April 8, 2008
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Allergies; the bane of my existence
And… you remember how I promised more in the way of content today?
Yeah, I got nothing.
So I’ll just keep typing and hope my subconscious spews forth a winner.
I finally, Finally got to the gym again. It’s been, what? Like going on three months since I was last there, between being sick and then hurting my foot. (My foot still hurts BTW but only when I have my shoe on or am taking it off.) Ugh, I wish I didn’t have to auto-debit from my credit card for membership. Three times 29? That’s almost ninety dollars wasted on access to a place I couldn’t go. On the one hand, I was sick and didn’t want to get sicker. On the other, aside from being sick, I didn’t want to make anyone else sick. I mean, you can never tell if something’s germy. Even if you wipe it before you use it, which is tedious if you use close to a dozen different machines. I prefer to wash my hands before I start and after. It’s just… more efficient. And if, in the meantime, I am exposed to something contagious, well, germs are actually, technically good for you, you know. I read just the other day that lab rats which are bred in sterile surroundings actually have more health issues than rats which are exposed to various bacteria. They are hyper-sensitive and have all kinds of digestive issues. Which begs the question, is our increasingly germ-free environment to blame for the hyper-sensitivity displayed by some members of our species? Were we not exposed to enough germs as infants and so our bodies don’t function at optimal efficiency? It’s a thought, and not a particularly pleasant one.
There are some theories that claim “aliens” are really time travellers. So after we’ve bred all disease out of our species, and killed off all of predatory bacteria and viruses (virii?), we come up with sprindly Grays who abduct “primitive” humans for breeding experiments….? Yuck. I guess I’d rather believe in pervert aliens than ugly, germ-deficient, deviant descendents. heh
In other news, I may have found a new shampoo. Yesterday, I went through every single shampoo at Walmarts and every one of them had citric acid or a citrus fruit or extract. Even the baby shampoo! Even stuff that claimed to be gentle. I know that it is a preservative and that it also helps clear clogged up hair follicles, but you’d think that there would be some “mass-produced” gentle shampoo out there that doesn’t just follow what seems to be the standard formula. I mean, yeah, they all have different herbs and whatnot, but compare the ingredients and the herbal extracts are the only things that set them all apart. So today, I went to the health store….
Same Darn Thing! I was just about ready to cry, until I found one shampoo by a company called EarthScience which had a fragrance free shampoo without citric acid. Their other shampoos had it, but not the fragrance free stuff. I guess you can’t put citric acid in a frangrance free shampoo or it’d come up smelling of oranges or something. lol Technically, the shampoo is for those who are sensitive to smells, but I’m not going to split any hairs (heh, get it? Split hairs? Yeah… bad pun). It’s a little bit more expensive than I’d been paying, but at least it purports to be vegan and cruelty free. Whether or not I can actually use it without losing my hair or having more sores on my scalp and surrounding skin remains to be seen. I mean, I’ve trusted the ingredients of various hygeine products before and been lied to. The shampoo claims to be made in the US, but then why is half the bottle in French? That’s a bit puzzling….
I am such a cynic though…. I know they’ll end up changing the formula to include citric acid somehow as soon as I’m used to it, and then I’m up the creek without a paddle. I am going to have to start experiementing with making my own shampoos or something. Maybe I could even end up marketing them as all natural hypoallergenic shampoos for other people out there who are allergic to citrus. I know I can’t be the only one! Do you get diarrhea or hives after eating something with citrus fruit or tomatoes? Do you get sores and weird dry patches on your scalp and the skin near your scalp? You’re probably allergic to citrus too.
Speaking of allergies, I actually met another person the other day who is allergic to chocolate. Now that chocolate is supposed to be good for the immune system, I expect it to crop up even more in various foods than it already does… why not shampoos and conditioners? I’ve already found it in handcreams because the oil is supposed to be good for your skin, or maybe people just like the smell. I know I love the smell of chocolate… I’d eat it too, if I wasn’t allergic. I used to love chocolate as a child… my favorite icecream sundae? Rocky Road. So unfair.
Grrrr. Allergies SUCK!
April 8th
This is the fifth Day of the Megalesia.
Today or on the 12th, the Cuchumatan Indians of Guatamala perform a special ceremony called Sealing the Frost after the corn is planted. In an attempt to protect the precious crop against winter’s return, they climb a nearby cliff where frost is said to live. The Shaman is lowered on a rope to a crack in the cliff’s face which he plasters up to seal in the cold.
The Aztecs of Mexico held the feast of the Hummingbird in honor of warriors who had died in battle or offered their lives in sacrifice. They were thought to live in the sun for four years before returning as hummingbirds.
Hana Matsuri, the birth of Buddha, and the Buddhist Flower festival are celebrated today.
Comments (5)
“Which begs the question, is our increasingly germ-free environment to blame for the hyper-sensitivity displayed by some members of our species?” I certainly think so. Boo on aliens, yay for Earthscience for giving you the opportunity to wash your hairs and boo again on allergies. By the way, you should tooootally learn how to make your own shampoo. That would be awesome. Lastly, I am soooooo sorry about the chocolate. That’s horrible, so horrible, in fact, that I’m now at a loss for words. . .
My next shampoo is going to be more organic than what I’m using now. I figure – sure, it costs more, but how often do you buy shampoo? Seriously, a bottle lasts me a while. And now that I’ve cut my hair, it’s even better (okay, not much of a difference, since I still only really suds the scalp and condition the ends). Chocolate is good… but I don’t like smelling like food, especially sweets. Melons maybe, but not kiwi or vanilla or almond or anything. Mm… melons
P.S. This blog of yours may remind me to put my gym shoes in my car.
i have to say that 6 dollars a bottle doesn’t seem so expensive to me if it works. i bought a 8 dollar bottle of shampoo and a 8 dollar bottle of conditioner and neither worked well for me. so i spent a total of 16 dollars on something that made my hair look like i had just greased it up with lard. if the shampoo you use works and doesn’t cause any harm to any thing then go for it. the extra expense is worth it.
hmm, I kind of like the pervert alien theory better. It’s kind of egotistical to think that all life in the entire universe has to have originated from our planet.
not that time-traveling isn’t kewl. & it would probably make a good science fiction novel.
<3
Reactions to citrus fruits and chocolate? That seems odd, but hey, everyone’s got a quirk or two. Besides being a preservative and smelling pretty good, citric acid is pretty cheap by comparison to other chemicals.
As to your question why a bottle of shampoo made in the USA has French (or German or Spanish or some other language) on it, it’s a matter of economics. Print a part of label in another language and theoretically, you can sell it in those countries where they speak that language.
RYC- I agree it’s disgusting that individual or even group protests are no longer effective.