Blogging. Something I have never really been into, and have little experience in doing. Tonight I was oddly consumed by the idea of creating one. I would not go to sleep until I did, even when I knew I had a 12-13 hour day ahead of me. It had to be done. Why? Because I am kind of crazy, and thought sharing my thoughts on this invisibility cloak of the internet would make me feel better.
Before you run away screaming, let me tell you why I am so crazy. Plastics and our addiction to creating waste have consumed my ability to survive normally in this world. I cannot go anywhere with out getting completely overloaded and stressed out. Grocery stores, restaurants, bars, coffee shops, clothing stores, freeways and pretty much everything else we use as humans is now a source of crazy to my mind. As I have launched myself into my dream job, educating the community about the severity of plastics and working towards reducing this waste, I have found I am becoming scared of this infinite material. I always considered myself environmentally conscious, though in the recent year it has been ramped up to high gear.
So what is this blog? A way to relive pressure from my precious brain space ultimately, and hopefully spare the sanity of my loved ones. In my journey of extreme waste reduction, I am stumbling across thoughts that are so crazy I have to share them.
Let me tell you about the thought that started this new (and totally not like me) endeavor. As I was getting out of the shower after a long day of work and house cleaning, I found myself thinking, "I am so happy I wash my hair again". Yes, that was a real thought that passed through my mind. Bet you can't guess why I thought that! Yep, I stopped washing my hair. I decided to go no 'poo (an alternate way of washing your hair with out any form of soap) for 2 and a half months. The reasoning? Plastic. I was tired of going to the bulk section and getting shampoo out of the larger plastic shampoo bottles that were on the same road as the smaller bottles (recycling is a joke). I do not want to come across as anti-poo, I have heard unbelievable success stories. I wanted to love it so badly, but you can't always get what you want.
2 and a half months went by where I washed my hair every 2-3 days with baking soda and apple cider vinegar only. I liked it for a while, but I could not seem to get the formula down. I tried everything; changing up ratios of baking soda to water, apple cider vinegar to water, switching apple cider vinegar for lemon juice, not using a vinegar rinse, using 2 vinegar rinses, brushing the vinegar through my hair and washing with water only. Alas, I decided it was ok to abandon ship. I had survived that whole time with waxy, sticky hair that I could not do anything to.
I gave it a good hard try and it just didn't stick. So I thought "Ok, I can still do this with out using plastic, I can make my own shampoo"! Easy enough, right? Well not really, most shampoo recipes call for liquid castile soap, which comes in bulk or in its own plastic bottle. Ugh, ok another problem to work out. At this point it was more than just using less plastic, it became a personal goal to figure it all out and make it work! So I did some research and found to my surprise, that you can turn a bar of soap into liquid soap, and buy bar soap with out packaging! What was the catch you ask? Vegetable glycerin keeps the soap in liquid form, and guess what that comes in? Yep, plastic. So I did some reasoning with myself and thought, 4 ounces from a bulk bottle is a pretty good compromise to make 30+ ounces of concentrated liquid soap. So I made my liquid soap and homemade shampoo.
Did it work?! Eh, nope. On so many levels did it fail. I put way to much tea tree oil in it, so much it made my eyes burn and my boyfriend sick to his stomach. Now, I have 2 huge bottles of half hardened liquid castile soap in my kitchen because I didn't use enough glycerin. So, I used my shampoo twice and after the second time my hair was so heavy and coated in weird crap I lost it. I snapped to my boyfriend "I just want to wash my f*#$ing hair"! What was his reply? Do it... So I did, and it was the most glorious moment of my life! So glorious in fact, I washed my hair twice and put about half a bottle of conditioner in my hair. I was feeling like a million bucks.
So what did all this time tell me? Well initially I felt like a total failure. I felt like all that hard work for 2 and a half months I just flushed down the toilet. I had to convince my self that I'm not, I just wasn't fighting the right battle. Instead of boycotting the bulk isle, I should focus my efforts on other areas of my life that are still dependent on oil. Driving my car everywhere, buying meat and cheese in plastic packaging, getting stupid crap I don't need that is most likely made from plastic, and so much more!
So thats where this all stemmed from. Does the worldwide web really care? Probably not, but I know some people in my life will enjoy it. I hope that sharing my off the wall crazy thoughts and projects will show you whatever you are doing is great. Hopefully, this will also open your eyes as mine have been, and you too will start a ranting blog just to keep your sanity. I also hope that if my loved ones do read this regularly, they can intervene when necessary so I don't totally loose my shit.
Humans are pretty smart, amazing creatures. We created some amazing things, as well as some really awful terrible things. If we can all get together to bond about organized sports, beer, chocolate and whatever else floats our boat, we can definitely get together to get our act together and quit our compulsive creation of ridiculous waste.
So here's to you, and your quest to de-plasticize your life. Looking forward to a long and ridiculous road with who ever reads this.
