Along the same lines: spending time in Australia (where there are major water restrictions due to the changed climate) reminded me of how we did things in "the good old days:" we washed our hair every Saturday night, whether it needed it or not. But more girls and women had medium to long hair then. I remember my grandmother (who had very long hair, put up in a grandmotherly bun) stressing that we needed to brush our hair 100 strokes every night to distribute the oils and keep our scalp healthy.
When I started having "pixie" and other very short hair cuts in the 1960s, I found that I needed to wash my hair much more often (every 2-3 days) or it became much too oily. But gradually "clean hair standards" changed, and hair wasn't considered clean unless it had that "squeaky clean" shine everyday--which means all the natural oils get stripped every day. So we are not only buying more shampoo, we also need to buy a variety of conditioners to replace what we have removed. Now that my hair is again longer, I find I can wash it twice a week instead of every other day (I never did got to daily hair washing). I still use a "Fuller Brush" hairbrush from 50 years ago because I haven't found a replacement that's as good at giving my scalp a gentle tingle. And I don't need to use a conditioner nearly as often as I did with shorter hair washed more often. I also try to buy local shampoo so that a product that is mostly water isn't generating lots of green house gases during transport. 17th c Suds refills bottles for you at their Farmers Market booth, so even less plastic gets produced. And olive oil-based shampoo has conditioning properties (umm, maybe the oil--but really, it's soapy, not oily; I love it). One final "watch how you wash your hair" caution: many commercial shampoo etc bottles are made with vinyl (#3), which cannot be recycled easily, releases dioxin when burned, and which is often softened with hormone disrupters. Look for bottles that are made of #2 (high density polyethylene). Margaret >that's what my son says! >-marlo >On Feb 25, 2008, at 9:50 PM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > >> >> In England, Elizabeth I declared that she bathed once a month >> "whether I >> need it or not." >> >> >> >> _http://www.wilsoncenter.org/index.cfm? >> fuseaction=wq.essay&essay_id=369017_ >> (http://www.wilsoncenter.org/index.cfm? >> fuseaction=wq.essay&essay_id=369017) >> >> >> >> >> >> >> In a message dated 2/25/2008 9:03:08 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, >> [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: >> >> i didn't think i had anything to add when someone asked recently what >> types of things mundane things people could do to reduce consumption- >> i forget how it was phrased- but thought of something really basic >> and important the other day when showering. >> >> one thing we all do in my house is that we don't shower every day. >> some people get upset at the thought of this, but i think that's been >> conditioned into us more than it is a point of health or cleanliness >> or anything. we began it for practical reasons- in the winter >> showering every day causes our skin to dry out so we began showering >> every other day. not only does it help with the state of our skin >> (skin creams are rarely necessary), it reduces the amount of soap and >> shampoo we use, the amount of water, and energy for heating water. i >> really do love to shower so i reward myself by taking a slightly >> longer shower on shower days, but ultimately we are using far fewer >> resources than other families of smaller size. (there are five of us >> in my house) >> >> -marlo >> >> >> Marlo Capoccia >> Garden Gate > > www.gardengatedelivery.com _______________________________________________ RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information for: [email protected] http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainabletompkins free hosting by http://www.mutualaid.org
