Water and Washing

Wow, reading a couple of posts over on GetRichSlowly.com cracked me up. In a post, one of the writers talks about simple, inexpensive ways to look good. She washes her hair monthly and advocates drinking a lot of water. These things are no surprise to me - the "no poo" movement's been around for years, although I haven't tried it.

But the comments! Anti-water people - never thought I'd see it. Yes, water poisoning does exist, but it is simply so damn rare. Our bodies consist of a heck of a lot of water (too lazy to look up the percentage), and our kidneys like functioning well. The old adage about eight glasses of water a day seems to really offend some people. It's a guideline, people, that's all.

And I drink more than that. Let's do the math on a typical day:

4 ounces first thing
28 ounces
28 ounces
28 ounces
32 ounces
4 ounces last thing

I love my Kleen Kanteen. I have two - orange and pink.

That's straight water, not the soda I drink for lunch or the coffee I drink in the morning or the tea I drink in the afternoon or the beer I drink at night. That's not counting the water in my food. Straight water. 15.5 cups of water.

And I'm not poisoned - I could probably use some more. When I work out, I drink another 28 ounces or so. If it's a long run, I'll probably drink an electrolyte drink - usually Nuun these days - in addition to the water, and if it's super-hot, I might prep with a Nuun beforehand. When I drink less, I can tell. My skin is tight, my head hurts, my workouts suffer. Dehydration is real - and a lot more common than water poisoning. I like the general rule that your pee should look like light lemonade (not apple juice or, worse, darker).

I spent most of Sunday with pee the color of apple juice. Bad Adrie.

It's more fun to talk about the hair washing. People really get bent out of shape on that too, calling her a dirty hippy and whatnot. I don't know her, but I suspect she is not dirty. You probably wouldn't even know she was a monthly hair washer. Everyone's body chemistry is different (and most of us Western people probably do overwash, although I have no plans to stop showering daily).

Personally, I usually wash my hair every other day. Today's a little off because of the missed morning run, so I didn't wash my hair (last washed Sunday after my run). I will wash it tonight after my run. Tomorrow night (after the group run), there's a good chance I'll just rinse it and use a little conditioner, though. Too shampooing dries out hair.

I did try some of the "better" products - no parabens, phlates, etc. - as promoted by No More Dirty Looks and Skin Deep. Maybe it was summer, maybe I just couldn't get hands on the right products, but the Biolage that I'm using now (middle of the Skin Deep scale, btw) is working better. The other stuff - three different brands - seemed to dry out my hair.

If you clicked through to the other article, she also advocates making your own deodorant. Well, I won't be partaking there. I much prefer to clog up my pores with anti-perspirant.