Going Green for a Healthier Scalp

I have to admit, sometimes my green efforts sound outrageous even to me, but I have been surprised by how well most of them end up working. I already use a homemade laundry soap (sort of- mixing washing soda and good old fashioned ZOTE soap) and my clothes are doing great. I have been using green deodorant for years and love how that has turned out. Now, my scalp has made me jump into something I thought I would never do, do green with no-poo (without shampoo)

I have been reading about all the harm we cause ourselves with shampoo, starting with the harshness of the chemicals like parabens and sulfates. Then I find out maybe my shampoo is making my itchy scalp worse. I happen to have somewhat sensitive skin, and I can’t use just any moisturizer, so why would my scalp be any different.

I was considering going “no-poo” for about 2 years but keep getting deterred by the idea of having icky feeling hair, let alone the smell, but I kept reading on different blogs how many women had maybe just a week or two of the ick factor and none of the smell issues. So I decided to give it a whirl. But I could not do this cold turkey! No sir. I needed to ease into it. So first I decided to start by washing my hair less often to begin with, by doing it every other day, then just twice a week. Man was that hard!!! I kept wanting to wash it, but I held strong.

Then I thought “I’m nuts! How can my hair get cleaned without some sort of soap if not a shampoo??” So I looked into it and decided to try out a castile soap with tea tree oil to help my scalp issues. I went for the Dr. Brooner’s brand. It is a soap, not a shampoo, and it uses all natural ingredients. That worked out rather well, and the tea tree oil started helping with my itchy scalp. I went about 2 weeks with that (maybe 3 washes so far). 

So I took the leap. I had prepared the baking soda and water mix (1 tbsp. baking soda to 1 cup of water) to clean my scalp, and also prepared the apple cider vinegar and water mix (2 tbsp. apple cider vinegar to 1 cup of water) to condition it, and left them in my bathroom, but couldn’t make myself use them. Then one night I just did it. I had gone 3 days without washing my hair and thought, “if it doesn’t feel clean I can always go back to the castile soap”. 

I poured slowly the baking soda mix from the clear squeeze bottle and worked it into my scalp, rubbing every inch, making sure not to miss anything. I kept picturing a corner of greasy hair if I didn’t make sure every strand was covered. I followed the instructions on the many blogs and did only the roots and not the ends. Washed it out after about 2 minutes of rubbing, and my scalp and the hair felt almost squeaky-clean. How could this be?? It isn’t soap!!! But wait…this does feel a bit….dry?!?! So how the heck is apple cider vinegar supposed to make this feel better??

So there I went. I poured slowly the apple cider vinegar mix from the clear squeeze bottle and worked it into the ends, rubbing every inch. The smell was strong at first. It wasn’t feeling very different, but it did say to leave it in a few minutes. I also made sure not to go all the way into the roots since they said it would make my hair greasy…yeah, vinegar makes hair greasy, go figure!!!

5 minutes went by while I kept showering, and the smell wasn’t so strong. Time to wash it out. I kept picturing myself walking through the halls at work and people craving a salad for lunch al because of my hair, so I washed and washed.

I was tempted to pour a bit of conditioner, but I didn’t. I could always pull my hair back the next day. I wrapped my hair in a towel and let it dry a bit while I put on my moisturizer and pjs. By the time I took off my towel and started to brush it out it was amazingly manageable. If you have ever used conditioner you know there is this creamy feel to your hair, and if you go without you feel it dry and hard to comb through. Well this was sooooo not the case for me. My hair felt clean, really clean. Not creamy like with conditioner, yet completely comb-able (if that makes any sense). I have a bloodhound nose, so I could tell a scent of vinegar was still there, but an hour later is was almost completely gone (like I said, I am part dog).

Ok, so let’s see how it feels in the morning. I’m sure this can’t last long. Nope…morning came and my hair was still feeling pretty good. Brushed it with my boar bristle brush and stilled it as usual (I don’t use product because I have never liked how it feels), and off I went. It is close to noon for me and my hair still looks and feels good. It isn’t a miracle treatment by any means, and it has only been one day so far, but I expected much worse. 

If you are interested in a bit more information about the harms of shampoos (and deodorants and fragrances) here is a link that may interest you http://www.mnn.com/communityblogs/oddlyocean/the-harm-of-shampoos-deodorants-and-fragrances

I’ll do an update as the time passes to see how my scalp is doing, but I was planning on keeping a schedule of Sunday night baking soda and vinegar, and Thursday night castile/tea tree oil soap and vinegar (I liked the tea tree oil part). I may also look into some essential oils to help add some “oomph” to how my hair smells because right now it doesn’t smell like anything at all, and there is something to be said about nice smelling hair.



Have your tried going green for your scalp?

Rossana G-A



FTC Disclaimer: I am not compensated to write this post.

Cast Iron cooking - another green endeavor

I grew up in a household that cooked in Cast Iron skillets. My Mom never really taught me how to season them as she had been cooking in them for ever. She did, however, teach me they had to be completely dried or they would oxidize.

Then we "went with the times" and bought some non-stick skillets, started using cooking sprays, and even bought a microwave. Yep, I think I may have dated myself, but anyway...

In my efforts to have a healthier home and a healthier planet, I have gone back to these good old fashion skillets. I had non-stick for the majority of my married years, but the non-stick lasted only a few years and I was incurring the costs of new one more often than I liked. Then I come to find out about the lovely carcinogens left behind....wonderful.

Interestingly enough, even before I knew this, I venture out to buy to cast iron skillets because I loved to cook in them at my parents house. I stopped using them as frequently because they kept sticking. I come to find out I had to season them.

I found this wonderful blog post http://modernmrscleaver.com/2012/08/16/psssst-cast-iron-pass-it-down/ about cast iron and the ABCs of using and caring for them.

Image from modernmrscleaver.com

So I was sold. I pulled out both my skillets and seasoned them a few months back, and have slowly started using them.

I have the 5-inch lodge miniature skillet,

and the 8-inch skillet.

They have been a joy to use...once I got used to actually lowering the temperature on my electric range...because they heat up and stay hot so much beter than non-stick modern pans. One more for cast iron. That makes....a gazillion against non-stick pans.

I have noticed the lids I have from my other pans work well, but I plan to start using them in the oven as well, so I do plan to invest in a couple of cast iron lids.

I also noticed the handles do get pretty darn hot, and this multitasking Mom can easily forget to use a pot holder, so maybe some Silicon Hot Handle Holders are in my future as well

And since I am on a roll, I'l probably invest in a few more pieces. This one is a two-for-one, or should I say a five-for-two; a skillet, a fryer, a dutch oven, a lid, that also converts to a griddle. 

Have you tried cooking with Cast Iron?


Rossana G-A



FTC Disclaimer: I am not compensated to write this post.

Hot weather, cool lunch!

Since we are in the middle of summer, and my kiddos are going to summer day camp where they go out on field trips and hikes and swimming and all sorts of warm weather activities, it was soon apparent to me that their normal packed lunch was not getting the usual amount of shade it had while they were in school. They started complaining about their grapes being soggy and their yogurt not being cold.

I could have opted not to pack them such items, but when these are such healthy foods I thought I would look into it a bit more. I looked all over the Internet and found some interesting items. I also found out they sold them at Target, which made me even happier as I could go check them out and not simply order them on-line (and pay for shipping).

I was happy to find a smaller version of some lunch travel containers I already had.

These have been great tools for me when packing my own lunch, and for the past week it seams I made a good purchase in expanding our lunch tools for them.

 

These handy containers have an icepack on the lid which keeps the contents nice and cool without making the rest of their lunch bag wet with an external icepack. They are as small as 1 cup and 2 cup containers, and perfect for those fresh fruits and veggies they love. They also keep cheese and ham slices cool, for those “green Mom version” of store lunchables.

I was also very happy to find these yogurt containers.

They are insulated cups that fit most store brand individual yogurt cups. They also come with 2 stackable cups. One with an incorporated icepack lid for such things as pre-packed fruit cups or “green Mom version” fruit in juice without all the pre-packaging. The other is a smaller cup simple cup for dry snacks like granola, cheerios, or goldfish crackers.

My kid lunch packing collection already included the following items:

Lunch Bag

Napkins

Water Bottle

Snack bags

Silicone Cups - to use as bento dividers

Large sub container or small vento box

Sandwich container

Small snack container

Sporks

This last one I use more often in less warm weather to send my kids some chicken nuggets, or fish sticks, or even soup. It is a great tool because it comes with a spoon in the lid, it is microwaveable so you can heat it up again right before you pack it (or reheat if they can do so at school, but without the lid), and dishwasher safe.

Hot food bowl

I am actually a bit embarrassed to admit I have a few other things I use for packing lunches, like sandwich shape cutters, or cookie cutters I use for fruit shapes, little plastic sauce bottles, but these are the ones I use almost every day. It is all in an effort to make lunch more enjoyable and more eco-friendly for my little ones. And for me too :)

What are you eco-friendly lunch packing tools?





Rossana G-A


FTC Disclaimer: I am not compensated to write this post.

Birthday Party for an 8 year old girl - Rocker theme

Throwing a party for an 8 year old tween is no small feat. Tweens can have pretty high expectations and they definitely want some say in the planning. My girls is not the exception. She changed her mind so much about what she wanted, from ballerina to princess to fairies, that I decided to pause the planning until we were closer to the date. Good thing, because she ended up picking rocker girl. Thus the invites we made at home.

So we went on with the theme and picked cupcakes that would look like microphones to hand out at school (we always take a treat to her class at school). it was supposed to look more polished, like the picture in a recipe book we have at home, but they didn't end up looking as nice and yet they were a big hit with her class mates and some school mates from other classes came running to try and get one (some did since I made a few extra).

Picture from What's New Cupcake?

Not so bad, but not so polished.

Then we went on to buying more rock themed goodies, like getting a piñata in the shape of a rock guitar and some inflatable guitars for the party favors.

Then we moved on to more important stuff, like what to wear!!! Yes, a tween already wants to plan what to wear to her 8th year birthday shindig. This included a hot pink tutu and some colorful hair extensions for the Rock STAR.

                                                                 

For goodie bags I figured I'd forgo the plastic bags and I would use the brown paper bags I use for my kid's lunches when they go on field trips (a generic brand from our local grocery store).

I printed the same images I used for our party invitations, and glued them to the brown bags, added some colorful "Rock On" etc, and we had our finished product.

For the cake, I was fortunate enough to have my daughter's godmother offer to make it for us.

Rock Star Cake

We did have to change the venue because we planned for a park and it was forecast to rain (which rain it DID). I stressed out over the prospect, but in the end a local restaurant we frequent was kind enough to make room for us, and we used their kids' meal menu. Because of that we had kids' activity mats and crayons provided by the restaurant. We also could not break the piñata but it made for a cool prop. 

One of many pictures taken at the party.

Birthday Girl with her little brother.

She and her friends had a blast.  

Would your little girl like a rock-star themed party?

Rossana G-A




FTC Disclaimer: I am not compensated to write this post.

Birthday Party for a 6 year old boy

A month ago I had my little boy Lucian's 6th Birthday Party. I am about to have my girl Alessa's 8th Birthday Party in a week, and was planning on posting about some of the planning involved. I then realized I should go ahead and post about both.

I'm not going to lie, I did stress a bit over what to do and how to do it, and this was the first party I threw for him that was with his friends from school and not just our family and close friends. This added to the "it has to be just so" neurosis. 

In the end, it was mostly about what made him happy and not about having the perfect party because for him it was just perfect.

The invitations were made at home by my husband. He actually jumped ahead of me and did them himself based on what my son told him he wanted, i.e. Dinosaurs! I probably would have gone crazy with color, but it was a Dad/Son bonding moment so I let them have it.

Good thing to keep in mind is having people reply if attending so you have a better count for food and party favors, as well as planning some of the party games. A map is also very helpful, and a phone number to call in case anyone gets lost.

Then I started with the goodie bags. I wanted to be as eco-friendly as possible, so instead of buying plastic bags I went with paper bags and did some designs at home with stencils we already had. Did I mention my boy loves dinosaurs?!

Then we went on to do some party games and some cute cupcake containers. Remember that game where you balance a lime or an egg on a spoon and race to the finish line without dropping it? I forget the name, but you get the idea. Since we had a dinosaur theme going, we switched the lime for an empty egg shell in fun colors. These kindergardeners had a ton of fun doing this, but even more fun cracking the egg shells afterward. I also baked some cupcakes in them. Please note I washed the shells and boiled them for 15 minutes to make sure they were safe. The kiddo's loved peeling their egg to get to the chocolate cupcake inside.

Then the piñata. No, I didn't make it, although my husband was willing to try. We actually went down to the nearest party supply store and bought one. They didn't have a T-Rex, and my boy was dead set on one, so he convinced me to buy a dragon (which according to him is related to dinosaurs, just that it has wings and breathes fire, but we can discuss that at a later time). He also suggested I make the necessary changes to make it look like a dinosaur, like clip the wings (which I then put on the new dinosaur's back). I wonder were he gets his creativity from?!

And then we filled both goodie bags and piñata with treats, sugary and not. Some chocolates, lollipops, fruit snacks, and raisins, among others. I also threw in the goodie bags some miniature dinosaur toys and stamps, which even the girls loved when they opened their bags.

Then, the part I was most afraid of, the cake. I have baked cakes my whole life and they are very good, but I've never really decorated them. I had the tools for some time now, but never really used them. So I gave it a whirl, and I think it didn't end up half bad.

Added some of my boy's dinosaur toys (washed beforehand, of course), and 6 candles, and we were set. 

Got some pizza, juice boxes and water bottles, some fruit to slice (apples and oranges), the cake and cupcakes I already mentioned. 2 hours for the party, set at our local park/playground, the race, a "pin the pterodactyl on the Jurassic park" (bought at the party supply store, a "pin the tale on the donkey" type game), and piñata cracking at the end and everyone was happy to go home with their goodie bags.

Lucian was happy to take home his presents. Not the point of this whole endeavor, but nice to see a big smile on his face because most all of his friends made it to the party.

Nice sunny day, and over 26 kids attended, but we did have some party fouls, like having the cake almost melt because of how sunny it was. Since I covered it up in my cake carrier to put it in the shade, a 2 year old guest found it irresistible to look at the green stuff inside and knocked it over. We had 20 kids RSVP (16 friends and 4 of their siblings), but 6 came with siblings they did not count when replying. Not the end of the world because "Mom" always plans for worst case scenarios and made extra of everything. In the end, whatever wasn't perfect didn't matter when hearing my boy say "This was the best party. Ever!!!" And that made it So Perf for me!!

What makes a birthday party special for you?

Rossana G-A


FTC Disclaimer: I am not compensated to write this post.

Venti Latte at home

Always the coffee lover, I was interested last year in finding out how much I was spending on coffee. I would drop by Starbucks almost every day and order a venti latte and drive off merrily to work. I didn't do it every day simply because I knew it was an added expense, and yet the coffee smell drew me in more often than not. Don't get me wrong, I drank coffee absolutely every morning, but regular old fashioned drip coffee from my coffee maker at home was not the same somehow.

So I did the rough math. I estimated that if I was to buy a venti latte every day as a most desperately desired, at about $4.00 a serving (20 ounces of dark rosted heaved with warm frothy milk), I was spending $1,460 a year. And those numbers are averaged to account for price differences by location, as well as tax differences. Also, that was just for my consumption when dear hubby was just as bad an offender if not worse.

Then I though of all the waste of those paper cups and cardboard heat sleeves. OK, so you can take your mug a refill it, but how many people actually do that?

I took another stab at math, and I estimated a latte, the same size, made at home would cost me about $1.00. This is accounting for a $3.19 gallon of milk (that's for me in the Bay Area), at 16 cups each, which would be roughly $0.20 a cup. Then a pound of my favorite coffee at $12.95 each, with 45 servings is about $0.29 a serving. Double both up since ventis need 2 shots of espresso and 2 cups of milk. I didn't go as far as estimating electricity, but the numbers seamed compelling enough for me.

I researched espresso machines, and was shocked to find machines in the thousands. Not for me though. So I went to the other extreme and bought one with nice reviews for less than $50. It made pretty good espresso, but it clogged up a few times, and then it broke down all together in less than 2 weeks. Lesson learned!! 

I researched further and found one for just under $150 with tons of good reviews. The Breville Cafe Modena Espresso Machine has been making wonderfully robusts coffee for me for almost a year now and I have no complaints complaints. 

Estimating 365 servings a year x $1.00 for the venti sized latte + $150 for the machine, I have already saved about $945 for the first year and just for my coffee and not hubby's. Not bad at all.

I did make a few additional expenses along the way.

I had a coffee mug before, but apparently it was a size Grande (16 oz) and I was already used to that extra little bit. So I bought the one you see in the first picture on this post for about $16 a year ago at my local Starbucks.

I also bought the items you see below

A coffee canister for $20, an espresso glass carafe for another $12, a metal milk frothing jug for $15, and the Braun Coffee Grinder you see here was a gift from several years back, but I found it again on Amazon for $69 in case you are interested. 

So, all and all I think the small additional expenses gave me a So Perf! feeling of accomplishment, being green, and saving green, while still getting my coffee fix every single day.

Are you thinking of spending some cash to save some cash on your coffee fix?

Rossana G-A

FTC Disclaimer: I am not compensated to write this post.