Hair supplies

Due to my career I have a couple hundred dollars worth of purchases each month that I won't be recording in this journal. I have dedicated myself to 3 separate brands and with hair products it is hard to give up your comfort zone. When I first moved to Minnesota I had started working with a very unfamiliar brand. I thought it would be helpful since 3 out of 7 of the stylist at my salons also used that brand. Within the first month I turned out the worst color of my life. So I went through a bit of a discovery period, trying several different color lines until I decided on Swarzkopf and Redken Shades. We used Pureology and Swarzkopf in the salon for styling aids and I have grown to loved the looks I can create with these products. I know Pureology is made in the usa and I assume that Redken is as well. Swarzkopf is a German company, so I assume their production is in Germany. I have decided to record the styling tools that I purchase, ie. blow dryers, curling irons, etc. So on that note I had to purchase a new curling iron yesterday. The beauty supply stores basically all carry the same brands of tools, which in my case yesterday made it hard to even find the correct model of iron. The one and only marcel iron that I could find was no doubt made in China.

Hot Tools Marcel Iron = made in china

5 = china
1 = mexico
5 = usa
8 = thrifted

Box Store Whores = 2
Small Biz = 1

Salvation Army

Thrift stores have me in a quandary. They sell used goods, sometimes not so used sometimes really used. The quandary comes into play with the made in (insert any other country besides the usa). So if I support used goods made outside of the country doesn't that support the first purchase of those goods as brand new mass produced, outsourced, sweat shop goods. But it also fulfills the full cycle of recycling. So I did some thrift shopping, but I still don't know what way to feel about it.

Target brand jewelry box = thrifted, originally in china
picnic basket = thrifted, to old to tell
wall shelf = thrifted, to old to tell
black workout pant = thrifted, no brand label
Mossino shirt = thrifted, originally in china
Merona shirt = thrifted, originally in china
Merona shirt = thrifted, originally in china
Merona sweater = thrifted, originally vietnam

still deciding how to mark these.

Frozen River Film Festival

Over the weekend I misplaced my already mis-matched pair of gloves/mittens. The Frozen River Film Festival was the perfect place to find/purchase a new very matching pair. The festival was full of local vendor selling their hand made goods. I happened across a table full of hand made mittens by two girls named Rachel Vogel and Tanya Berzinski. Muddy Hands website has a few of their unique goods displayed and the future proposal of a local store in Winona, MN. Another excellent artist that I was in awe of was a girl named Melissa Fannin. Although her website doesn't seem to have them she had some amazing origami earrings that she made.

Muddy Hands mittens

4 = china
1 = mexico
5 = usa

Box Store Whores = 1
Small Biz = 1

Office Supplies

The office supply store use to be one of my favorite places to shop. Chalked full of papers for everything and containers that could make all your organizing dreams possible. Ok, so I am an office nerd. I was the kid who took my mom's checkbook so I could play secretary and fill it out. Just thoughts of pens, pencil and marker boards made me swoon. However now each trip I take to the office supply store is met with feeling of anxiety and discouragement. It's a store that is hard to avoid, what business doesn't need a container to hold receipts and a folder to separate important papers? But the screams of foreign made products in a store like Office Max can deafen the ear. My trip to my local Office Max yesterday yielded only 4 out of 9 goods made in the USA. That was with me being a very conscious buyer, checking all labels to try to find a brand that said USA and avoiding normal impulse buys of products that had no USA alternative. Even the brands that I did end up finding the USA label on had other products of foreign origin/assembly. Unfortunately there are an array of office needs that are hard to find outside the big box stores, but buying foreign made products from a local family owned business would be one step in the right direction. Also, although some of the recycled goods are produces outside of our country, it completes the earth friendly circle by purchasing recycled products. Checking labels can be very daunting in every aspect of life. The disappointments never seem to cease when I find an item that I want and can afford and turn it over to find "made in china".

Office Max brand pink erasers, mini stapler, mechanical pencil = made in china
3 Oxford Esseite folders = made in usa
Avery address labels = made in usa
Avery business card pages = made in china
Pendaflex alphabetical file = made in mexico

4 = china
1 = mexico
4 = usa

http://www.recycledofficeproducts.com/index.htm