Egad!! Where does the summer go?!

I have been a bit lax in keeping this blog updated. Sorry for that. It is mainly because, since New Orleans, we have not had any wild adventures to report. Frankly, going to Africa set a rather high bar, and I'm not sure what I can do to top it.

However, I have discovered a few new things over the course of my slow-paced summer, and I guess I may as well share them now. First of all, shampoo is bunk. I realize I am a bit late to this, as I am to most internet phenoms (like Twitter and the Peanut Butter Jelly Banana video), but as they say, better late than never. I last washed my hair with shampoo over 3 weeks ago and it is shinier and healthier than ever before. Now I know that those of you who have seen me in my Jesus rope sandals probably have an image of a dread-headed hippie. Yes, I will admit that I am certainly leaning in that direction these days. But the lack of shampoo has not created dreads for me, in fact, quite the opposite.

The "no-poo" method is springing up on green blogs everywhere. I have wild, thick, wavy, course hair and have never found a hair care regime that worked for me. Even hours spent carefully straightening my mop would result in its springing back to its original state within a few hours.

I think the key to this method is to experiment with the proportions, because the pH on your scalp is unique. Mine apparently, was so unique that no shampoo manufacture had ever created a product for it. So here's what I do, although this varies somewhat with the directions I read on the internet.

About twice a week, I dilute about a teaspoon and a half of baking soda in about a cup of water. I carefully pour it on my scalp and massage for a minute or two, then rinse thoroughly. Once or twice a week I dilute a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar or lemon juice in a cup of water and pour it on my hair, more towards the end. I let it sit for about 5 minutes and then rinse it out. I also made this crazy flax seed hair gel, mainly because I have a TON of flax seeds in my freezer. If you follow the link, you can watch a very informative video about how to make it. I personally do a lot of things in my daily life, like ride my bike all around town, that make my head all sweaty and dirty, so every night when I take my shower, I rinse my head off with water. Then I put some flax gel on my hair and let it air dry. I have had really bad dandruff my whole life, even when using prescription strength products, but this has cleared it up, making me happy on one hand, but also irritated that I have spent so much money and time trying products that were not effective. Capitalism made me do it.

The other thing I discovered is that if you have a high powered blender, you can grind up kale and spinach in your fruit smoothies, which turn them bright clean, but they still taste like fruit! Not like a weird health food! You can eat at least 2-3 servings of dark green, leafy vegetables with very little effort, which is very important for nutrition, and also very cheap at this time of the year when you frequent the farmer's markets and buy way too much produce to possibly eat without actually grinding it up.

Yeah, I've been real busy this summer. Smoothies and hair care. Please don't ask me how the book is coming.

Also, for those of you who read this and also live close to us, please save us some boxes. We're going to be moving sometime soon, and for once, it won't make sense to sell all our stuff!