Smells Like Green Spirit

(January 10 Update - The House narrowly approved a bill that will raise $500 million dollars for the CTA by raising the sales tax by a quarter of a percent and by raising real estate taxes. Lawmakers are hoping that this will be a permanent, “regional” solution to what they are calling a regional problem.)

We Need a Permanent Solution

I am majorly depressed. If the proposed bus routes get cut on January 20th, the buses that remain are going to be even more overcrowded than they already are, making them practically useless, at least for me!

I use the Chicago Avenue bus for school and work, and already I have to sandwich myself between people to get on, if the bus even stops for me at all! And once the Division and Grand buses get cut, most of those riders will be cramming onto the Chicago bus as well!

A List of Routes Getting Cut

82 Routes total are proposed to be cut, many more than were proposed in the fall, in many more areas of town. The list is as follows:

• 1 INDIANA/HYDE PARK
• 2 HYDE PARK EXPRESS
• X3 KING DR EXPRESS
• X4 COTTAGE GROVE EXPRESS
• 8A SOUTH HALSTED
• 11 LINCOLN SEDGWICK
• 14 JEFFREY EXPRESS
• 17 WESTCHESTER
• 19 UNITED CENTER EXPRESS
• X20 WASHINGTON/MADISON EXPRESS
• 26 SOUTH SHORE EXPRESS
• X28 STONY ISLAND EXPRESS
• 38 OGDEN/TAYLOR
• 43 43RD
• 44 WALLACE/RACINE
• X49 WESTERN EXPRESS
• 49A SOUTH WESTERN
• 50 DAMEN
• 53AL SOUTH PULASKI LIMITED
• 54A NORTH CICERO/SKOKIE BLVD
• X54 CICERO EXPRESS
• X55 GARFIELD EXPRESS
• 55A 55TH/AUSTIN
• 55N 55TH/NARRAGANSETT
• 56 MILWAUKEE
• 56A NORTH MILWAUKEE
• 59 59TH/61ST
• 62H ARCHER/HARLEM
• 63W WEST 63RD
• 64 FOSTER/CANFIELD
• 65 GRAND
• 68 NORTHWEST HWY
• 69 CUMBERLAND/EAST RIVER
• 70 DIVISION
• 73 ARMITAGE
• 76 DIVERSEY
• 78 MONTROSE
• X80 IRVING PARK EXPRESS
• 81W WEST LAWRENCE
• 86 NARRAGANSETT/RIDGELAND
• 88 HIGGINS
• 90N NORTH HARLEM
• 91 AUSTIN
• 92 FOSTER
• 93 CALIFORNIA/DODGE
• 94 SOUTH CALIFORNIA
• 96 LUNT
• 97 SKOKIE
• 100 JEFFERY MANOR EXPRESS
• 103 WEST 103RD
• 106 EAST 103RD
• 108 HALSTED/95TH
• 112 VINCENNES/111TH
• 120 OGILVIE/WACKER EXPRESS
• 121 UNION/WACKER EXPRESS
• 122 ILLINOIS CENTER/OGILVIE EXPRESS
• 123 ILLINOIS CENTER/UNION EXPRESS
• 124 NAVY PIER
• 125 WATER TOWER EXPRESS
• 126 JACKSON
• 127 MADISON/ROOSEVELT CIRCULATOR
• 129 WEST LOOP/SOUTH LOOP
• 130 GRANT PARK TREASURES
• 134 STOCKTON/LASALLE EXPRESS
• 135 CLARENDON/LASALLE EXPRESS
• 136 SHERIDAN/LASALLE EXPRESS
• 143 STOCKTON/MICHIGAN EXPRESS
• 144 MARINE/MICHIGAN EXPRESS
• 145 WILSON/MICHIGAN EXPRESS
• 146 INNER DRIVE/MICHIGAN EXPRESS
• 147 OUTER DRIVE EXPRESS
• 148 CLARENDON/MICHIGAN EXPRESS
• 152 ADDISON
• 156 LASALLE
• 157 STREETERVILLE
• 165 WEST 65TH
• 200 MAIN SHUTTLE
• 201 CENTRAL RIDGE
• 205 CHICAGO/GOLF
• 206 EVANSTON CIRCULATOR

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In response to learning more about toxic chemicals in makeup and cosmetics, I’ve decided to make more and more things myself, and make them as easy and inexpensive as possible!

The Simple Scrub Recipe

The easiest, luxurious body scrub I’ve made so far are made by mixing either sugar or salt or a combination of both with olive oil, until the texture is to your liking.

I used this on my face and my entire body, standing in the shower as I scrubbed it in. Take care not to rub too hard, of course!

For the most moisturizing results, you can scrub this on your body and then just rinse it off with warm water, but I did it before my regular shower.

After my shower, I applied my new homemade Orange Lotion to everywhere but my face!

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All this reading about toxic chemicals in makeups and body products has got me on a quest..for the best, healthiest natural homemade lotions, cosmetics, and home products.

This recipe was the first homemade lotion I’ve made.

“Orange Lotion”

Pros: easy, all natural, common household/kitchen items, very moisturizing
Cons: weird texture, weirdly separates

I got this recipe from stretcher.com, a website chock full of tips about saving money doing the things we do, and the person who posted this said it came from a book called The Natural Forumla Book for Home and Yard by Rodale Press, edited by Dan Wallace.

Orange Lotion Recipe

1/2 oz Cocoa Butter, melted
1 oz Olive Oil, warmed
1 oz Orange Juice
2 drops essential oil (Orange Flower if possible)
Mix all ingredients together in blender until light and fluffy. (I used a hand mixer)

The recipe also included a vague reference to rose water and vegetable glycerine, both of which I added a half ounce for good measure.

I got all my ingredients from Whole Foods, but you could probably get them cheaper somewhere else.

My Review

While the ingredients were warmed, the consistency was a little thicker than orange juice, but once the ingredients cooled, everything separated, and it was pretty weird. It looked like scrambled eggs in orange juice (I eventually just poured the liquid out and kept the solid):

The lotion made my hands feel a tiny bit sticky at first, but on my body it feels great.
The wonderful thing about this lotion is that the ingredients were so natural and easy!

Day 2 of using the lotion:
Since I’m keeping the lotion in the fridge, the cocoa butter sort of hardened, but once you run it in your hand for a minute, it liquifies and spreads nicely.

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Did you know that the phrase “mad hatter” comes from the fact that hats used to be made with mercury that caused the hatters to go insane?

Mercury poisoning causes tremors, brain damage, and slurred speech, and is easily absorbed by skin and accumulates in the body.

And yet, it’s legal to have mercury in makeup products. In fact, it commonly appears in mascaras.

Although it seems outrageous that people shampooed with petrol in the 19th century, causing hair to easily light aflame, and it’s horrifying to imagine vermin living in little washed hairdos and wigs styled with lard, the makeup industry seems not to have progressed as far as one might think.

Carbon tetrachloride was also used to wash hair, causing results similar to inhaling chloroform in the 19th century. This seems bizarre, and yet freakin’ formaldehyde is released by several products found in deodorants and makeups under such names as Imidazolidinyl urea and DMDM Hydantoin.

Victorian women suffered massive scalp injuries and health problems by dying their hair with mixtures containing sulphur, lead, ammonia, and gylercine, among other things. Sounds like the ingredients of a bomb!

And yet, chemicals equally as toxic still exist today in not only hair dyes, but products we smear on our mouths and faces every day! Sodium Laurel Sulphate is mixed with sulfur trioxide or chlorosulforic acid and then neutralized with aqueous sodium hydroxide, appearing in most toothpastes, deodorants, and cleansers.

It’s estimated that our bodies absorb around 5 pounds of chemicals per year from makeup and lotions and hair care products…products proven to cause birth defects, neurological damage, even depression and blindness!

Check out:
An interesting look at the wacky history of toxic hair care through the ages.
More on different chemicals in makeup.
Consumer Reports on phthalates.

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