You Should Probably Not Use Shampoo Anymore

Alrighty, so most people get real grossed out when I tell them that I haven't used shampoo or conditioner in my hair for over 5 months. I was perusing around the internet sometime last year, when I found an article describing what shampoo really does to your hair. In the article, I read that back in the good old days, people just used soap to clean their hair. Just ordinary, every day soap like you would clean a dish with. But then, around the beginning of the 20th century, detergents came along. Guess what shampoo is? That's right. It's detergent. Like you would use to scrub the scum off of your bathroom floor. Whose brilliant idea was it to wash your hair with that? Shampoo actually strips your hair of all of its natural oils that keep it healthy. So guess what was invented next to counteract the nasty dryness that shampoo was causing? Conditioner. It was invented to cover up the damage that shampoo does to your hair. Of course, it's all presented like it's such a great thing that you should definitely rub through your scalp every morning.

When I read that I was essentially putting in my hair the same stuff that I would put in my dishwasher, I did further research, and found a company in Solon, Ohio  (Chagrin Valley Soap) that makes a bunch of organic, natural soaps, including "shampoo bars", which are used on hair.

I started using these shampoo bars, and let me tell you, it was not pretty. It took about a month for the soap to strip all the gunk out of my hair that the shampoo and conditioner had left behind. It was pretty disheartening.

Now however, I have been using the Auburn Henna shampoo bar for 5 months, and it is brilliant. All it has in it is babassu oil, sunflower oil, coconut oil, organic palm oil, organically grown henna, organic coconut milk, organic hibiscus, indigo, and rosemary extract. Sounds pretty dandy compared to what you would read on the back of a shampoo bottle.

Anyway, I used to have to wash my hair every single day, no exceptions, or it would get oily and dried out and FEEL so dirty. I hated going one single day without washing my hair.

Now...I only have to wash it twice a week. It's ridiculous. And even on the days when it starts to look a little dirty, it still feels clean. It saves me so much time in the morning. Also, it makes my hair naturally soft, so I have not used conditioner since November. I know.

I order one shampoo bar about every two months. They're about $13.00 after shipping and handling. But they arrive pretty quickly, and they smell so good. All you do is just create a lather with it and rub it through your scalp. It's pretty darn easy to use.

I know that some people like doing the baking soda/ apple cider vinegar rinse. I just didn't find that that worked for me. The vinegar started making my hair turn blonde, and I personally like being ginger.

I would definitely recommend this product to anyone. Literally, anyone. Also, they make really great soaps. I've been using their dead sea salt soap and it's done better things for my skin than years of visits to the dermatologist. Mother nature strikes again.

 

 

The Art Assignment

Today I finally got caught up on a new PBS YouTube series called The Art Assignment, and I’m so SO glad that I did. I think The Art Assignment is an extremely wonderful and important thing. Its goal is to teach people how to think more broadly about what art is
and how they, personally, can create art. It also exposes people to a range of contemporary artists, something we are not getting a lot, and in my opinion enough of. I’m going to try to complete all 3 of the assignments set so far, and will absolutely positively put them here for your viewing enjoyment when they are complete.
My favorite Art Assignment so far:
 

 

John’s was not the only mind blown by Sarah’s observation about the significance of the term ‘moving pictures’ for films. A lot of people don’t really understand that movies really are not just magical strings of perpetually moving film. This is why a cinematographer is sometimes called a director of photography; because at it’s most basic state, a movie is simply a string of images, each of which is unique and significant on its own. Because, as Toyin observes with her art, one image could never be enough to truly capture something.

The Wind Rises

This weekend I finally went to see The Wind Rises (Kaze Tachinu). I can honestly say I’ve never felt my money more well spent than the $12 I spent on that movie ticket. I watch a lot of movies. A lot of people watch a lot of movies. So I know I’m not speaking from a minority standpoint when I say that those times when you stumble upon a movie that seems to live and breathe on its own, you feel rich as Croesus. These movies are vitally important to you. Hayao Miyazaki, the writer, director, and illustrator of the original
comic, has created many of these vitally important films, in my life at least. His films are so complex and magical and fantastic and deceptively human. You’re drawn into this fairy tale that reveals more about the hearts of men than you could learn in most philosophical texts, that I believe for a fact.

The main character of Kaze Tachinu, Horikoshi, once said of his aircraft design that “All I wanted to do was to make something beautiful”. Miyazaki’s portrayal of this man’s struggle to find a way to create the beautiful airplanes of his imaginings, only to see them in the end fly off to battle, never to return, resulted in one of the most heartbreaking things I’ve ever experienced. I cried (not a lot, my brothers were there, I have street cred to uphold here). say that I am recommending this movie to anyone who can possibly see it is an understatement. I’m kind of saying that you have to.

 Le vent se lève! . . . il faut tenter de vivre!