I'm sure you've all been waiting with baited breath to hear about how this ethical consumption thing is going. So first step was to buy special biodegradable, healthy, happy cleaning and grooming products: enter Barb of The Collective Conscience, owner of ecoottawa.com. I'd hotlink this post to their website except for the fact that I know Barb is watching and I don't want her to find my blog. Because Barb and I are now BFFs. E, very sweetly, ordered a bunch of shampoo and conditioner and such from Barb to have it delivered to me for Valentines Day (E is beyond totally awesome, is for certain). Thus ensued multiple email exchanges between E and Barb re: when it could be delivered and what the card should say and what kind of eco-friendly vegetable-print wrapping gift should have, etc etc. So E and Barb are now BFFs and Barb wants you to know that she supports the lesbians (as if something called The Collective Conscience could stay in business without supporting the lesbians, but I digress). I googled Barb and it turns out she was involved in a local fertility-clinic-mixes-up-sperm-so-babydaddy-is actually-the-fertility-doctor!!! scandal a couple or three years ago - Barb played the role of surrogate incubator (I totally saw this on Law & Order!!!). Objection: Irrelevant, your honor! This has nothing to do with ethical consumption. Overruled, I'll allow it counselor - even though this story is not germane to the case at hand, we can hardly expect D to just not tell it.
Anyway, a week later, I ordered a bunch of detergent products from Barb as well, so both E and I are tight with the ecolady.
Re: eco-special-Mc-friendly products. Here's what I've learned:
1) Don't underestimate the good work carcinogens and other nonbiodegradable chemicals are doing in your shampoo. Also, be wary of companies with names that make you feel weird, ie/ The Green Beaver Company (http://www.greenbeaver.com/). The label reads: Cranberry Shampoo; Dry, Damaged Hair. I didn't realize that meant it causes dry, damaged hair. It is like pouring an appletini on your head - smells great but makes hair weird. I would recommend it for shampoo users like Skinn.
There were other kinds of special shampoos that worked way better than the G-Beev but, in general, I haven't found anything in the shampoo or conditioner category that works as well as the nasty stuff in Pantene etc. This will be a continuing saga.
2) There is no such thing as an ecofriendly drain cleaner. Or rather, using ecofriendly drain cleaner on a slow drain is like bringing a toothpick to a knife fight. I will admit that using LiquidPlummer might be like bringing an atomic bomb to a knife fight but is there no happy medium?? Is there no knife??!?!
3) Eco-special detergents in general kinda suck. I am saving the world but my dishes are half-clean, my hair is like brown straw, my laundry smells like the dog, and my drains are slow. The one, wonderful, revelatory exception to all this is this product:
Most soaps give me rashes but Natureclean does not. I love you Natureclean 100% Natural Soap unscented hypoallergenic, you have changed my life.In other news, my organic veg delivery has been a steady stream of carrots, potatoes, and leafy bullshit for weeks now. I am not a leafy salad person. I am a chunky vegetable salad person (ie Greek salad, marinated salad, non-lettuce salad). Because I also have a backlog of heaven-blessed organic eggs, I am seriously considering making Savory Potato Carrot Loaf (recipe came with veg delivery) today. It sounds so sick! But maybe is delicious?
This ethical stuff is hard. :/ Fuck you, February, fuck you.
