If you know me, you're aware -- possibly painfully aware -- of my journey of going green. I'd puttered on the path for years, but when I turned 40 I put both feet firmly on the edge and took a big leap. I feel as though I have come a long ways -- I have made a lot of changes that I feel good about. I know that I cannot change the world, but I can change my little postage stamp square of it, and I can live by example.
Many of the choices I make require very little effort on my part: Not eating meat? Super easy. I think it's mean. Recycling? Why wouldn't you? It's so easy today.
In some areas, I may be green only 80% of the time:
Organic foods and produce, for example. Overall I buy organic, and I try to only eat/buy foods whose ingredients I can spell and identify. I carry the "Dirty Dozen/Clean 15" (http://www.foodnews.org/) in my wallet and you'll see me take it out for reference in the grocery store. Sometimes, though, I fall off the wagon. Look closely and you'll probably find a box of the old favorite Kraft Macaroni and Cheese in my pantry. Sure, the macaroni is whole wheat, but that little foil packet...
I do eat fish and eggs. Admittedly I cannot think about either one very much or I can't do it. And I do always buy free range, cage free, hormone free eggs. Sometimes the carton even proclaims that the chickens are happy. Are they? Who knows. It's a lot of printing on that small egg carton surface, but I want it all to be on there. Fish, I try hard to only buy/eat wild caught, but you know, sometimes when I'm eating out and I really want fish, I purposely do not ask the waiter if it is wild caught, because farm raised fish gives me the heebie jeebies. And over all I do believe that eating them is mean. I know, I know, it's the cycle of life -- whatever.
And then some things are still a flat out struggle for me: Like eating cheese. I don't like how we get it -- the same reason that I quit eating yogurt last year (I accidentally hard part of a radio interview about the cows) but I'll just say, I love cheese. It's creamy and good and makes everything it's paired with tastes divine. It doesn't like me. I don't like how we get it. And yet? About once every two or three weeks I still knowingly eat it. But I pay for it with feeling gross, physically and mentally. I'm getting more disciplined about it, but it's a battle for me.
Cleaning products? I am 98% organic and chemical free, but every now and then that jug of bleach creeps out from the back of my cabinet. Just a drop or two... I know it's bad, and I do honestly feel bad when I use it. But sometimes a little bit of bleach is just what the task calls for. What can I say?
So all of this blathering on brings me to my hair cut and color yesterday. Hello chemicals! I know. And I pretty much have my stylist trained to not put product in my hair. But last time I got my hair cut he was too fast and I was in that post-scalp massage haze, and he applied a dollop of a hair smoothing tonic. Doh!
And sure, I liked it what it did. Blissfully they were out of stock, so even if I had wanted some, I couldn't buy any. Last night? I actually asked him to put it on. I wanted to try it one more time, to see if it really was a fab as I had recalled. I liked it. It didn't make a huge difference, but it did make some, but you know, you can't ever recreate at home what the stylist does in the salon. Products or not.
But I bought some anyway. I was weak. I bought into the idea of products... Then this morning came, and I showered and combed out my wet hair, and picked up the tonic. Read the label. Somehow I had been able to tell myself that most of the products my little local salon sells are natural. And really, I didn't want to find out differently by actually looking closely. But when push came to shove this morning, I read the label, and -- three types of parabens. THREE. I just can't do it. And then at work I looked the product up on EWG's cosmetic list -- it's an 8 out of 10 on the hazards list -- that's categorized as a high hazard. Here's the link: http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/product/224735/Davines_Momo_Moisturizing_Anti-Frizz_Protective_Fluid%2C_Dry_%26_Frizzy_Hair/
And the amusing part? I already have an organic de-frizzer that I use in my cabinet. It's by Giovanni's and it's a 3 on the EWG hazard scale: http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/product/68263/Giovanni_Hair_Care_Prod._Straight_Fast_Hair_%28N%29/ But the idea of something new suckered me in. New must be better, right? More must be better right? Ack! No! The pretty little red tube is in my car -- to be returned on the way home today. My house will remain paraben free... and my hair a little bit more less than perfect. I'll blame that on "convertible hair."
Many of the choices I make require very little effort on my part: Not eating meat? Super easy. I think it's mean. Recycling? Why wouldn't you? It's so easy today.
In some areas, I may be green only 80% of the time:
Organic foods and produce, for example. Overall I buy organic, and I try to only eat/buy foods whose ingredients I can spell and identify. I carry the "Dirty Dozen/Clean 15" (http://www.foodnews.org/) in my wallet and you'll see me take it out for reference in the grocery store. Sometimes, though, I fall off the wagon. Look closely and you'll probably find a box of the old favorite Kraft Macaroni and Cheese in my pantry. Sure, the macaroni is whole wheat, but that little foil packet...
I do eat fish and eggs. Admittedly I cannot think about either one very much or I can't do it. And I do always buy free range, cage free, hormone free eggs. Sometimes the carton even proclaims that the chickens are happy. Are they? Who knows. It's a lot of printing on that small egg carton surface, but I want it all to be on there. Fish, I try hard to only buy/eat wild caught, but you know, sometimes when I'm eating out and I really want fish, I purposely do not ask the waiter if it is wild caught, because farm raised fish gives me the heebie jeebies. And over all I do believe that eating them is mean. I know, I know, it's the cycle of life -- whatever.
And then some things are still a flat out struggle for me: Like eating cheese. I don't like how we get it -- the same reason that I quit eating yogurt last year (I accidentally hard part of a radio interview about the cows) but I'll just say, I love cheese. It's creamy and good and makes everything it's paired with tastes divine. It doesn't like me. I don't like how we get it. And yet? About once every two or three weeks I still knowingly eat it. But I pay for it with feeling gross, physically and mentally. I'm getting more disciplined about it, but it's a battle for me.
Cleaning products? I am 98% organic and chemical free, but every now and then that jug of bleach creeps out from the back of my cabinet. Just a drop or two... I know it's bad, and I do honestly feel bad when I use it. But sometimes a little bit of bleach is just what the task calls for. What can I say?
So all of this blathering on brings me to my hair cut and color yesterday. Hello chemicals! I know. And I pretty much have my stylist trained to not put product in my hair. But last time I got my hair cut he was too fast and I was in that post-scalp massage haze, and he applied a dollop of a hair smoothing tonic. Doh!
And sure, I liked it what it did. Blissfully they were out of stock, so even if I had wanted some, I couldn't buy any. Last night? I actually asked him to put it on. I wanted to try it one more time, to see if it really was a fab as I had recalled. I liked it. It didn't make a huge difference, but it did make some, but you know, you can't ever recreate at home what the stylist does in the salon. Products or not.
But I bought some anyway. I was weak. I bought into the idea of products... Then this morning came, and I showered and combed out my wet hair, and picked up the tonic. Read the label. Somehow I had been able to tell myself that most of the products my little local salon sells are natural. And really, I didn't want to find out differently by actually looking closely. But when push came to shove this morning, I read the label, and -- three types of parabens. THREE. I just can't do it. And then at work I looked the product up on EWG's cosmetic list -- it's an 8 out of 10 on the hazards list -- that's categorized as a high hazard. Here's the link: http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/product/224735/Davines_Momo_Moisturizing_Anti-Frizz_Protective_Fluid%2C_Dry_%26_Frizzy_Hair/
And the amusing part? I already have an organic de-frizzer that I use in my cabinet. It's by Giovanni's and it's a 3 on the EWG hazard scale: http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/product/68263/Giovanni_Hair_Care_Prod._Straight_Fast_Hair_%28N%29/ But the idea of something new suckered me in. New must be better, right? More must be better right? Ack! No! The pretty little red tube is in my car -- to be returned on the way home today. My house will remain paraben free... and my hair a little bit more less than perfect. I'll blame that on "convertible hair."
 |
| Parabens, bad. |
 |
| No parabens, good. |
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