Organic Shampoo Review

I regularly rotate out which shampoo I use. After one bottle is empty, I switch so that my hair does not become accustom to a particular formula. As Joshua and I have recently switched to all organic, that has had an effect on which body care solutions we use as well. Here are a couple of my favorite shampoos.

• Nature's Gate: Herbal Daily Shampoo - - this one has become my favorite. It handles my weekly swimming routine well without letting my hair feel chalky in the shower and it removes the grease that Joshua is familiar with while working on the ship. This herbal blend draws on properties from chamomile, lavender and sage which offers a pleasant clean aroma and the lavender also doubles in aromatherapy for stress relief, which is a nice reprieve in the morning before work.
• Nature's Gate Organics: Asian Pear and Red Tea Shampoo - - this one is my favorite if I'm not swimming. I happen to get a little more tangle out of the shower with this one, but the smell is fabulous. This shampoo is more appropriately formulated for color-treated hair, which though I haven't had my hair colored in over a year, preserves the shine well and offers an extra brightness to my blond highlights.
• Alba Botanica: Hawaiian - - this is the only type available at my grocery store by this company, though they do have other varieties. This particular blend is thicker than the other botanical organic blends I have used previously. It lathers particularly well and the smell instantly transports to the bottom of a waterfall in the tropics. Macadamia oil, pineapple, kelp, awapuhi, and kukui nut attribute their natural properties to this mix and I am growing increasingly fond of this blend while the weather is changing to be drier. With the cooler weather coming, my finer hair tend to get really prone to splint ends, but I do not foresee this being a problem with this blend. [Blogger's Note: Alba Botanica also offers an organic Kukui Nut Body Creme that is rich, silky and a great nut-smelling alternative to a former favorite of mine The Body Shop's Brazil Nut Body Butter, which is too mainstream and completely non-organic, though the nuts themselves are community traded.

Cailin Coincidence

Just on a random aside, let it be known that my birthday, October 1st is also World Vegetarian Day. How wonderfully serendipitous is that? So not only is my favorite food (pumpkin) widely commemorated beginning October 1st, which is the beginning of it's harvest season, but also it is Vegetarian Awareness Month? Oh, I love it.

[Yes, that's me sitting in a pumpkin patch. That was taken last October on my annual "Autumn Day" where the first apple pie is made, the pumpkins are selected and the first batch of freshly pressed cider is brewed on the stove after a great day tromping through pumpkin patches and bumping around on hay rides. Think of all that amazing fresh air I get, while searching out the amazing pumpkin!]

Looking for Green

It is my Friday lunch hour and as it is so dreary and rainy outside and I already tried braving the weather for my morning one miler, I decided to set up shop inside today and surf the web for something green. Here's where I spent my time:

• ideal bite: a sassier shade of green offering tips and tricks to live a more "green" lifestyle
• Honeybee Gardens: all body natural products for men and women
• Terrapass: balancing CO2 emissions
• Green Festival: showcasing and teaching on eco-friendly living
• VegNews Magazine: for vegetarian lifestyles
• Planeterra: an adventure company for off the beaten path
• Green-e: a renewable energy certification company
• Organic Spa Magazine (online): connecting spa with sustainability
• Natural Home Magazine: making green homes chic

Surf's up!

Swimming in Bleach

In my pursuit of health, I'm finding a terrible inconsistency in what I say and what I do.

With some recent joint pain and weight gain, I have turned over to swimming as a great way to do my cardio workouts and still relieve the muscle soreness associated with such heavy pounding on the joints. However, I have to swim through chlorine. It is completely inadvertent, but I am finding with so many laps (at least 1500 meters), I am taking in quite a bit of water through my mouth, nose and on my skin. I swam last night and I still smell like that horrid chemical. I am noting my hair becoming more brittle, my skin drying out more rapidly, my throat hurting substantially in the morning and I am dry as a camel throughout the day. I am loving the exercise, but I need to pull away from the pool, else I fall victim to perhaps some serious damage.

For my throat, after my swims I am immediately drinking Throat Coat tea as well as half a liter of water to help flush the harmful fluids from my body. For my hair, I have started placing a thick organic conditioner on my hair prior to placing on my swim cap to help save my hair from the damage of the pool and then only rinsing my hair once I am back in the locker room after my laps. For my skin, I am also attempting to rinse off more thoroughly after I swim, but somehow I can not shake the smell. It's rather unprofessional to be sitting in the office at my desk and smell like a can of bleach and tooting the "all-natural" horn.

Any suggestions to help my skin while I pursue this short-term interest?

Waste Not, Want Not?

In my deliberate transition from heavily advertised "normal" items (cosmetics, toxic cleaners, processed foods, etc.) to a more healthful approach, I am cringing against my frugal thrifty nature and Dutch heritage, which doesn't let you throw ANYTHING away, to completely rid my home of chemicals and toxic items. I cleaned my bathrooms for the first time yester-evening with my new biodegradable products and ... [there are no words].

I have always had a reaction to chemicals. When cleaning the house growing up, I used to complain I wasn't feeling well and I think perhaps my mother thought I was faking in order to get out of housework, but in fact it has only gotten worse as I've gotten older. I now have to wear a handkerchief over my mouth and nose when cleaning the bathrooms with the poor ventilation and aerosol cans, abrasive bleach cleaners and sprays that made me nauseated. I have learned to stall in cleaning the bathrooms, as my skin gets sensitive and red and my lungs burn and my nose and mouth begin to react to all the sensory over-drive that occurs with the inundation of chemical smells in such a small space. I began to accept this reaction as normal.

As I cleaned my house last night, I sprayed the mirrors, counters, and cabinets and the smell was so faint, I began to wonder if it was working. As I began to see the soap scum come clean and the windows be streak free, I wondered why I was left in the dark about the availability of these products for so long. I opened the new scrub for the shower stall and tub and began to doubt if the amount in the container could handle the task I was about to give it: my brother's shower. As I gingerly tapped into the resources, I noticed I had completed a whole half of the shower without reaching for more. Usually this was the part I hated the most as the powder abrasive cleaner would become airborne as I was dispensing it and I would have to breathe in the bleach as I was leaning over the tub to scour the walls. Again, this was completely not the case. The all-natural cleaner was made from ground cherry pits and the smell was faint, but pleasant and I was able to clean the space completely with only minimal cleaning agent. I noticed after I rinsed the walls my drain wasn't clogged with all of the product filling the basin of my tub like it was previously. I was amazed at what a small environmental footprint I was leaving from the cleaning of my bathroom.

I ran water to create an all purpose solution to wash the floors and walls, doors and shelves and after I finished and my water was brown from all the filth I had lifted from my bathrooms, I walked out my door and down my steps to the lawn and freely dropped my brown water into the soil, as my product manual encouraged me to do. I could never have done this before as my all purpose cleaner was filled with contaminants and phosphates that would likely have killed the poor crape myrtle tree I watered. I decided I was having too much fun to stop, so I threw my shower curtains in the laundry and used the new cleaner, of which I only needed a half a tablespoon and as my curtain was only mildly soiled, I placed it on the gentle setting and pulled out bright, clean fabrics after the cycle was completed.

I am positive that the only downside from these new products is the amount of time I now spend cleaning my house, which might have an effect on how much time I am spending with Joshua or at the office. Speaking of which, I have a very sensitive nose and with office cubicles being in such close proximity, if a coworker slathers on a particularly strong scented lotion or decides to clean their desk with a spray all purpose cleaner, I have to leave my office. I am instantaneously sick to my stomach and I get light headed, followed usually by a migraine. I brought in my new counter cleaner, which is 99.9% water and cleaned off picture frames, lamps, counters, computer hardware without so much as a sneeze from all the dust that had been happily accumulating in my workspace. A coworker walked over and noted that she wasn't aware that I was cleaning because she didn't smell anything. Welcome to the new era.

Waste not want not? Absolutely not. I threw all my old stuff in a box by my front door. Harsh abrasive cleaners, bleach, syrupy fabric softener, phosphate filled cleaners and laundry detergent, dish soap, dishwasher powder, oven cleaner, sticky surface cleaner and carpet stain removal all got nicely put in a large recyclable box. I called my brother who just moved into a new apartment and asked if he was in the market for some products. His response? "No thanks, I'm switching to whatever you're using". There you have it.

Introduction: JMLD

Born in southeast Texas and raised on a ranch influenced greatly the dietary norms of this southern boy. Red meat was not just something to eat; it was what we ate. A friend of mine once told me "Vegetables are what 'food' eats", and, as a culture, my family lived that mindset everyday. At age seventeen I was a 6'2", 285 lbs. offensive lineman for my high school's football team. Large and in charge left me fat and depressed.

After graduation, I looked about me searching for a way to get a start in life. Few things in the Texas Golden Triangle appealed to me, and I knew that I lived in the type of town that people never leave. I finally decided to join the US Navy in search of adventure and purpose. Unfortunately I was nowhere close to the weight requirements. I had to get serious about more than my weight, more than my exercise habits; I had to get serious about my life, about my lifestyle. I was an athlete, per se. I knew how to work hard, play hard, and how to commit, but I lacked the tools and information that I needed to be successful in my plight to escape the Golden Triangle doldrums and get into a lifestyle of deeper and clearer, cleaner waters.

That is the purpose of this blog: to not only have a place for cataloging the information discovered, but also to provide a source of information for others who may read what Cailin and I have found for the enrichment of our lives. My wife and I have committed to a lifestyle of healthy living, starting with our diet and simple steps like recycling, but allowing that mindset to move beyond the everyday, beyond the ordinary. Many people, when they find out that my wife is a vegan, have asked her, "What do you eat?" Likewise when I say that I am an O+ carnivore, people assume that I am the same unhealthy and unhappy man that I was. Through this blog Cai and I want to shed light on the union of veganism and meat eaters to give hope to those who think that a healthy diet is unrealistic and unattainable.

Introduction: CLTD

I am a returning vegan after a three year sabbatical during which I married my Texan husband who turned me from my devout vegetarian ways and tempted me with antelope and strawberry glaze during our engagement dinner. I am an A+ blood type relying heavily on raw vegetables for my protein and much dedicated to the freshest possible produce to sustain my dietary needs.

Running track and playing basketball while maintaining a lacto-ovo free and meatless diet kept me in shape and fit in high school. Early college years were not as rigid in exercise routine and my veganism fell by the wayside after returning to the United States after living in Japan for three years. Fast forward five years and a recent doctor's visit found me over my body mass index (BMI). Aghast and horrified to be classified as "overweight", yet knowing it to be the truth, drove me to reclaim my health and longevity in better dietary standards and a routine exercise regimen. Now swimming twice a week and getting back into running and yoga, I am opening my mind to ideas that have evolved while I was out of the all-natural scene, including the thrive diet, the raw foods detox diet, blood type diet, as well as newer developments in vegetarianism that will help me adapt to a healthier me.

I am about as new as they come for the "green" ideals, but quickly gaining ground for lost time and bad decisions. Our home has recently has switched to all natural, biodegradable cleaners whilst trading out the toxicity that once reigned in our home. Fluoride-free toothpaste and aluminum-free deodorant are the new indicators of our strong dedication to our health as well as talking pieces when we are confronted by our friends. Searching out local co-ops and organic farmers have given us new understanding on sustainability and reducing carbon waste. Each day gives us new resources and new ideas that we are just bursting to share. Stop by our blog often and comment freely... we look forward to hearing from you!