These past weeks I've been working a lot which is why I haven't had the time or the energy to write anything. But today your waiting is over. Elin is back. And since I have a couple of weeks of home studying ahead I will probably have a lot more energy and time. I've previously just mentioned the change I've made in which products I use that are nature friendly. So today I thought I'd tell you about an alternative way to use hairproducts. I still haven't found an organic solution to everything, such as a good hairspray. Fortunately I don't use hairspray so often. I think everyone wants their hair to look good and full of life. So do I, and at the same time I want to use as little as possible of the silicones and jungle of names and abbreviations of that often fill our shampoo bottles. If you want to try out some more nature friendly shampoo for example, don't start by memorizing what not to use. It's easier if you go to an organic shop and chose between what they have on their shelves. It's probably more nature friendly than the ones you find in an ordinary store. That's what I did, and I've had to try a lot of different brands and types of shampoo. They're all different and work better for some and not so good for others. And as always when you change into a non-conventional option it takes some getting used to, your body needs to adjust. I'm currently using the chocolate shampoo from faith in nature. It has been good for me and my hair, and the shower smells like a chocolate cake (which isn't so bad for me, the chocolate lover). I don't use any conditioner, since I don't need it. My hair is so slippery so a condotioner would make it even more difficult to style.
Instead I use hair oil to give my hair some extra nourishment and to keep the ends from becoming too dry. The hair oil from Weleda is really good, but I'm also sometimes adding a bit of coconut oil to the ends after a shower. Coconut oil is also really good as a hair mask. Add coconut oil to the hair two hours before a shower, shower as usual (an extra wash with shampoo might be necessary) and your hair will be like new. And as I've said before I try to avoid heat treatments as much as possible since it damages the hair so much. This is how I do it. Hope you got a bit more interested, and I hope to hear what you've tried and how it worked. /E
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Yesterday we had a "clean-the-house" day because the house looked like a mess since I was sick last week (yes, I admit I'm the messy one most of the time). But luckily cleaning can always be made fun. This last year I've enjoyed cleaning so much, it's such a joy to be able to clean with fresh cleaning supplies. Because it feels so good to not have to use a lot of chemicals that you later inhale. And the benefits of using non chemical cleaning supplies is that your health and environment improves. I mostly use ENJO's products. ENJO is an Austrian company making cleaning supplies etc that you can use with just water. Most of their products are made out of micro fibers that absorb the dirt. If it's too dirty they have different helping aids also, such as their olive soap. I'm not going to tell you the entire story of all their products because that would be too much for anyone to read. The products can't be found in stores, they sell it by showing how it works. Andreas and I bought our first ENJO products when a friend of our started selling and had a demonstration at our home. Then I was hooked. Their cloths are so easy and fast to use. And this is said by me, who didn't like cleaning at all. If you want to read more you can check this out. This is only a part of all the cloths by ENJO we have.
I do use other kinds of cleaning solutions also, but I avoid chemicals. There are just so many ways of cleaning where you don't have to use them. /E Last year I came home one day with a jar of coconut oil and told Andreas that I'm going to make my own deodorant. By the look on his face I bet he was thinking that I was gonna smell all the time, why would coconut oil work as a deodorant? Well I wanted to try it out, had heard about it from my two friends who were using it. I had for a long time had problems with itchy armpits, they were itching all the time. I had tried out many different normal deodorants to see if maybe one of them would work, but they didn't. My hope went to the coconut oil. Maybe it would be the solution I was looking for. Since coconut oil is soothing for the skin it helped a lot, no more itches! And once my body got used to it as a deodorant it worked like a charm. By far the best deodorant, with a lovely scent of coconut. And Andreas hasn't had to complain one single time. If you want to make your own deodorant use for example 1 dl coconut oil, 1 dl bicarbonate and 1 dl cornstarch. I use virgin organic coconut oil. Heat the coconut oil until it melts, then add the rest and blend. Put it in a small jar and let it cool down. If you want a bit of scent you can add a few drops of any essential oil you like. Then there is the more lazy way that I use at the moment. Put a little coconut oil under your armpit, then a little bicarbonate. It works as well. This is how cute your deodorant can be.
Coconut oil is naturally antibacterial, and since it is the bacterias that give us the lovely smell of sweat you don't want them. The bicarbonate works as a neutralizer for the bacterias, which makes the smell go away even more. I chose to start with an unconventional deodorant because I don't want to get the aluminium (that exist in normal deos) into my body. It's so close to the lymph nodes, and especially women should think about this. The connection between aluminium-based anti-perspirants and breast cancer is being examined, but it has been established that high levels of alumimium in the blood is bad for your healt. I could write so much more about this, so if you have any thoughts or questions just ask! /E Last night Elin and I were out at a summer house with some friends, celebrating the end of summer. That means we did not get much sleep. So when we came home a couple of hours ago and I realized that it was my turn to write something on the blog, I was like: Noo, I don't have any inspiration now, just want to relax and watch a movie or something.. Anyway, I slapped myself in the face a couple of times to wake up, grabbed a journal about ecological homes and stuff and went out to try to get some kind of inspiration. I sat down under an apple tree, like Isaac Newton did when he got he's smart ideas. I took a bite of an apple and started to read the journal. It's nice to read a journal thats filled with articles about likeminded people who are trying to live a more earth friendly lifestyle. I hope that more people will begin to think about how they live their lives, and start to change it, so it becomes more sustainable for our earth. Because we have just one globe, therefore we should be more careful with it.
Well, I didn't get any smart ideas there under the apple tree like Newton. But I did get more inspiration to continue to live more ecological. After picking a basket full of apples, I went inside to start with the writing.. ..And now I'm done with that, hope it's readable, and that someone else than just me got something out of it. /A I'm no chef. I don't really like making food and I'm not good at it, except for when I make waffles, and that's maybe the only thing I do when it comes to making food. Tasty, crispy waffles... Anyway, what I do like is woodworking and whittling, so when my wife asked me in the beginning of this summer if I could make her some kitchen tools in wood, I was like: Yeah, I can do that!! I started making some spoons in various sizes that she might have use for, and of course a butter knife or two. We decided that we should try to replace our plastic stuff in the kitchen to wooden or metal. Therefore I now have this list of kitchen tools that I have to make, or buy. It feels like a good challenge for this fall. In the picture below is some of the stuff I've made, and can cross off the list. Why wooden tools? Obviously it is much better looking and aesthetic than plastic tools. But it's not just for the aesthetic we decided to try to get a plastic free kitchen. Plastic releases all kinds of toxic substances that aren't good for the body and can upset the hormonal balance, especially for kids. I do not have all the knowledge in the subject so I will stop the preaching now, but think about it folks.
/A I thought I should share some of the reasons why I decided to start changing my thoughts and choices. I was for a long time aware of what was happening to our environment, but I thought it had to be totally life-changing if you wanted to do something about it. You'd have to change the entire way of living at once. Luckily I noticed that that's not the case, that you can take small bits and apply them into your life. One step at a time.
It's almost two years ago I started noticing that my stomach didn't work as it should. It was almost always bloated and I started having cramps that were really painful. I had to lie down with warming pillows on my stomach to numb the pain most evenings. Then I started to try out differnt diets, lactose-free and gluten-free diets. They helped a little but my problems didn't completely go away. I read a book about the impact food and cosmetics has on our bodies, written by a woman who had experienced the same thing I was going through only that her problems were worse. I tried to reduce the amount of fried food since it's hard for the stomach to process. Sometimes I still get problems with my stomach but it's not as often and it's always after I've eaten so called "hard" food. At the same time I started to think more about what we actually have in, on and aorund our bodies. I tried out some nature-friendly shampoos and have now finally found one that works for my hair. I also bought some cleaning supplies that are free from chemicals. I found out that treating your body as it should be treated actually also treats the nature as it should be treated. It's definitely a win-win situation. I still have a long way to go to get to where I want to be. But the thing is that when you start taking small steps towards a more ecological life you will want to take more and more steps. And I'm so happy that my husband now also will join me! /E |