impact on my little family's desire to gain more of a self-sufficient lifestyle and lose some of those media-fueled consumerist habits.

We have been pretty tight on money after moving twice in a month's time, paying for storage units, renting a car in order to find a new apartment, staying in hotels, and coming up with a significant increase in rent plus the initial deposit. We're still catching up, and we moved into our current apartment on March 1st of this year...

That being said, while we have always been a creative family, this DIY project was spawned out of being utterly poor. It's when you find yourself in a place without extra money to play with, though, that you find what you are capable of creating instead of buying! Stay tuned, because I've got a TON of these things to share in the future of this blog :)

Up-cycled Toilet Paper Roll Holder:

Toilet paper holders in the stores are made mostly from plastic...a by-product of petroleum...or, from some type of metal and/or wood. My son and I really appreciate natural textiles like metal and wood, but we were not about to pay upwards of $20.00 for something that was going to be used to hold...well, butt-wiping material.

So, I took a wire hanger and clipped off the bottom, leaving about an inch on each side to "hook" into a wooden dowel that was leftover from another project. I drilled a hole on each end of the dowel for the inch of metal on each side to be pushed into and also to be easily removed to refill the toilet paper. The hook at the top of the hanger was just bent in more to create a loop, which is simply hung on a nail. It doesn't make any noise, as some toilet roll holders do (squeak, rattle), and because it rests against the wall, we can't pull off as much toilet paper as if it were hanging free. This leads us to use less than we used to, and makes the rolls last longer!

It holds three rolls at a time, and we find it quite aesthetically pleasing; it adds a rustic feel to our bathroom. I suppose someone who wanted a little more finished look could paint this, but we're happy with it the way it is.