A Little Crunchy

I am by no means a super-green-tree-hugging-type person. However, I’ve been feeling a little crunchy lately. Just enough to make normal people raise their eyebrows and those firmly dedicated to all things "green" wonder why these small steps are even worth a blog post.

Yesterday, while shopping, I compared two brands of saltine crackers and ended up buying the brand with fewer unpronounceable ingredients.

I also made some healthy breakfast bars with no butter or oil. As a substitute for wheat bran, which was not on hand, I used super-finely chopped walnuts and ground flax seed.

Seriously. Ground flax seed.

Photo from this site. Patrick and I really liked these. 

While those were in the oven, I made my own almond milk.

Photo from this site.

I then used that almond milk in a shake this morning, for breakfast.

Photo from this site.

This tiny bit of "crunchiness" isn't just sneaking into what I eat. Many of you may have seen my Facebook call-out garnering advice from all my cloth-diapering buddies. I think I very well may be taking that plunge. More updates on that perhaps another time.

And here's the other kicker, and the one I feel the most need to defend. Anyone heard of "going no 'poo"? Well, I have even been experimenting with that.

The idea of using things other than shampoo to clean your hair has actually fascinated my for a while. If you're equally fascinated and want to learn more, here is a great article by Simple Mom. If you just want reassurance that I'm not completely nuts, you may appreciate this NPR story.

I was inspired by two women at church who hadn't been using shampoo in over a year. Their hair looks great, and they are constantly getting compliments on it. After diving into the research, the whole premise just made a lot of sense to me.

However, I began my experiment just shortly after I learned I was pregnant. I know that pregnancy messes with hormones that can affect things like my hair, and I've already explained that it kinda throws my irritation meter out of whack. In any case, my experiment has turned into a halfway effort. For about six months now, I've had a nice little routine that does involve shampoo, but only once or twice a week. I use the baking soda method for those in-between times.

Remember when I was showing off my new haircut? Well, that hair doesn't look nasty and gross to you, does it?

The verdict? The best way I can describe it is to say that now my hair behaves infinitely better than it did before. I've always had super-fine, barely wavy, either too-dry-and-poofy or flimsily-flat hair. If I ever got it to do anything I wanted, it wouldn't stay there long. But now, it feels a little thicker and much healthier. When I blow it dry a certain way, it listens to me. I wish a certain two-year-old would take a page from my hair's book.

I don't think I'll ever go back to shampooing every day, or even every other day. I've come to the conclusion that it's just plain not good for my hair. Maybe in the future I'll be a little braver and try to cut out shampoo completely, but for now, I'm happy.

These little crunchy tendencies are not feeling like temporary flings with the ever-growing "green" movement. The more I think, watch, and research, the more I'm convinced that this more careful, more conscious, and simpler way of living could be a really good fit for my family and me. I'm also lucky to have a husband who, at the least, is supportive of all this and, at the most, actually agrees with me.

So here's to a few tiny (tiny) steps in a healthier direction! I'll definitely keep everyone posted if this all backfires and I decide I hate nature or something similarly drastic.