Rubbing the 'Pits with Rocks

As of late I have been becoming more and more disappointed with my Tom’s of Maine deodorant. I feel like no matter how many times I apply it I always smell, and it isn’t a good smell either.

Like I mentioned before, I bathe every other day to conserve water…and time (Let’s be honest, I am just lazy.). So on Day 1 of shower the deodorant is ok. I start to get the funk by the evening but Day 2 the funk never went away. I was spraying 3x as much of non-eco-friendly perfume to mask it. Not good. I mean no one ever complained of the smell, but I noticed it. (And I have to smell enough stinky people at work that I don’t want to smell me, too.)

So I started to research other options on the Cosmetic Database. I looked for one that ranked pretty high (or low, depending on how you look at it) on their scale. I found that all the “safe” deodorants were crystals. I wasn’t sold because I didn’t know how rubbing a rock on your arm would stop smell. I wanted something with a nice scent that left a white streak on all my clothes like my old stuff used to. I mean, come on! How hard is that!?!

Anyways, I kept reading the reviews on the crystals and people actually believed in them. I also read the reviews on the deodorant I was using (just to make sure that people gave legit reviews) and “they” weren’t pleased with the deodorant either. I decided to venture to our local natural foods store, Mustard Seed Market. (Does the store name sound familiar? You might have read it in my 101 List.)

This is what I came home with:

Yep, it is a crystal that you wet down and rub under your arms. (Or on the soles of your feet. Not even lying about that.) I am almost a week into the new stuff, and I have to say I am pleasantly surprised. It feels a little weird at first. Kind of like rubbing a wet, smooth rock under your arms. But once you get past that it is ok.

And surprisingly, it works! There is no heavy floral scent or anything. There is no residue, and I don’t stink. It is great. I even did the test of walking around in 80+ degree heat yesterday and still smelled ok when I came back.

So what do you think of the new change? Would you try it? Let me know what you think.

I Think I Stink

**Update: Skin Deep is actually the same website as www.cosmeticdatabase.com.
Sorry for the confusion.**

Ever since puberty I have this perpetual fear of being the stinky kid. I don't ever remember being told I stick, but I distinctly remember other kids smelling and fearing of smelling like them.

I would layer it on until it was a white, gooey, wedding cake of deodorant under my arms. "I will not be the smelly kid," I told myself. But what I have come to learn is that no matter how much you put on doesn't matter. It is what you put on.

While reading books, like Gorgeously Green, I have come to discover some of the real problems with conventional deodorants. Most deodorants contain aluminum and parabens.

Aluminum has been linked to Alzheimer's disease, and that is reason enough for me to not want it anywhere near my skin. Parabens on the other hand are linked to other problems.

Here is what the author of Gorgeously Green has to say about them. "Parabens are chemical preservatives that have been identified as estrogenic and disruptive of normal hormone function. Estrogenic chemicals mimic the function of the naturally occurring hormone estrogen, and exposure to external estrogens has been shown to increase the risk of breast cancer." So I am going to go with a big "No Thank You" to parabens as well. Parabens are also something you have to watch out for in lotions and many other body products.

So when I originally decided to switch to safer deodorant I started out with the Arm & Hammer stuff you see on the right. It worked well at first but I was less than impressed as time went on because of the way it smelled and made me smell. Currently I am using the Tom's of Maine on the left. So far, so good.

The big thing to get used to is that you will sweat. There is no way around that. It is very unhealthy not to sweat, but yet we have been doing it for years with our conventional deodorants. I am on the every other day bathing routine, and while I don't smell on Day 2, I definitely know it is time for a shower the morning after. When I wore my old stuff I could go 3 days or so before I noticed anything (besides my prickly legs and greasy hair) because of all the fragrances and the non-sweating that occurred.

While it takes some getting used to for me the benefits of limiting myself to harmful chemicals outweighs the sweat factor. But just in case you aren't ready to make the switch just yet or need something that will stop the sweat check out www.skindeep.com. They carry commercial brands and you can see which ones carry the lowest risk factors.

What kind of deodorant do you use? Anyone using the plain ol' baking soda method?

Baby, I'm Gonna Butter Your Bread

I asked my mom a few weeks ago for her bread machine because I was interested in making my own bread, but I'm not quite ready to make it from scratch. I wanted something in between. So last week I set out on making my first batch of Classic French Bread. It was listed as one of the "fool proof" recipes in the bread machine book, so I figured I had a chance of pulling it off.

Here are all my ingredients:

2/3 c. water (I used filtered water because our tap water is pretty gross.)
1 t. softened butter (I used organic butter.)
2 c. Better for Bread TM flour
2 t. sugar
1 t. salt (I used sea salt.)
1 3/4 t. regular active dry yeast

They tell you to layer in the ingredients in the exact order that they are written above. Then make a little crater for yeast in the flour so it doesn't mix with the water too soon.
You pop the little metal pan into the bread machine. Tell it you are making French bread at medium darkness and then wait. And 4 plus hours later here is the final result. It is a bit ugly and hotter than Hades but still semi-homemade.
After it cooled I popped it out of the pan. (And by "popped" I mean I jabbed at it with a knife for a significant amount of time and then resorted to flipping it upside down and beating it's bottom like a child that just hit his little sister.*)

And Ta-Da! It worked. (I am not saying the childab...er...I mean bread-abuse works all the time but it might help in some situations. I don't feel that I would have gotten the same results had I told it to sit in the corner and think about getting out of the pan.)
Then on Sunday while my bread was growing old. (Isn't it amazing how fast they grow?) I decided to use what was left to make some homemade croutons. I just cut the bread in slices, laid it out for the afternoon, then chopped it into bite-size pieces, covered them in dried herbs and olive oil on a cookie sheet, and threw them in a 300 degree oven for 15 minutes.

Here is what is left of them after my family dinner Sunday night.

So what did you do this past weekend? Do you have any good bread recipes or fun bread making stories? Leave a comment and let me know.

*I am not condoning child abuse by any means. I am merely making a joke-filled comment. Spanking your kids and true child abuse are two different actions in my book, but we will get to that another time.