http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/02/us/02toothpaste.html
Recently, the case has been business as usual with trusting
corporations with your health. Whether we are talking issues
of pollution or just changing a Seaworld entry, you can always
count on a corporation to misinform you. Based on these
ideas, I’ve started doing everything in my power to remove
spheres of influence from my finances and home that could force me
into dependency through a collective body. One small way I
have started doing this is through the switch from most household
products that I use on a daily basis to baking soda. Yes,
baking soda. This salty stuff has tons of uses, most of which
baking soda works better than the original product it‘s
replacing.
Rather than go over all of the uses for baking soda in this
article, I’ll just go over a few and use them as my example
for anyone that is interested. First, when it comes to my
teeth, baking soda is a must. Brushing my teeth with baking
soda is a joy, not just in the fact that it is a better and safer
whitener than bleaching products (while not weakening the enamel)
it is also much better at keeping my mouth clean over time.
After brushing my teeth with toothpaste, my teeth will begin to
feel dirty after only a couple of hours. With baking soda, I
can brush me teeth before bed and still wake up with fresh
breath. Not to mention the fact that baking soda is the best
mouthwash, even over peroxide (which can cause necrosis of the
gums.) Simply get a mouthful of water after you are done
brushing, swish, and spit. that’s it, that’s your
mouthwash. Simple and inexpensive.
Some of the other things I use baking soda for are as a deodorant
and shampoo. Just take 1/6 baking soda and 5/6 petroleum
jelly and you have deodorant that will last you for six months that
costs three dollars or less. The only issue I’ve had
with it so far, is that it can irritate your underarm after severe
sweating or shaving, which is easily solved by switching to a
spray-on deodorant containing half baking soda and half rubbing
alcohol (also dumbly cheap.) Shampoo is just half baking soda
half water. If you are looking for something that will
condition your hair in the process (although the baking soda works
wonderfully, naturally) just add 1/25 part petroleum jelly and you
are done.
Baking soda has also replaced bleach as my bathroom cleaner.
By making a mix of wet-scrub pad and baking soda, my bathroom has
never been cleaner (plus no bleach fumes to fry my sinuses.)
My facial scrub is also baking soda. The fine grain of the
salt breaks up blackheads much better than anything St. Ives or
Johnson and Johnson will ever make. Scrubbing my kitchen
counters, pans, and dry dishes has never been so
stupid-simple. Forget using Dawn, screw soaking dishes, and
eff trying to scrub grease off of your hands. It’s all
at the mercy of baking soda’s voracious wrath.
All of this goes a long way to screw corporations, which makes me
happy on a personal level. Although I don’t want
government to mess with corporate America (or vice versa) I really
don’t want either of them to mess with me. By just
using baking soda for my everyday needs, I don’t have to
waste money (I am saving probably over three-thousand dollars a
year) and I don’t have to support corporate douche-bags and
their collective interests. This keeps me in peace-of-mind;
great, peace-of-mind. Just remember, as entities for profit,
corporations’ main goal is only money. This
doesn’t mean quality, stock-holders, or the common man.
And, why should they? So keeping with that mentality, the
individual, shouldn’t give a damn about using their products;
more so when the individual considers how easily replaced they
are. I’ll show you capitalism, the capitalism of the
non-spend.
Remember kids, it’s not about what you make, it’s about
what you save. If you can’t manage to save money
because you are always hemorrhaging it on scrubbing bubbles (that
are also making you sick with all of their little chemical
compounds) then what’s the freaking point of making money in
the first place?! Money is not static, it’s always
trying to find a way to go away or get bigger. For this to
happen, you should use the cheapest products possible versus
quality. Since the quality of baking soda more than exceeds
that of most household products and is by far safer, you can count
on it’s efficiency. Efficiency, something that
corporate America doesn’t really understand and never will,
should always be the priority of the individual. When you
pick up that four dollar bottle of pan cleaner, think:
‘is this efficient? Or have I been conditioned to use
these kinds of products? Also, is it safe?’
Baking soda is. Switch, and look for ways to replace all of
your household products cheaply and safely.
/Jason
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