Thursday, January 07, 2010

Stink-less beauty

My earth crunchy beauty routine has so far been painless. The deodorant seems to be working well. I'm even sweating less, which confirms my suspicions that the beauty giants are up to no good, making sure we'll continue to buy their products by ensuring the chemicals in them force our bodies to produce more sweat. Grr.

After a lot of research, I narrowed down my organic/non-petrochemicals/non-GMO where possible list to a couple of companies that looked interesting. I found some samples of Pangea Organics products on ebay, as well as some cool things from Sephora (Korres products) and Etsy sellers. As the stuff arrives, I'll tell you what I think. I'm still unsure about what to use for my hair. Aveda has popped up a lot in comments and reviews of organic products, but the price is a bit of a shocker. I've also looked at John Masters Organics (also pricey) and Beija Flor Naturals (more within my budget), which also have products that could work for my weird hair needs.

Daphne mentioned something about shampoo in the comments here. Oddly enough, I've actually been shampooless for a while. I converted to this technique after this book appeared in our house:



You can buy it at Amazon.

No-shampoo works for me and my sisters, as we all have rather thick, curly hair. I shampoo perhaps twice a month, more out of habit (or to empty out that extra bottle in the shower) than because my hair needs it. Instead of using shampoo, I work conditioner into my hair and scalp, scrubbing like one does with shampoo. Only there aren't any suds. Then I rinse well and add more conditioner to the ends. If you have fine hair, I'm not sure this will work. But for hair that tends toward dry (and that needs all the weighing down it can get) going no-shampoo and heavy on the conditioning might take away your bad hair days.

That, and Tania the Hair Cutting Goddess at my favorite Ipanema salon. After her hair cuts, I don't even get bed head!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ask your Mom about her experiences with homemade products for her curly hair. I really did allow her to skip school the next day. I still remember Uncle Greg's commentt."If you put a wet baby diaper on your face it will cure pimples also." It was one of those dinner time conversations you never forget. Grammy

Anonymous said...

Grammy was a wonderful woman and saw no need for public humiliation. Yeah Mom!! I loved personal days from school, and it didn't seem to make much difference in the "learning" that I was getting anyway.

Also, I've heard that it really is true about the diaper, but I don't know anyone who admits to trying it.

-Laurie

Catherine Denton said...

I can't wait to see what you find out.

StarsprinkleSupergirl said...

Take a look at LUSH Cosmetics http://www.lushusa.com/shop, I buy my deo (Aromaco)from there and it's great, and lasts me more than a year for $7! I've looked into the John Master's Organics and whatnot too, and also gasped at the prices so I use LUSH until I can find something else. We've got different situations going with hairdos tho, so I imagine whats working for you is not so good for me and my limp locks. I've got a few friends on the look out for good stuff lately, too, so I'll share with you what I find!! <3