Eco-positive weekly diary #138: bleaching my leg hair

Hi there! Welcome into my personal weekly diary. In this diary I try to show you what an eco-positive lifestyle looks like on a daily basis. What choices and habits make my life eco-positive? The past week I bleached my lower leg hair, finally started a worm bin and a disaster happened with the chestnuts I picked! Want to read along? Here’s eco-positive weekly diary #138.

Thursday

Today was about shredding the chestnuts I had found the past week. If it all works out I can make laundry detergent out of them by adding water. At a certain moment, my mixer died all of a sudden. Smoke started coming out. I lied it aside because I think it is broken now. I needed a blender too anyway and so luckily I had ordered one secondhand online today.

Friday

I was very lucky today because when I tried the mixer again, it worked all of a sudden! Then, I shredded some more chestnuts and put those in jars. I also made another mixture today, for my leg hair! What? Yes. I hate armpit-hair and in the bikini area on myself. That’s why I go to get a laser appointment every 8 weeks until they’re permanently gone. However, lower leg hair has never bothered me but I did shave it. You know, because it’s not-acceptable in our society to not do so. Well, screw that. I have not shaved my legs the past weeks and it’s fine. However, I used to have blonde hairs (just like I have on upper legs), but after all that shaving the hairs on my lower legs have become dark. That’s the part I don’t like. There are de-coloring cremes to make the hairs blonde but that’s all chemical. I searched a bit online and found a supposed natural remedy from banana, honey, cinnamon and olive oil. I wanted to try that before I went to the chemicals right away. And so I did buy organic honey to try this once. Not vegan, but I just had to give it a shot. But, surprise surprise. The mixture did not work at all. The hairs are still dark. Bummer!

Saturday

Today my boyfriend and I went to a large supermarket where they have a lot of vegan products. I was amazed because I found vegan ‘huzarensalade’, a Dutch heavenly salad. And also, filled peppers! I took both them home and will try them soon! I am so excited to see the vegan options growing. Also, since the mixture for my leg hair did not work yesterday, I bought a chemical one today at Kruidvat. I had looked for all kinds of sustainable options before doing this, but I just saw no other options. First, I tried it on a little part of my leg just to see if nothing weird would happen and it worked! I am going to wait 24 hours and see if nothing happens to my legs. If nothing happens, I’ll do both my lower legs.

Sunday

Very bad news today. I didn’t know I had to dry the chestnuts after shredding them and so I stored them right away. Consequently, I had to throw all the shredded pieces away because they had mold on them and I could not save them. I did have some whole chestnuts still and I lied those near the window to dry and see if I can save those. It’s a big bummer, because I took them from someone’s garden and so from nature and now I wasted them. I suppose I must see this as a lesson for next time. Today we also upgraded our worm bin to three layers instead of two. It’s the best thing for the worms I think. Two layers isn’t enough, this will give them all they need and now our worm bin is entirely done! Let the composting begin! And an update on the leg hair: it worked! My hairs are now as good as blonde. It would be even better if I did it one more time again, but I’m not sure yet.

Monday

Today I hung up a secondhand rug in our bedroom. I inherited it from a family member who passed away. Now that it is all set, I love the way it looks and I love giving something old a new purpose. I think it looks cool on our wall. I also picked up a new book from the library to read and bought all organic groceries for our dinner.

Tuesday

First work day! Today I had to pick up my work supplies in Zwolle and so I went there by train. Public transportation is the most sustainable way to travel. Once in Zwolle I picked up the stuff and had a short introduction and afterwards I went by train to Enschede. Since I was already going to Zwolle, I could also go to Enschede to my parents. Zwolle is halfway to Enschede by train. Good to see my parents again!

Wednesday

Today I was free again. While I was watching Netflix, my father had picked up a secondhand bike for me! Because I don’t have a bike here, mine is in Groningen. I used it right away to bring some stuff to a secondhand store, some random stuff. Once there I bought 2 things for myself. A cap for winter and a sweater (this sweater is going to replace one I don’t like anymore).