to my hippie friends

[chieur]

so, hippiefriends, i have a big, overarching question for you: what personal grooming hippieproducts do you particularly like? (e.g. parenthetical, you had a recommendation for hippiedeodorant. what was that again? lush

Comments

[fibonacci]

mm.. tom's of maine deodorant is the only moderately-hippie deodorant that has ever worked for me at all. except that sam's alternative sounds better. (i like woodspice lately because it smells like balsam fir, which makes me happy.) avalon organics makes a line of shampoos that i like a lot (esp lemon). and shi kai makes skin lotions - their "unscented" has a very very light sandalwood scent.

[martini_corona]

I dunno about "informed choices," but I like the Avalon Organics Ylang Ylang flavor of shower gel.

Also, my crunchy Unitarian boyfriend uses some weird Thai deodorant rock (or "crystal"), which does an amazing job of keeping him unsmelly. However, I will keep using my totally un-crunchy Degree Shower Clean, thank you very much, until solid (clear solid?) evidence proves that the aluminum is in fact giving me Alzheimer's.

[in_parentheses]

I don't know about Alzheimer's, but my understanding is that aluminum makes your clothes way yuckier than sweat would do on its own. I know that since switching to my little hippie lump of Lush deodorant, I don't get those nasty crusty circles of discoloration under my arms anymore.

[emblemparade]

I'm pretty fond of Lush's shampoo bars. Everything else they have is unreasonably overpriced, but the shampoo bars last forever, so they are a good deal.

Adding a few handfuls of epsom salts to your bath is a nice, cheap way to make it luscious and soft. You can buy it by the bag at Walgreens.

I find that the super-mega baking soda toothpastes make for good cleaning. Tom's of Maine has a special super-mega baking soda variety.

Facial cleansers that contain tee tree oil are good for me.

(Wait... did I just let myself be called a hippie?)

[in_parentheses]

but the shampoo bars last forever, so they are a good deal.

This is one of the beauties of the deodorant, as well! I bought one lump something like 2 years ago for about $7, and I've only used about two-thirds of it. This is my stuff: Aromarant. (TMI) I'm pretty sweaty, and the only thing I ever found before that kept me from getting sweat stains on all my clothes was scary expensive chemical stuff that closes all the pores in your armpits. My little lump of Aromarant totally solved the problem.

A couple of "troubleshooting tips," since it took me a little while to figure this out: The lemon peel starts to poke through after awhile and gets scrapey; just slice it off with a knife. Keep it in a plastic bag so it doesn't dry out. Put it on right after the shower, because it goes on easier if you're a little damp.

[emblemparade]

Thanks for the tip! I always finger those at the Lush store, but end up not buying because I assume they don't actually work (true for most hippie deodorant).

[froggoddess]

Having tried every hippie shampoo known to my local co-op and Whole Foods, I have settled on Paul Mitchell's tea tree oil shampoo. Nope, not a hippie product but it has this amazing way of getting my oily hair clean which none of the hippie products know how to do. Once upon a time, the Whole Foods brand unscented shampoo worked, but I don't think they make it anymore

BEST LIPBALM, EVER

[froggoddess]

Oops, forgot to mention this: http://ilovechickenpoop.com/ As someone with chronically dry lips (no, it's not because I lick my lips, it's because I breathe through my mouth, and yes I have tried not using lipbalm and no it doesn't work to not use it), who has found that *only* petroleum jelly has any sort of lasting effect (straight up vaseline, not any of the chapstick petroleum derivatives), I was REALLY EXCITED to find this stuff... it is the ONLY thing (and I promise I have tried EVERY natural lipbalm on the market!!!) that works as well as vaseline.

Plus, it's called Chicken Poop. Isn't that amazing???!

(FYI, the natural deodorant that they sell, although it has an amazing name, does not work. Tried it.)

[froggoddess]

Oh, and (you knew I'd have a lot to say, right, even if it isn't particularly well thought-out) I definitely use laundry detergent that isn't derived from oil (there are two main brands that make an unscented liquid that I switch back and forth between, depending on what's on sale). I also buy non-petroleum based dish detergent and dishwasher detergent. The dish detergent I can get in bulk from the co-op, using their reusable glass jars, which means I haven't thrown away (or recycled) a dish detergent bottle in, oh, four years maybe? Makes up for all the lipbalm tubes I've sent to the landfill...