not a hippie

You know how everyone is going "green" these days? Well. So am I. Kinda.

I read a lot of blogs. Most are inspiring, some are foolish, and some are just strange. Don't even ask me how I find them, I have no idea. But lately, I have found some hippie blogs. Hippies that dig on Jesus. (I highly doubt they consider themselves hippies though) It's a strange combo for me, growing up in Utah, where hippie always means worshipping Gaia, smoking weed, wearing patchouli (shudder), speaking r e a l l y s l o w l y and generally having a low i.q. (the pot I guess)

None of the Utah hippies I have ever met were Christians. Well, maybe at heart they were, but they would never admit it. Let alone proudly proclaim I Heart Jesus. Also, I would like to note that growing up in city so submerged in Mormons, I have no idea what other Christians are like. Bubble, if you will. (I am not complaining, or trying to insult anybody. I am just owning up to my religious ignorance.)

I digress.

And back to trendy green-ness. I have been feeling it too. Ever since I quit my job, I have tried to fully embrace the job of Housewife. Cleaning your house everyday, dinner on the table every night. It's been a slow process. I found some awesome daily cleaning tips on Martha, where she states that simplifying your cleaning routine starts with getting rid of "a cleaner for every job" All-purpose really does mean just that. And you can make your own cleaners with baking soda and or vinegar. I don't know about you, but I freaking hate the smell of vinegar. I like my bright blue toilet cleaner thankyouverymuch. One step at a time.

You know, "back in the day" I was vegan. A big part of the vegan lifestyle was being green. Because animal friendly products are naturally green. I ordered my shampoo, toothpaste, soap, ice-cream, cleaners, etc. all through a "green" Costco like warehouse. I even made my own chap stick. Once Wild Oats (now Whole Foods) came to Utah, we could all buy our stuff from them, at prices twice as high.

Today, I recycle as much as I can. With the amount of Dr. Pepper I drink, I kinda have to. And I know I am a total hypocrite on some stuff, but one step at a time, right? One thing that really bothers me is laundry detergent. Such high water content, water = heavy, meaning high shipping costs for no good reason. So I buy Sun brand. It's a local company, and it's animal friendly. Recently I have seen the Method brand at Target. They have this new one that is ultra concentrated, it takes like one squirt per load. Nice! But the price? No freaking way! It's like 5 times the price of Sun. What to do, what to do.

So, since finding this one blog, where she makes her own like everything- I wanna try it all too. Because what I remember of being vegan, the giving up the usual grocery store brands wasn't hard, because the natural stuff actually worked better. If it works better, I am there. So as soon as I run out of my huge jug of detergent, I am gonna try it. And then blog about it.

Until then, I just had to try the natural deodorant. I have a love/hate relationship with deodorant. It's a long, stupid, and boring story. So, on to the natural goodness...

I have been using it for a week now, so I feel confidant to say- it works! Eureka!

(photo)

It's a coconut oil base, with baking soda and arrowroot powder (think cornstarch but better) I threw a few tablespoons of cocoa butter in the mix, just for fun. No, really it was for my lame sensitive skin. And to firm it up a bit, since it was the consistency of an icing glaze after mixing it up. I cheated and used my hand mixer, it was wonderful and a lot faster than doing it by hand. I stuck it in the fridge for about an hour to firm it up, and now it sits in it's cute little jar in the bathroom. If you decide to make some, and want to use cocoa butter too, just remember to grate it, as it is a lot harder at room temp than the coconut oil.

Yesterday I mixed one drop of pomegranate perfume oil in a bit of the deodorant, just to see what would happen. It's nice. No irritation, light pleasant scent. It's been blazing hot this week too! Great week to test this out. I am not a heavy sweater, so I don't mind sweating, I just mind the stink. My mom and I even went and picked apricots earlier, and I was pretty sweaty up in that tree. Yes, I climbed a tree today. But that is a story for another day.

I will keep you posted, in case it stops working, or turns my armpits brown. (I read in a comment that baking soda stains your skin brown. But after googling it, I found that using baking soda in your pits is actually a cure for dark spots caused by commercial deodorant. Huh.)

One other thing I found on her site was Soap Nuts. They are berries from a tree in India. You can boil them and concentrate their natural "soap" and use it everywhere in the house. A completely sustainable, no frills, no packaging (to try and recycle), all purpose cleaner. No chemicals, dyes, perfumes, animal testing, blah, blah, on and on, wonderful.

That grows on trees.

Crazy, right? I dunno if I quite buy it though. (says the American girl blogging from her Macbook whilst sitting in a huge puffy armchair with the air conditioning at full blast) Does it really work??? Maybe the idea will grow on me...

But for now, I have my coconut deodorant, and my Mrs. Meyers hand soap, gleefully diluted with water and cleverly topped off in my Dial foaming hand soap pumps. Victory!

Seriously, grows on trees. I like it.

8/8/10 UPDATE: (on homemade deodorant) it's waaay too hot in our house for the deodorant to stay solid. (coconut oil melts at 76F.) So I poured it into an ice cube tray, and now I keep the blocks in the fridge. It's easier to apply, and refreshingly cool. It's still working overtime- I only have to apply it every other day! I never thought I would say that!