“Honey, are you done washing the dishes? I need the dishwashing liquid to wash my hair!”

I never thought that the words “shampoo” and “dishwashing liquid” would be one and the same. When I saw this link about saving money on shampoo by using detergent from Lifehacker Australia, I was utterly flabberghasted. Has the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) become that bad that we’re now recommended to use dishwashing liquid to wash our hair?!

With the GFC comes the streams of books selling like hotcakes at bookstores teaching you how to be frugal. I guess being an Asian, it’s in my blood to already be cheap, so most of the tips are common sense to me. But it infuriates me at times to discover little “tips” such as this in order to save a few bucks, because really, it doesn’t make sense.

We spend a lot money on taking care of our skin, hair and body. Even when we are careful with our money, lower-priced skincare items do add up in the long run. What is the point of throwing all that money and hard work away if we are to, for example, use such harsh chemicals on our hair? There IS a difference in the chemicals used in washing-up liquid and shampoo. Washing-up liquid is formulated to remove tough grease and oil from dirty dishes. Unless the scalp is secreting that much grease to be able to fry an egg and then some, even when diluted, it’s not good. It’s far too harsh and stripping on the hair.

I’m all for homemade hair masks, facial masks and whatnots, when it contains natural ingredients. Go ahead and use olive oil on your hair; it keeps the hair incredibly soft. Mayo on the face? Not really my thing, but it’s a popular recipe and many swear by it.

For me, GFC or not, there really must be a line to be drawn when it comes to the skin and hair. I’ll stop *God help me* buying magazines. I’ll keep using my own bags and not get yet another. No more takeaway coffees for me. So we’ll eat out less. I’ll stop getting the high-end brands and find cheaper, drugstore alternatives. But washing my hair with detergent? God no.

I don’t have to share my shampoo with my dishes.

PS: You only need a little shampoo to wash your hair each time. Lather up, apply, massage and rinse. Just forget repeat.

Thanks to being a woman, I’ve been out of commission for days due to severe cramps. Yep ladies, it’s that time of the month. And this time, it is BAD. A two-week long PMS is no joke, according to the hubs. He knew well enough to stay far away from me then (but still close enough in case I need him or something. Tee hee).

I was actually late this month. My cycle’s very punctual and consistent, so when I was late a week, it freaked me out big time. Believe me, having to sneak into the pharmacy to get an early pregnancy test was bad, and the waiting was even worse. Oh we’ve been careful but you never know. I’ve never in my life taken an EPT, and boy was I nervous. It’s such a big thing; having to wait to see if it’s going to be the moment when your life changes forever. My hands were actually shaking when I picked up the thingy to look at the results.

Negative. Everything goes back to normal. Phew.

Still, because I was late this month, it wrecked havoc in my body and gave me what was probably the worst cramps I ever had. It was so bad that I could hardly move without bowling over in pain once more. It was such a feat, dragging my sorry ass to the medicine box to pop in a couple of ibuprofen tablets. Felt utterly wretched. It’s all better now, thank God.

I’ll be back real soon. For now, I’m afraid that all the beautiful makeup in the world won’t make me feel any better. Only my trusty ol’ hot water bottle will.

Well, that and trashy gossipy tabloids 😉