This is a simple life hack I wanna share. It may not apply to you directly, but it may apply indirectly as a way of setting a protocol for life.
And that protocol that I'm using is basically that unless I have to, if there's any alternative to do what I gotta do and get done what I gotta get done, in a way where I do not purchase new items that are going to ultimately end up in a landfill. Then I'm going to choose that non landfill destiny option. So if there's a more elegant way to say it, I would call it zero waste. But unfortunately, very few of us can actually achieve that to the fullest extent.
So near zero waste is one way to put it, but I like the idea of, if I purchase something, is it going to end up in a landfill or not?
And if I purchase glass, ceramics, metals, natural fabrics, natural, biodegradable textiles, or fibers, if I begin to move in a direction where all my purchases are essentially biodegradable, or they will eventually turn to dust in nontoxic manner, then that's a permutation on zero waste. It's not necessarily no waste, it's that the waste is either biological and nontoxic, so it can be consumed by another organism or ecology of organisms, so everything is biologically recyclable, if you will.
Or it just can corrode and turn into rust and blow away in the wind, whatever, or break into glass, and eventually be ground down into sand again.
So we're dealing with natural elements that are not toxic as they break down.
And anything I can purchase to further that, if I have to make purchases, obviously I'm trying to deccumulate rather than accumulate objects.
If I'm going to amass any more objects, I would like them to be things that can plant or livestock or other organisms and living materials.
If it’s hardscaping landscaping materials it's something where it's just moving parts of the natural environment around in different configurations, but not mining, not synthesizing chemicals, and certainly not leaving a toxic legacy.
So if that resonates with you, here's the life hack that I've chosen.
So now you can imagine, well, what happens to a person in the modern world when they start to live by their protocol to some extent, which, again, it's not a hundred percent.
But every purchase I make, I think about that. So what does that look like?
Well, if I may be willing to pay a few extra dollars on a purchase of some sort of liquid or food product container, where it would have been cheaper to buy in a plastic container.
But I will go ahead and select the more expensive glass container, because maybe I wanna use that glass container for something else, or just be certain that it doesn't create a toxic legacy it doesn't go in the landfill.
Or if it does go on landfill, it won't be because I put it there because it doesn't belong there.
So this is an interesting pathway. That's one example of something that I have been following that protocol pretty strictly I buy metal buckets not plastic buckets so I have these nice shiny stainless steel or galvanized buckets that replace my reliance on five gallon buckets the plastic buckets I've used for everything for years that are definitely an aesthetic atrocity and eyesore. And then they are brittle and they break down in the sun and they’re a nightmare and they cut you and they start falling apart.
So I'm happier to pay a little bit more and have a little bit less sometimes, but it's a more elegant life.
That's another dimension. So food containers, buckets, obviously, clothing, favoring all natural, biodegradable fibers for clothing whenever possible.
And you can imagine just applying that to almost anything in your life, I didn't even mention that bamboo would, of course.
So this moment that I'm sharing now, the most recent development has been my application of these very versatile, very small and compact, folding stainless steel scissors that are only the scissor blades about 2 " long.
And then when it's folded down, it's very compact. So I keep several of those in different places, and certainly at least one on my person at all times.
And what I have discovered is that for doing my own austere, off grid, off road lifestyle and doing my own hair cutting, I did rely on a pair of clippers that I had for years, and it was easy enough to just hold a mirror or set up two mirrors.
If I wanted to be really careful with it or really precise, then I would be able to do my own hair cutting with a pair of clippers and some mirrors.
I even used a webcam and a monitor in order to get visibility of all places I needed to cut and try to do it evenly and not leave funny places.
But eventually that pair of clippers died, and then that was the point in the protocol where I said, okay, I'm not gonna replace this other thing.
Not only am I not buying new things that are gonna go on a landfill, if I can help it again, that's the disclaimer.
Also if it fails or falls apart, whatever it dies, then I'm not gonna replace it if I can help it.
So I'm decided not to replace those clippers.
And what that allowed me to fall back on was just these small folding scissors, which are, again, very versatile, using for a lot of things, and easy to sterilize, etc.
So the funny thing though, is, obviously the clippers do a much better job of getting a very, even hair cutting.
So the methodology that I developed with these tiny folding scissors is just to pinch a bit of hair one section at a time, not even using a mirror anymore, just winging it and going by feel and developing a sensitivity to, oh, I got that area because I can't pinch.
I feel a little bit of hair left. It's not being shaved bald.
There's a bit of stubble left from that close cutting with the scissors.
But obviously I'm being very careful and being very controled and slowed and very sober, and making sure to get that feel just right of the height.
So it's very close to the scalp that's being cut.
But I'm also using my fingers on my non dominant hand, the hand that's pinching I can feel when I place the scissors under the fingers of that hand that I'm leaving a good approximately quarter inch, maybe a little less than a quarter inch of hair left.
And then the feel of that later, when I go and I start pinching around again, the feel of that is going to be, okay I already cut that area. I can keep scanning.
That's a little bit longer. So if I let my hair grow out about however long it might get, one or 2 inches before I get to a point where it requires more hygiene to keep my scalp happy.
So I'd rather just cut it down routinely. And even if it's in the winter, I'll just wear more layers of hats or whatever to keep warm.
But I definitely enjoy the efficiency of having very manageable scalp hygiene with shorter hair.
And that's been a stylistic trade off in some ways but a little bit maybe again not bald.
For me, that's not what I'm going for. I'm not going for a very shaved head kind of look or feel and I've actually had bad experiences before with using razors and other tools.
People who are on the road nomadic and maybe in the dirt more, I had a bad experience where I was helping a friend shave their head at one point with bic razors basically and there were so many micro cuts. It wasn't that bad going along but it was, just inevitable they got a bad staff infection.
Luckily, it was treatable. But another experience where I say, be very careful about opening the skin in any circumstance, but I don't wanna get too close with anything too sharp, so I'm very careful with those the scissors, and I'm keeping a bit of a buffer, but I'm able to cut the hair very reliably so that there are very few if any, missed spots. However, it is a bit uneven, so it's kind of a patchwork, and I end up looking like a cheetah or a leopard, a little bit from doing that process.
The reason that I said I better do this little episode is that you might get very discouraged and I felt discouraged at first doing this going, oh, this makes me look like a complete psycho.
Actually, if you look at me after I've done this hack job, you're gonna think I'm crazy, and you're gonna want to avoid me at all costs and maybe profile me in certain ways.
So the good news is, and the redemptive thing is why I'm not shy about it, if I can just wear a hat of any kind, whether it's a light hat in the summer or thick hat in the winter. If I can conceal that hack job of a self done scissors, hairdo or a haircut for at least about a couple weeks, then those uneven spots where you see more skin of the scalp, they fill in.
And then it becomes very normalized. It becomes very, not perfectly even, but it sorts itself out aesthetically.
Eventually it's impossible to know, after maybe a month, that it wasn't, just a normal set of clippers that did the job.
So it's a sacrifice, and the trade off. I get to look very funny and very crazy if I don't conceal my hack job of a haircut for a couple weeks, but then after that, it looks normal, and it's not an issue.
Now I don't have that toxic legacy anymore. The last pair of clippers that I used is now probably in a landfill somewhere.
I feel bad about that. I'm sorry about that.
It's never gonna happen again. If there's some device that I can use that has a similar effect, where not one part of it will go to landfill.
And I have to wonder, maybe in the first models of some of these electronics, everything, there was no plastic or there, or it was able to be done with with materials from a different era, which were far less toxic and whatnot.
So who knows, maybe I'll have a whole renaissance of retro technology that can comply with a no landfill policy.
But hopefully that's something that you think about. What today, tomorrow, the next day, next month, next year, what are you purchasing?
Is it destined for the landfill? And if so, can you possibly do without it or substitute it for something that will not go in a landfill?
I will be here to entertain you with absurd and an orthodox outcomes of that protocol.