My Monthly Luxury...and Planet

Today was the first day in over a month I had a shower! Yeah, sane or maybe civilized people would think that is crazy. I told my friend I was planning a shower and how long it had been and she said, "I could never live like that!" HA! At the Women's Rubber Tramp Rendezvous speakers at the "Personal Hygiene" presentation said not only do they get used to it, after a while they just don't care if they bath or not and they really don't care what others think (or smell!). I have found it doesn't bother me anymore. The first three weeks I thought I would crawl out of my skin as it felt so gummy and dirty. Now I don't even think about it.

But today, I spent an extraordinary amount of time under a nice, warm, clean-water shower! It was glorious. I was told about it from another van-dwelling woman. There are places like Pilot Truck Stop that have showers for $18.00. That's way out of my budget. Most van-dwellers have memberships at fitness clubs, but they are too smelly for me. I've heard aquatic centers (swimming pools) also have showers for the fee of a swim. About a month ago I visited City of Rocks in New Mexico and was surprised to find free showers there, too! They surmise if people hike around the "city", they might want to wash off the sweat. That shower was glorious, too.

This shower was at the Catalina State Park just north of Tucson. Pay the $7.00 day fee and the showers are located in the camping area. As I stood in awe of clean water pulsating on my body, I reminisced on how I used to take up to four baths at day when I had a house. I really took all that luxury for granted!

More importantly, since arriving in Tucson I have not been able to find Planet Dishwashing Liquid. If you've been reading my posts since the beginning of this blog, you know since becoming chemically sensitive, I have been using Planet Dishwashing Liquid for EVERYTHING: bathing, washing floors, washing cars, washing dishes (!) and most importantly, washing my hair. Several friends and relatives have wondered if it would damage my hair, but after twenty years, I don't see a problem.

What do I do without Planet? I bought ECO dishwashing liquid and it was horrifying leaving my hair stringy and dirty looking. I bought some bulk non-toxic shampoo at the co-op in New Mexico, but in a not so sealed container it was a mess. It also just made my hair feel saturated in some kind of film and flat.

After searching two states, I finally found Planet at the Food Conspiracy, Tucson's downtown food co-op! I washed my hair and OMG! it makes my hair feel so clean and healthy! It's no longer as flat as it was! I really hope Planet isn't going out of business...maybe they've just reduced distribution in Arizona? It has gotten really, really expensive, but for me, it's well worth it!