Green Hair

No, no, no... not GREEN hair but "green" hair, as in going green.
So, if you are anything like me you have heard of several friend who have either heard of, or actually tried for themselves, going "poo free." Frankly, I love that feeling of thick lather in my hair, and running down my back far too much to have seriously considered ditching my shampoo in an effort to be green. Those other option worked so well I thought about it, for about a second and half though. Then I moved on with life, going 'poo free was NOT on this girls to do list.

A few weeks ago things changed. I was 16 weeks pregnant and trying to figure out ways to cut our budget down since I had been told that I will not be allowed to work anymore. Oh my, we were suddenly a one income house. Eeep! My hair has been fair oilier since I became pregnant. But, as I didn't have a job to be to everyday, I figured there was no better time to try to cut out the expense of my shampoo and conditioner.

I collected what I needed for the trial run. The list was short: baking soda, vinegar, a large cup and a spoon. Sound more like a science product that hair care? Yeah, I thought so too. I was unconvinced that this would do me any good. But, I had to try at this point, my partner was watching to see how this worked. So, I soaked my hair in warm water. Then I mixed a little over a tablespoon of baking soda and water in the cup. This was then poured over my hair and left to sit for a couple of minutes. I rubbed the solution into my scalp before rinsing. It felt a little soapy but no lather. Then I rinsed it well with more warm water. My hair felt tangled to me and I was supposed to pour vinegar over it? All I could thing about was how much that was going to hurt to brush out. So, I mixed my vinegar solution to the same strength, a little over a table spoon to a full cup of water. I poured that over my hair and QUICKLY rinsed it away. I am not a fan of the way vinegar smells and was afraid I was going to stink, thought I was calmly assuring my boyfriend that vinegar is odorless when dried.
 
A few minutes later I was standing in front of my bathroom mirror, holding a hair brush and DREADING having to put it to my head. Hesitantly I tried to brush through what looked like a snarled mess, and the brush slid right through. It didn't catch, it didn't pull. To brush my hair after my normal shampoo and conditioner I would need detangler since I have thick curly hair. I was shocked. Since my hair was still wet, I assumed it would look oily when it dried, after all if this was such a wonder cure to awful hair, wouldn't everyone know about it? So, I braided my wet hair and went to bed. My partner even commented about how good my hair smelled and that it didn't smell like vinegar at all, we were both surprised. The next morning, not only was my hair not oily but it wasn't frizzy either.

I had my boyfriend pick up condiment bottles for me the next day. I mixed up my baking soda "shampoo" bottle and my vinegar "conditioner" bottle. For the last two and a half weeks I have been 'poo free and my hair is just getting better and better. This is not because I am pregnant, because up until I went 'poo free I was ready to CHOP OFF my "pregnant" hair which had become unmanageable. I can now blow dry my hair and walk away without the extra 30-50 minutes spent with my flat iron. I've NEVER been able to skip the flat iron before.

So here's the deal, if you are very interested in Going Green, or living on a tight budget, or you have hair that is hard to deal with, or frizzy hair, or dry hair, or you just like a good science experiment you should try this. If you give it two weeks the worst thing that can happen is that you miss the lather of your shampoo, the best case is that you realize that you can save money, the planet and time spent on styling better hair.

All you need is two bottles I like the picnic style condiment bottles with the narrow spout though old shampoo or conditioner bottles would work too. Then mix your solution in each about 1 tablespoon of baking soda (for shampoo) or 1 tablespoon of vinegar (for conditioner) per eight ounces of water. I used 24 ounce bottles and a bottle of baking soda solution lasts me about 2 weeks and the vinegar solution loos like it will last me about twice as long. Make sure that you use baking soda first and always follow it up with vinegar which balances the ph of your hair. If you really don't like vinegar for your acid, I have heard of people switching it out for lemon juice.

If you decide to try this let me know how it goes! I know I was impressed. :)

Chemical Pregnancy, what exactly is it?

This last week has been a bit odd. I found out I was pregnant. I was shocked that it happened so fast and very, very excited. I was so excited in fact that I convinced the love of my life that we should tell everyone. I'm not really sad to have told the world, even considering how things turned out. Two days after having my possitive test result, I tested again. I did this test just to see the lines getting darker faster. Some part of me needed to see that my hormone levels were going up. Though, days had passed since my possitive test there was no line showing up in the test window. At first I decided that since it was still early, maybe it would still take a while... so I walked away. Three minutes passed. No line. Then the 10 minute marked passed (test results after 10 minutes are invalid) and there was still no line. I was shocked. I had been worried about early miscarriage, after all I've been through this literally more than half a dozen times now. Somehow though, I was still in shock. I ran a bath and sat there thinking about how I was going to tell Nick. I didn't tell him when he first came in. After a while I let him know... we thought of all the reasons this test must have been wrong, all of the ways I could still possibly be pregnant.
Over the course of the day I noticed I was a little less hungry than I had been for the last week, and I didn't have to pee as often. In the back of my head I kept trying to explain it away... maybe it was because I ate too much the day before, maybe I wasn't drinking that many fluids. After we arrived home I asked to go to the store, for more tests, better tests. After we came home I went and took an ept. These are supersensitive, I reasoned, it would show up for sure.  This test had a digital read out. On one hand it's nice that you can't fool yourself. On the other hand, when those printed words "Not Pregnant" start flashing at you, it sort of feel like being punched in the gut. After that test I felt sort of numb.
I did what I do best when faced with something I have no control over. Research, yes research, is something that brings me great comfort. Even if I can't explain why something happened, I can tell if it's normal for it to happen, how it happened, what exactly happened, etc. It makes me feel better.


Here are some of the facts that I found about chemical pregnancy:


- It is a pregnancy, sort of. The egg is fertilised and starts to implant but dies before it finishes.


-Any pregnancy confirmed by chemical means (either blood or urine tests) but never by ultra sound, that then fails is considered a chemical pregnancy.


-Several things can make it happen, hormonal imbalance, genetic anomalies, unadequate uterine lining, among others.


-Doctors quote numbers between 50 and 75% of pregnancies as ending this way, most people just don't know it happened.


-Some doctors say every woman will experience this in her life time, most just won't know it.


-If you don't take an early detection test you will most likely never know about this happening.


I know that from here on out I will be avoiding taking tests early. I will wait until I am late, because at that point the chances of a healthy pregnancy are much, much higher. I also am trying some natural aids that are supposed to help people who have experienced multiple chemical pregnancies. (Who knew there even was such a thing?) If it doesn't help over the next few months then I guess it will be off to the doctors for me.


I also wanted to add a link to another blog today. This is for my friends little girl who has some serious health problems. Please check it out.  autumnsstory.blogspot.com

Power of the Positive!

Positive pregnancy test that is... I got a positive pregnancy test on Friday, which was April fools day of course. I had to wait to tell most people until yesterday because I didn't want anyone one to think it was an April fools joke. I'm really excited to finally be a mom and still a little unsure if I can trust this to "stick." I have a long history of early miscarriages. I know that most people who have suffered with the repeated loss of pregnancies choose not to share their pregnancy until after the first trimester when the risk of losing the baby drops dramatically. I am though, going to treat this like it is forever everyday that I have. I love feeling supported and loved by my friends and family. It means a lot to me also that if something were to happen this time or any time in the future, that my friends will know why I am sad. Again, I am hoping with all I'm worth that this ends in a beautiful baby on or at least near December 12th this year. So, I'm taking extra good care of myself with healthy snacks, plenty of fluids, lots of rest, a little light excercise, and of course the best prenatal vitamin available.


Now... on to being green. I am going to keep this brief today since I've already run on a bit about the exciting news in  my life and I'm quite sleepy after a day out in the frest air.
Today, the change that I made for my world today was to "go local." While I know that this isn't quite the same as "going green" it is important that we support our local communities and the small businesses that (hopefully) flourish there. When buying perishable food items this often means fresher and less preserved food. In my home one of us has a gluten intolerence so we tried Bellingham Flatbread, they make an amazing gluten free flat bread. I'm quite picky about my breads and this was just plain amazing! I'm glad my room mate found this yummy locally made snack.


For myself, I made an effort to get out in the direct sunlight while I was doing some light yard work. This did two good things for me. In the pacific northwest we suffer an amazing rate of vitamin D deficiency and one way to help with that is to get out and get a little sun on a daily basis. I also got some light excercise. On top of all that I got to help a friend with her yard a little and hopefully make her day a little brighter.


I would love to hear what some of you have done this week to be a little healthier or happier... please share with me!   :)