Be Clean and Live the Simple Life

Twelve years ago, I was penny-pinching and had to give up coloring my hair and buying makeup. After a few months of this, I noticed two things. One, my skin became clearer without as much blemishing and two, my pocketbook got bigger. Going a step further, I began scaling back on the pricey products I was buying for beauty care like shampoo and conditioner. I began buying the cheapest of these and picked up very effective, but cheap, body wash. Not only have I saved a boat load of cash, but I am also contributing to a cleaner environment. Many cheap products have fewer harmful ingredients, so our water system is better able to process them.

10/23/22 MAJOR UPDATE FROM HERE TO "THERE": I have completed my no chemicals used experimentation and have concluded that using no soaps, detergents, body wash, shampoos, conditioners, moose, gels, hairspray, hair dyes, makeup or any other type of cleaners - only warm or cold water - I am cleaner, smoother, hardly any skin blemishes, hair is not tangled and is soft and manageable, (not much hair in my brush = thicker hair = growing new hair = no hair loss? No kidding!). No blow dryers, curling irons, curlers, or any other product are used, which used to take up time and money, but did little to improve my looks. I look and feel fabulous, and it doesn't cost me a dime! My clothes are clean and do not have any smells or stains, my dishes are squeaky clean with no bacteria, and my house including the floors are very clean with no chemical or vinegar smells. I am serious! This is no joke! In fact, my hair has natural oils but is not greasy. It is perfect in that it acts as if I have used hair spray! But I haven't used anything on my hair at all! It feels completely clean with no fly aways. I am amazed by my own hair! I simply use my hands and warm water, scrub scalp with fingertips, then towel it dry, then let it dry naturally. It fluffs up very nice and just falls naturally in place! Wow! I am free from ads and gimmicks and products with harsh chemicals forever! You can be too!

This is one of my best eureka moments in my life and I had to share it with you! Here is the real kicker! When you give up using all those products, you also significantly decrease plastics, paper, and other containers like bottles, cans, boxes, packaging, or plastic wraps used that end up in our landfills and ocean. Not to mention the chemicals that you prevent going down the drain and into your water table that could end up in your drinking water! You can also decrease your food container or wrap use if you are really serious about you and your family or children's clean future! Buy more unwrapped, uncontained fruits, veggies, and meats. Buy organically grown foods in their natural state when you can and if you can afford it. It is worth the little extra money and effort to save your life! 

Go to your local grocer and request they set aside certain meats or fish for you to pick up on certain days. They will gladly allow you to put the meats directly into your container - no wrapping necessary. Sometimes, they will cut the meat as you wait! Or they will get you what you need from another butcher. If you have a grocer that displays meats and cheeses like deli style, just hand them your container or plastic or cloth bag for them to put these foods into, even your hot foods or any breads, cookies, or cakes and goodies from the deli. You can have your own container for everything - even pizza. They can weigh everything in your container. If it costs a tiny bit more on the scale, it is still worth doing your part eliminating waste. Also, remember, you CAN wash over and over plastic bags or other containers! It is really very easy and environmentally responsible! Carry your reusable and washable containers to the market along with your carry-out washable cloth grocery bags. Be the solution! Think about it, please.

Also, think about NOT taking a bath or shower for a few days at a time. My reasoning comes from experience I had as a hunter, especially in the fall. Many hunters do not take showers or put on any type of smelly cologne, perfumes, lotions, etc. because the deer or other animals can smell them from several hundred yards away. This information helped me to adjust my thoughts about why we take baths or showers to begin with. I am not stinky. My stepfather used to say that after three days, guests begin to stink and if you can smell yourself, others have been smelling you for two days! I believe that we can go without taking a shower if we haven't been very active or gotten dirty or have just been doing normal, non-sweaty, work. I have been known to be an excessive shower person and used to shower off in the morning and evening. However, now I do the sniff test when I potty to see if I am odorous. Just think about how much water we save by NOT showering daily! Think about these savings on a world-wide scale! I say every other day is just fine unless you have excessive sweat.

Armpits, by the way, should NOT be shaved. The hair under your arms and on your legs are there for a very good reason! They accumulate bad bacteria and excretions from out of your body and sweat that you can wash away. Also, they help the opposite sex "smell" the real you. (Read my other article about this subject: How To Fix Your Relationship Solution, found on my Solutions page in the menu.) What is important to remember here is to stop stressing about your smell to such a degree that you fall for all the ads and gimmick products meant to sell, sell, sell you anything they can to get the almighty dollar from your pocket. Your smell, if not overpowering, is attractive to some of the opposite sex and you just may find that your social circle expands into an entourage. And I know that the media have stopped telling people about it, but deodorants have been found to cause cancer! As far as I have determined from personal research and theory, they clog up your pores and the chemicals seep into your blood stream.

As a further theory, I think that after you allow your natural hair to grow out ridding itself of chemicals and you do not "style" it or blow dry it or goop it down, the way your hair presents on your head actually attracts the opposite sex. What they see is your inherited traits or heritage as your hair color and its natural look or feel alerts a certain other heritage that you are desirable as a mate. A woman, for instance, may really like the way a man's hair has that tall wavy bangs. It is sexy to her. It is interesting to her heritage. The same goes for a man who looks for a partner. He may be attracted to your hair even before he looks in your eyes or watches your body movements. It is like a red flag making his head swivel around with immediate interest. Looking your natural self tells the opposite sex if you are sexually and intellectually compatible. In other words, he really looks at you intently to see if your body is also attractive. So, going totally natural head to toe is beneficial to your love life, work life, and other relationships, too!

Please consider giving up all chemical or smelly products, bleach, or other baking soda or ammonia or vinegar products to clean with and simply wash your floors using water and a regular mop. Please consider removing all products from your body cleaning routine including mouth wash, toothpaste, whiteners, etc. Eat only organic foods rinsed for 15 minutes in warm salt water to remove unwanted insects. I only use salt water to rinse as my mouthwash, and I floss after I eat sometimes. YOU CAN be your own best friend. Noone has to know about your new you except they may wonder about the huge smile on your face as your body is better able to fight off virus or bad organisms we encounter because you have not stripped away your natural layer of protection or good bacteria in your mouth!! Not only that, but you have also saved tons of money NOT buying products that may be killing you anyway. 

Am I trying to sell you something? No. I am not. Do you see any products for you to buy now? No. What my goals, vision, and end game are is to bring all good people together to significantly improve all living things. One way for better quality of life is to rid yourself of any products or processes that you may have been taught to buy or buy into all of your life, but that may have been killing your body and poisoning (brainwashing) your mind as you sell your soul to the devil. Now to my original article:

THERE:

Wonder of wonders, my skin feels smoother, and I don’t have pimples or lip cracking like before I stopped using beauty products. My family noticed the change in my appearance – graying hair and no makeup. But they eventually adjusted to my clean look and simply accepted me the way I look – natural. If you are wondering about relationships for this new you, just think. If a guy is dating you for your makeup, he will be highly upset when he finally sees you in the morning without any. And, what about your hair? Will your man stay with you when you finally do go all gray? If not, he isn’t worth the price of all those products. Besides, haven’t you heard what is in some red lipstick and mascara? Crushed bugs and bat guano! Yuk!

 

Not only have I eliminated certain hair and body products like toothpaste, tooth whitener, mouthwash, soaps (I scrub with hot water to clean out pores, then rinse with cold water to close them), bubble baths or additives, perfumes (I smell good anyway, I shower), shampoos, conditioners, hair care in general except for a drop or two of Dawn to eliminate the buildup of oil, makeup (get used to it), lotions or topicals of any kind – even sunscreen, and chapped lip balms (flaked coconut ground in a pestle by hand then apply to lips is better), I have given up many food products using additives, preservatives, or nitrates and nitrites, and other unknown ingredients. It is sometimes cheaper to eat because I feel full and satisfied eating organic and natural foods. If you need to clean your teeth or mouth or gargle just using salt water is organic and does the job better than any toothpaste or mouthwash. It also whitens your teeth, naturally. 

Your hands are the best scrubbers in the world! Sure, you can use wash cloths with soaps or cleaners, but through my experimentation and daily shower routine I have found that I do not stink even if I sweat! This phenomenon may be because I scrub my entire body, even down there, just using my hands! I am just as clean as when I used to use wash cloths and detergents and the kicker is that my essential oils are safeguarding my natural oil skin (the body's largest organ) and helping it slough off bacteria or other material that might soak in through my pores that could result in cancer, fibromyalgia, arthritis, ALS, psoriasis, and other deadly diseases. You have been bombarded all of your life with advertisements telling you that you have to buy products to make you smell, feel, and look better when all the while these products have been killing your natural ability to ward off all kinds of nasties. What does it hurt to try it my way? It may sound crazy to you, but naturally, you are not dirty, regardless of what the product promoters try to convince you about yourself. They are in it to make money off of your insecurities. That is it. Plain and simple.

 

Of course, even I am continually having to remind myself to eat better and not use those advertised products on my naughty list. But I am learning to love myself more every day because I am free of the drama of other peoples’ expectations of how I should look or what I should buy based on my patronage of certain products or clothing (Read my article: The New Professionalism). By the way, I also gave up wearing jewelry. Now I do not worry about what piece to wear with what outfit. I simply refuse to bling my way through conversations, relationships, and so-called norms. Take control of your own life and really try to ignore every advertisement or hype and then explore, look for, or purchase those products that fit your newfound minimalist lifestyle. I have found that my skin has cleared up from roughness, itching, flaking, or rashes. I feel marvelous! If people can’t take your clean natural person, then maybe they were never your friend in the first place. It is time to get a better group of losers.

 

However, the biggest culprit in product push is by far the detergents industry. I have found that you can squirt a couple of tablespoons of dishwashing liquid into the washing machine to clean clothes or spot clean a drop on a dirty spot and it really works great (I do not use anything, though)! Put a few drops on a stain, scrub together, and pop it in the wash. Or, you can simply not add anything to your wash - no suds or softeners - and your clothes get just as clean without a smell residue left on your fabrics. This is great for those sensitive skin people or animals. No dryer sheets either. These newer clothes do not need it! And for those skeptics, I say, simply try it. Just water works if you do not have stains or crud on your clothes and it saves the planet from detergents that have been aggressively marketed to your ick factor concerns. Mopping using an old twist out mop and a few drops of Dawn works better than anything on the market or just do as I do and use only water! My floors are very clean, and I do not have to scrub then rinse the floor. You can also do the same thing with your dishwashing detergent for the kitchen. Just put the two tablespoons in a container and then add up to the rim, water. This diluted formula saves the planet, and you save a ton of money as well. 

I must confess, though, that unless the dishes have grease from meats, I simply use water and scrub with my reusable washable cloth or just my hands. I also use cut up old t-shirts to mop up any type of spill in the kitchen and around the house - even the floors - then pop them in the washer for that end of week wash. It works and my dishes are squeaky clean! I promise there is no residue left if you simply use water to clean yourself, your clothes, your floors, or your dishes. Oh yeah, by the way, get rid of your dishwasher and just clean your dishes using warm water and your hands - no detergent necessary! I have been doing this for years and the results are amazing! My dishes are very clean with no residue or bacteria. I towel them dry then put them back in the cabinet. Dishwashers back up in your drain causing clogs. And the detergents used in the dishwasher leave a film of residue on your dishes. However, using just your hands and a cloth, you can actually feel if there is any grease or foods on your utensils and dishes and it is much quicker. You are out of the kitchen in half the time!

 

Now, on a money-saving kick, I have begun shopping at thrift stores and consignments for my clothes. The amount saved with this cheapskate technique has my savings account growing exponentially! And the clothes I find are name brand with hardly any wear at all. Sometimes, I find a piece of clothing with the tag still attached from a major store brand. *As a special note here: Please read my other article, Tree Lovers Hacks. You may find that me and my company, Round Robin Distribution Designs, LLC have just handed you the key to reducing deforestation helping us all breath better! And even though I hope you gift me and The RRDD Project funding, you get this information for living large and it did not cost you a dime.

 

Armed with my knowledge – tighter than the bark on a tree – I took a second look at my 1979 Chevy pickup sitting out back of the house. I have decided that I can fix up my antique for under $2,000 and save myself thousands! That old truck has a V-8 engine and takes about as much fuel as it takes for an SUV, but it has a tougher shell and rides like a dream. I know the new car dealers out there are shuddering at the thought of a major decrease in sales, but, honestly, they have lorded it over the public for way too long. In fact, for just around town, you might want to invest in a trike or three-wheeled electric bicycle. It is much cheaper than a car, can have a couple of seats, and baskets for groceries, you breathe easier and save money! So, you might want to save your dough for something that really matters, having fun!

 

Living the simple life really works and is a good solution for the clutter in your world. Other ways to save are to clean out your house of furniture or appliances you don’t like or use, and to clean out your closet of clothes you don’t wear. Take them both either down to the Goodwill store or a consignor to make some cash. Knick-knacks are ridiculous and useless. You barely even notice them after first buying or being gifted these items! They are just another way companies control you and entice you to spend your money on nothing as they snicker at your naïve and gullible novelty obsessions! Of course, recycle what you can. Your clean living will reward you with unbelievable dividends and you can feel good about your part in cleaning the planet. Good luck on your journey to total Lean for your life! 

©Copyright, Be Clean and Live the Simple Life, 2010 and 8/8/2022, April Graves-Minton, Love MoonEagle. All Rights Reserved.