What Good is Texting?

I got my first-ever cellular device (an LG420G Tracfone) for Christmas, and I’ve really enjoyed it.

[photo couresy phonearena.com]

Interestingly enough, through my text Inbox/Sent archives I can trace the progression of…

Learning about my phone

From switching between “123” and “Abc” and learning how to type punctuation, to realizing what it means to not have service, it’s been quite a ride. I also had to humble my grammatical pride for the sake of speedy communication!

• [to Courtney – 12/29] Yes i have texting but i pay per text. Its a tracphone.
• [to Laura – 1/02] (Re: Fwd:Fwd:Fwd) How did you get this number? Please do not send me MMS texts. Thank you.
• [To Emily – 1/04] 428308430358094840207277466 (that means I hate the flu with a passion… Oops)
  [From Emily] Ooh, a numerical cipher, my favorite.
• [to Emily – 1/04] PS I am not fast at texting and this is a tracphone. I pay per text and sometimes it rips me off. Goodnight!
• [To John – 1/12] Texting is so inadequate.
• [To John – 2/03] A vibrating phone in pocket is the weirdest feeling!
• [To John – 1/12] 9:28pm: Oooh capital j… Special treatment for a txt. Or grammatical OCD.
  9:35pm: Definitely grammar O. I have never not capitalized someones name or “I” haha. But apostrophes can slide
  9:38pm: Yupp. Gotcha. Red fingered, i guess u cood say. …
  9:45pm: You are just looking for ways to dis grammar. Haha. Btw this conversation ate a bunch of phone minutes… Especially since I have service only 60% of the time. It charges me when sending fails. But I should stop complaining about the phone bc it is a blessing.
  9:46pm: Mhm. I shooda warned you this conversation wood eat up yur mins.

---

Swimming

How would I ever know when my coach was going to the Aquatics Center after school without my cell phone? I still regret that day I left it at home…

• [From Lindsay – 1/06, 2:03pm] hey do you wanna go the aquatic center after school?
  [To Lindsay, 3:09pm] You know I would but i dont have a swim suit. I am sore from fitness club so i was just going to jog a little at home. What do you think?
• [To Heather – 1/12] Can we swim today? You pick time and place.
• [From Lindsay] OMG the meet is Saturday?!
• [From Lindsay – 1/13] everybody has to wear their black longsleeves to school tomorrow
• [From Lindsay – 1/15] hey whats the name of that shampoo your mom got you got for swim?
• [To Heather – 1/17] Are you planning on swimming after school tomorrow? Ill bring my suit just in case
• [To Lindsay – 1/20] Swimming tomorrow? I will remember to bring my cellphone
• [To Jenny – 1/22] Hey in not going to the meet bc Im really sick and coach told me not to. Good luck
• [To Lindsay – 1/22] How did the swim meet go? Did anyone PR or qualify? Was it fun? Im so sorry I missed it but Theres no way I could have swam
• [To Lindsay – 1/26] Can you text around and see if anyone wants to have me as their guest at Monroe this week? I just recovered from the flu today and I want to swim soon

“Where are you?”

My phone even has a preset message: “Where are you?” And of course everybody wants to know if there’s a Beta club meeting the next morning…

• [to Mom – 1/03] …I dont have any clubs or meetings today.
• [To Grace – 1/06, 6:56am] Beta meeting today… Think we can make it on the bus?
• [To John – 1/06, 7:11am]  I might be late for beta. I have to take the bus
• [From Mom – 1/06, 8:25am] I hope you weren’t too late for your meeting. I love you! Have a great day!
• [From John – 1/12, 2:50pm] Waddya think? beta tomo?
• [To John – 1/12, 8:40pm] I guess theres no beta club meeting.. (snow day!)
• [From Mom – 1/13] Ok we will leave here in 5 minutes and head over there.
• [From Mom – 1/13] Youth group tonight?

Homework

Usually I’m OK on homework instructions, and so are my friends, but there’s always those assignments that present problems.

• [To Amber – 1/15] When you get a chance can you call me about the alg hw on my home number thanks
• [To John – 1/25] Ok so how much does tutor-by-text cost?
• [From Grace – 2/03, 9:11pm] Do we have to type the essay? Or am i worrying too much about it?
  9:15pm: Haha ok, though i personally just think it’s faster typing but i won’t
  [To Grace, 9:18pm] Oh yeah me too but not printing it … And on the writing test we wont have a computer
  [From Grace, 9:20pm] We can get through this…ooh do you want to maybe swap essays in the morning to read?

And so much more…

What has your experience been with texting and cellphones? Keri @ Pop Parables recently posted about texting as well – check it out.

No ‘Poo in review : week 1

No ‘Poo update.

As part of the expected “detox period,” there’s some issues, i.e., grease.

I am supposedly detoxifying from—well, what else?—toxins in shampoo. However, I’ve been using Hugo Naturals shampoo (no conditioner) for about a month, and it’s free from toxins found in most shampoos—sulfates, parabens, petroleum products, alcohols, synthetic colors and fragrances, etc.

I’m also thinking, "Just how long is this nebulous period, anyway?” (Why does the word period never connote anything good?)

my arsenal

I’m blindly groping around with this, hoping it will work out. There’s entire no ‘poo communities out there, ready to offer support for every alternative hair care question one could have, but nothing is clear cut—different things work for everybody.

In the summer I tend to forget about things like taking showers, so no ‘poo could be really useful—you only need to wash your hair once or twice a week, as it gets truly dirty (a detail I left unclear in my initial post).  The thing is, I get sweaty quite often in the summer, so it would get dirty more often. So I’m not sure how that balances out.

in review.

• June 10: On Thursday, I went swimming – no shower. The salt could not have been good for my hair, and the next morning my hair was obviously greasy.
• June 11: So Friday before lunch, I massaged my hair and scalp with baking soda, and rinsed it (hair, not the scalp) with 1 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar + 1 cup water + a few drops lavender essential oil. It wasn’t tangly, a problem I encountered last summer, but now I have short hair.
  A couple hours after washing, it looked greasy again. Great.
• June 12: Saturday I just hid my hair behind my trusty head-band.
• June 13: On Sunday I washed it with baking soda, but not the vinegar rinse because my hair didn’t feel like it needed the conditioning. Now it looks greasy and thick at the roots, but overall it’s not too bad—good enough for church!
• June 14: Monday was terrible… I was embarrassed for my appearance. My parents wonder why in the world I’m doing this and I wonder why in the world I’m doing this.
• June 15: Tuesday morning I went on a bike ride, got super-sweaty in the 95 degrees+ weather, and took a shower. I used the baking soda and the apple cider vinegar rinse (see below).
• June 16: I went swimming Wednesday afternoon, so my hair isn’t greasy, just stiff.

I prepared a bottle of rinse:

• 1 quart (4 cups) water + 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar (clarify, detangle, balance hair pH, seal cuticles) 
• 1 cinnamon stick + 1/4 tsp. vanilla (scent)

Am I crazy? Is this worth it?

PS – I have a question for you: If you could use just two spices(besides salt and pepper) for two months, which would they be?

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No Shampoo?!

What does your haircare routine look like?

How often do you shampoo (and condition) your hair?

Since I got my hair cut super-short, I’ve just been shampooing with Hugo Naturals Lemon Verbena shampoo for oily hair. Besides brushing it out and parting it in the morning, that’s all.

But what if I could…

• stop buying shampoo.
• wash my hair less.
• achieve ultimate haircare freedom!

The first step to freedom was short hair, and the next step might possibly be ending my reliance on the commercial haircare industry! This fits with my new “buy less” ideals.

The deal with No ‘Poo.

what? how? why?

Don’t worry. It’s not some juvenile joke.

It’s giving up shampoo in favor of natural items like baking soda and apple cider vinegar.  Is it so crazy to think that we don’t need to clean our hair with a “delightlfully fragranced” blend of chemicals*, soap, and water packaged in colorful plastic?

*I apologize to all my science teachers, but I am wary of chemicals. Think: harsh and quite possibly harmful.

As proven in studies, whatever is applied to the skin is absorbed into the body: into your bloodstream and into your organs. Do you want these in your body?

Ingredients in Herbal Essences “no flakin’ way” (anti-dandruff) shampoo:

pyrithione zinc (active ingredient), water, ammonium laureth sulfate, ammonium lauryl sulfate, sodium chloride, glycol distearate, dimethicone, ammonium xylenesulfonate, citric acid, cucumis sativus (cucumber) fruit extract, cymbopogon schoenanthus oil, fragrance, cetyl alcohol, cocamide mea, polyquaternium-10, trimethylolpropane tricaprylate/tricaprate, hydrogenated polydecene, sodium citrate, sodium benzoate, peg-7m, benzyl alcohol, propylene glycol, methylchloroisothiazolinone, methylisothiazolinone

Read about the purpose of these ingredients. Dangerous chemicals on this list are ammonium laureth sulfate, ammonium lauryl sulfate, sodium chloride, propylene glycol, methylisothiazolinone. These aren’t even all the bad guys found in commercial shampoos!

Shampoo strips the natural oils from your scalp, unbalancing your natural oil production and requiring the use of conditioner. (Maybe the haircare companies have an agenda?)

Therefore, when you start ‘no poo, there is a greasy transition period of several weeks before your scalp’s oil production balances out. That’s why I want to try it in the summertime!

Need another reason? It’s cheaper. Money talks, doesn’t it?

You use simple products that you probably have in your kitchen—apple cider vinegar, baking soda (sodium bicarbonate), honey. If you want to get fancy, you can add essential oils like tea tree, rosemary, or lavender or make it smell nice with vanilla and cinnamon. Please read this great resource for how to go about ditching your shampoo!

Read More

(research, how-to, success stories, etc.)

• The No Shampoo Alternative (Nature Moms)
• Information on Going Shampoo Free
• Give It A Try – No Poo (The Greenists)
• Why You Should Go No ‘Poo (Natural Family Online)
• A Non-Toxic, Frugal Way To Wash Your Hair Without Buying Shampoo and No ‘Poo: New and Improved! (Green Generation)
• Going shampoo free (Dappled Air)

My experience.

I’ve actually tried this before; last summer (with long hair) I went without shampoo and conditioner for a while. It didn’t work very well for me then. I was so secretive about it! I can’t imagine why.

I’m going to try again this summer, now that I have shorter hair. It might be an easier option for washing my hair while on my missions trip; it may not. We’ll see.

Keep me accountable.

How do I go about this without getting caught up in the “identity/status” aspect of it? Of course, I know it’s not considered that cool to go against the grain and not shampoo your hair, but it’s something I would do to define myself.

In the name of sanity, feel free to remind me that I already have a perfect identity—the Alisha that God created and has high hopes for. I can add or take away nothing! (I might be referencing TrueFaced by Bill Thrall, Bruce McNicol, and John Lynch at this point!)

Also, I am not being obsessed with “impurity” from chemicals or physical healthiness. This is just a fun experiment to save money and live simpler!

PS: A giveaway!

I have my first giveaway for Unusual Passions in the works! Hint: I’ve mentioned this company’s products before, but never prominently.

To summarize: shampoo, iHerb, giveaways.

Remember my how, thanks to my new haircut, my hair is lightning-fast to clean?
This is how I clean. I recently received an order from iHerb.com which included Hugo Naturals Lemon Verbena shampoo, for my thick, oily hair. I only require the tiniest squirt of soap. This shampoo, according to the website, is free of sulfates, parabens, petroleum products, animals fats, alcohols, synthetic colors and fragrances. Read about harmful ingredients by clinking on the links.

I also ordered Alba Botanica sunscreen—free of parabens, oxybenzone, phthalates, synthetic colors, and animal testing. The vanilla lip balm was a free sample!

Giveaways and specials…

* Learn more about iHerb and enter for a $50 shopping spree at Choosing Raw.

* Who grew your lunch? WeAddUp  “Buy Local” t-shirts are 20% off for the week. That’s the shirt I have! Enter coupon code CommunityFood at checkout.

Look for more giveaway links on my blog, as they come up!