Nutmeat of Shadow

I promised to report on how my shampoo soap bars worked. I've been using one for about six weeks now. My hair feels nice and soft, and I don't detect any soap residue. The citrus scent I'm using is pleasant but not too strong. I bought a matching conditioner bar, because my hair can get dry and tangly. That seems to be working too, and my hair is shiny and easy to comb after washing. I am pleasantly surprised! These bars are not cheap, but I have been using them every day, and there's still plenty left. The benefit is that there's no plastic waste from the packaging. They are sent in a cardboard box, wrapped in wax paper. On the site, you can buy a wooden soap dish, but I already had one of those wooden soap holders with slats in it--I recommend something like that to let the soap dry out properly between uses so it doesn't get all slimy. Another benefit, IF anyone were traveling ever again, would be that you could take these on a plane--just put them in a baggie or waterproof cosmetic bag, and no worries about how many ounces of liquid etc. Oh yeah, and a final benefit: I have a sensitive scalp, and it sometimes gets itchy and breaks out from commercial liquid shampoo. I haven't had any of those problems with this soap.

If you want to try it: The Earthling Co.

Basically my only accomplishment of the day was to begin the deforestation of the buckthorn. I chopped down two of the biggest saplings with my clippers and my little folding hand saw. There's quite a lot more to go, but I figure if I take down the biggest first, it will intimidate the others. It would be nice if they'd just tiptoe away in the night like naughty Entings, and go root themselves elsewhere. I'm not counting on that.