[link]

[link]

[link]

Best marketing strategy I have EVER heard of! Plus, IT'S WORKING! She has raised more than her $6,000 goal for her project! And not only that, but it's for a GOOD product! I'm eager as poo to see her book (called "Poorcraft" that's all about living on a meager budget happily and reasonably, targeted toward artists, and is 75% comic art). Plus, she's hiring someone else to do the artwork so she can focus on writing it. I super appreciate people who offer jobs to others today, that's very generous (and she could have just drawn it herself, she's an artist too!).

As queen of the universe I hereby proclaim her as genius, talented, awesome, and generous.

I shall give you a review when I get my book. O3o *pledges $10*

... and talk about my hair.

I haven't used shampoo since April 2009.

I haven't used conditioner in a while and don't think I'll ever need it again.

"Ewe! Why??"

This method isn't for everyone, but it's perfect for people like me. Some people, like my little sister, have tried it simply because it's "the healthy thing to do" or saves a bit of money. They usually don't stick with it (my sister didn't either). I decided to go for it because I hated my hair care routine - HATED it.

I hated waking up in the morning with my roots so oily that it looked like I hadn't showered in days. I hated that I HAD to use shampoo or I couldn't possibly show myself in public because I looked so gross. I hated taking forever in the shower just to make sure that my shampoo is all rinsed out and waiting for the conditioner to set in before rinsing it out. I hated knowing that to get the "maximum effect out of my hair care routine" that I should do a weekly treatment. I hated how I had to get extra products to get my hair not to rest flat against my head or keep it from frizzing all over. I hated how there were a billion shampoos that all promised gorgeous hair but they all seemed the same to me. I hated how they smelled amazing in the bottles but you couldn't smell it 5 minutes after you got out of the shower. I hated traveling and worrying "oh no, what if my shampoo leaks all over my suitcase?". I ESPECIALLY hated how I always had a bit of dandruff no matter how many anti-dandruff shampoos I tried! Nothing worked! I HATE shampoo!

I was at college when I decided to go for it no matter what the cost. The first few times I went cold-turkey without research, and simply rinsed my hair out as well as I could each day. My hair was disgusting because it was still covered in wax buildup, meaning my oils were on the surface instead of moisturizing my hair like it should. I looked like death. I ended up shampooing my hair a few times before finally doing research.

After leaning about the no-poo method, I started doing baking soda rinses. I could have done apple cider vinegar rinses too but I justed used conditioner instead. After about 2 weeks of that, my hair felt different and got WAY dried out from the baking soda. Then I only did it once or twice a week, and after a few months I didn't need to use baking soda at all.

Now I don't put anything in my hair at all and I love it. I have natural volume and my hair is never oily. I'm considering seeing how long it takes for me to start to look nasty without rinsing out in the morning, but I love rinsing. It's soothing. I love showers so much more now. My hair has better control, I just warm it with the blow dryer and then style it before it cools. Once it cools it'll keep its shape. It's no longer frizzy or out of control in any way. It has natural shine and feels thick but soft. When I used shampoo, my hair was baby-thin and never felt right. I still get bits of dandruff here and there but it's not nearly as bad as before.

"Do you smell bad?"

I've asked friends and family to put their nose right in my hair and tell my honestly if I smell. Each one has said no. If I really want to smell nice, I put body spray or perfume into my hair and it stays fragrant all day. Shampoo never did that for me.

"Do you do weekly treatments?"

There are natural treatments I could do but I don't bother. My whole reason for doing this was to forget about my hair. Why should I worry about something as unimportant as my hair?

"Can you still straighten/curl it?"

Yep, every now and then I want to play with my hair and I straighten it. I admit I don't use anything to protect my hair but it doesn't seem to do as much damage to it as when I used shampoo, and I need a lower heat setting to get it to stay straight. No gel or hairspray needed.

"Will you ever use shampoo again?"

A lot of people say shampooing your hair is good for it. While I strongly disagree based on my own experience, I wouldn't mind doing it every once in a while if my hair seriously needed it. Otherwise, I have no desire to ever use anything but warm water in my hair ever again.

"What if someone barfed in your hair? Would you clean it then?"

Yes but I would use baking soda and conditioner.





Another fact: I haven't used facial soap in about 2 years now.

"Ewe! You don't wash your face?"

No, I wash it with warm water every morning, exfoliating it with my fingers.

"You HAVE to use soap!"

No, soap irritates my sensitive skin and many people don't use it on their face.

"Then you should see a dermatologist. They'll give you something that will work!"

No, I've seen several and each item they gave me just dried out my skin and made it more sensitive.

"What about your pores? They'll get clogged!"

No, my pores have gotten smaller over the last 2 years and my acne has never been better. When I do get zits, they're not nearly so big or deep as before and they heal much faster. They used to last for 1-2 weeks and leave huge scabs if I popped them. Now they last for maybe a day and if I pop them then I hardly notice a scab.

"What about your makeup? You can't leave it on your face overnight!"

I mostly only use eyeshadow, and I sleep in it all the time with no negative effects. I just rinse it off in the shower in the morning and it comes off fine. If it's being stubborn I put some baby oil on it and wipe it off.

"Well, you HAVE to find some kind of soap! You HAVE to wash your face!"

Whatever... I'm happy.

(The above was a real conversation between me and my former superficial and materialistic boss. I added the makeup part though... she was probably too freaked out at the moment to think of it.)





Again, this care routine isn't for everyone. It's very helpful for people like me with super sensitive bodies and who hate using products simply because we're expected to. Some people love using products and I personally don't care at all if they use them. I personally don't think it saves all that much time and money, as many people claim, but I DO believe it has saved my sanity and self-image. I'm so happy knowing that I am naturally healthy and pretty, without the help of anything found in a store.

I'm sharing this in case anyone is looking for more information on this subject or find themselves also sick of their hair care routine. I was miserable, and had few resources and almost no one to talk to. Most people don't like talking about it because it seems so nasty, but I don't care because I've never felt so clean. I'm not hoping to convert anyone, I simply want to give information to those who are searching for it.

See for yourself:

[link]

[link]

[link] (the stuffed animal, Luka, was made for me by my friend !)

[link]

I'm planning on growing it out for the next few years and seeing how it turns out.

If you think it's gross, I seriously won't get offended. I remember how I felt naked without shampoo last year, and I understand how a lot of people feel it's needed like air and water. You can speak your mind with me, I won't be upset.

Happy hygeining everyone.

This journal is moreso a note to myself in hopes of stopping the hair-pulling cycle I've experienced every time I've wanted to make any kind of personal work of art, perhaps since I was 15 years old.

I get an idea just as I turn off my light and pull my big fuzzy blanket over my shoulders. Those blankets get violently thrown off of me, the light gets switched back on, the idea is quickly jotted down and I finally get some sleep. The next day at work I'm imagining the image, transforming it and watching it evolve. It's brilliant! It's fun, new, unique, deep, and I can't wait to get home to make it!

At about 8 at night I'm back on my bed with my pile of computer paper clipped to a piece of thin wood, tapping the eraser end of my mechanical pencil on my lips again and again. I have just tried to draw the piece 10 times, and each time was wrong. I decide perhaps that I'm thinking too hard and just move on to the next step. The farther I get on the project, the more I hate it and wonder what's wrong with me. I've made paintings and drawings before that I've been quite happy with, what's wrong with me tonight?

I go to bed, hoping that when I see it tomorrow I'll love what I've made and wonder why I hated it so much the night before. No, the next morning it's as ugly as it was before. About a week goes by of thinking of the picture I want to make and failing a thousand times to make it how I want.

Then, suddenly, I'll remember some vital tips and lessons I've learned over the years from high school, college, artist friends, personal experience and online tutorials. I try them, and my artist block is lifted immediately and I'm cranking out artwork like a machine. Still, I can't help but scold myself for taking so long to remember those basic steps that I've relearned time and time again.

Why do I do this so often??

For whatever reason it takes me so long to remember "the basics", I need to make a list to refer to in the future:

1. The first step is the idea, composition, and/or design. Too often I'll sit down and try to make a beautiful picture on my first try. One of my art seminars taught me, and I strongly believe to be true, that we need to prepare before doing the final piece. That means sketching down ideas, variations, editing what needs to be fixed, having references, and putting it all together. When we start our final piece, we shouldn't have to do any thinking. That should be all done, sitting in a pile on the desk. The final piece is mere execution.

2. Speaking of references... use them! In my younger years I thought I'd be stealing somehow if I used a reference for anything. There's nothing illegal about it, and you can always give credit or ask permission if you feel uneasy about using a reference. It will help you see things that you can't just remember off the top of your head. You don't even have to copy them exactly how they are. They don't restrict you or make you less original or creative - use them!

3. Draw what you know looks good or correct. I'm a clone of my dad, and he validates himself by helping others to feel good. The bad thing about that is we're unintentional people-pleasers, and I hate it. It lands me in so much misery and trouble, it's such a pain! Still, I often overlook it as I start a project and ask myself "What do others want to see?" After hours of creating nothing worth anything, I finally decide, "I'll draw what I want!" and finally create something worth putting on the fridge. Sometimes I have to sacrifice my own taste because I know it's poor composition or using a different color scheme would be more effective, but for the most part I need to remember to be selfish when making art.

4. Just keep going. Simple as that. I look up art tutorials ALL THE TIME and too often assume it'll take me 5 minutes to do the same thing (there are too many good artists out there that make it look so easy!) and when it still needs work after an hour, I tend to get discouraged. What separates professionals from amateurs is the professional will keep fixing whatever isn't right until everything is right. Amateurs (takes one to know one) rationalize their failures with "That's just the way I drew it" or "It's good enough" or "I'd like to see you do better." Don't make excuses or think you suck just because this piece is taking a long time. Keep going!

5. Remember to have good posture. I might seem like a nagging mother but it's true, my posture affects my work! I don't have a desk at home so I'm just sitting on my bed hunched over my piece of paper. How a piece looks lying down, even if you're facing it straight on, looks very different than how it looks sitting up, such as if it was on your computer screen. That's why I've drawn something I thought was wonderful and then scanned it and gasped at the ugliness as soon as it came on the screen so many times. Sit up straight, hold your pencil loosely (in the middle, not at the very tip!) and mount or hold the paper upright. It'll do wonders!

I'll add more to the list as they come to me. These 5 basic things are what I forget so often though, and they make a world of difference. I hope it'll help someone else facing the same challenges.


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My little nephew has always enjoyed eating his blanket. He gets a few "fuzzies" in his mouth and tears them out. He used to just swallow them, but now he takes them out of his mouth and sticks them up his nose. It makes him sneeze a lot, and then these huge "fuzz balls" go flying.

I can't wait until he's older so I can embarrass him with these stories. :3

I posted this deviation last night as a gift for my little brother Toby after seeing him cry after a fight with my little sister Sarah. Tonight after work when Mom was picking up my sister Keli from driver's ed, I was tucking Toby in for the night. I handed him the piece of paper and said "I drew you a picture. It's a brother and sister from a show I used to watch when I was little. "

Toby, who was a drug-abused baby, doesn't show many emotions other than anger. This means he rarely (almost never) ever says "I love you" or "thank you" or gives you a big sweet smile. He's usually either totally plain or raging in anger.

As I watched him try to get the picture to somehow sit up in a visible spot, however, I thought it was better than a "thank you". Even more surprisingly, when I bent down to give him a kiss "gooodnight" he turned his head toward me and accepted the kiss right on his lips.

I love that little guy.

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For those who design, create and maintain websites: I don't know how you do it all. Where do you find the time and energy?? I will get it done, I just need to focus right now on working and earning money for my last year of college. I only have about 6 more months and I need to earn (hopefully) about $8,000-10,000.

[link]

I met the artist on plentyoffish.com and while we never met in person (sorry !) it was still so much fun to find that she had a page on DA and her own webcomic! I think it's HILARIOUS and totally out of this world, unlike any other comic ever made with characters never imagined before. A crayon and a banana who are best friends. Come on, things don't get much more original than that. I love her wacky sense of humor, give it a read!

P.S. My Democratic friends might especially love this one: [link]

P.S.S. I recently decided that my imagination never gives me anything because I never put anything into it. I sold almost every comic I had before moving to college, and so I came back to a few X-Men comics and my DBZ manga collection. If I really want to get the wheels in my head turning, I gotta get reading more material! Watch movies! Read novels! No more just sitting around WAITING for inspiration to come. Inspiration is not some butterfly that'll land on my shoulder! It's a pretty rock I find after digging in the backyard for a while. ....OK, I think that's all the cheesy analogies I have in me today.

P.S.S.S. This is another huge favorite of mine from the Americrayon comic: [link]