A Temporary Sanctuary, Part 2: Find your space

Is it time to start apartment hunting?

Hunting for possibilities:

• Know your essentials. What are your nonnegotiables? Does the building need to be secure? Do you have to be within X miles of a certain location? Does the building need to be pet friendly? Start hashing out these and Stick. To. Them. 
• Prepare to be flexible with everything else. Certain apartments might not have everything you want, but if it has the essentials you're looking for, it's worthwhile to go to a showing.
• Know your budget. Apartment rent is only a fraction of what you pay to rent. Ask for estimates on utilities, parking, internet, etc. and add these to rent when comparing locations to ensure the total cost will work in your budget.
• Ask around. Your friends, especially older ones, are excellent resources for learning about hidden gems not easily found online and bad experiences. Some of my friends even lease the same apartment after a friend leaves, feeling more comfortable that they knew the previous tenant.
• Creep on the landlord. I've heard horror stories about poor management: repairs delayed for months, overcharging, poor service, you name it. Read reviews about each one to make sure they're legit. Living with a bad landlord is risky. It may be that you have no problems, but understand you're taking your chances,
• Know the neighborhood. Choose an area you feel safe in--no rent is low enough to get me to live in a place I don't feel comfortable. Some people prefer quieter areas while others need to be in the center of activity. Think about your relative location to things you enjoy: classes, bars, downtown, friends, the highway, etc. Walk around a few different times to get a feel, and ask around. 
• Transportation is key. Do you have a car? If so, where will you park? Will  you be walking a lot? Is there a bus stop nearby?

Apartment showings:

• Give "maybes" a chance. Maybe it was photographed or described poorly. Maybe it didn't mention its great view or renter discount in the next-door coffee shop.
• How does it "feel?" I wish there was a better explanation, but usually places will scream a big "yes" or a big "no" when you walk in. Stick to your guns.
• Take your time. It may feel awkward to be in someone else's home (the currant tenant might be home, making it even more awkward), but take a thorough look at things like appliances, air conditioning/heat, the view, the furniture, and the bathroom. These are things that complexes are not willing to replace unless they are actually broken. I know the shower is messy, but is it just messy or is it old and gross no matter who lives here?
• See yourself living there. "Oh, I could put my rhino bust here." That was part of my actual decision process.
• Ask questions. A lot of them.
• Take pictures, if that's allowed. 
• Don't get your hopes up. The hardest thing is when that "perfect" apartment from the internet is gross and nasty in person.

Decision Time:

Go with your gut when you've got all the options on the table. At the end of the day, you will not just eat and sleep there (or maybe you will,  but then you're probably not going into the trouble of reading this), you're entertaining and laughing and crying and growing in this space. Make it count!

A Temporary Sanctuary, Part 1: Problems of Collegiate Apartments

A new series on making short-term renting feel like home.

In August, I will have my own apartment.
I am beyond excited.

Over the past three years, I've lived with five different people. And five roommates later, I realize I'm just not meant to live with other women. I like my space--I'm very territorial! I like clean communal spaces. I like nesting. I enjoy alone time. I like being able to invite guests over and then shut the door when they leave.

Perhaps I just didn't live with the right people, perhaps I  was the bad roommate. In any case, my own apartment  is well overdue and I want to make it feel like home!

The problems of short-term renting:

The title of my new blog comes from the fact that I've had my share of really short-term living situations. In 2013, I moved all of my belongings five times--twice across the country in three months. There is never time to feel secure or have a sense of belonging before you're packing up again and moving to a new place...college is like that for most people.

Everyone has a need to feel like their space is home, and we express that differently. 

For me, I love to decorate and personalize. I'm excited that in a year or so, I'll have to buy permanent furniture and stay in the same location for an extended amount of time. I'll finally get to set down some roots. But until then, I still want my space to be my sanctuary from the daily grind of an engineering student. Here are some issues I have with apartments on my campus:

• Most are (cheaply) furnished. Less stuff to move but not very customizable.
• Tiny spaces + built-ins = few configurations. Beds, appliances, couches have a "set" location...most are permanently attached to the walls.
• Restrictions on manipulation/painting. No college landlord is dumb enough to give you the same freedoms other places may give renters. You're hardly allowed to use nails. 
• Limited time/budget. How much effort or money can be spent on a place you're leaving in nine months?
• Old buildings without old building charm. Finding a single bedroom in a safe area within walking distance of campus that doesn't cost an arm and a leg was the ultimate challenge. Unfortunately, you gotta sacrifice somewhere, and for me that was living in an older place.
• Neighbors. Ugh. Like I said, I love my space. But you don't usually know what types of neighbors are next to, above, and below you. It's a crap shoot and you can only cross your fingers it'll work out.
• Previous tenants. Ugh. Some tenants and landlords are great and your place will come to you sparkling clean. Some tenants mistreat it just enough and leave behind mysterious stains, scents, scrapes, and dents that go unfixed.
• Dumpster views. I can't tell you how much I wish I had big windows in my new place. I can't tell you how much I wish the small-ish windows I have looked on something prettier than the dumpster and the back of another apartment.

Lots of problems, right? So why am I so exited for my apartment with its small  windows, anything-but-scenic view, and the potential for horrible neighbors? 

Because it will be my own. 

Part 2 of this series will be about choosing a space, stay tuned!

No Poo? No Problem. Thoughts on going (almost) six months without shampoo.

The wild beast as it looked after a long day, taken today!

June 1st marks a full six months since I began using the "No Poo" method on my hair! It's kind of hard to believe how time flies...I think I'm at a point where I can really share my views in earnest.

If you're not familiar with the "No Poo" method for hair care, please see more seasoned veterans for their explanations, like Crunchy Betty, who has a much better description of the whole shebang.

I would like to share why I ended up stopping my use of conventional shampoo, the good, bad, and unforeseen things that have come through this process, and if I'm going to keep it up!

How Lorde made me stop using shampoo & an abbreviated hair story:

I have no idea what type of products musician Lorde uses in her hair, but that first time I saw the "Royals" music video I was green with envy with her dark, long, carefree curls. My hair, in the curly hair dictionary, falls anywhere between 2C, 3A, and 3B curls. Which in layman's terms it isn't wavy but is not obsessively curly either, with a lot of varying sizes and shapes. It's fine and it just would not grow. Like ever.

I didn't straighten or blow dry my hair, I rarely dyed it, I conditioned all the time, I used a comb, but it just refused to grow far past the length you can see below in the photo. And around the time that "Royals" was on every radio station, my hair was getting horribly greasy, too. With dry scalp. How does that even work? 

About 1 year ago, back in my shampoo days. 

When I was at the point where I was shampooing almost every day, I'd had enough. It's too expensive, time consuming, and obviously wasn't working for me. So with a little research, I thought that the "No Poo" idea was a godsend that would alleviate ALL of my hair issues: the grease, the flaky scalp, the lack of growth, the whole shebang. So I clarified my hair one last time...then things really got interesting.

Solving the world's oil crisis, a.k.a. the transition period:

From Thanksgiving to Christmas, my hair was a mess. It was an oil slick, and there was hardly anything you could do. People warm you about the "transition" to no shampoo...but it was not a fun experience. I tried to not wash my hair more than every three days. If you're curious as to what was exactly going through my mind during this period, I wrote a blog post about it on my old blog.

 Buying a boar bristle brush helped to distribute some oil on the off days, but my hair was up and/or in a braid 90% of those days. The flakes from my scalp were still bad. Don't give up on this time though, it gets better...eventually! After about 5 weeks, my hair finally started to let up. I could go three, four, five plus days without shampoo! Now let's get to the nitty gritty.

My current regimen and products:

• Cleanser: salon squeeze bottle with about 2T [ish] baking soda, a few drops of tea tree oil, and the rest is water. I don't use it all in one day, I'm just lazy and don't want to make it fresh each time. Work into wet scalp about once a week before thorough rinse.
• Conditioner: spray bottle of 2T [ish] raw apple cider vinegar and water. Spray on ends, leave until end of shower before rinsing. This follows the cleansing routine.
• Deep conditioner: Shea Moisture Purification Masque. I am a  huge fan of this brand. This mask is designed for dry scalp and it is also a great all-over conditioner. I use it about every two weeks or as needed, leaving it for a half hour or so.
• Detangling brush: I've been loving this Goody detangling brush. Without silicones from conditioners, it's not always easy to get the knots out. This one gets the job done better than a comb.
• Styling products: Maybe I should be a Shea Moisture spokeswoman. I have been using the Curl Enhancing Smoothie a ton. I wouldn't say it's a home run in my hair by itself (I like a little more hold), but it smells awesome and doesn't contain the same harsh stuff that a typical gel has. 
• "Stink" refresher: mixing a few drops of lavender oil in a spray bottle with water keeps my hair smelling fresh. A girl likes to smell good at all times!

The good, the bad, and the ugly:

After six months, here's a short, concise list of things that are great, not as expected, and totally unexpected from my experiences:

I was disappointed...

•  that this is not a miracle, life-changing thing. Well, not for my hair, anyway. (See other bullets for reasons why!)
• with my hair growth. As of late, my hair is sitting around 4" below my collarbone. I have had one haircut in 6 months. Hair grows slowly but taking out chemicals didn't really speed up the process. I'm not planning on getting a cut for a while, we'll see if it gets past this "terminal length."
• with the ongoing dry scalp. I thought the sulfides were overdrying my scalp; I still get flakes every so often and have to use a treatment regularly to exfoliate and moisturize it.
• that I never get to use those [insert type of oil here] products. Word of warning: never use coconut oil with No Poo. It takes weeks to get the extra oils off your head. Try a different treatment, but I steer clear of...
• using "homemade hair masks." I hate eggs in my hair. I hate honey in my hair (unless it stays in like 10+ hours). Mayo in your hair is GROSS. I completely regret onion on my scalp (the smell stayed for weeks). They all made my hair stringy and not soft at all. I tried it all. I prefer a natural deep conditioner (see my products section for my favorite). 
• with my curls. I thought that my curls would be so much tighter and bouncier and that wasn't true. Overall, my hair didn't change too much.

I was impressed...

• that I don't have to wash my hair, like ever. I wash using baking soda/ACV once a week. Maybe longer, and I mostly do it to keep my hair smelling fresh. My scalp doesn't get oily. I rock the bedhead, and it still feels great--no dry shampoo needed.
• that I didn't need super slippery conditioners or sudsy shampoos to get a clean head. As a previous conditioner junkie, I went through so many bottles of product. I was worried diluted vinegar would make my hair dry and unruly. It does a pretty good job of moisturizing without being smelly or difficult.
• how inexpensive hair care can be. I pay pennies, if that, to wash my hair. My hair doesn't need salon products to look great, so why bother?

In six months, I unexpectedly...

• have made some other life changes to make my life more "green." No, I'm not a tree hugger by any means, but I've switched my styling/shower/cleaning products to be more natural and organic. It is better for me, my wallet, and the earth. 
• use a lot fewer products. I don't feel like my hair or face or body needs all that stuff on it.
• like changing my hairstyle. The transition period taught me new uses for braids, scarves, hats and such.
• do not feel like a hippie. Although my mom thinks I am.

Psst! I'm a rule breaker!

I don't "do" rules. I like guidelines. I sometimes brush my hair (when it's dry). I sometimes dye my hair. I sometimes try my mom's hair products because they smell good. I choose to not use shampoo ever (except for when I highlighted my hair...natural honey highlights weren't working out!), but don't be afraid of using a product every once and a while if it makes you happy.

A final word on "No Poo:"

I'm not saying you need to try this. I'm not saying it's a miracle or that it will change your life. But I am all for giving it a shot--I don't see any reason to go back to conventional products...if my hair looks beautiful, it's not because I put a fancy, temporary product in it; that's my favorite part! This lifestyle change doesn't have to cut out shampoo cold turkey--plenty of natural shampoos work great! 

I'm going to stick with it for now--I'm still trying to grow it out a little longer, but overall this experience has been a good change for my hair and full of unexpected surprises!

Are you going to try the No Poo method? Are you transitioning or are you also a firm supporter of this lifestyle? I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Speak Friend, and Enter.

Welcome to my brand new blog.

I think I have finally outgrown my first blog, which has grown slowly from humble beginnings. I needed a new name and a new reason to share my experiences with others.

I am almost a year from graduating with a mechanical engineering degree, still unsure of what I want to do with my life and a black sheep among the rest of the engineering world.

Maybe this rekindling of my blogging days will inspire me and someone else...we shall see.