I just lost my rain of thought

Only a couple hours in and out of the sun and I am now as pink as Pepto Bismol on my shoulders and a slightly lighter on my chest and back until where my strapless dress ends. I look sort of like I’m wearing pink overalls and then there’s normal skin color in the middle where my large head luckily cast a shadow, providing shade for my poor epidermis that so rarely sees light that it blushes in its presence. I sunburn really, really easily because pretty much every day of the year I am in a t-shirt and jeans and very little skin is exposed. On the few occasions that I show anything outside of my farmer’s tan, I get burned like a mofo. Not only that, but it shows up really slowly. At first I’m only a little pink and then several hours later, long after I’ve left the evil rays of the sun, I turn a ghastly shade of hot pink. It just sort of sneaks up on me. I don’t think my shoulders have ever only been a little sunburned. Go big or go home, the sun seems to feel. Lucky me, I get to have charred shoulders while abroad. How will I ever hook my British boyfriend now? No one likes crispy shoulders. Oh well, our lovely photos with the grad were worth it. Pictures soon to come! Congratulations on your graduation, Roomie!!! I’ve been waiting to say that to someone for years because it’s been a while since anyone I knew graduated.

Really though? I was only in the sun less than two hours! Goodbye o-zone layer. Remember to wear sunblock, friends! Especially if you don’t want to have leather skin when you’re older. I’ll have leather shoulders for sure. They’ll be like shoulder pads. They’re gonna come back one day and you’ll all be jealous because my shoulder pads are built-in.

Apparently I have been drowning myself from head-to-toe in Sodium Laureth Sulfate and Sodium Lauryl Sulfate for most of my life and have only just recently realized how horrible they are. As a kid, I used J&J Baby Lotion and Shampoo and stuff, but when I got to around middle school age, I started using Herbal Essences because it smelled so nice (not because of those creepy commercials that make it seem like an orgasm-inducer) and it all went downhill from there. My hair was much duller than it used to be and my skin was always dry, but I thought these were somehow the consequences of puberty and growing up and whatever. I picked up using conditioner soon after to fix the dull hair, which never did restore it to its original shininess, but it helped a little. SLS and SLES doesn’t affect some people as much as others, but I guess I got the crappy end of the deal. What it is is a degreaser, absorbing all the oil and dirt on you, leaving you oh so fresh and so clean…but dry. It took me until just a few days ago to realize the degree of the wrath of sulfates when I picked up a bottle of shampoo at Walgreens that noted how bad sulfates were because they dry you out, which prompted my Googling of it to see just how horrendous it is. Little did I know, aside from drying out your hair and skin, it also causes hair loss (which I did hear about but only associated with Herbal Essences, which stopped me from using it) and eye irritation, and rumor has it, it can cause cancer with prolonged use, but that’s just a myth. Someone was probably paid off to say that.

It’s hard to avoid products with SLS and SLES (somewhat less bad than the former) because it’s in practically everything, even in my face wash. :( There are a lot of shampoos out there that don’t include these ingredients, but they are a little pricier, such as Burt’s Bees Grapefruit and Sugar Beets Shampoo, which has an ingredients hazard level of 1 on a scale of 0-10, by the way. I haven’t looked into a lot of products, but I did buy the shampoo and conditioner that prompted my hair scare, so I guess I’ll update you when I use it. It smells really natural, so I’m sort of excited. :P Unfortunately, I have a Costco-size olive oil shampoo that is not nearly finished. When I first started using it, it made my hair feel so nice, but after a while, it probably became duller than ever. I don’t know the reasoning behind this, but I’m sure the sulfates don’t help all too much. Despite olive oil being good for you, something else is cancelling it out.

Another alternative is not shampooing at all and “going grunge” (about eight paragraphs down). As tempting as that sounds, I’m not sure I’m ready for a shampooless lifestyle, but according to that piece, it does reduce hair loss and restore it somewhat. And yet another alternative I found was making your own natural shampoo, which I’m sure the DIY-ers out there would love. This option sounds a little more appealing than the prior one. I might just try it eventually just to see how effective it is.

I’m not like haircare obsessed or anything, but why should I let my hair be all yucks when it doesn’t have to be? And I just wanted to promote awareness of what we’re all lathering up with after having just learned about this stuff myself.