The New Routine

It has been almost two weeks since I moved into my apartment for the school year and there are a few things that are relevant to you all.

First, I received two books that I ordered: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver and Food Matters: A Guide to Conscious Eating by Mark Bittman of the NY Times. I finished reading the latter. The book does cover a lot of interesting facts about the effect of the American diet on our earth and our health, but goes on to repeat this mantra, "more fruits and vegetables, fewer animal products," one that I'm already following now that I'm cooking for myself. (I've been sautéing vegetables, eating salads, chomping on cucumbers, cooking pasta and rice with the occasional sausage or yogurt thrown in.) But Bittman, whose NY Times column, The Minimalist, I follow religiously, also included more than 75 recipes in the book as well as tips for cooking more efficiently and healthily. And for anyone who's looking to lose some weight, have more energy, and significantly cut their effects on the environment, this is a good book to read. (Did you know that for the average American, cutting meat from your diet for a year has a greater effect than not driving for a year? I didn't. That's big.)

Second, the hard-water situation here has suddenly made me less optimistic about my no-poo status. My hair was greasy and dandruffy this morning, and I decided to sneak a tiny bit of shampoo. (I mean less than a centimeter in diameter. Still does the job.) I did some research on the No-Poo LiveJournal community about dandruff and found some interesting things. One suggestion was using a 1:1 white vinegar to water solution on your scalp occasionally. Another was to use ginger tea or dissolved ginger powder. I also found people saying that a tea rinse was good for their hair. (Rosemary seemed to come up with dandruff, for some reason.)

Someone mentioned a solid shampoo from Lush. Intrigued, I decided to check out the website. (Here.) Soak and Float was the dandruff one, which apparently smells like campfire, but the idea of a solid shampoo is intriguing. Lush products are all vegetarian, many of them contain only one or two synthetic ingredients, and this eliminates the packaging troubles of bottle shampoo. They also seem to last significantly longer than a bottle. If I decide to go back to occasional shampooing, I will definitely consider trying one of these.