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[Penny Scout]

i've read a sage rinse darkens the hair. You could also cover henna haircolor and tattoos, and I think the celts used indigo or something blue as a temporary tattoo. The cassia plant (senna) is sold as clear henna (but not related) makes the hair shiny.

[jason]

The Celts used woad... which is actually psychoactive and absorbed through the skin.  They wore it in battle.  Those stories about Celtic warrior fighting towering demons?  Well, that is genuinely what they experienced....

[kiliii]

Two of the fanciest pieces of primitive luxury I know of are twisted rabbitskin blankets, corded on dogbane wefts, and eider down blankets, where the feathers are fitted into cordage. They both took a village to make and were wealth items.

I spent some 300 hours making a rabbitskin blanket based on information from Paul Campbell, but used waste furrier rabbit hides, which are domestic. The blanket turned out very hard, and I traded it away just to get rid of it after all that hard work. But now I understand the construction, so it was worth it.

[BlueHeron]

Here's a question:  what do hunter-gatherer women the world over do for hygiene when the "moon is full" (ahem)?  I just started mine.  The question was imminent.

Part two of the question: Does anyone know of natural medicines for cramps?  (Maybe some h-g ladies don't get cramps, depending on diet and overall well-beingness.)

[yarrow dreamer]

SilverArrow, I have pondered that one a great deal. Some folks use sea sponges these days. . .? I've heard of women using cattail fluff, but how does one keep it where it needs to go? Some kind of uncomfortable leather thong contraption? Or just letting the bleeding happen, without any attempt at "control"?

I have little experience with cramps, but i think the many, many estrogen disrupters in our culture/environment might make the problem worse. Chinese medicine calls most pain stagnated energy, so maybe exercise? H-G ladies probably walk a LOT more. The Mayans do some rad abdominal massage and teach it as basic maintenance.

[yarrow dreamer]

I meant endocrine disrupters in general, not just estrogen.

this article has a sidebar about how to do some self-care on the belly--sometimes useful for men, too.
Mayan Belly Massage

[WildeRix]

I remember Steve Brill mentioning mugwort for cramps.

I always wondered about the cattail fluff option for absorbing discharge.  I kind of find it annoying to get cattail fluff stuck on my hands when they just have water on them.  It just seems like you would end up with a sticky, bloody, fluffy mass.  But maybe that's the point: to catch the discharge into a mass that you can then do something else with.

As for holding it in place, the literature I remember reading did mention a thong of sorts.  Same for primitive baby diapers using cattail fluff.

In the Clan of the Cave Bear books, Ayla used an absorbent rabbit skin.  I wonder if Jean Auel actually tried that personally, though, or if she just read about it.

[BlueHeron]

I once knew a lady (my friend's mom) who always kept a blanket in the back of her pickup.  If she came across a dead porcupine, she would throw the blanket over its back and lift out the quills.  They can be used for all sorts of decorative purposes.  When used with aesthetic sensitivity, they are really beautiful.

[kmatjhwy]

Now I've read that the dried leaves, flowers, and seeds of the Western
Meadow-rue / Meadow-rue Species was used by women in some Indian
Tribes like a perfume or a hair tonic. But I have never tried it. It is common
in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.

[ozish]

A combination of plain tea (what ever's in the cabinet, usually something like Lipton for me) steeped in vinegar, when combined 50/50 with honey, makes a great hair rinse.  It adds a subtle hint of highlights for brunettes over time, but fades rather quickly.  It does wonders for dandruff.  The only downfall I experience is smelling of vinegar afterwards, though as long as you rinse REALLY well it's not really that noticeable unless you're sweating your bum off.

I know my grandma used to use tea to help hide her roots back in the depression.

[sacha]

I'm trying to come up with a clever subtitle that plays off of "Nasty, Brutish, and Short." Fancy, Beautiful, and Adored? :::shrug:::

Fancy, Cutish and Sharp?