Ugly...er

My hair...it is not good.

I am also wearing only one shoe, though I have no good reason for that...I just can't find my other shoe. It may be lost forever. This has been the situation for the last hour and a half.

The hair situation is slightly more purposeful, but only slightly.

It all started with the baby albatross chicks, who's parents lovingly fed them my old toothbrush, bottle cap, and clicky pen. These bits of plastic were floating in the ocean, looking like food, and absorbing all sorts of toxins before ending up in the chick's bellies, and then causing them to starve to death, painfully.

And then there was a moment of panic when I realized that, every day, we were making and consuming thousands to millions of products which were going to last FOREVER. Forever. We've only been doing this for a hundred years, and every single nick-nack and plastic shard we've made is still around - whether recycled, landfilled, or in the Great Pacific Garbage Heap of Doom. And there's no point even cleaning it up, because every day we keep buying and producing more, and more, and more....ahhhhh.

So, naturally, I wanted to stop this panicked feeling. I figured the best way to do this was with ethical consumerism - but then a second wave of panic hit when I realized how few and far between my options were. Everything is packed in plastic. In terms of all of the personal-hygiene products I regularly consume, I can think of ONE (Burt's Bees Lip...wax?) which is not exclusively packed in a plastic tube.

This led me to google, which led me to various green living sites, and the British, who seem to be ahead of the curb on this no-new-plastic thing. I found some charming recipes for home-made deodorant, should I feel inclined. And finally, mostly by accident, I stumbled upon a movement called 'No Poo.'

Not constipation, but not much nicer - No Shampoo.

Proponents claim that you will not smell, and that over time, the natural oils will self-regulate and your hair will become far more healthy than its ever been (you can use baking soda and vinegar, if you must, every couple of weeks). Common knowledge tells me that shampoo is made out of some scary chemicals and only invented a hundred years ago...although before that, maybe people had very smelly hair. I'm not sure.

Some independent studies (three out of five randomly selected volunteers claim, after six weeks, their hair is much healthier and they may never use shampoo again), some photos of classy-looking women with great, non-dreadlocky hair...I was sold. Save money, less plastic, fewer carcinogenic chemicals on the skin next too my brain, and maybe healthier hair? Done and done.

The downside is the greasy transition stage, which lasts anywhere from one to six weeks or, for the lucky few, forever. But, let's be honest, my hair wasn't looking amazing before. No one wants to be the smelly kid, and I may call it quits any day now, but for the sake of the baby albatross chicks and my hair follicles, I feel I have to try.