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On Solid Shampoo

About a year ago I started using solid shampoo from Lush. In my personal experience, explorations with beauty products tends to be frightening - I go with what I know and stick with it. So jumping from boring bottled shampoo to a weird looking bar of shampoo was a little nerve racking. Especially since if I hated the experience, I was out $15. (Note here: the staff at Lush tend to be really friendly, and I’m sure if you expressed curious trepidation over trying this, they’d probably be happy to cut you a sample.) In a nutshell, solid shampoo is worth trying. Here are the pros and cons:

Good things:

• It’s made using natural ingredients.
• Mine smells really awesome and coconutty while washing.
• It lasts a long time. I’m not even done yet with the one I bought last January. (Keep in mind that I only wash my hair 2-3 times a week. If you’re wondering why I’m sporting a cute headband, I’m probably on day 4 hair.)
• On that note, it may end up being cheaper than bottled cheap shampoo, but I really have no idea since I haven’t counted the number of washings for any sort of accurate comparison.
• No packaging! This is what sold me initially.
• I haven’t tried this, but it has the potential to travel really well - just cut off a hunk and throw it in a plastic bag. Since it’s solid, there are no worries about liquid size requirements on airplanes.

Bad things:

• The lathering. It just doesn’t lather the way bottled shampoo does, and I miss that sometimes. It’s the main reason why I still keep “normal” shampoo around. (I’m curious if whether the pucks of solid shampoo lather any differently but I’m stuck with the new one I bought for a while.)
• Although it hasn’t made my hair bad, I haven’t noticed any difference either. Maybe this is a neutral thing, but I kind of expect a little more from fancy bath products.

I know some people have the tendency to go all Lush fangirl on you and say that some product changed their life, and I’m not about to go that far. But it has definitely changed the way I view shampoo, and if you’re willing to shake up the hair washing routine, it’s worth a shot.

On making your own yogurt

I’ve been making my own yogurt off and on for almost two years now. The impetus grew out of the fact that I like yogurt, but mostly out of my hatred for accumulating those number five yogurt containers. (I do reuse them for freezing stocks, beans, and other storage, but the piles get big fast. Also, this was before you could bring them to Whole Foods.) I use a yogurt maker* that I got as a Christmas present, but it isn’t necessary. [See Heavy Table’s post on making a gallon of yogurt, to which I say, a GALLON? Are you crazy?]

The Good Things About Making Yogurt:

• It’s cheaper. (I buy quarts of organic whole milk in a glass bottle, which makes me happy. They’re $2, and most organic yogurts cost about $5.
• It solves that pesky container problem. (To a point, see below.)
• It’s good! You can eat it with granola, or make biscuits, or use it as a replacement for sour cream! Or use it to make face masks!

The Bad Things About Making Yogurt:

• To make yogurt, you need yogurt, which means you need to have an ever cycling supply of yogurt around constantly. And really, the yogurt you use as a starter shouldn’t be much more than about a week old, and you can only continue this yogurt cycle for so long before things start to get funky (in my experience). So that means unless you and whomever lives with you can eat a quart of yogurt every week, at some point you’ll need to get grocery store yogurt, which slightly lessens the container advantage.
• Although it is technically easy, waiting around for milk to cool is a pain. Watched milk never cools, apparently.

By the way, yogurt sauce is good. Add it to vegetables and sandwiches and things that just need a little something.

Spicy Yogurt Sauce

• 1/2 cup yogurt
• small glove of minced garlic
• lemon juice, salt, pepper, and crushed red pepper to taste

There you are. A lot of information if you ever thought about making your own yogurt. Also, * - that yogurt maker cost $15 when I got it - I don’t know why it’s only available for $150 now! Bottom line, if you have to spend more than $20 on a yogurt maker, you should really try making it without one first.

ADDENDUM: [11/19/09] One of the problems I’ve had is that the finished yogurt is kind  of thin and watery. I finally took the time to strain the yogurt through a cheesecloth and HOLY CRAP this is totally worth it. The total amount of yogurt is about one third less than before, but it’s thick and awesome. Highly recommended.