The Bowdoin Orient

Our bodies take a lot of stress—lack of sleep, lack of water, excess caffeine, countless hours curled up in front of a laptop. Before I came to Bowdoin, I had never even heard the term “self-care.” Now, it’s one of my favorite phrases. As we’ve probably all heard, it’s important for us to take care of our bodies. That means different things to different people, and to me it means spending my Saturday evening melting shea butter and coconut oil together and then mixing them aggressively with a fork.

Several years ago, I made the somewhat random decision to completely overhaul my entire collection of cosmetics and personal care products and replace them with things that I would feel comfortable eating as well as putting on my skin. Somewhere, I had read about the skin being the body’s largest organ, and after several hours spent Googling “wash face with sugar,” I was convinced that every makeup product I could buy, I could also make for myself for much less money and with fewer negative consequences for myself or the planet.

Fast forward to me unpacking a large bottle of apple cider vinegar and a small jar of baking soda next to my first year roommates’ moisturizers and perfumes and awkwardly explaining to visitors why our room smelled like salad to visitors. I hadn’t bought moisturizer in a year and I was mixing my own dry shampoo in a spice shaker; making my own personal care products had become a hard-to-explain fun fact that I’d brought with me to college.

Self-care looks different to everyone, but for many people—including myself—it means taking a little time to look after our bodies to keep them in good working (and smelling) order. And, like anything, this isn’t as straightforward as it looks. A look into a typical Bowdoin student’s personal care routine (even negligible ones) reveals deodorant, toothpaste, shampoo, body wash, shaving cream and any number of moisturizers, perfumes and types of makeup. These products are all necessary for us to take care of ourselves, but their impacts aren’t just skin deep.

A closer look at your favorite shampoo, toothpaste or deodorant likely reveals that it’s wrapped in plastic, some part of which may end up in a landfill instead of being recycled. Another look may show a list of very long compound words you might not even have seen in Orgo I, some of which may be linked to human health problems such as nerve damage. Many of these products do not have guarantees of ethical production, meaning that they may damage the health of producers, factory workers and the environment. Taking care of ourselves just got a lot more complicated.

There are a lot of ways in which academic and social commitments take precedent over my own health at Bowdoin: eating cereal for dinner or skipping a day (okay, a month) at the gym are two examples. But in my effort to keep myself healthy, I’ve found that Netflix breaks aren’t the only way in which I can make time to take care of myself. Focusing on what I put on my body is a way to be conscious about taking care of it, and to understand more about the environmental and social impacts of the contents of my shower caddy. This means that I mix my own deodorant out of potato starch, baking soda, coconut oil and shea butter. It also means that I spent a lot of time smelling very bad while I perfected this recipe and that instead of swinging by Hannaford or hitting up Amazon when I need more of something, I have to head into the kitchen.

This isn’t for everyone—as we know, there are an infinite number of ways to practice self-care and be conscious about the impacts of our actions on the planet and ourselves. Making your own deodorant may seem like a drastic step to take in the face of some plastic shampoo bottles and studies on endocrine disruption, but it doesn’t have to be dramatic, and it can be fun: I think of these habits as an extension of both my academic interests and my personal values.

If you’re feeling inspired, here are a few tips: The next time you need to stock up on personal care products, read some labels. Look for whole ingredients that are easy to pronounce and don’t have 15 syllables. Try to buy something packaged in recycled and recyclable materials—paper is best—or without any packaging at all. Shampoo in bar form is just as effective as liquid shampoo, is wrapped in paper and is made of ingredients you can trust. (The first ingredient in my shampoo bar, for instance, is beer.) Find things like this at Hannaford, Morning Glory or online. If you’d prefer the DIY route, try washing your face with baking soda instead of store-bought face wash, or get creative and make a scrub out of sugar and coconut or olive oil. Our bodies can all use more love; a little extra time and energy can make self-care a way to be conscious of the impact our choices have on the planet and on our own bodies.