I know I often rant, in person and one this blog, about how much I hate that we as a society base so much off of physical appearance. However I know that is not something that will ever go away completely-so I just need to surround myself with people who have the same mindset as me. One day in Mancora Karina, Anna, and Mallory helped me when I was at my worst and the next day I didn't sense even the slightest bit of judgment from them. If I didn't know it 100% for sure before that, that was when I realized they were great friends. I also really enjoy talking to Traysea. I once needed a converter from her, and after she gave it to me she realized her friends had left. She asked Anna and I if she could come with us to the mall. That was how a great friendship was started. I really like Traysea. I just started this blog off like this so I could segue into talking about hair care. I get frustrated by the fact that many cosmetic companies, scratch that, companies of all types, tell women they need to do certain things to be beautiful. Eat this, drink that, do this to your hair, all these things they say you can't be satisfied without. First of all, I think true beauty comes from within. Second of all, I don't think its fair to tell women they aren't beautiful just the way they are. Take the shampoo industry for example. Shampoo is a fairly new invention. It started around 120 years ago. I find it highly unlikely that before that everyone had disgustingly greasy hair. From the "research" I've been doing about the subject on the internet, shampoo strips away all of your hair's natural oils. It then coats the hair with an artificial layer. The actual hair is dry, but it feels soft due to the layer of chemicals. The shampoo is also only designed to last a short while, more or less depending on how easily the hair gets greasy. It is both frustrating and interesting to me that the majority of the hair care industry seems to be something that was made up. The whole idea that you need to wash your hair every day, or every day, seems to be a scheme by the hair care companies to make money. Metaphorically, it seems like basically the same basic concept can be applied to self worth. There is the natural self worth, and then we strip it away by the desire to fit in and "look pretty". Then we build it up again but its only on the surface, it doesn't go deep. I personally only wash my hair on the 2nd to 4th day anyway, so I was not opposed to trying what the internet is referring to as the "no-poo" method. This is cutting shampoo completely out of my routine and washing my hair every four to five days with water, and once a month with vinegar and baking soda. The theory is that within a few weeks to months, the hair will normalize and no longer need any products to keep it looking good. My main motivation to do this is how frustrated I am about spending so much time and money devoted to physical appearance. This will hopefully at least slightly reduce that. Plus I figure now is the ideal time because even if my hair gets really greasy, its not like I have a job here, so I won't get in trouble for grossing out customers. I'd like to do the same thing with makeup, but I don't think I'm comfortable enough "in my own skin". Anna claims I look the same in the morning when I wake up as I do after I put on makeup, other than my eye makeup, which is typically fairly heavy, but I'm not sure I believe that is true. Maybe I'll stick to hair for right now, and once I start to run out of makeup reconsider the idea of going natural. Today I am on the 6th day of the no poo method. I washed my hair with water yesterday morning. I don't think it looks too greasy yet, although I'll admit I could be delusional. I once stopped shaving my legs for a year because I thought I had stopped growing leg hair. After I got a new prescription for my contact lenses, I realized I was sorely mistaken.