Not Organic and Green

Thinking about the products that we use around the house that are green (or, at least, sorta green) made me think about the products that we tried that didn’t work out for us, or the stuff we just haven’t tried yet.  And since Stephanie had her un-green confession in her blog yesterday, here’s mine:

1. Deodorant.  Oh, man, I really did try to go natural with deodorant a few years ago, especially when Tracy turned me vegan and I was reading every label in the house.  I swore off my Secret deodorant and searched the stores to find a replacement that was cruelty-free and devoid of animal products.  And, oh, man, did it just not work for me.  So I tried another.  Same issue.  The thing is that, in terms of sweat, I am above average.  I can be very sweaty.  And I do not want to be a smelly, sweaty girl, and I really felt that I could smell myself at the end of the day with natural deodorant.  So, after a few months, I went back to Secret.  I always feel furtive buying it at Target, but I have stayed with it ever since.
2. Garbage bags.  I bought a box of the Natural Value brand recycled garbage bags, and holy crap were they the worst ever.  It totally defeats the purpose of buying recycled or natural if you have to A) double bag your garbage, or B) not fill your bag completely because the bag will rip.  The thing that these companies need to realize is that I have to feel that the recycled/natural product is as good as the bad-for-the-environment alternative, especially if there’s a significant cost increase, and right now there’s no alternative for Hefty (or, really, the Target brand version of Hefty).  Really, it’s just stupid that we use plastic trash bags at all.  I wish we could use the trash cans we already own, but our city doesn’t allow me to put trash cans at the curb.  So that means hauling out garbage bags, and there are few things worse than cleaning up the contents of a burst garbage bag from the driveway at midnight before trash day.  Thus, Hefty.
3. Dishwasher soap.  We used to use the Trader Joe’s brand, but now we live a hundred miles from Trader Joe’s and that’s just not that convenient for dishwasher soap.  Method tried selling some dishwasher pellets, and we used those for awhile, but found they just didn’t clean the dishes properly.  So now we’re using Palmolive (I think.  It’s whatever is not the one produced by Proctor & Gamble.) again.  If you can recommend a really useful natural dishwasher soap, I’ll try it.
4. Actually, you can add ‘most other cleaning products’ to that last one.  Yes, we know we can make our own cleaning products from vinegar and baking soda and a little bit of wishing powder, but we are fairly lazy on top of skeptical, though there’s really no reason for our laziness or our skepticism.  Companies have realized that nobody thinks the stuff is working unless there’s a magical smell involved, even just a little lemon or orange.  So here’s my acquiescence: I’m going to switch to buying the more natural version of cleaning products after this.  I promise.  (With a couple of exceptions, but I won’t get into that here.)
5. Grocery sacks.  Despite my hopes that we would start using reusable bags at the grocery and Target, I have not done it.  Mostly because we still use the plastic sacks for picking up after the dog and cleaning out the cat boxes.  We have tried to switch to more sustainable cat litter, but this has been extremely difficult, so we’re still using a combination of several different products including Swheat Scoop, Feline Pine, World’s Best Cat Litter, and Tidy Cat.  If I could find something that would mask the odor like Tidy Cat, I would be happy.  We already clean the cat box every day, and, without the Tidy Cat, we’d be able to smell the new deposits throughout our house within seconds.  I wish I could find a solution for this one.  Yes, I’d like to buy biodegradable bags too, but the expense of those just seems exorbitant. 
6. Shampoo.  In that quest to go vegan and cruelty-free (mentioned above with the deodorant), I switched to Trader Joe shampoo and conditioner for quite awhile.  I still use it- I tend to have three or four different types of shampoo and conditioner in the shower at all times (which isn’t any more expensive or wasteful than just using one type- you still only use the amount you use every day)- but I prefer a combination shampoo/conditioner for most days as it’s just faster and I don’t really need all that much conditioner.  I tried Garnier Fructis last year and just loved it so much that it’s now my main shampoo.  But to keep it working well, I have to switch back to the Trader Joe’s once or twice a week.
7. Paper products.  We go through a lot of paper towels and we use Bounty, and we use Scott toilet paper.  We should probably switch to recycled, but the problem I have with purchasing the recycled versions of both these products is that they’re just not as good as the ones I currently buy, for the same reasons as the crappy garbage bags I discussed above.  I buy Bounty because they hold together when you’re cleaning something, unlike the cheaper brands, and I like the big rolls because I don’t want to change out the roll every other day.  Scott toilet paper is a great deal, and the rolls last for a couple of weeks.  I don’t need fluffy toilet paper, so I’m okay with the idea of the recycled version of this except that the rolls just aren’t big enough.  Again, you’d have to change them every couple of days, which means even more money spent on toilet paper.  Like you want to spend more money on toilet paper.

So that’s that, my un-green confession. 

But I do believe in fixing these problems if the companies that made the products would recognize that I buy the products for a reason.  I buy deodorant because I don’t want to smell.  I buy garbage bags because I have to haul my garbage to the curb.  I buy Tidy Cat because I don’t want my house to smell like cat deposits, and because the last time I made a big switch, my cat intentionally peed on my bed in displeasure.  I buy shampoo/conditioner because it’s convenient and it makes my hair glossy and swingy.  I buy toilet paper because it’s our custom in this country to use it, and I don’t want to change out the rolls every other day. 

When they recognize that I have actual reasons for purchasing these products and fix the problems, I will be ready to spend the extra money to buy the recycled, natural stuff.  Deal?