To Shave or Not to Shave, 'Tis the Question...

Some of you may be horrified but hey, everything can’t be butterflies and rainbows all the time.
So here goes:
It’s been so long since I last shaved my pits or legs I can’t even remember when the last time was.
And the time before that was just as long. 

Folks, it wasn’t just because it wasn’t swim suite season.
It’s because I decided I didn’t want to and I saw no good reason to shave.
…and a hundred people just clicked away…
Alright, now the open minded people are still here. Good, I don’t think everyone is ready to have this conversation anyway. 

Those of you who know what college I attend will probably blame this on all the crazy hippies rubbing off on me –as if I’m not one already!
Sure, there are all kinds and degrees of un-shaven, un-washed, un-brushed people who are tattooed in strange places and sport hair styles and clothing combinations that might make someone not used to “greener style” scratch their head in pure confusion.  I will definitely agree the community of unique awesome people who don’t make me feel judged made the decision easier.
I had only ever shaved because it was just what you did. I felt I had to, or I would be judged. That not shaving somehow made me less of a woman, less respectable. 
I was afraid of being judged. 
Shame was what brought the razor to my leg every time.

How is that healthy?

Why should I do something simply because it’s what society expects of me? How is it good for me or any other person if the only reason you do it is because you fear being judged. How did we get to a place where the totally natural hair on our bodies is a source of shame?
Not too long into my no shave experiment I wore a short sleeved shirt to church. After church I was talking to one of the other women and I saw her notice my armpit hair.
Wow, just wow.
Her reaction was instant and totally un-veiled. The look of disgust on her face surprised me, and then of course I figured out what it was about. But what really got me was the look that came after that and lasted. I had been judged and found lacking.
Ouch.
I instantly felt ashamed. I was confused by her reaction and by mine.
I kept thinking about the whole thing, turning the event over and over. If it had been a rock it would have been polished to a mirror shine before I was done with it. 

Why did her reaction matter to me? How was a little tuft of arm pit hair worthy of such a violent reaction and stony judgment?
I realized I cared how people perceived me. I cared a whole lot. I cared to the point of doing things and worrying about things that are really irrelevant and have no impact in the greater scheme of life. It was all not exactly something I wanted to admit since I was someone who already doesn’t generally conform to societal norms.
So I considered my realization.
If someone decides to judge me, to make decisions about who I am as a person based off the presence or lack of hair under my arms and on my legs then I guess that says more about who they are than who I am. 

I would like to think we can all be a little more open minded than that. 

So I ask you, what are you doing, what are you worrying about that does nothing to benefit your soul?
How have you judged someone else based off something so trivial as the presence or lack of body hair?
Now I ask myself that all the time and I check myself when I find that I’m not staying true to my own needs and beliefs. I also am much more aware of when I’m jumping to a conclusion, when I’m passing judgment on someone based off appearances.
If I shave, it’s going to be because I want smooth legs or pits. Not because I’m worried about what someone is going to think.
Now, I won’t lie, there are still places I don’t feel comfortable wearing short sleeves.  I hope that eventually I can go anywhere in a T-shirt without worrying what anyone will be thinking about my arm pit hair. I also hope that some day we, as a society, can rise above such petty concerns that create so many divisions and so much hurt.
I especially want all of my fellow women to take this to heart. I’m not just talking about armpit hair here; this is a much bigger issue.
Western culture has placed on us such unrealistic expectations of what a woman has to be. I want to smash those stereotypes, to obliterate them from the face of the earth. 

I want a world were girls don’t look in the mirror and feel shame for their perfectly normal and healthy bodies.
I want it so bad my heart aches.
And the fact of the matter is that we are all responsible for keeping these false idols of feminine perfection alive by the way we judge and treat our fellow women and ourselves. Our daughters, sister, nieces, are watching.

What do you want to teach them?


This post is participating in the Homestead Barn, Share Your Cup Thursday, From The Farm, HomeAcre, Inspired Weekends and Mostly Homemade Mondays blog hops, check them out to find other great blogs like ours!

Spray Bottle Citrus Vinegar Cleaner

 As you have probably figured out, I'm all about saving money.

Some of the ways I go about that without being the shopping dictator is by cutting down on food waste, making my own lotion, cutting out commercial shampoo ( so far so awesome! Don't worry, I've got a post stewing) and conditioner and replacing commercial cleaning supplies with simple, old fashioned ones instead. 

Believe me, vinegar is a good cleaner.



Because vinegar is acidic (duh) it's inhibitory to many harmful microbes and encourages many good ones. With the addition of citrus and soap, which are both also inhibitory to many kinds of microbes, citrus vinegar is a highly affective, sustainable, kid and pet safe cleaner which also happens to be cheap. 

Oh, and it cleans stuff, which is actually the point by the way.

The citrus cuts the strong vinegar smell that some people don't care for. 
The smell of vinegar doesn't bother me.
 Now the smell of pinesol, lysol and all that nasty stuff does bother me. 

I like the smell of citrus though, and its a great way to use up something that often doesn't get used for anything.
Although you could zest your rinds to make citrus sugar and salt, or how about lemon pepper seasoning?
You can also totally use rinds that have been zested to make this.
I'm just full of suggestions today aren't I.

In the past I had always used just plain vinegar in a spray bottles for cleaning. 
 So I happily filled my spray bottle with my first batch of citrus vinegar and went to cleaning. 

Ahhh the frustration of a clogged spray bottle....
My happiness quickly turned to crabbiness when I got one good spray out before the nozzle clogged up solid. I mostly use whole squeezed limes and lemons since thats mostly what we have, unfortunately that introduces pulp that's responsible for clogging up my spray bottle.

 After a couple days of exasperation and shooting dirty looks at my useless bottle of citrus vinegar I got the bright idea to just strain it first. I don't know why it took me so long to realize there was such a simple fix!

What You Will Need

For the citrus vinegar:

Vinegar
     apple cider, white, or cleaning strength are all fine
citrus  
      I use squeezed halves but you can use peelings too.  
 A non-reactive storage vessel, such as:
       glass or ceramic of some kind

A lid 
      a regular lid wrapped in plastic, if you don't wrap it in plastic it can eventually rust. You could also use a tattler lid, but the rings get funky and it stops being leak proof, just so you know. A glass container and lid would be ideal, such as this one. It's just like the one I have for my sourdough starter, can't have too many of them!
.

 Add before using not when you first set it to brew:
High quality dish soap of your choice
water, if you think its too strong

To make it usable in a spray bottle:
coffee filter or muslin or clean T-shirt (not washed with anything to leave a sent)
a funnel, strainer or culinadar
measuring cup or other vessel with a pour spout


 Fill your jar nice and full with rinds, it doesn't need to be jamed in there. Room for vinegar is good. Cover them with vinegar and forget about it for at least a week, I prefer to leave it as long as possible, a month or so at least before using to make it extra strong. 

When you are ready to use it just set your filter in your colander or mesh strainer and set that on top of a measuring cup or bowl.

Poor your citrus vinegar in and fill your repurposed, or new if you want, whatever floated your boat.
Cleans your counters.
anyway....





















Add a drizzle of your dish soap. You can also cut it with a quarter part water if you think its too strong.

I use this as my all-around cleaner, for counters, moping, grease, windows....you get the idea.
Don't forget about the rinds! I use them to scrub bad spots on the counter or get the grime out of the sink. 
That's all there is to it, have at those dirty counters! 

This post is participating in the Homestead Barn, Mostly Homemade Mondays, HomeAcre and Share Your Cup Thursday blog hops, check them out to find other great blogs like ours!