The Minimalist Vegan

As time has gone on I found myself living more and more minimally with things. As I now see reason to not be as much a consumer, knowing demand for things is really with great harm to this world, that it is changing quickly from that, I would continue on with avoiding to buy what I can manage doing without. For storage I use boxes and plastic containers or bags, that I am not going to just throw away but would make all the use of them that I can. I now see I will live much more simply, as far as I can go with that.
I want to do what I think more people should come to for making the world better, with reducing the carbon footprint, getting off the grid if possible, and each growing food themselves that will work for betterment. I would do that. I want to have some land where I could do it. And these things that are of value for having sustainable ways would not be too hard to learn to do.
 
Anyone try this? I thought this was a cool upcycling idea. The glass cutting kits are about $20+ on Amazon.

 
Anyone try this? I thought this was a cool upcycling idea. The glass cutting kits are about $20+ on Amazon.

When I was in college one of my roomates bought a glass cutter. Not as fancy as the one in the video.
We used it a lot. Not just for glasses either. I can't remember the other things we made.
We went thru a lot of 6 packs so we made matching sets of glasses for gifts. We liked the bottles that had the label printed right on the glass.
Oh, and the top parts made cool candle holders.
 
Now that I think that I have pretty much accomplished having only the necessities (and some luxury items like the microwave, one bowl and two plates), I found another challenge: what products that I use are probably useless or even harmful (to me and the planet)? I found ketchup, cookies and mustard to be on that list, so I'm currently boycotting those to lead a more healthy minimalist lifestyle and save money (and The Earth).
The next one isn't for everyone and maybe a bit of an taboo. A sort of an dirty hippie thing. But... you can keep your body decently hygienic with only water. Of course you must wash hands with soap and teeth with tooth paste, but bathing soap actually isn't an necessity if you use toilet paper instead of an bidet (I think that when using bidet, soap is important in order to get all the faecal matter properly off as there might be a lot of it). Then wash the body with water when in the shower, or river, or lake. Easy, simple and minimalistic.
Also cotton swaps are useless if your pinkie finger is as small as mine. Use your fingers and water when you shower to wash your ears (don't do this if you have long finger nails). I have also found out that I don't need shampoo anymore, only water. But since I have had some weird experiences in the past with the "no-poo method" I'm not recommending that to people with long hair. It might work or might not. It also depends on the water quality in your apartment: the chemicals and how hard or soft the water is. I have never used deodorant. I had one, but always forgot to use it. And haven't used make-up in years, don't shave.
I got interested in this after sleeping on the floor for a while. I started thinking that we humans buy all sort of crazy useless things that we think we need. Well, actually, I do think that I need my tatami and futon to sleep comfortably, but back when I was sleeping on the floor I couldn't admit that it was terrible, because admitting that would have made it even more terrible. I had a thin and cheap foam hiking mat, or I still do, but I'm not using it much inside the apartment aside from some short naps and for exercising. When on a hard surface, you should either sleep on your back or if you tend to sleep on your side, dig a hole on the ground below the sleeping mat for the hip bone and shoulder. But you can't dig the floor or if you do...that might end up being a bad idea. I often woke up with my shoulder jammed in an unnatural position. Some people claim that you shouldn't encounter that sort of problems if you don't weight much, but I'm actually underweight, so... Even chimpanzees build a bed before going to sleep.
But anyways...I wonder if anyone else goes even further with their minimalism? Beyond "stuff"? And what have you learned?
 
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The bottle to glass is a nice upcycle in a way, but if you have to go out to the store to buy something as part of the process or order a kit online it´s hardly worth it and probably no better environmentally nor in saving time or resources and money than sending the glass to the recycling and buying a new one. But, it depends why you do it and whether it´s more like a hobby, a process you enjoy.

I do agree that you can be mostly hygienic with water only, and that includes hair. I shampoo around 2 times a month, no one call tell the difference. Saving on plastic, chemicals in the water supply and money. The reason your hair is so greasy after 2 days without shampoo is because your body is producing grease at a faster rate because you keep washing it out. Now, my hair gets as greasy after 30 days as it used to after 2.

I also change razors every so many months rather than days or weeks. However I do admit that I cannot get a really good quality shave with an old blunt razor. Also, you have to be very careful the day you transition from the blunt razor to a new one!

I also stopped using shaving foam and gel. One day I ran out and decided to try and shave without and noticed it was fine. It´s harder to cut off larger amounts (I still think foam and gel helps if you haven´t shaved for weeks) and it occasionally hurts very slightly (a function of foam/gel in my case seems to be to reduce the pain from very little to almost none). It made no difference to the quality of the shave, and I did not cut myself more frequently - but you may have a different experience. However, again, I´ve saved on chemicals in the water supply, money, and foam bottles that are made up of several different types of material and don´t look like they will ever be recycled.
 
I also stopped using shaving foam and gel. One day I ran out and decided to try and shave without and noticed it was fine. It´s harder to cut off larger amounts (I still think foam and gel helps if you haven´t shaved for weeks) and it occasionally hurts very slightly (a function of foam/gel in my case seems to be to reduce the pain from very little to almost none). It made no difference to the quality of the shave, and I did not cut myself more frequently - but you may have a different experience.

You could always try to use either baby oil or olive oil instead of shaving foam.
 
Have you ever tried making your own soap? During lockdown last year when soaps became scarce, I had a look for unusual materials you can use to make it, and old cooking oil came up. I was about to empty the deep fat fryer, so first sieved the oil, then ran it through a very thick tea towel for a finer finish. The result was amazing, I even gave some away as gifts and everyone has been really positive about it, especially since it has a novelty factor. It sets up well, lathers nicely, and really nourishes your hands. Amazingly enough, it doesn't smell like chips or old oil! Haven't bough soap since.
 
Meant to add, if you're worried about the whole hair washing thing, this might give you confidence: I wash mine about 2 or 3 times a year at the most. It's quite naturally dry anyway, and I find that using any products on it just makes it react badly and frizz up worse. I haven't cut my hair for about 20 years, so it's about as long as it can naturally get, it never smells, people comment on how nice and wavy it stays. Based on that, I don't think avoiding hair washing and/or boycotting products will hurt you at all. You could even use rain water to wash your hair if you wanted to, as it's free from chemicals and very gentle.
 
Minimalism and the endeavour to protect the Planet Earth makes us problem solvers instead of mere consumers. This is fascinating.

Have you ever tried making your own soap?
No, I haven't. It's great that you have found a way to repurpose your "waste". In nature, there is no waste!
 
I wash mine about 2 or 3 times a year at the most.
Do you mean you wash 2-3 times a year with shampoo? How often do you wash with water?
I do shampoo about twice a month on average, but I still wash the hair with water every day.

I did have a go at making not soap but my own toothpaste a couple of years ago from a video I found but it came out hard. The video said you could just run it under hot water which did eventually work but it wasn't worth the effort. It tasted weird as well, and more in a bad than a good way.

I wasn't able to find a vegan toothpaste within 30 miles of my house, and even that one the tubes would break. In the end I gave up and went back to Colgate which at the time was not vegan although just checked online and it looks like they are heading in the right direction although not quite there yet.

I also bought bamboo toothbrushes for plastic reduction but I found the main benefit it was that it immediately ended all the fights about who had what colour toothbrush! Now I am the only one with wood/bamboo toothbrushes and the others have plastic and it's impossible to confuse that.
 
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Do you mean you wash 2-3 times a year with shampoo? How often do you wash with water?
I do shampoo about twice a month on average, but I still wash the hair with water every day.

I did have a go at making not soap but my own toothpaste a couple of years ago from a video I found but it came out hard. The video said you could just run it under hot water which did eventually work but it wasn't worth the effort. It tasted weird as well, and more in a bad than a good way.

I wasn't able to find a vegan toothpaste within 30 miles of my house, and even that one the tubes would break. In the end I gave up and went back to Colgate which at the time was not vegan although just checked online and it looks like they are heading in the right direction although not quite there yet.

I also bought bamboo toothbrushes for plastic reduction but I found the main benefit it was that it immediately ended all the fights about who had what colour toothbrush! Now I am the only one with wood/bamboo toothbrushes and the others have plastic and it's impossible to confuse that.
When I had Dr Bronners peppermint I mixed it with coconut oil and just a bit of baking soda. My dentist is quite against baking soda, he says it's too abrasive, I think for gums? Anyway, the mix of Bronners and coconut was really nice
 
I'm so freakin sensitive to hair smell. I did the no poo method years back when I found a woman I worked with, with great shiney hair, did it, so I perservered till it normalized. It was great, lost it's poufiness, got shiney,and I did it for over a year. Then I started smelling it--I started smelling everyones hair for that matter, and I had to go back. No one else smelled my hair, but no one else seemed to notice other peoples hair odor.
I can't stand it. I shampoo every other day now. Yes, i tried adding essential oils!
 
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The quote by Gavin Nascimento above is so close to the truth. I was home schooled, whereas my husband went to school, and he's always frustrated by the lack of practical things he was taught there, compared to that which my mum and dad taught me.
 
Do you mean you wash 2-3 times a year with shampoo? How often do you wash with water?
Just to clarify, I wash my hair 3 times a year, I don't do it with water in between or anything. My dad thinks I'm hair mad by comparison to him, he only washes his once a year, his hair's even thicker and dryer than mine!
 
I can't imagine washing my hair 3 times a year without shampoo. What is the basis about not using a mild shampoo from time to time?

I certainly have noticed that some people who have greasy/dirty hair have an unpleasant lingering smell.