I just couldn't do it.

I needed new deodorant. Apparently, natural versions do not feature the all-important antiperspirant feature. So I'm sticking with Secret for now but staying on the lookout for something greener. Any suggestions?

Shampoo without a ton of chemicals

On our walk this morning, I noticed the labels on the storm drains, something about be careful what you put down them because they go directly into rivers. Well, of course. I hardly ever consider that all the things that I wash and what I wash them with are going back into the water system and back into the earth. Kind of makes me think twice even before I buy something as mundane as new shampoo.

So the shampoo aisle at Target has a whole bunch of stuff, but not a lot of it limits the amount of chemicals that will be washed away along with the ever-permanent layer of grease that coats the roots of my hair. See, I'm picky about shampoo -- I have short hair that hangs like two oily curtains on either side of my face if I don't use the right thing on it. The goal has always been to fluff it and make it look less flat. So this is a big step for me. Unfortunately, I still have that lingering 'if-it's-all-natural-it-must-not work-as-well' prejudice to overcome.

Now I know you have to step out of the shampoo aisle and do a little hunting in order to find things that are greener. I wondered if Burt's Bees, one of my favorite lipsticks, might also make shampoo, and they do! I got the Super Shiny Grapefruit and Sugar Beet shampoo, 99.8% natural, no parabens or phthalates, in a bottle made of 80% post-consumer recycled plastic. Nice. It can also be recycled easily since it's #2 plastic. It's got a lot of fruit oils in it and smells exactly like a halved grapefruit. We'll see how it works.

I'm starting to get used to being more conscious of everything I buy. I am finding that it just takes a few seconds of active thought in order to spend my money in a better way.

On the way to the dry cleaners...

Well, something has happened this week, and because of it, I have given myself a challenge: try to be a greener girl.

Maybe it was the rusty brown canisters sitting outside of my usual dry cleaners' that I spotted this week. I've seen them before. It's very simple to drive right past them and drop off my clothes just like I usually do. It has been easy in the past to just not think about it. This time, though, I wondered where all the stuff in those imposing brown canisters was going. I thought about what I was taking home with me on those throwaway metal hangers and in those billowing plastic bags. I saw what was going on, and well, if a Simple-Green-buying, compostable-plate-approving, recycling-mad person like me could do better, I guess there might be others out there like me.

I had a bunch of hangers that I dropped off that day since they act like they recycle them, but this new instinct told me to keep my clothes and figure out something different to do. I'll let you know.