“We’re from Greenville”

As I heard these words coming out of my mouth this past January, I felt like I was having some sort of out of body experience. I was shocked when I replied to “Where are you from?” with “We’re from Greenville”. From as far back as I can remember, I somewhat hate when someone asks me that because I never know how to answer. 

Should I say “I was born in Florence, SC”?

Or is it better if I say “I was born in Florence, but grew up overseas”?

Maybe I should just say “I grew up in Ethiopia and Bolivia”?

I’m probably overthinking it and should just say “I grew up overseas” and see if they ask where?

Depending on how curious the person looks, I might go all in and say “I was born in Florence, but my parents were missionaries so I grew up in Ethiopia and Bolivia”.

Honestly, this is all too much so it’s probably better if I say “I’m from Florence” even though I don’t really feel like I’m from Florence at all, but I also don’t know where I feel like I’m from. 

I’m from a lot of places. And I’m from nowhere.

So, it’s better if we just don’t cover where we are from and I really hope they don’t bring it up.

I’m not sure when this dilemma began. I moved to Ethiopia at 7-years-old and remember feeling slightly awkward a few times. I looked different and spoke different. I obviously didn’t fit in. Then I came back to the USA and was no longer home there either. I was called “The Ethiopian” by a handful of kids and my new best friend was a girl from South Africa. She felt the most safe because we both didn’t quite fit the mold.

A few years later, I moved to Bolivia and didn’t really fit in there either. Again, I looked different and spoke different. Friends called me Gringa (white girl) and Granjera (farm girl since they assumed South Carolina is just farms and hicks). My best friend was a girl from North Carolina since she felt the most like me.  

When we would take a furlough and spend a few months in Florence, friends called me “The Bolivian” because I didn’t quite fit in with the American girls. To them (and myself), I was a foreigner. I couldn’t wait to get back to Bolivia. It felt better to be a foreigner in a foreign country, rather than in my home country.

Finally, when I graduated high school and moved back to South Carolina for college, I did so kicking and screaming. I didn’t want to be here and only connected with new friends who were also either foreigners or missionary kids. If anyone asked me where I was from, I would never reply “Florence”, which was only an hour away. I would reply “Bolivia” because I felt I belonged there more than I belonged here.

Since 1992, I’ve wondered how to reply to “Where are you from” and my answer changes constantly, depending on who asks, how I feel, who I’ve just caught up with, whether I’ve felt awkward or re-experienced some form of culture shock or almost said a sentence in Spanish while talking in English. It’s a constant mystery, trying to figure out where I’m from because what does that even mean? 

Am I from the place I was born? The place I spent the most years? The place that was my favorite? The place I had the most connections and friendships? The place I want to say I’m from? The place I currently live? 

So, in January when we were onboard the Logos Hope and someone asked “Where are you from?”, I answered “We’re from Greenville” for the first time in my entire life. I couldn’t understand myself for answering that way because I’m not from Greenville. Oh my word now I have another place to add to my list of questions I ask myself when someone wants to know my origins.

I kept replaying my answer in my head, wondering what brought me to say that and realized: Ivy. In a way that I was never rooted anywhere before, Ivy being born in Greenville has grounded me here. Although Nick is from Greenville, I never was. I couldn’t figure out where I was from. But Ivy’s birth turning us into a family gave Greenville a permanent location in my heart.

Ask me on my own, “Where are you from?”, and I’m still not sure. But ask me “Where are y’all from?”, and my answer is “Greenville, my family is from Greenville”. 

HOW WASHING MY HAIR MADE ME FEEL LIKE THE REAL DEAL

About two weeks ago, Lauren, the outreach coordinator for Maple Holistics, reached out to me and asked if she could send me some of their tea tree oil shampoo.  For FREE.  Not gonna lie, no one has ever sent me something free to review, so I wasn't sure what was happening!  However, I was interested (and quite gullible), took a look around their website and wrote Lauren back, hoping that this was for real.  Short story even shorter: within a few days, the tea tree oil shampoo was on it's way to my home with a tracking number!  What?!

Honestly, when I received the package, I was in shock.  I sat it on my bathroom counter and looked at it for a few days, wondering what in the world to do with it.  For the first time in my life, a company sent me something free for me to try and review.  Fairly often, I get companies asking me to write about them on my blog, but have never been sent anything as compensation, like money or free product.  Most companies want me to do them a favor without doing one for me.  And not only did Lauren actually send me the tea tree oil shampoo, but she sent me a full-sized bottle!  Needless to say, I was impressed with Lauren and Maple Holistics before I even washed my hair.

Let's get down to the real reason why we are here, the nitty-gritty, as Nacho Libre would say.  I'm going to share my honest review about the free product I was sent, the tea tree oil shampoo.  I washed my hair with it twice so far because I wanted to make sure I had time to wash, dry and style my hair and truly think through how I feel about it.  Maple Holisitics didn't send me any conditioner and I didn't want to mix brands and tamper my review, so the first wash was with the shampoo only and not followed up with conditioner.  What I liked about the shampoo was that it was thick, rich and creamy and lathered up fairly easily compared to many natural shampoo options.  However, I believe that the tea tree oil must be slightly drying because my hair was more tangly than normal.  It took extra time to comb through it after my shower, but had tons of volume (which was a plus).  So, if you have dry hair already, I might suggest you use one of their more moisturizing shampoo options, especially during the upcoming winter months.  This tea tree oil shampoo might be a good option for people with oily hair or during the summer months when it's hot and humid and everyone's hair is slightly oilier anyway.  The second time I washed my hair with the shampoo, I followed up with my own Young Living Copaiba Vanilla Moisturizing Conditioner.  This favorite conditioner of mine is super rich, thick and creamy and moisturizes really well, so of course, my hair felt like silk after that and was much easier to brush through!  Oh and one more thing, the shampoo has a light tea tree oil smell, but not so strong that it leaves me with headaches, so I was pleased.

When Lauren originally reached out to me, she wrote that Maple Holistics is high-quality, natural ingredients and cruelty free.  I did a little digging around to see what I could find to back that up.  While looking online, I found that the tea tree oil shampoo has these ingredients listed: aqua, jojoba oil, Botanical Keratin, Argan Oil, Tea Tree Oil, Lavender Oil and Rosemary Oil.  I was really impressed with such a short list!  My only concerns are these: I couldn't find any real information on the ingredient "botanical keratin" except on Maple Holistics own site and I don't know where the company sources their essential oils.  These are some of the reasons that I consistently choose Young Living oils and products.  I can always find information on ingredients and I know exactly where the essential oils are sourced (I've even been to the farms and helped plant!).  Fast forward to this morning, though, and I found myself a little disappointed.  When snapping the photo for this blog, I noticed the ingredients listed on the back of the bottle don't match the ingredients list found online.  There are about 15 extra ingredients!  I tried to look up the product on the EWG Skin Deep site, but couldn't find it.  I also tried to look it up on the Think Dirty App, but it wasn't there either.  This really surprises me for a company that's been around since 2001.  So, I took the time to type in each ingredient, one by one, on the (EWG Skin Deep site) to see if they are truly safe.  There were about three that couldn't be found, but the ingredients I did find, rated well.  So, I'm pretty happy with the ingredients I know and read about, but feel that not having a complete ingredients list online is a little deceiving.  I take time to research things before buying and want to have confidence that the company is giving me all the information up front.  On a more positive note, Maple Holistics has an easy to navigate website.  They seem to care a lot about health and educating people on good choices through their blog.  I was impressed that they even offer a free samples program and 100% money-back guarantee!

This is after my second wash!

So, what do I honestly think about the free tea tree oil shampoo that Lauren sent me from Maple Holistics?  I'm happy enough with it that I will be finishing the bottle, while following it up with my own favorite conditioner.  I would, however, suggest only using it consistently if you tend to have oilier hair, as it is slightly drying.  Also, I would recommend doing more research on the ingredient "Botanical Keratin" and the others that I wasn't able to find on the EWG site to make sure it's truly safe and non-toxic.  But, all in all, my first free product review was an excellent experience and I hope to get more opportunities in the future to do the same for other companies!

I've been blogging since 2008, for almost a decade now.  For years, I've wished to be a sponsored blogger and wondered how to do it.  Although I truly tried, nothing I was doing seemed to get anyone's attention, except the companies who wanted me to blog about them and their products for free.  So, I kinda gave up.  Why try so hard, only to fail?  So, although it was only a bottle of free shampoo, it was so much more to me.  As I stood in the shower and washed my hair, I thought about all my hard work over the last decade, was proud of myself for not quitting and felt like I was finally the real deal.  It's funny how sometimes the little things are really the biggest things.  So let me leave you with a little something that has nothing really to do with shampoo.  If you want something, don't quit.  Keep working at it until you get it.  Even if it takes you 5 years, 20 years, 48 years.  It's worth it.  Those years are going to pass anyway.  You might as well work towards a dream.