shampoo alternative

Ever since I was a little kid I’ve always had problems with terrible dandruff. I have very thick hair and an oily scalp, so that may be part of it. The only thing that partially worked for me was using a harsh chemical shampoo called Nizoral AD (Ketoconazole) every day. Even then, this only lessened the dandruff and my scalp would still itch like crazy if I were to sweat while exercising. My roommate suggested that I try washing my hair with baking soda and then rinsing it out with vinegar. I was skeptical at first because it sounded weird, but I decided to give it a try. Amazingly within a week the dandruff was completely gone for the first time. My hair also looks and feels great! I’m interested to hear how it works for people with longer hair. Try it out, it is also a really low cost solution to shampoo/conditioner.

Baking soda also works great as a deodorant. I first heard about using baking soda as a deodorant over at the forums for the blog Early Retirement Extreme. It was suggested as a money saving tip. For some reason anti-perspirants actually seem to make me sweat more, and I would have to keep reapplying regular deodorant a few times per day to keep from smelling. I tried applying a small amount of the powder under my arms after the shower while I was still wet. It is not a miracle, but it works better than anything I have found in the store. Try it out!

My goal was to create a home theater system using a minimal amount of components.  I also wanted to make sure that the actual hardware didn’t take up too much space and that it was relatively inexpensive.  My end result was an amazing home theater for less than $1500.  With this setup I can watch 720p HD movies on a 112″ screen with surround sound and play recent video games on it.  I live in an apartment, so I was unable to modify the walls or ceiling.  Here is what the set-up consists of.

• Projector
• Sound System
• Computer
• Cables
• A few pieces of furniture

Optoma HD73 (720p) Projector ~$500

I went with a projector because of the screen size, low footprint, and portability.  I chose a 720p model because of the lower cost, and the fact that most TV shows are still 720p.  I find that I still get a really good picture.  The only downside is that the fan is a little loud on this model, but I don’t really notice it enough to not recommend the projector.

Logitech z-5500 Computer Sound System ~$360

I used a surround sound system meant for a PC.  This is a really great low cost solution that works great in a smaller living room.  I bought some cheap stands to hold the rear speakers behind the couch.  The only negative is that the backlight on the display burned out.  I’m actually not all that disappointed because it was really bright and distracting if you had the controller next to the screen.

Acer Aspire Revo AR3700-U3002 ~$350

This is a great little PC.  Very compact, but powerful enough for HD video and some PC gaming.  I can play 1080p content smoothly with this PC and both Mass Effect 1 & 2 have played near perfectly on this machine.

HDMI Cable (3ft) ~$3

The computer is sitting right next to the projector so I only needed a short HDMI cable.

Optical Cable 25ft ~$12

The control center for the logitech sound system is a little farther away so I used a longer optical cable to reach from the PC to the controller.

Miscellaneous

The front 3 speakers are sitting on a TV stand I got from Ikea

For the rear speakers I bought these from Atlantic.  They work well with the Logitech speakers.

Since I am in an apartment I didn’t want to drill holes in the ceiling to mount the projector. Right now the projector is just sitting on a $20 TV tray I got from Walmart.  It is between the couches so you can’t see it.  I am also looking into something like this.

I’m not using a screen.  I still get very good results on my bare living room wall.

Diagram

Pictures