Only Men With Beards...

can become pirates:)

A Dutch folk song.

Natural Hair Care Tips

that actually work.

Have you ever thought of the alternative to the commercial hair care products? I have and through the years, tried several suggestions from the internet. The first one was to just wash your hair with plain warm water. Sounds like a brilliant idea, doesn't it? Well, the result was everything but. My hair looked nearly just as dirty as before.

The internet gurus stated that it was normal, at first, later your hair would adjust, they claimed. I must have a wrong sort of hair, because mine never did. In fact, it was looking progressively worse so I had to return to the default method (shampoo).

The next tip I tried was to use plain soap instead of shampoo. My hair looked nearly as bad after using it as when using nothing at all. I saw little point in continuing to try, and soap, after all, is a commercial product, too.

Another internet site suggested using baking soda. This actually did work, at first, and my hair looked rather decent. After several times, I noticed that it somehow started falling out, more than usual. I guess baking soda is too harsh for me, so I quit.

And now I present the Grandmother's method, which is gentle and works on most types of hair. It's nourishing and you can use it as often as you need. It's a bother though, so I still use my shampoo brand (all natural) quite often.

You will need an egg and some buttermilk (you can use yogurt, I guess, but just a tiny little bit, since it's rather thick, naturally, in all cases you go for an unflavoured variety). You mix them in a bowl, like shown in the photo above.

Next, you'll need to put a plug into your sink and fill it with hot water, as hot as you can bear since it tends to cool off rather quickly. Add the egg mixture to it, and whip it up with your hands, so that it gets all foamy. Use the foam to wash your hair. It helps to keep in mind that the stuff you use is much less strong that your average shampoo and to get your hair really clean, you'll need to wash it more thoroughly (and probably longer) than usual.

You can rinse it under the shower afterwards.

Another thing which is good for your hair is beer. Don't worry, you won't have to drink it, but if you have a bad hair day and don't want to wash your hair, you can use beer as a conditioner of sorts. You'll need to heat it to the boiling point (don't ask me why) and let it cool a bit (naturally, otherwise you may burn yourself!). With the help of a cotton pad, transfer it onto your hair. If you have long hair, like mine, it's better to do it in the evening, so that your hair has time to dry. It's supposed to look better next morning, but don't forget that it still needs regular washing:)

An Important Announcement

My second book is coming out in a short time. Probably next week. I'm going to post an excerpt very soon, so stay tuned!

Links For October

Lydia Sherman on the importance of breastfeeding:

True Facts About Breastfeeding

Housewife Outdoors on women and housework:

How To Live A Quarell-Free Marriage

Mark Moncrieff on the events in Australia:

The First Melbourne Traditionalist Conference

Will from Patriactionary on the refugee

refugees vs economic migrants

and obesity problems:

nowhere is safe

That's all for today, thank you for your attention!

Are Conservatives Anti-Family?

Here is an interesting article on the topic of American conservatism, published by Rod Dreher. Be sure to check the comments, too!

Is Authority Absolute?

There is a lot of discussion going on online about the nature of authority in marriage, between the husband and the wife. I'm not talking here about liberal "Christians" who don't take the Holy Scriptures seriously and are fully egalitarian, but about those who still accept God's original design for the family and the idea that the husband is the head of the wife. How far does his authority go?

There is a so-called "complementarian position" which as far as I understand, is getting more liberal with the years. Then we have a "servant-leader" position, with a huge accent on the first word (i.e. the husband leads by basically doing everything his wife tells him to do) and then we have those who claim that the husband's authority over his wife is absolute, and she should "cheerfully obey" in any situation, more like a slave than a spouse.

I think we get all this confusion due to two things: the constant attack of progressives and the desire of certain misguided church leaders to compromise as far as possible in order to appear more modern, and next, the misunderstanding of the nature of authority.

At school, I was taught that in medieval Europe, the King was considered "the first among equals" by the warrior class. He was equal in essence to other nobles, but higher in function. That is the way the Westerners have viewed authority for a long time. That is our traditional way. In the same manner, the wife, unlike the concubine and/or mistress is her husband's equal in essence, but a subordinate in function. I don't care how it was in OT times among the Hebrew tribes (though I suppose it wasn't much different). Being Christians, we live under the NT and that has been our manner of doing things for hundreds if not thousands of years.

Now is the authority of a superior over a subordinate absolute in all the circumstances? I'm not talking about the situation when your superior is telling you to commit obvious sins/crimes. I hope we all agree that one shouldn't follow unlawful commands of one's superiors (even Islam teaches the same thing, the wife doesn't have to obey sinful commands of her husband).

What about when a person in the position of authority is foolish? I remember watching a movie (I think it was one of the Hornblower series), where the ship captain was a stubborn idiot who wouldn't listen to the advice of his officers and nearly lost the ship with all the crew. To save it, his lieutenants had to lock him up and to take over the command. Of course, in the end they were court-martialed, but got off free because they convinced the judges that the captain was temporarily insane or something similar. (I don't remember the details correctly, I think they suffered some punishment, but not a very severe one).

The point I'm trying to make is that sometimes, when the authority figure is particularly unwise, the subordinate has nothing else left but to overrule his decisions (think of Abigail and Nabal, and that was in OT times, so as I've said, there wasn't much difference with a European position).

What situations I'm thinking about? The husband can be very unwise in financial matters, for instance, which can lead to the great damage for the wife and the children. He may engage in other risky behaviours, like driving under influence, gambling, disregarding safety precautions, you name it.

It's not about evaluating your husband's "performance" before deciding if he's worthy of your obedience. This should have been done before you married him. It's just about using your common sense. That's all. 

Vintage Lifestyle

Here is an interesting video by Rain San Martin, a working lady who supports homemakers and promotes femininity on her YouTube channel.

She made me wonder about my own home. Could it be said that my lifestyle is vintage, too? I should think that I'm quite modern in many regards, but then I don't have either a dishwasher or a dryer and hang my clothes on the roof to dry:)

Is your lifestyle vintage in any way? Feel free to share!

How To Lead A Perfect Consumerist Lifestyle

A guide for (married) women.

Love of money is the root of all evil
Paul the Apostle

The first thing you will need is a yuge house. The bigger the better. Here's how you do it: go to the bank and ask for the highest mortgage you can get. It mostly will mean that you both have to work, but who cares that the house stays empty for most of the week? You'll still be able to show off to your family and friends. The house must have a garden and since you won't have time to maintain it anyway, paving it with concrete tiles is a solution.

Next thing you need is a new car at regular intervals. Of course, you'll need the best (and biggest) available. Again, you'll probably need to take a loan. Don't worry, taking loans is just as essential (if not more) to consumerist lifestyle. In fact, you should take loans for a new smartphone, furniture, TV, gadgets and vacations.

Speaking of vacations, never ever consider a budget variant, like going camping with your husband and children, even when you are young and healthy. It's beneath you. You should go for nothing less than a 5 star hotel in the high season. You deserve it.

If you have small children, remember: they need toys! Lots and lots of them. The more expensive, the better. Aim to give them more than you best girlfriend/favourite sister does. Life is a competition, the one with the most toys always wins in the end, and your children should learn this wisdom at the earliest age possible.

When the children get older, their toys will generally become more expensive (like all these vidya games and stuff). Hopefully, by this time, your kids will be into designer clothes, just like yourself. It's not OK to make them work for it, though. They should have a happy childhood and that means being served on hand and foot everything on a silver platter. The solution is for YOU to work more hours, it's not only a reasonable decision, but a politically correct one.

In general, when buying clothes for yourself and the children, you should follow the rule of the thumb: why paying less when you can pay more? Don't even consider searching for second hand or visiting cheaper stores. Also, always buy in bulk. Your baby will grow in 5 years and may need those 100 t-shirts you bought on sale yesterday. (Sales are OK, but only if you stockpile).

Last (but not least!) thing I'm going to talk about today, is food. You should aim at eating out as often as possible. When you don't eat out or order, buy expensive stuff like sushi etc which needs minimum cooking time. Don't forget that wine is essential, and again, choose the pricey brands. If you still have any spare money left after doing all of the above, the good way to spend it is going out, preferably with your girlfriends. Try to do it as often as possible, too, in this way you can spend more.

A word of warning: one thing you emphatically SHOULD NOT spend any money on, is hiring someone to clean the house. Don't ever do it yourself, either. First, a messy house is cosy and progressive, second, you have your husband for these types of jobs. His degree of commitment to doing these menial tasks proves his true love and devotion to you. If he resists, call him names and complain to your friends, family and internet community. Shame him for not being a real man (denying s*x generally works well when he's disobedient).

For Christians, remind him that you are the daughter of the Most High King (i.e. a princess) and he is just a lowly representative of the unworthy sex who should be forever grateful you chose him.

A separate word for those ladies who are only planning to marry: you deserve a dream wedding! And it may well cost something, but not to you! Demand, that your guests and family pay.

DISCLAIMER: yes, all of above is satire. I specially placed the link to the bridezilla story to illustrate my point. Unfortunately, such women do exist.

A Really Important Question

How often should you vacuum? There appears to be some controversy on the issue. A housekeeping manual I possess states every day, while Darla Shine suggests doing it twice a week. Now I've always tried to do it three times a week but started thinking recently that may be, it's too much. (Vacuuming has a nasty tendency to interfere with your social life:)

The internet isn't really helpful. I found everything from once a week to every day, twice a week or depending on how many household members you have (but having pets means you still have to do it every day apparently). They also make distinction between high traffic areas and low traffic areas, but in my house, most rooms are high traffic and I have pets, too!

It's all very confusing. I found two detailed cleaning guides which sound very similar to each other. One from Good Housekeeping says once a week (but sweep kitchen floors every day), the other one from Housekeeping Trends says every day (with the distinction made between high- and low-traffic areas). My vacuum is kept in a closet upstairs, so if I have to take it downstairs everyday to vacuum "high-traffic areas" which incidentally includes my whole 1st floor since it's an open living/dining area, I can as well take 10 minutes to vacuum the bedrooms. Where is the time-saving then?

How often do you vacuum? Feel free to share!

P.S. Take some time to study both cleaning check lists. Housekeeping will start looking like a full-time job to you!

The Wages Of Sin?

Here is an interesting study titled:

The Relationship between Multiple Sexual Partners and Mental Health in Adolescent Females 

It claims, among other things. that
Females tend to suffer from depression at a rate two to three times higher than their male counterparts, and these gender differences are known to begin during adolescence [3]. Adolescent depression has been linked to violence [4], smoking [5,6] substance use [7], eating behaviors [8] and increased suicide risk [9,10]. It also has been linked to sexual activities [6]...

...romantically involved adolescents, especially females, were more likely to be depressed than those who were not [11]. Hallfors et al. also found that adolescents who engaged in any sexual activities were at increased odds for reporting depression, suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts [12]. Again, the odds were higher for females than males.

The study discovered that depression rates in girls increase with the number of sexual partners they have:

The main finding of this study is that a relationship exists between mental health and number of sexual partners. As the number of lifetime sexual partners increases, the prevalence of sadness, suicide ideation, making a suicide plan, and attempting suicide also increases.

It's almost like pair-bonding were a real thing or something...

 

A Modern Woman's Temptation

I decided to re-read Lord Of The Rings. Today I was by the Mirror of Galadriel chapter. Galadriel is supposedly a super-positive character. Aragorn stresses several times that "there is no evil in Lorien".  Yet,besides Boromir, she's the only one on the side of Good who, by her own words, comes close to taking the Ring by force or at least, pondering on the possibility.

She's overall insanely ambitious, and if I remember her story from Silmarillion  correctly, she was the only one female present among the Elvish princes when they were discussing their war preparations against Morgoth after the Silmarils were stolen. She's a woman constantly interfering into the business of men with an ambition to project power and rule like a man.

But she also suffers from the typical female vanity. She wishes more than just to be obeyed and/or feared. All shall love me and despair! is a prudish way to say I wish all men desire me! In that aspect she's little different from a teenage girl posting bikini pictures on Facebook. Both are attention whores seekers.

I guess what makes Galadriel a positive character is the fact that in the end she wins over her (double) temptation. She accepts her fate as a woman (though an Elf with magical powers). She will diminish and go into exile, she says but her present life in Lorien is also not one of great heroic deeds. She already has one of the rings of power in her possession and she uses it to keep the weather mild and provide peaceful environment for her people. And she spends her days weaving clothes for the men.

Now I won't declare that I can fully guess Tolkien's intentions (though he was probably no friend to feminism which was already quite prominent in his time). I don't know whom Galadriel was based upon. May be, it was a great lady of his acquaintance. Yet, she appears to me to point to the typical modern woman with her double temptation: the wish to live and project power in a male way (through her career, paycheck, social position) while also having additional (sexual) power over men.

Her weapons were her crystal eyes
Making every man mad
Black as the dark night she was
Got what noone else had

(Read more: Shocking Blue - Venus Lyrics | MetroLyrics)

Somehow it doesn't make modern women happier than their unenlightened mothers and grannies used to be. May be, it's time to diminish and return to the traditional female occupation to provide peaceful environment for her menfolk and family in general?

How To Lose Weight Without Any Effort

Quit sugar. Seriously. After I restricted my sugar consumption, I lost 6 kilos without doing anything. World Health Organisation currently suggests that you consume 49g sugar per day which amounts to 7 tsp of sugar. We aren't talking about natural sugars in fruit or something similar but all sorts of added sugar in stuff like ice cream or sugar in beverages count.

For instance, a Magnum (ice-cream) contains 24g of sugar which is about 3.5 tsp. In a beer (alcoholic or non-alcoholic) it can be up to 3 tsp (21g). Some sorts like Radler can have more. Now calculate for yourself: if you drink as much as 2 beers it's nearly your daily allowance of sugar that you've consumed. You get my point?

Another thing to avoid as much as possible is all commercial baked stuff like cake, cookies etc and white bread. Unfortunately, if you often go visiting or receive visitors at home you can't completely avoid eating it as people's feelings get hurt when you refuse a piece of cake or a cookie. You don't need to be too puritanical about it, just don't eat too much (and remember, there is added sugar, too).

A solution could be to bake more at home using other types of flour than white and less sugar. In nearly every recipe, you can cut on sugar and it still will taste fine.

So if you just follow these two simple rules, you'll go a long distance in losing that extra weight without going on a diet or killing yourself with exercise. Unless you are so poor that sugar and white bread is all you can afford instead of meat, eggs and dairy. In this case you'll probably stay thin anyway because of undernourishment which luckily seldom happens in the West nowadays.

P.S. Some people have to eat white bread because of health problems. In this situation, you can low its GI by a) freezing it; b) toasting it; c) doing both.

Men And Hormones

What creates a soyboy? Presumably soy consumption, you will say:) But is this the only reason so many men around us appear to lack masculinity?

In one of the previous posts I linked to an article the author of which suggests that unfeminine behaviour in women will cause hormonal imbalance thus making them more feminist. It's also well known that certain actions, such as handling weapons can increase testosterone in men (which is probably one of the reasons the globalist elites want to forbid or severely restrict gun rights around the world).

Thus, your behaviour will influence your physiologically. So what about this modern trend of young men running around with babies and toddlers and changing nappies while their wives earn a living? If handling weapons increases testosterone what does handling babies increase? Estrogen? I doubt the MSM have our best interests at heart when they promote certain behaviours.

There is an old saying, fake it until you make it. Physical fitness and good diet are essential, but so is behaving in a masculine manner, I guess!

Having Standards In Dating

Here is a statement which sounds shocking to many modern people: while choosing a life partner you should apply some standards to the whole process! Yes, this means you should judge potential candidates, including on their appearance since what is on the outside often reflects values inside.

The decision whom to marry is probably the most important decision of your whole life. More important than what a career path to choose. While some couples are infertile or stay childless for another reason, for the vast majority creating a family means getting children. And children inherit their genetic material from both parents.

Recent research in this area shows that in most cases, nature will triumph over nurture. Besides biology, children need a stable environment to grow in, which excludes being raised by addicts, mental cases, criminals or simply people who don't take their commitments seriously and will walk out when the first thrill dies and everyday boredom creeps in.

And even when you can't or won't have children it's much nicer to have a spouse who supports you and whom you can trust, not the one who beats you black and blue or runs away with a milkman taking half (or more) of your stuff.

I'm really shocked how easily marriages among the younger generation fall apart. Married at 23 divorced at 25 seems to be the motto. It's difficult to say who exactly is more guilty, men or women since both sexes nowadays aren't taught what the marriage is all about. Hint, it's not just glorified dating.

Historically speaking, though both men and women can cheat and destroy their marriage, women used to be taught to use their "feminine wiles" to keep their men,  as we know from historical examples (such as all these harem life stories where women would fight tooth and nail to win the attentions of the powerful men), but it's a bit off topic for now. May be, I''ll write a post about it one day, and in the meanwhile you can always read Fascinating Womanhood.

Besides FW, the author also wrote a book called Fascinating Girl, where she gives advice on how to win a husband and discusses among other things, which qualities to look for in men, for instance, honesty, integrity and high moral standards (p.185), good basic education, wisdom, good judgement (p. 186) and masculine traits (Does he look and act like a man? Would he made a good father? (idem). Undoubtedly, men looking for a wife should ask themselves similar questions.

Here I'm going to say something which many would probably not approve of. Past behaviour is usually a good predictor of future behaviour. Some Christians think that if one is "born again" he/she automatically changes. It's true to some point, but a Christian life is often a struggle and past sins and bad habits can haunt a person for a very long time. It's up to you to decide whether you want such a baggage.

 For the record, I knew  a "born again Christian" guy who after a less than stellar life married a nice girl and had several children with her (because God tells us to be fruitful and multiply) and then ran away with another. It's up to you to decide which risks you are prepared to take, but marriage is a very serious business and no one should be criticised for exercising precautions before tying the knot. Actually, it should be vice versa, people marrying on a whim and divorcing after a couple of years are those who should be met with disapproval.

Fascinating Girl mentions the type of men to avoid: addicts, those who are promiscuous or have loose morals, lazy or dishonest types or those with a harsh temper are some examples mentioned (p.187). I should say it basically goes for both sexes. Don't marry someone to "reform them", it seldom works.

The Scriptures teach us not to be unequally yoked. It's usually interpreted as not marrying outside of faith. Faith for Christians is essential, but there is more to it than just that. When the prospective spouse comes of a vastly different background, social standing, culture, ethnicity etc it all can and will create potential for future problems.With some exceptions, like should generally marry like.

Again, it's a personal decision. I'm not presuming to tell anyone what their standards should be. They should be realistic though. Before aiming for the stars, evaluate if you yourself are a great catch. Don't marry someone only for their status or material possessions. On the other hand, marriages based on "love only" are the ones who fall apart the most. And Helen Andelin agrees with me:

Love standing alone...means very little...everyone who marries is in love. But, how many marriages succeed?...love in itself is not a justification for marrying a man. (p.188).

A word of caution about marrying divorced people. I know some churches forbid remarriage in all cases. I'm not of that school of thought. We live in a broken world and after a certain age it's difficult to avoid divorced folks if you are dating. Sometimes second families are very successful. You should look into the reasons someone is divorced though. If the woman is divorced because she cheated on her first husband, the chance is big she will cheat on you, too. If the guy you date was left by his wife because he was too lazy to earn a living, prepare to be the breadwinner of the family. Etc etc.

If you use your common sense, you should be OK. Just don't let your feelings overrule it.