I fought this for years and here is where it lead me. Using synthetics can and will produce more as well as more dependable results 100% of the time IF you know exactly what you are doing. That means if you don't hold a degree in the field,it will be hit and miss even asking questions of people who hold the degrees and know exactly what they are doing. Problem is the expert must see and touch the plant,know history of soil&run fingers through it and know precisly what has been done including but not limited to,daily weather,amts & timing of water and nutrents up to that point. Organic is the way to go for even for the most dedicated gardeners. Organic is more forgiving of neglect and mistakes eventhough the mistakes and neglect will reduce production,it's not intolerable amounts. Non-organic mistakes often result in drastic results up to and including 100% loss. An often incountered one is where fertilizer is applied then miscalculation of weather and/or moisture occurs. Another is where insectiside is used to rid a pest that is effecting a plant by eating leaves or sucking some juice but not killing it nor ruining all fruit. Benificials on neighboring plant is eradicated and a pest that was being kept in check or shows up suddenly mushrons and ruins one or more crops. Very few things you do organicly will result in such sweeping results,good or bad. The soil should always be in transition for the lack of a better term. This addresses fertilize applications. In any container or plot , I try to insure there are diverse types and stages of finished compost. That insures that as micros are consumed replacements are being produced. I believe far too much gravity is afforded N being tied up by deterioating matter. Dumping a lot of fresh material like saw dust with huge amounts of exposed surface will definitly starve plants until rate of decomposition slows. A case where there is negitive results but usualy recovers enough to produce a fair to poor crop. Turning under green cover like vetch can realy supply season long crop fuel. I just cannot stress enough how important it is to understand your plants and that will happen with experience and experience will come sooner by asking inteligent questions of those willing to help. In an effort of convincing sceptics that it is possiable to read plants,I offer some off topic evidence. Try this out if you know a rancher,not nessarly an old crusty one, a cowperson in their 20s is quite capiable. Drive him/her to a herd they have never been around and without leaving the seat of the vehicle they can tell you; very near the age,the sex,weight and breed/mixture of breed for each animal while average person is deciding what color they are. If alowed to walk near them (many cattle dislike and will run away from strangers) closly estimate stage of pregnancy while our novice wonders why the one giving birth within a week is not fat as the one who has 3 months to go. Think about human faces. Isn't it amazing that we can differinate all of them. Practice!

I also really love the Suave Daily Clarifying shampoo, it's dirt cheap and doesn't harm my very delicate fine hair. I just stumbled upon it too. I had bought it for my husband and he didn't use it so I had this huge bottle and used it and was surprised at how well it did for my fine hair and plus, it doesn't make my scalp itch, that has become an issue for me. I also found a conditioner that I love, it's Martix Biolage, the detangling one. Finally, a conditioner that doesn't make my scalp itch AND actually takes the tangles out of my insanely tangle prone hair. I used to shampoo daily because I styled my hair every day. Now, I just put it in a ponytail and call it done. I wash my hair about every third day now. I'd be very afraid to put baking soda in my fragile hair...I'm sure it would destroy it. I once (ONE TIME) used Dr. Bronner's liquid Castile to wash my hair and it damaged it so badly that it had to grow out before it was normal again. UGH! I'm lucky that I have hair, don't get me wrong, but my hair is very weird! My scalp is also very oily...so I cannot go very long without washing. Three days is pushing it and I can only pull it off because I wear it in a ponytail. I also can't stand the smell of stinky hair...UGH! It gets stinky after a couple days. That's when I know it's time to wash!

I renovated my bathroom a year ago and went through this decision. I went to a showroom that had an airtub on the floor to test. I think if you wore a bathing suit, they would let you get in -- I didn't. As soon as I heard the noise from the motor I knew it wouldn't work for me. It would have shaken my small house off its foundation. I went with a deep wide soaking tub called a Kohler Expanse. It's fine. I prefer showers. I love my hand held shower head and can adjust it to pound on sore muscles. Maybe twice a year I wish I had a jetted (not air) tub. If I have pulled a muscle or my back is aching a good hot pounding would feel wonderful. An air tub is more like sitting in a glass of champagne -- it bubbles, it doesn't massage sore muscles. I think a hot tub would be fun. Here is a link that might be useful: kohler expanse tub

Melanie -- I'm guessing this must be a shampoo-plus-conditioner. Doesn't matter what shampoo you use (long as you're not using Tide or something that's a serious de-greaser). What does make a difference is the conditioner. In the quest for something NEW! manufacturers are forever dropping good products. I used to use Borghese cosmetics (a Revlon brand). Loved it when Costco started carrying a Borghese slim lipstick w/lipliner in the other end. Whoosh! Gone. Gosh, guys, I'd pay more for it. Just keep making it! DH had comprehensive skin testing done this summer due to some stubborn rashes. The dermatologist had researched thousands of OTC products and made a list noting their AWFUL ingredients. Formaldahyde is a common one but they call it something else. After all, would you knowingly put THAT on your skin? DH's face cleared up just by eliminating some products.