Your turn to help me –

Alright — I’m finally at the bottom of my JASON shampoo and conditioner bottles — and I’m ready to switch! Besides their “moderate risk” scores on Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep cosmetics database (both shampoo and conditioner got 5s), my hair was slowly getting buildup. My head feels heavy –

So far, I’ve gone through 2 green hair care stuff I’m not happy with:

>> Jason’s Natural Moisturizing Sea Kelp Shampoo and Conditioner: Ranks a “moderate risk” 5; creates build-up.

>> Avalon Organics Conditioner: Ranks a “low risk” 2; doesn’t feel thick enough and is slow to detangle. (I liked the shampoo fine, but I like matching shampoo-conditioner sets)

So now I’m looking for green shampoo suggestions — from the low-risk list I’m considering. Tried any of these and loved it? Let me know so I don’t pick another dud –

>> Aubrey Organics
>> Burt’s Bees
>> EO
>> Korres. Reader Callie recommends this one.
>> Miessence
>> Natural by Nature
>> Nurture My Body
>> Terressentials

Last but not least, here’s a fun old related post: Get your hair did: Eco-friendly hair care.

Update, 3/2/08: I went with EO — and LOVE the stuff.

Update, 4/4/08: A prob with the EO shampoo — the ranking’s ranking suddenly changed –

Bottom photo by gordon comstock

Tags: shampoo

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Your turn to help me –

Some of my resolutions for the new year:

* Stop eating milk products and eggs, period. This’ll end the whole avoid them for a couple weeks, decide “maybe it’ll be different this time,” eating pizza or ice cream or omelet, then feel horribly sick and bloated routine of yesteryears.

There are others, but they’re more serious, and thus less funny. What’re yours?

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Your turn to help me –

Help me pick out a new digital camera! While Pixelle’s been okay, she takes really crappy pictures unless it’s really sunny and bright and outdoors. Also, she takes AA batteries — and those things run out fast in a digicam. I’m tired of recharging batteries all the time –

My requirements:

* Something basic. I’m not a photographer; I’m just a blogger who takes photos. I want something that’ll produce relatively decent photos without requiring me to do much beyond pointing and shooting.

* Runs on something other than AA batteries.

* Not too expensive. I don’t need anything top of the line –

Got a recommendation? What do you use, and do you like it?

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Your turn to help me –

My friend Traci and I are throwing a holiday party this Saturday — and I’m supposed to make a LEED-certified gingerbread house for the occasion. At first, I was really psyched, but now I’m kinda getting stressed —

But right now I just had a couple cups of coffee and feel ready to tackle the task. So I’m wondering — How long do gingerbread houses keep if I don’t lacquer it with weird chemicals? Can I bake and assemble today, or should I wait until Friday?

And if you’re gonna be in LA this Saturday and we know each other and you haven’t gotten an evite yet — It’s because gmail’s rather handy habit of putting every email addy I ever send a note to in my address book is not so handy when you’re trying to go through your contact list to figure out who to invite. Lemme know if I accidentally missed you — You haven’t been blacklisted –

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Your turn to help me –

What are you doing for Step It Up? Here’s the 2-parter I wrote ’bout this grassroots environmental action day –

I’m planning to go to the Global Warming Rally in front of the Federal Building at 11000 Wilshire Blvd., mainly because the event’s close to me and easily accessible via Metro 720. The schedule:

11 am - 12 pm: Welcome. Optional yoga. Samples of ACTIVATE vitamin water.

12 - 1 pm: Lunch break. A group’ll walk to Native Foods for take-out.

1 - 3 pm: A speaker from a green company, plus perhaps a free screening of a movie. Both TBD, so I’ve no clue as to how exciting either will be.

3 - 4 pm: Closing ceremony.

I’m planning to go — with Chocolate Chip Zucchini cookies, with farmers’ market zucchini, of course — in hand. Might you be there too, with your own home-baked concoction?

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Your turn to help me –

So writing on Emerald City, combined with a trip to Chicago last weekend, has totally killed my blogging output here. I can’t seem to catch up — but I miss you –

Anyway — While toting my laptop around halfway across the country, letting it get x-rayed multiple times, I started thinking I really, really need to get an external hard drive to back up my stuff — mainly my music, like the new Radiohead album.

What should I be looking for in a backup hard drive, aside from the amount of memory it offers? The wikipedia article, while v. detailed, is not actually useful in helping me figure out what info’s actually important… I have a Dell XPS M140, if that makes a difference –

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Your turn to help me –

So I’m planning to write a novel next month, and am wondering if any of you are too. Are ya? Are ya?

LA’s sweetest blogger Cybele’s running the forums for NaNoWriMo, if you need an extra reason to get involved.

And while I know NaNoWriMo writers go for caffeine kicks mostly, I’m wondering if I can organize a writing group around wine. Renee’s, for ex, does lunch now — complete with free wifi (though perhaps that’s not conducive to novel writing) from noon to 2 pm. I’m thinking meet up there, type madly for 2 hours over wine, then go back to work or in my case, take a nap. Anyone?

Other options: Hotel bars, late night. Ambrose or Fairmont both work for me — Lemme know what your best ideas for wine-writing are –

Tags: nanowrimo

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Your turn to help me –

So October’s Fair Trade Month, and while prepping some posts ’bout it I’ve been a bit hard pressed to find a one or two-liner that sort of gives a quick explanation of what fair trade is for newbies. I’m looking for a not-too-overwhelming explanation that’ll give people who’ve never heard of fair trade a sense of what it is –

TransFair USA — the US certifier for fair trade products — uses a definition that’s too certification-focused and — long. The newly launched Fair Trade Towns’ definition of fair trade — “Fair Trade is a trading partnership based on dialogue, transparency and respect that seeks greater equity in international trade” — seems a bit vague to me. And United Students for Fair Trade doesn’t seem to have a v. clear explanation on its newly revamped site –

Here’s what I’ve got so far. What do you think?

Fair trade’s about making sure trade benefits all involved instead of just the few at the top of the chain. The idea’s to ensure that those at the very bottom of the economic ladder are not exploited, but participate and share in the benefits of trade.

To be followed by:

Of course, both the definition and the practice of fair trade’s much more complicated than this brief explanation; those interested in learning more can start with this more in-depth examination of fair trade.

Would the above be comprehensible to someone completely new to fair trade? Or perhaps you’d like to try writing your own definition — remember, brief and beginner-friendly — in the comments?

And for those who like to argue that there can be no short explanation of fair trade, that all short definitions of fair trade are “false,” and that people who want to find out about fair trade should do hours and hours of research and investigation on their own to understand its nuances, get off your high horse. Wait, I mean — Please try to give everyone an entrypoint to begin their lengthy research and exploration of fair trade….

Tags: fairtrade

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Your turn to help me –

Runners — What songs get you moving? I wanna put together a runner’s soundtrack of sorts, and need suggestions –

BTW — I’ve started running in the morning instead of evening and thought the air’d be cleaner — but I feel like I’m inhaling lungfuls of exhaust with every breath. When is air actually cleaner — 7 am or 7 pm?

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Your turn to help me –

About alcohol consumption and grinding teeth: Has anyone experienced or know about a connection between them?

As in — is it possible that I grind my teeth more when I don’t drink?

I asked my MD sis, but she wasn’t aware of a connection. However, she’s let me know that the medical term for grinding teeth is bruxism.

Bruxism runs in the fam. But it’s unclear whether I’m actually grinding my teeth more, or whether I simply notice I’m grinding my teeth more because I’m sober and/or less distracted by other pains, as in hangovers.

Any scientific or anecdotal info?

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