Dr Bronner's Part 2

So on the front of every bottle of Dr. Bronner's soaps it says 18-in-1, right? Right. A lot of those uses are personal, ie shampoo, body wash, toothpaste. I find Dr. Bronner's really shine with household uses. According to their website, here's the original list of uses:

Dr. Bronner's version:

1. Always dilute for Shave-Shampoo-Massage-Dental Soap-Bath!
   
2. Peppermint is nature's own unsurpassed fragrant Deodorant!
   
3. A drop is best Mint Toothpaste; brushes Dentures Clean!
   
4. A dash in water is the ideal Breath Freshener & Mouth Wash!
   
5. Peppermint Oil Soap for Dispensers, Uniforms, Baby, Beach!
   
6. Dilute for ideal After Shave, Body Rub, Foot Bath, Douche.
   
7. Hot Towel-Massage the entire body, always towards your heart.
   
8. Pets, silk, wool & body tingles head to toe - keeps cool!
   
9. 3 dashes in water rinse most Sprays Off fruit & vegetables!
   
10. 1/4 oz in qt H2O is Pest Spray! Dash, no rash Diaper-Soap!

And a ton of those uses are great, but I have my own notes and observations on a lot of these uses.

1. I've used this as a shaving soap, and it as well as any other soap.
   
2. Not sure if I should be rubbing it on my pits or what, but I've found that the peppermint is fragrant but not overpowering.
   
3. I've tried a drop of peppermint soap on my toothbrush, and its incredibly soapy. It'll do in a pinch, but its like having a bar of soap in your mouth.
   
4. I would use their soap for all these uses, but on a baby I would make sure to dilute more than usual for their delicate skin.
   
5. Douching is all around wrong. Don't do it.
   
6. Intend to try this out as a massage.
   
7. Would make sure that the essential oil in the soap won't affect the pets, however, I'd try the baby version to be on the safe side.
   
8. Make sure to rinse very well.
   
9. Soap and water in a spray bottle: great spray for pants. Damn the aphids!

I suppose that, compared to chemical based cleaners, Dr. Bronner's won't work as well, but I don't want to need to wear rubber gloves to clean my bath tub, and I don't want to need to keep the window open to keep from breathing in fumes.

New Bangs

I recently got a haircut, and now my hair is somewhere between this:

and this:

Only my non-bang hair is a lot like Bettie's. Let's not judge, people. I didn't tell the woman wielding the scissors how much to cut, I just told her I wanted a trim and she hacked my hair away.

They're not even cut that straight. >_> I had to go back to have a different stylist even out the crookedness, which ended up making the bangs that much shorter. The trouble is that my preferred hairstyle is a ponytail. I hate having my hair down, but it just looks better that way right now. Just my luck that its started to get hot and humid already.

Oh well, 3 more weeks and they'll be a normal person's length. Hopefully.

Dr Bronner's

Let me just start by saying that I love Dr Bronner's soap. I would have multiple liters of it if I could afford it right now, scattered all around the house, depending on what I wanted to use it for. And I use it for practically everything.



I went to WholeFoods on Houston St. to check out their selection to see what scent I wanted to try since I basically finished off their citrus one. Incidentally, the prices there were not as high as I thought they might be. The produce, at least, was comparable to my regular supermarkets. So I was on the second floor, trying to figure out where the soaps were (past the protein bars and supplements), when I found what I think is a new scent. Rose! It actually has a very soft scent, not like overly artificial rose, almost sweet in a way. I picked up 8 oz for $6, iirc, and I definitely want to buy more to keep in the bathroom.

From what I've been able to figure out from my own use, and from reviews I've read, this is a quick list for what each scent does:

Peppermint - Good for oily skin, also makes your skin tingle after showers, so good in the summertime. Supposedly peppermint oil is an anti-inflammatory, so that's cool I guess.

Almond - This is good for dry skin, and is more moisturizing. I've never used this one because I don't like the smell, but I'll pick it up because my face gets dry.

Tea Tree Oil - As a shampoo, helps with dandruff, also good for acne on face and body, albeit a bit drying. Also good on oily skin. I use it as a shampoo >_>

Lavender - Calming, I suppose? I'm not a fan of lavender that much, and this one smells strong! Apparently good for acne as well.

Eucalyptus - Good for when you're sick! Take a hot bath with this and inhale the fumes to clear out your sinuses. :D I love eucalyptus tea when I'm sick, it just makes me feel better. Also an anti-inflammatory.

Baby - Their mildest, basically good for people who react to fragrances and essential oils.

Citrus - It smells like oranges. I don't know what to tell you other than that. Although, I have read that citrus oils are generally disliked by mosquitoes and their demonic ilk.

Rose - Smells like rose water! I'm not sure if it'll actually do anything for my skin, but smelling like a flower I actually like the scent of (not lavender! ugh!) is enough for me.

And I think that's it. A word of caution: Don't use this stuff at full strength, or if you do, measure how much you use in DROPS. It's very concentrated, and most people use, at the least a 3 to 1 water to soap ratio with their face and body washes.
For me, I take a few drops and rub them on my hands then into my hair for shampoo, or a few in the center of my scrubby and work up a lather for a body wash. Since its a SLS free soap, it won't lather up as much as regular soaps that most are used to, so keep that in mind.

Next time I write about Dr Bronner's, I list the ways I use it around the house, and generally I find that any of their varieties works fine all over the place in that regard.

Happy washing!

Irony

I don't quite understand ironic tees. Sure, they're ironic in the Alanis Morisette sense of the word, which is in no way whatsoever, but they're not at all ironic in English.

I went to the new Ricky's on Steinway for some empty bottles for lotion and makeup. Its different from the other ones I've been to since there's a lot more space to move around and a salon in the back. It has everything else all other stores have, too. A Queens location is a lot more convenient for me. Sure wish they sold NYX makeup though. That would be the bee's knees.

So anyway, empty bottles. I recently found my match for Revlon's colorstay foundation (MUFE HD foundation didn't work out) but it has one huge problem that I hate: its a pour bottle. So I picked up some squeezy bottles. I couldn't find really small ones like I wanted, but I hope the ones I got will work out.

Also picked up some tiny spray bottles for, you know, water, Fix+, etc. Makes for cute little extras for makeup swaps.

Unemployment

Of course, I am looking for jobs, but when you really aren't sure what you want to do with your life, its just a numbing expanse of roads to go down, all with their own cliffs to jump off of. (That metaphor was weird, make one up in your head that works.)

I made a call to a temp agency today, and left a voicemail. No call back, but fortune favors the bold, right? Calling back tomorrow, and calling a few other places. Only one interview so far, and it seems to have gone no where.

So most of my time at home is spent online basically. Why watch tv when Hulu is just so simple? I can watch Archer without even having cable. Yayyy me. FYI, Archer is hilarious. Watch it.



On that note, I watched Kick-Ass this weekend. There were good parts and bad, but overall I liked it. It was better, by far, than Burton's Alice in Wonderland, and that's being nice. It was nice to see a movie that wasn't full of famous faces for once, too. Hit Girl pushes the boundaries in terms of being a strong female character that wasn't sexualized as heck. And, let's face it, Kick Ass was adorable. (He's 19, I'm not creepy!)

Currently trying out a sample of MUFE's HD foundation in 120, but I'm slightly worried it might be too yellow. Yes, I'm using a luxury (imo) makeup brand when I'm unemployed, shut up it was a free sample. I have enough for a few more applications and I'm going out the next two days, so time will tell if it breaks me out and how it wears over the day. Going to pick up some Monistat anti-chafe gel, to use as a primer (it works, can't argue with results) because I've been wearing it over my (admittedly) heavy moisturizer and I think I'm looking a little shiny.

Last time on P&PG...

Since the last update I:
-quit both my jobs
-moved back with my mom in nyc
-hate my life

All my knitting stuff is packed in a box that I won't have access to until R and I get our own place so that's an extra incentive to race towards getting a job. If nothing else it'll get me out of my mother's which is not a place I enjoy being by any means. Oh, and lucky me, I moved back home the same week she decided to take off work. Do you know how awesome it is to be trapped with my mother for a week? I'm ready to kill myself.

Unluckily, I have no savings to speak of. All my money is going towards student loans, cc bills, and my phone. Which aren't at all unmanageable, but there's no income. So I guess they kind of are. I was supposed to get a few hundred dollars from my tax refund - except my father claimed me as a dependent. Really fucking fantastic. Now I owe $170! Thanks dad!

Went to PAX last weekend. It was fantastic! Saw only a few cosplayers but they weren't horrific and a few were quite good. Played a few cool games that aren't out yet, got some cool shirts and bags and looking forward to next years PAX East. Maybe next time I'll get Will Wheaton's autograph.

Yeahhhhh

Reading Vogue - I wrote this on saturday

I picked up the latest copy of Vogue today - for Tina Fey of course, and out of the whole magazine I have exactly one thing thats featured: my Blackberry Curve. Incidentally, I'm writing this on that same phone. Its purple. :)
I have determined, after lusting past 300+ pages, that I need new shoes, a bag, and a cute jacket. God knows I'm not switching jeans. The ones I have (that actually fit) hide my muffin top. HG material right there.
Which reminds me, I need belts.

I have been putting off calling up the long list of temp agencies I have in the city but I have a full day off to do it. So I have to email resumes, call people up, and hope for appointments to be set up. Preferably on easy to access subway lines.

A no-image post today.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry