I've been in the so-called "green" world for quite some time now. From starting a better-than-organic farm over 14 years ago now to reading Treehugger.com for I believe about 20 years to being endorsed by the Sierra Club when I ran for office about 10 years ago... I'm not really a newcomer to the scene. Simply a newcomer to this domain name my wife and I recently bought to help spread the truths we've learned about the living healthy lifestyle.

For those who are trying and struggling, my advice to you is to simply hang in there. If you've grown up and spent your entire life in a world surrounded by chemicals and fragrances and petroleum-based products and you're struggling to find things that are actually healthy for you, we know it's difficult. But here's the upside: more and more people are waking up to the idea that certain chemicals are bad for you and cause cancer and other diseases, and so more and more products are becoming available as alternatives to the products we've known and loved for years.

Most of the green beauty blogs and green living blogs I've seen out there tend to still get this one thing wrong though. They are focused on being an advocate for Crunchi to make oodles of money or they're focused on selling eco-friendly non-toxic mattresses to build their bottom line. And yes, we too use affiliate links and programs to help support this site. But there's one thing I'd like for you to consider before you go buying anything through any of the affiliate links on our site or those others. That one thing is this. Do you need it?

That's right, I'm suggesting that rather than continuing to try and find replacements for absolutely everything, sometimes the best replacement is nothing. Zero. Zilch. Nada. It's an extremely affordable solution to that never ending quandary of how to afford to be healthy.

Here's one example. As a guy, I have these hairs that grow in on my face. I'm not a big fan of facial hair, but nobody ever asked me whether I'd like for these hairs to be growing out of my cheeks and chin and neck. I find that when the hair gets to be about a quarter of an inch or so that it gets really itchy, so I'm not just going to let it grow out into a macho lumberjack style beard. I already wash my face with soap and use shampoo for my hair which runs down my face some as I rinse it out. So I don't really want to add yet another product or two in there between the shaving cream and a razor which typically has some sort of moisture bar in it with yet more chemicals.

So what do I do?

I use one of these: Philips Norelco Beard and Hair Trimmer. It's a whopping $18 at the time that I'm writing this and doesn't require any blade oil, which is a win because I'm not putting yet more petroleum based products on my body. The one I linked to isn't the exact one I purchased about 8 years ago or so, but it appears to be the current model.

Now, as I think about that $18 purchase, how many razor blades have I been able to avoid buying for shaving my face clean? How many bottles of Dr. Bronner's Organic Shaving Soap have I not needed to purchase?

And remember, that's just one example. Here's another for those of you who are saying, "but I'm not a guy - I don't have facial hair". Okay, fine, what about gray hair? My wife used to spend hours looking for ways to be non-tox or low-tox with her hair dye. We both have some gray hair coming in, though her more than me, and while I'd complain about mine she'd do something about hers. Since she's still in her 30's, she didn't want to be all grayed out quite yet. However, she eventually decided that she should simply succumb to the idea that she doesn't need to dye her hair. Putting the number of chemicals in it every 2 or 3 or 4 weeks just isn't worth the potential health risks from doing so. It's now been over a year since she's used any sort of hair dye and she constantly gets comments on how pretty her gray hair is and how people admire her for just letting it grow out because they just couldn't do that.

So what's stopping you from joining her? Ditch the Clairol and the Revlon. Let your hair grow out into whatever color it's going to be naturally. Look at the grays as beautiful and a sign of experience. Gray hair doesn't determine your energy level. It doesn't determine your mood. If you really want to go green and be healthy, get rid of yet another product that typically has some sort of fragrance or perfume added to it and own your natural hair color.

There are plenty of other ways you can eliminate products in general from your life, and we'll be sharing ways to easily eliminate certain products altogether from your life over the upcoming months and years. For now, find something small in your own life to replace with nothing. Don't let the mass media's consumerism infect your mind and feel like you have to go buy something to (insert task here)_____ because that's what the world expects of you. Be you, naturally.