My Favorite Things...or how daily pleasures lead to greater contentment

This is the second My Favorite Things blog this week. Keep in mind though that I'm not endorsed (currently) by any product or Italian restaurant (Arrabiata recipe), and if I were, you all would know about it.

While taking my post-workout shower, I realized that one of My Favorite Things is my shampoo and conditioner. I use MSM by Ultra Aesthetics. Geesh this might be the girliest blog I've done yet! I'll try to top it in the near future with a blog on The Vagina Monologues or something. Anyway, about MSM and post-workout showers. Is there anything better than a shower just after an intense, dirty and sweaty workout? Seriously, they are so much better than normal showers. The only caveat is that today I felt like my legs were going to give-out because I played beach volleyball for my workout and running in sand always makes my legs a little mushy. So besides almost collapsing in said shower, it was fantastic.

Is this blog about My Favorite Thing being post-workout showers or my shampoo and conditioner? Well, since I'm the queen of this blog (with no king besides Papa Internet), and I make the rules, it's both.

MSM Shampoo and MSM Conditioner by Ultra Aesthetics. Never heard of it? Well, it's a bit obscure, but once you find it, you may never go back to other shampoo and conditioner.

I buy MSM shampoo & conditioner at my local neighbor Co-Op that has lots of healthy, organic, and alternative foods, supplements, and beauty products. Whole Foods may also carry it in certain locations, but you can also get it online at http://www.nourishingfoods.com/UltraAesthetics.html. Though I cannot vouch for their customer service or shipping. Other brands make their own version of MSM shampoo and conditioner, but I haven't tried them, so just check their ingredients and the integrity of the company.

Here are the reasons I like MSM Shampoo and Conditioner:

• The ingredients list is relatively short. Anyone who's read ingredients on hair-care or cosmetics knows the lists are not only lengthy, but also frighteningly unpronounceable. MSM's ingredients are mostly pronounceable.
  
• Beauty products are not regulated by the FDA on organic certification, so they can sort of set their own standards. While MSM doesn't claim to be organic, the ingredients are relatively benign and are not as chemical as other hair products I've used and researched.
  
• If you've ever been or know anyone who has been pregnant, doctors pretty unanimously tell expectant mothers to avoid dying their hair during pregnancy. Think about that for a moment. Anything that hurts the fetus hurts the mother, albeit in a reduced manner since adults immune systems are stronger. Still, with all the toxic exposure in most of our daily lives, it might be prudent to avoid toxins wherever we can, and although we're not dying our hair in this blog, if hair dye can seep through the scalp to potentially harm a fetus, it must wreak at least a little havoc on our systems too.
  
• It makes my hair strong.
• It makes my hair shiny.
• It smells delicious, but not too floral or feminine (as much as I love being a woman, I don't want to smell like one of those lotion and perfume stores - or as I like to say on my crasser days, I don't want to smell like a stripper). My attempt at describing the smell is some lovely blend of citrus, papaya, and some tropical flower that makes me want myself!
  

As for my hair. I really don't do much to my hair besides wash and condition it, and sometimes do old-fashioned pin curls when I feel like creating a curly-headed doppelganger of myself (which I typically do while watching a movie so I'm not sure it really counts as hair-doing). Since I added bangs to my hair (or rather, a skilled hairdresser added them), I blow-out my bangs. As far as the rest of my hair? I blow-dry it maybe 1-2 times per month. Also, besides shower-activities, I don't spend more than 5 minutes a day on my hair, average. So, I think I fall into the relatively low-maintenance category of hair-care. So the shampoo and conditioner counts, and I'm willing to spend a little more than the $2.99 cheap stuff at drug stores.

Here's why My Other Favorite Thing in this blog is my post-workout shower:

• It's like a warm and happy reward for working hard. (That sounds like another...more perverse job, doesn't it? Anyway, moving on.)
• Somehow it completes the workout for me. Like I don't feel done until I've showered and dried myself off. Sort of an exertion and cleanse ritual. (Did I just do it again?)
  
• Scrubbing muscles with hot, soapy water is the best after workout and I swear it acts to make me less sore. (I usually use an abrasive scrubber that was a gift from a very sweet man who had extremely soft skin, and believe me, it works. I think they're available at Asian markets which makes sense since the best scrub I've ever gotten was a from an angry woman at a Korean spa. Okay, maybe she wasn't all that angry, but she scrubbed me like she was.)
• The hot water and relaxation post-workout makes me a little drowsy and if I have the time, I get to take a nap (or go straight to bed depending on when I workout). Which is another one of my favorite things for another blog...Naps. Mmmmm.
  

Also, about both of the aforementioned Favorite Things, they're both simple and accessible daily pleasures. I think we all would do well to appreciate more life's daily pleasures. I know that's true for me when I get caught up (aka obsessed) about other, not-so-pleasurable things. Now ultimately, I'd like to attain the zen-state where virtually everything is pleasurable or at the very least, feel contentment in most things. But for now, I'll cultivate the daily pleasures in the pursuit of making everything...more contented.

That's it for now. Weigh-in. What are your daily pleasures?

More Interesting Katie Strand World Posts

• My Favorite Things...Arrabiata Recipe - Fresh, Organic, Vegan or Primal
  
• My Favorite Shows on Television...or how David Duchovney & Jesus are likely Good in Bed
  
• The Hawaiian Islands and Washington D.C.’s sand-paper circle-jerk about Health Care
  
• My Buddha has Termites...A Lesson in Infinite Joy
• The One-Date-Wonders!
• I had to learn SIGN LANGUAGE when I moved to Los Angeles
• Guys can make a game out of anything
• Hello? The power of CONNECTING and how technology has changed things
  
• Popping the question is better than porn!
• Bravo, Stephen Colbert & Co! and your Olympic Vancouverage
• Songwriting is like SEX
• Born To Run by Christopher McDougall - Inspiring a inspiring all of us to be more in the FLOW
• A moment of silence for all the plastic surgery ca...
• Ricky Gervais should be the new Simon on American Idol
• Muscle SURPRISE! The key to physical, mental & emotional fitness
• I think my boyfriend's a snake...
• Release... Sweat & Power
• MY FAVORITE THINGS! - Vibram's Five Fingers
• Dick Morris... How do you sleep at night?
• Rusty DePass, Gorillas, and Obama, oh my!
• Michael Jackson - Troubled Genius

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