BlogHer - Hair - Comments

Good work!

blackbird — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 08:13:58 -0600

Good work!

I have an expensive blue

njgeiger — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 13:54:31 -0600

I have an expensive blue wool suit that's old, but that I love and always get compliments on. One spring I saw that there were 3 tiny holes up near the right shoulder. There was no way to mend them, so I bought 3 blue "jewels" from a craft store and super glued them over the holes. Everyone thinks the jacket came like that! I am not crafty at all - so was very proud of myself for saving a favorite outfit! :)

Nancy

Hellish heartburn

Beth Terry — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 19:26:34 -0600

@blueberryjunkie There are so many recipes available on the web for DIY cleaning products that don't cost a small fortune, and they are non-toxic. I often wonder why so many of us are duped into believing we have to use all these chemicals and special preparations to have clean homes.

@Leighbra I hear you. My dad and I have heartburn too. The only reason I didn't add it to my list is because of the high sodium content and danger of people taking too much. I didn't realize it was used for that purpose in hospitals. Still, I like my Wintergreen-flavored Rolaids. :-)

Beth Terry
www.fakeplasticfish.com
@fakeplasticfish
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Heartburn from hell...

Leighbra — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:20:01 -0600

I inherited my father's super fantastic acid reflux, and since we're out in the middle of nowhere, if I have no antacids, I've used baking soda for heart burn.

It works, but you have to be careful about injesting baking soda because of all the sodium. Read the directions, consult your doctor, yada yada nurse CYA.

We actually still use baking soda in the hospitals at times. Sometimes you can't argue with the old methods.

lovelylocks

notUrtypicalGma — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 22:06:45 -0600

all of my daughters are blessed with beautiful hair, when they were born there was a concern as to what kind of hair they would have since their father is half african american and half native american. would they be born with the "good" hair or would they have these tight little curls or a wooly mass that i would braid into distinct little hairstyles know in the black culture. well they have "good" hair and my oldest has my curly do, my middle straight, and my youngest has the thickest hair ever that we cut after her championship football game. i did not want to cut it until after that game and i was adamant about that because i wanted everyone to know she was the only girl on the team by her thick long braid peeking outta her helmet. after the game the first thing she asked was "are we cutting my hair?" and i did and it is sitting on my friends armoire ready to be sealed in an envelope to donate to locks of love. so now the cycle will begin again and i will have her grow her hair out again so that she can donate it next year at this time. i think this is a special thing for kids to do.

aside from that my kids have had long hair, short hair everything in between. and so have i sporting a pixie at 2, a wedge at 8 and again at 21, and a bob, and a boycut that i teased high, and all those locks in between, i wear my hair long now and i color it every two weeks because of the grey. my hair is my best feature, and right now i like it long who knows in a year or two i might want it short. and my girls? whatever makes them feel confident and beautiful if its a mohawk or rapunzel locks so be it, because they can.

Great tips

blueberryjunkie — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 16:52:37 -0600

Thanks for these great tips. Ever since I became pregnant with my first child I ditched a lot of toxic products in favour of "green" products. So, I have been buying, and spending a small fortune on anything from laundry detergent, all purpose cleaners, shampoos, etc. I will definitely give baking soda a try, especially for household cleaning applications, and save some money.

Carla

Blueberry Junkie Blog

Blueberry Junkie Studio

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Short hair is more work for adults, hadn't thought about bedhead

Rita Arens — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 09:02:30 -0600

As my family and daycare workers will attest, I have WICKED bedhead in the morning. My very short hair sticks straight up and even though it's fine, it won't behave until it's washed. I used to worry what the daycare teachers would think on the days I work from home, but I finally decided screw it. A headband and spiky bedhead is what they see every Friday.

I hadn't thought about dealing with bedhead on a little kid. That alone makes me glad my daughter's hair is still long. We wash it at night, she sleeps with it wet, and she wakes up looking totally normal. So jealous.

Rita Arens writes at Surrender Dorothy and BlogHer and is the editor of Sleep is for the Weak.

Of all of the things to exert control over.

ameliasprout — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 22:11:01 -0600

Hair just isn't worth the battle. If a kid wants to rebel, let them do it with their hair. It is for the most part, harmless.

I had a mohawk when I was 12, I cut it myself, crooked. After my mom got annoyed with it being off kilter, she started doing it for me. Sort of took the fun out of doing it, but it looked better. Within reason, and age appropriate, M can do anything she wants with her hair. I can't wait to see what she comes up with.

She wants it? She gets it!

prbylisa — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 09:23:03 -0600

I'm with you...if she likes it that way, and she helps to keep it up, why not let her control it herself! My daughter is 2 1/2 and has her hair almost to her waist with bangs (we had to cut the bangs, her hair was ALWAYS in her face.) We trim it, we cut it to her shoulders last winter, but she likes having her long hair and having it braided and pigtailed. Her daddy LOVES her hair and really so do I...but if she wants to cut it, I'll do that too. She is adorable anyway her hair is.

On the flip side, my dad controlled my hair length...going as far as to measure it before I went for a trim to make sure I didn't cut off more than 2 inches. As soon as I turned 18, I cut my hair to my chin. Now, I cut it short and grow it out often through the year. Personally I find my shorter hair easier to do and more stylish than simply having it in a ponytail day after day.

PR by Lisa

www.insidelisa.blogspot.com

Toilet Test!

Zanre5 — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 07:01:47 -0600

I discovered the toilet test when potty training my third child, only I discovered it for myself! When potty training my son, I discovered my long hair would fall into the toilet (gross huh!) and told my stylist that I had to cut it short enough to pass the potty training test. I have recently finished potty training #5. Perhaps I can let it grow longer now!

As for my daughters, it did break my heart when my oldest daughter wanted short hair at around age 4. My current 3 year old has very long and beautiful curly hair. I keep telling her that it is so beautiful as to encourage her to let it grow. It hasn't failed the toilet test yet. When the time comes that she truly begins to assert her own opinion, I will allow her to do as she wishes. But as long as her decision is being influenced by others, it might as well be influenced by me. I don't have opinions that women have to have long hair, etc. but let's face it, it is way easier to cut your daughters hair when she is ready than to give her long hair when she decides she wants it.

Side note, daughter number 3 (age 2 1/2) is also sporting the toddler mullet. It is amazing how different each girl's hair can be as it grows in when determining the age old question "to cut bangs or not to cut bangs".

@beany, I'm glad the baking

Beth Terry — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 05:50:04 -0600

@beany, I'm glad the baking soda "shampoo" is working for you this time around. I am impressed, though, that you found a bottle of shampoo that would last an entire year. That's a good second choice, compared to most bottles that last a month.

@midnightbliss, if you do try the baking soda shampoo, please be sure and read the Guide and the Forum at the links I provided. Many people find that their scalp takes a few weeks to adjust if they have been using conventional shampoo and conditioner for a while. You may find you have a case of the greasies for a while until your scalp stops overcompensating for the lack of artificial moisturizers.

@LisaLaGrou, hope the baking soda soak works for you. I think it's a far better alternative than the chemicals in Efferdent. One person I spoke to said she adds vinegar to the solution to make it bubble like Efferdent. But after reading Melanie's post about not mixing vinegar and water, I don't think it's such a great idea.

@kazari, I do think the bubbles from the baking soda/vinegar can help to loosen baked-on yuckiness. However, it's not a good idea to mix them together in a bottle, as you'll end up with nothing more than salt water. Hope the deodorant works out for you! Please feel free to contact me at Fake Plastic Fish (http://fakeplasticfish.com) if you have questions.

@mashadutoit, I'm so sorry to hear about your poor dog, but glad the baking soda helped with the odor at least. That tidbit about little white dogs with the red around their eyes is very interesting. I've certainly noticed it but had no idea what it was from.

Beth Terry
www.fakeplasticfish.com
@fakeplasticfish
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As long as she brushes it..........

Molly70 — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 03:35:35 -0600

My oldest daughter (age 7) has exactly the kind of hair I always wanted as a child: long and straight but also voluminous and not too curly. Not super mousy straight either. I always tried to grow my hair long, but since it's too curly, it would just puff itself out and make my head look like a pyramid. So I'm more than happy to let her keep it long. HOWEVER, she doesn't do a good job brushing it, so we have a daily morning battle in which she wants to do her own ponytails (one on each side) and I always re-do it because I can't stand to see it done shabbily, messily. She hates it, but I can't bear to let her go to school that way, I'm sorry. It seems like all the other little girls have decently brushed hair.... How do those other moms manage to get THEIR ponytails done decently?!!??! sorry to sound bitchy!

Doggy Uses

mashadutoit — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:31:22 -0600

That tip about dog urine burns on the lawn is interesting. Going to try that out.

But here is my baking poweder tip - its the only thing that removed the smell of dog urine and vomit from my carpet.

My Anna was incontinent for a while, poor girl, and would leave big wet patches wherever she was lying. Stank like you would not believe.

Nothing worked. Not enzyme cleaners, not vinegar. But sprinkling a very healthy layer of baking powder on the carpet and working it in - leaving for a while and then vacuming it out completely removed all the smell.

Also worked for the time both my dogs vomited fish liver onto the carpet. That was a bad, bad moment.

I need to look it up, but I believe its also good for removing those red stains that white dogs get around their eyes and lips. The red is actually a kind of yeast that grows in the hair.

I didn't know about deoderant...

kazari — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 21:50:44 -0600

But I've been using bicarb to clean my kitchen for ages. I'm asthmatic, so most of the nasty oven cleaners make me cough. Bicarb works great, though.

I do combine bicarb and vinegar to clean the stove - sprink bicarb, spray with vinegar, and the 'fizzle' cleans it for me!

http://myrope.wordpress.com

Thanks for the Soaking Retainers/Mouth Guards tip

LisaLaGrou — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 21:43:18 -0600

I, too, have to wear retainers at night to keep my teeth (which are somewhat loose) straight, and to help me when I grind my teeth as well. I use Efferdent to clean them and kill the bacteria. I can't wait to try the Baking Soda. Thanks so much for the tip!