Monday, May 31, 2010

One Small Change: Shampoo, Conditioner and Weeds

My goal for One Small Change in May was to migrate from my existing shampoo and conditioner to something that was more earth friendly.

I finished off the Conditioner and Leave-In Conditioner and replaced them with more natural products. I like both of the new products and the bottle designs.  I still have a lot of my old shampoo left. So I will finish it up and move to the new shampoo when it's gone.  Of course, as I'm writing this I'm wondering why I have both conditioner and leave-in conditioner.  I know why I started using both products, but now I am wondering why there are two products instead of one for two purposes.  Something to ponder...

Anyway, when I realized that I would still have old shampoo left at the end of the month, I decided to compare the ingredients between my existing and new shampoos.  I must say that I'm glad that I have decided to move to more natural products.  The outgoing shampoo has a long list of scary sounding ingredients.  The incoming shampoo still has long list, but at least of essential oils and extracts.


It does make me wonder though, why there is such a long list on either product.  Shouldn't it just be soap, conditioner and water?  So, I think this shampoo/conditioner migration might take a long and curvy path.

As for June - The combination of warmer weather and abundant moisture means we are learning about lawn care and weed control.

We haven't used chemical weed killers in years and don't intend to start. 


But, there are so many weeds, that the thought of digging and pulling all of them is... well, it's just something I don't want to think about.

I've recently come across the idea of killing weeds with boiling water and did a test last week...

Before:

24 hours later:

3 days later:

It appears we will have some clean up to do after, but I think we can call this test successful.

The boiling water (or bleach or vinegar or salt or rubbing alcohol) is supposed to kill basically everything it touches, so it's recommended to use in areas where broad plant destruction is intended.  Which means we will continue with the dig and pull method in the grassy and garden areas.

One Small Change


8 comments:

Unknown said...

Very interesting about the boiling water and weeds. I'd never thought about that, but it makes perfect sense! You're essentially cooking them.

Kathryn Ray said...

Yea. I poured boiling water on some rogue mint today. It smelled wonderful. :-)

Jane said...
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WonderWhyGal said...

Great idea! I try not to use the chemicals either...I'll need to try the boiling

Carissa said...

Nice work with the boiling water and weeds! I'll have to try that...

Have you thought about trying the baking soda/apple cider vinegar combo for your hair? I recently switched from my old shampoo to a natural one, and then when that ran out I went no poo. It's been great so far! Shortest list of ingredients and really cheap. I wrote a little about it and my other personal care products here if you want to check it out: http://myrainydayhaven.blogspot.com/2010/06/one-small-change-update.html

Unknown said...

Great job in switching shampoo. For May I switched from my natural shampoo and conditioner to baking soda and apple cider vinegar and it works awesome!! Maybe you could give it a try some time!

Kathryn Ray said...

I've been thinking about the baking soda/vinegar no poo shampoo idea... especially with so many people saying how much they love it. I might have to give it a shot.

Lin said...

Hi Kathryn, My daughter gave me a natural weed killer recipe.
4 cups white vinegar
1/4 cup salt
2 tsp liquid dish soap
mix it together and spray it on. My daughter used it and said it did a great job in killing the weeds along her fence line. Another thing she liked about it was that the grass wasn't harmed by it. So this is a weed killer not a grass killer.