Rites of Passage and Rules of the Road

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beauty, cosmetics, girls and makeup

I came home one day last week to a slightly made-up version of my 10-year old daughter: a little eye shadow, some mascara and lip gloss.   Mom had prepared me that Vic was asking to “practice” with some cosmetics and had been provided with her own sampling of some Grandmama-approved colors.  Mom knew that I would have no problem with the quality of the cosmetics because we both buy our beauty products from the same place.  (That would be from Lisa at Style Essentials, for those of you who might be curious.  We love her!)  I asked Mom over the phone if Vic’s friends were wearing makeup already.  She replied, “Apparently, there’s been talk of it.”

Ohhhh, great.

I admit I get a tad squeamish when I see little girls with their faces made up.  I try not to go all judgemeister on the moms; I know we all pick our battles.  But two things instantly blaze through my mind when I see pre-teens wearing makeup reminiscent of 80’s glam rock:  1) what ungodly chemicals are seeping into that baby’s face? And 2) what message are we giving our daughters?  Do we really have to wear makeup to be “pretty?”  Is “being pretty” all that it’s cracked up to be?  Is it the be-all/end-all of womanhood?

While I want my daughter to answer “NO!” to each of those questions, I admit that I rarely (if ever) leave the house without at least a hint of powder and mascara.  I don’t walk into a store wearing my pajamas and sporting bed-head; a little makeup, to me, is as important as getting dressed and combing my hair.  At some point, the line is crossed from showing respect for ourselves to drawing attention to ourselves.  I’d like for my child to keep it all in perspective.

I hope to teach my daughter that beauty is on the inside.  It’s what you see with the heart, not with the eyes.  Beauty is who you are when you think no one is looking.  Women will always be their own worst critics; I know I am.  Ultimately, who my daughter is on the inside is far more important to me than how she looks on the outside.  As she matures, nothing would please me more than for her to hold the same values.

But, I put all my worrying to the side for the moment and focus on the rules of makeup with her.  I have a few. (You knew I would.)

Makeup Rule #1: Makeup should not look like makeup.  If I can see it before I see you, it’s too much.

Makeup Rule #2: If you put it on your face, you must take it off before bedtime.  Skin care is of utmost importance.  No sleeping in makeup, no matter how natural the product is.

Makeup Rule #3: You do not share makeup with other people.  Ever.  (Ewww.)  In fact, I hereby invoke my Mom Authority to limit the sharing of personal items to tee-shirts and shoes, even though the shoe thing is still against my better judgment.

Makeup Rule #4: I will approve and buy the makeup.   There is no need for you to ever even entertain the notion of putting mainstream, chemical-laden cosmetics on your skin.

Makeup Rule #5: You will read the ingredient labels.  You will become familiar with and knowledgeable about what you are putting on your skin.  Then, at the very least, when you go off the rails in college and sport CoverGirl to your heart’s content, you can’t use ignorance as a defense.  In other words, Mama’s not gonna raise no fool.

For now, Vic’s experience with cosmetics will be limited to learning how to use a few select things (pale shadow and lip gloss, cleansers and moisturizers).  I began wearing makeup in middle school at age 12; my baby girl will be there next year at age 11.  I’m not ready for her to be glammed out by next August, so we will navigate these waters slowly, carefully and together.

She is, after all, the reason I know all this stuff in the first place.

Healthy Oils

Scattered in among my current thoughts about houses, summer sandals and particle physics (no, not really!) are a few things you can actually benefit from: my thoughts on healthy oils for your skin. I have two cost-conscious favorites: almond oil and coconut oil.  My splurge oil is jojoba.  I’m sure there are a multitude of other healthy oils, many of which I am learning about for cooking purposes. But these oils are the ones I have tried myself and can vouch for.  Here’s how they have helped me:

Almond oil as makeup remover

Whether you are sixteen or sixty, I hope you aren’t neglecting to take your makeup off at night.  And if you use mineral makeup, as I do, then you know that it doesn’t wash, rub or cry off with any ease.  But that’s okay, because we have oils that make the job ten times easier.  I use about a dime-sized drop of almond oil on a warm-water washcloth to remove my makeup.  It does a great job at a fraction of the cost of mainstream makeup removers AND is beneficial to your skin. Plus, being pure almond oil, it won’t clog your pores, threaten you with cancer or knock your hormone levels out of whack.  After the first rinse, I typically use Style Essential’s Pink Mineral Complexion Bar.  At least twice a week, I skip the Bar and use another dime sized drop of almond oil on my face, followed by draping a hot-water washcloth over my face for a couple of minutes.  Sadly, I cannot remember who I learned this from – either Lisa at Style Essentials or Robin at Toxic Beauty – but I know both ladies would agree that this is an excellent way to cleanse and moisturize.  If you double up on the almond oil, you don’t really even need another moisturizer, but I use one anyway because I absolutely lovvvvvve my moisturizer – it’s an olive oil crème from Style Essentials and it rocks!

One word of caution to contact lens wearers:  When I wash my face at night I still have my contacts in.  If you rub the almond-oil-washcloth too much into your eyes, as I sometimes do because I want to make sure I get all the eyeliner and mascara off, then you could get the oil onto your contacts and blur them up a bit.  Lens solution cleans them right up, and I probably don’t even need to mention this to any of you, except that I’d be the reader who squints into the mirror saying, “Well, crap!  She didn’t say anything about THIS!”  So there.  I said it.

Almond and Coconut oils as body lotion

I first used coconut oil as a moisturizer during my initial 365 days on this blog.  I loved it! The one I bought has no scent, so I ran no risk of smelling like an Almond Joy.  I would use it instead of lotion after a shower.  My heels LOVED it and coconut oil became an immediate fixture in my homespun pedicures.  After a while of using the coconut oil (especially during the winter) I got tired of having to warm up the solidified oil in order to use it, and I was afraid I was using too much and wasting.  So I switched to almond oil – bought the big bottle – and added my favorite essential oil to it.  Voila! Instant perfumed moisturizer.  Into the big bottle I pour about 20 drops of jasmine oil (you can pick any oil or combination of your favorites!) and shake it up a bit.  By the next morning, the essential oil is dispersed through the almond oil and smells sooooooo good.  (NOTE: Do not use the scented oil as makeup remover.  Keep a separate bottle of pure almond oil for your face.  Trust me.)  I have since also put jasmine oil into my coconut oil as well.  And now, I use either the coconut or the almond right before I dry off from the shower – this way, I use less and there’s no chance of being shiny when I leave for work.  J

The only thing I don’t like about the oils – and this may only relate to me and my personal weirdness – is that the oils react with the gold in one of my 14K rings and discolors my skin under the ring.  Coconut oil makes it worse, but it still does it a little with the almond oil.  If it’s the weekend and I have plenty of time between shower and jewelry, then it’s not an issue.  Since it doesn’t react with my wedding ring, I’ve considered asking a jeweler to examine the gold in the other ring.  But really…like I have time for that!

Coconut oil as tanning agent

OK, this is where it gets a little weird.  Even I can see it.  When I wrote the previous post about having to give up my sunless tanner, one of the commenters posted a link that has steered me in a completely new direction.  The Paleo lifestyle…which shall be a whole post unto itself.  I read this post on Sarah’s paleo blog and decided to give it a try.  I mean, I’m already vampire white and eating differently from everyone else.  What have I got to lose?

Sarah suggests that sun protection is more effective when addressed from the inside out.  As the sunburn is a symptom of inflammation, address and prevent the inflammation itself.  Makes sense to me.  While I won’t go all into the paleo benefits and backups in this post, I will say that Sarah listed a small supplement routine that, in addition to the paleo lifestyle, should help increase sun tolerance, i.e. the time you can be in the sun without burning.  Vitamin D (which gets cancelled out by sunscreen), cod liver oil (don’t gag…it’s tasteless in the gelcap form) and – you guessed it – coconut oil are all on the list.

Now, I’m still wrestling with this one, even though I totally see the reasoning behind it.  Sarah suggests downing ¼ cup of coconut oil in a mug of herbal tea each day.  I managed to do it for three days.  Perhaps if I find a coconut oil for cooking that does not have the coconut flavor, I’ll be better about that. (And if, in the last cup, the oil didn’t pool on top of the tea – a fact which led my mom to believe I was completely outside my mind.)  Instead, I have used coconut oil almost exclusively in my cooking.

My tiny paleo results, though skewed because of a week of complete dietary mishaps, are that I only got a tad pink on my neck during my four hours at the school’s Field Day last week, using no sunscreen (in the name of experimentation, people!) Also, my face was blemish-free for two weeks…until I went with Dom for pizza and beer.  Damn the pizza and beer!  I’m climbing back on the paleo wagon and will post more information when I’ve done proper experimentation.  😉

In the meantime, go get you some healthy oils, and be free of the cosmetic chemicals!

Nixed the Tan. Please Send Chocolate

Now that I have swung my feet over the top of the proverbial Hill, I find another demon to wrestle…my vanity.

See, there I was, minding my own business, perfectly content with my cosmetics and my skin care, with my frozen pizzas and my toxic toothpaste… when suddenly, out of the blue, BAM!!  One little meeting sends me into an information tailspin.  Next thing I know, I’m tossing out makeup, shampoos and half the contents of our pantry.  For almost two years now (gosh, has it been that long??!) I have worked diligently to nix the petrochemicals from our midst and provide healthier options for my family.

It ain’t been easy, folks.  That is one seriously bumpy road.

Those who have followed my journey will recall that I have two predominantly unnatural addictions: my hair color and my sunless tanner.  I worked very hard to find suitable, affordable alternatives that I could trust.  Knowing that it was completely laughable to think that there would be purely natural applications to yield purely unnatural results, at a minimum I insisted on no parabens (hormone disruptors) and no petrochemicals.

Toxic Beauty recently turned me toward Bubble and Bee’s website, which I found to be so full of information that my head spun.  Hopping through links, I landed on an article about the dangers of sunless tanners and, thinking I already knew everything, clicked to have my suspicions confirmed.

Oh my holy stars.  What I learned almost drove me to Starbucks in the middle of Lent.  Or to Thrifty Liquor.  It’s really a coin-toss at this point.  But I digress…

DID YOU KNOW that sunless tanners, even the natural, “safe” ones I have touted, contain Dihydroxyacetone (DHA) – the chemical responsible for the faux bronzing of one’s skin.  Without DHA, your sunless tanner is practically useless.  (Remember my homemade tea tanner?  I rest my case.)  There are a ton of things I find disturbing about DHA, but I am most bothered by the fact that DHA messes with the body’s ability to produce Vitamin D.  You need Vitamin D not only to shield you from the sun’s harmful rays, but also to help the body absorb calcium.  Calcium helps your bones. ..Hello…

Studies show people exposed to DHA usually have a Vitamin D deficiency.  I’m deficient enough in other areas…I just don’t think I should risk this one.  I really can’t afford to break a leg trying to run from the Osteo-monster, ya know?  (For those of you who want all the sciency jargon, the studies are linked here, here and here.  Oh, and here too.  Thanks to Bubble and Bee for laying it all out there.)

Long story short, a half-full bottle of “natural” sunless tanner now rests at the bottom of my trash can, and my vanity will have to find another vice.  Like, fake eyelashes or a surgical butt-lift.

I kid…I kid…

If I have to be so ridiculously pale in the dead of summer, can I at least be a Cullen?

Happy Birthday to The Story of Cosmetics!!!

In case you couldn’t tell, I love anniversaries, milestones, and special celebrations.  So I was super-pumped when I checked my email this morning and read that today is the FIRST BIRTHDAY of The Story of Cosmetics.  You may recall that I featured the video on this blog a mere 364 days ago.

Here is the email message I received:

One year ago today we released The Story of Cosmetics to build support for national legislation to regulate personal care product ingredients.

For years, the multi-billion dollar cosmetics industry had been largely left alone to decide what was safe to put in their products. You know, things like lead in lipstick, neurotoxins in body spray and carcinogens in baby wash.

Now, one year later our partners at the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics are making significant progress.

One big reason the Campaign is more hopeful than ever about our chances for getting this serious public health threat addressed is the increasing support for reform coming from this country’s community of small personal care product companies.

We’ve posted a blog today about the incredible work the Campaign has done to incorporate the concerns of this community-among the best actors in the market already-into the newly introduced Safe Cosmetics Act of 2011.

This groundbreaking bill would eliminate the most harmful chemicals from cosmetics (as Europe already does!), and ensure that personal care products are reviewed for safety before they end up on store shelves.

If that sounds reasonable to you, why not help us celebrate The Story of Cosmetics’ first birthday by sharing The Story of Cosmetics with your friends and family and then letting your elected officials know that you support the Safe Cosmetics Act.

You can watch and share the movie on our site. Let’s get that viewcount up to 1 million!

Then make sure to visit the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics site to send a message to Congress.

Thanks for your support and for all you do to make this a better world.

Onward!

Annie, Michael, Allison, Christina and Renee
The Story of Stuff Project Team

So, why is the Safe Cosmetics Act of 2011 so dog-gone important?  Well, I learned in the blog post that is mentioned and linked above that the current law governing cosmetics was last updated in 1938.  NINETEEN THIRTY-EIGHT, people!! My grandmother was younger then than Victoria is now!!  The current law basically says the cosmetic companies do not have to test their products for safety, and they don’t have to tell us all the ingredients. (That’s one of the reasons the ingredient “fragrance” is so dangerous…it can be a combination of literally dozens of harmful chemicals and no one is required to disclose those chemicals!)  As the post states, “[The FDA] can’t even require product recalls—as we recently learned when a popular hair straightener, called the Brazilian Blowout, was found to contain dangerous levels of formaldehyde.” 

It is my sincerest hope that this message will spread to consumers everywhere, and that everyone will begin to read and understand labels…and cast those increasingly-important votes at the checkout in favor of safer products.  

What a wonderful reason to celebrate!

This Year’s Plan for My Summer Tan

If you haven’t seen it lately, the Cosmetics Safety Database got an upgrade!  I can’t wait to tell you all about it, but that post isn’t ready yet.  The Cosmetics Database is the first place I go to see if the products I’m considering are worthy of touching my skin.  Sadly, many of them are not.

For instance, remember when I told you all about my new sunless tanner that contained organic oils and a pleasant smell, and I was so pumped up about using it?  Well, it finally made its way into the database.  Overall, the Lavera Sunless Tanner scores a “5,” which is a moderate risk level indicator for toxic ingredients. Some of those toxic ingredients could lead to cancer and developmental/reproductive toxicity.  As far as I am concerned, that is So. Not. Cool.

I had to do a fair amount of investigating, but I finally found  Nature’s Gate Sunless Tanner, which I am happy with and which scores a slightly lower “4” in the database, which is still a moderate risk level, but includes no carcinogenic or developmental/reproductive toxins.  Fragrance is its worst offender, and while I am trying to oust fragrance from my products, the sunless tanner options are so limited that I will suck it up and allow fragrance in this one.

I first read a good review of the Nature’s Gate tanner here, and then I bought a tube and tried it myself.  I love it.  It really does take 12-24 hours for the color to show, but it’s not drastic or orange, and it fills in tan-lines nicely without looking made-up or piled-on.  For the win, my legs no longer reflect the sun as if to suggest that I moonlight on the set of True Blood.

And are you ready for the cartwheel of cosmetic news?…It’s A THIRD the price of the one I was using!!! ($7 on Amazon)

[Happy Snoopy Dance in full progress]

I may still try other self-tanners in the interest of a lower risk rating, but for now I am content with what I have found.  I think I’ll go shopping for shorts now.  🙂

Day 350: The Skinny on Sunscreen

Summer officially begins for us next week, as the last day of school is Tuesday.  Yeah, that’s right…Tuesday – the day after Memorial Day.  Welcome to my world.

Since most of you either have already begun summer (luuuuuuucky!) or will begin it very soon, I figured this would be a good time to bring up sunscreen.  Long before this healthy change took place in my home, I had issues with sunscreen.  And for this generally-too-white girl, that was already a red flag.

About two years ago my mom was getting ready to take the kids to a neighborhood park and was protecting them with sunscreen before they left the house.  You know how kids are, so you can imagine the scene: this was RIGHT before they left the house in unbridled excitement, meaning that the sunscreen application happened just inches from the door in a hurry-up-and-stand-still-so-I-can-spray-you fashion.  I had purchased a common name-brand spray sunscreen, waterproof and 70 SPF, to make sure that my babies’ precious skin was protected.  Mom sprayed brisk swipes to the skin not covered by shorts and tee shirts.  The exterior door is in her utility room, so they were standing right next to her brand new front-loading washing machine.  An excited flailing arm wiped against the machine door, and when Mom went to wipe off the resulting smudge, it had ALREADY ETCHED INTO THE SEE-THRU DOOR!!! As in, permanent damage!!  In under two minutes!!

Have you ever spilled nail polish remover on acrylic?  Suffice it to say that I have.  (On accident, of course.  Plus, I was like, 14, so no judging, K?)  Anyhoo…the acetone in the remover made a permanent white etch-mark into the acrylic face of my alarm clock.  Mom and I both recalled this fact as we gazed at the damage to her washing machine door and wondered how in the heck we were gonna explain this to my dad.

Ooops??

Immediately after realizing that we could just let Dad deal with the door, our next thoughts echoed each other’s:  If sunscreen can do that to the washing machine door, what is it doing to our skin????  We stopped using spray sunscreens altogether, and opted only for lotions – messy as they are.

Now  that I have begun to avoid parabens, petrochemicals, and propellants in my skin care products, how in the name of Jiminy Christmas do you find an acceptable  sunscreen? One that is not going to actually do more damage to you than the sun itself??

You turn to the Environmental Working Group, of course!  They have produced the Sunscreen Guide iPhone app, which lists the safest sunscreens and gives you the 4-1-1 on sunscreen claims – the good and the bad!  It tells you what ingredients are best and what ingredients to avoid.  Over 1,700 sun-care products are reviewed and rated in this app.  I downloaded the app at the end of last summer.  They just updated it last Monday for 2011, so go check it out.  It’s free!!

So what am I using on my kids this summer?  Badger brand Waterproof Unscented 30 SPF sunscreen.  It’s $13/bottle at Sunshine Health Foods, and I’m hoping it rocks.  But, other than keeping my kids from getting burned, it really doesn’t need to do a whole lot more to impress me.  With none of the chemical ingredients that I am working so hard to avoid, plus having earned a nod from the EWG, it had me at hello.

SafeMama reviewed the Badger sunscreen and liked it, so I think I’m probably on the right track.  They also have a sunscreen guide “cheat sheet” on their website that you might want to check out.  It’s labeled 2010, but I’m sure they will be updating soon since I noticed that they had offered the guide in 2009 as well.

What are your favorite safe sunscreen products?  Help spread the word for a safe, happy and Purpose-Driven Summer!!!

Day 348: Purely Cosmetic

You know I had to ditch my Mary Kay, right?  After 22 years of wearing it and 20 years of being a “consultant” (all so I could buy my own products at cost) I finally threw in the towel and mailed all my stock back to the company.  Once you make that final decision to return your stock, there’s no going back.  Ever.  So says the contract one has to sign.

But Mary Kay, Inc. gave me NO indication that they would ever give two hoots about chemical ingredients and women’s health in the same sentence.  I held onto my product for eleven months before finally succumbing to the bitter truth and beating the twelve-month return deadline.  And I have to say, the more time that passed, the more convinced I  was that I could never, ever use those products again.

My purpose for this blog begins with my daughter, as you are likely well aware.  She’s nine now, and when that day comes when she is ready to start wearing makeup, I have to be ready with products that are safe for her.  So I have to start with myself now, in order to be her example (and know where to shop.)

Meet Lisa at Style Essentials.  A while back Lisa had tweeted about some awesome natural mascara, and I decided to snoop around her shop for a while.  She sells makeup, skin
care, and jewelry… what a cool find!  To start with, I bought a mascara, an eyeliner brush, and a mineral primer.  Lisa even threw in a sample of some mineral eye color.  And I love them all! (That eye color sample?  Really great!!)

The mascara is seriously awesome.  No junk in it.  You know the ingredients I’m talking about…parabens, DEAs, petro-chemicals, sulfates, and on and on.  None of that is in  this mascara.  I use two coats of it, and I’m good to go.  And it doesn’t smudge or smear or flake during the day, but it removes easily when I’m washing my face.  I don’t ever wake up with raccoon eyes because my makeup didn’t all wash off the night before.  I am LOVIN’ this!!

I have turned to Lisa for advice on colors, products and how-to’s.  And she has responded like SuperWoman by dropping samples in the mail to me.  She offers to help with color choices, answers any questions I have, and is super-quick to assist in helping me find what I need.  In short, Lisa rocks!!  I recently purchased a new foundation, concealer and blush, plus got another eye color sample, a lip color sample, and a free handcrafted lavender lip balm.  (Do you hear the angels singing the Hallelujah chorus?  Listen…)  I have loved every sample she has sent me, and I have a growing wishlist of items in her store.  I can’t say enough good things about Style Essentials.  When I wasn’t sure if I was using the mineral primer correctly, Lisa pointed me to her video files where I saw her and fellow tweep Alison (aka Warrior Woman from Wednesday’s post) together.

{smile…}

You can find Lisa on Twitter and Facebook to stay connected on specials, new products and key ingredient commentary.

But in the meantime, would you like to try a mascara?  How about a free one?  Comment here and I’ll randomly select a winner.  Then I’ll buy you one and have Lisa send it right to you – just let me know if you prefer Black or Espresso Brown.  I’ll draw tomorrow morning.  Sound good?  Come on…let me help move you in the right direction, cosmetically speaking.  Whaddaya got to lose?  I mean, besides all those nasty chemicals… 😉

MASCARA WINNER UPDATE: Saturday, May 28 8:48 a.m. (Toldja I was gonna sleep in!)

Alright folks, this drawing was facilitated by my nephew with my son supervising.  I was going to do one of those random comment pickers on the web, but it got complicated and time was ticking.  I figured you’d trust an 8-year old boy who really has no vested interest in who wins mascara.  True?  So I wrote everyone’s name down twice, folded up the papers and let him draw from a literal bucket.  I would have videoed it if only my batteries were charged.

Aaaaaaaaaand, the winner of the mascara is Jessica.  Congrats! I’ll direct message ya and find out what color you prefer.  🙂

Day 316: Keeping It Simple

My most recent Facebook status update went something like this: “People are always for healthy lifestyle change until it affects their lifestyle.”  I was in a rather sullen mood this weekend, despite it being the most glorious weekend of the Church year.  It felt like everywhere I turned somebody was throwing one more excuse in my face as to why traditional Easter candy with all its preservatives and artificial colors is okay (duhhhhhh, Mom!), frozen pies from God-knows-where are perfectly acceptable, and crappy chemical ingredients are just fine as long as “it tastes good!”  

So I threw a tantrum.  Yep.  Lenten promise #3 out the window.  I actually let out a primal scream.  One dog came to see what was wrong and the other dog ran and hid.  My husband blinked at me in disbelief. I have to admit, I felt much better after that.

I can see a bit more clearly now, and I have profusely apologized to all the heartbeats in my home for the inappropriate disruption to our daily lives.  Many thanks to my sister-in-law, Kasie, who served as my light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel on Sunday, and brought me back to myself. 

So what do you do when it seems all hope for healthy change is spiraling down the toilet at breakneck speed?  I mean, aside from yelling at everyone you love and accidentally wounding yourself in your own Tasmanian-devil-style fit? 

You find something small, and you focus on that one thing until you can mentally (and emotionally) handle everything else.  I focused on my garden and flowerbeds.  They look lovely. 

This whole spiral-into-oblivion got me thinking about little ways in which we can make healthier choices – little bits of good that we can focus on until the rest is manageable.  Here’s my tentative list of little things to do that can eventually lead to big change:

• Change your makeup remover and/or moisturizer.  I’ve been using almond oil as moisturizer exclusively for two months now, and it works really well.  It’s relatively inexpensive, totally natural, and a little goes a long way.  Making this one change will save your face from at least nine chemicals a day.
• Switch to buying organic milk and/or eggs.  Just this one little change to your habits can make a big difference for you and your family.
• Buy small quantities.  Mega grocery stores and warehouses are great if you consume a trailer-load of food and disposables in a relatively short time period.  But I always found that buying food in bulk made me waste more.  It’s very hard to break the habit of thinking I need to “stock up” on something, especially if it’s on sale, but refocusing on what I will actually consume in a smaller period of time helps keep my grocery budget in check. 
• Buy one or two versions of organic fruit or vegetables. Think of the fruits or vegetables you’re going to want to eat or cook with this week, and buy the organic variety this time.
• Plant your favorite herb and use it fresh while you cook.  Fresh herbs make any dish better, and knowing where it came from and how it has been treated is an added benefit you can enjoy every time you cook.  Plus, plants are happy little fellas. 
• Drink 8 ounces of water right when you wake up in the morning.  I have not done this exclusively yet, but I did it for a while during the winter and I noticed that it helped me continue drinking water through the rest of the day.   Water makes your skin healthy.  Healthy skin doesn’t show age as fast.  Where’s my glass????
• Plan two meals a week, if you’re not on a meal planning schedule already.  It doesn’t have to be fancy, but put real effort into it.  Having a plan ahead of time makes the cooking more fun, and the meal more enjoyable.    And just think of the money you’ll save by not eating out!
• Drink a glass of green tea a day.  Add some orange or lemon and honey to it for some flavor. 

Well, that just about exhausts my wee little mind for the day.  😉  I’m off to move the sprinkler so my new flowers can drink up.

Day 274: Smellin’ Like a Rose (Or Something Kinda Like It…)

Tags

almond oil, essential oils, home-made perfume, jasmine, jojoba oil

It gives me great joy to report that I am back “in the good” with perfume once again.  But in order to avoid harmful chemicals, artificial colors and formaldehyde (yes, really!) I had to make my own.

It’s not as daunting as it seemed, actually.  I stood at Vitamins Plus on the essential oil aisle for way too long sniffing oils and determining fragrances.  I like fruits and flowers.  I don’t necessarily want to smell like moss or trees, but I know somehow one can mix all sorts of fragrances to come up with a unique and great-smelling blend.  I’m not quite that savvy.  I found jasmine oil, and that suits me just fine for now. 

In the many recipes I perused for homemade perfumes, the common ingredient seemed to be alcohol.  To prevent altering the intended scent, the recipes suggested Vodka.  It all made sense, but I was kinda trying to avoid alcohol in the first place, remember? I mean, can you really expect to moisturize your skin with a drying agent?  So I omitted the alcohol ingredient altogether.  After all, I have been known to shamelessly tweak recipes before. 

I also learned from my friend Kim that you are not supposed to put essential oils directly onto your skin because they can be irritants.  (Um, oops…) Rather, you blend the essential oil into a carrier oil, like jojoba or almond oil and then apply to skin.  (Note: I had no reactions to the jasmine oil or the tea tree oil, but I assume that was likely because I was applying them either immediately before or immediately after jojoba oil.  At any rate, I shall attempt better care of my oils…)

My beginner’s recipe is about a tablespoon of jojoba oil with 6 drops of jasmine essential oil swirled in.  I have the concoction in an embarrassingly ineffective spray bottle (“sputter” bottle is more like it).  I apply it like lotion and then I’m all set!

I hope to try other blends but I really need Kim, who knows blends and oils, to walk me through it.  Hopefully I will have many more recipes to report soon.  Until then, I am content with the jasmine.

Day 262: Mama’s Got a Brand New Oil!

I’ve been reading a lot of tweets about coconut oil lately.  Beneficial, skin-smoothing, healthy-for-cooking coconut oil.  I had to see what all the fuss was about, right?  In the interest of responsible blogging, and all…

So this weekend while at Vitamins Plus I bought a jar of rather solid coconut oil, not having even the smallest idea what to expect from it, much less what to do with it.  Since this jar was on the shelf with the essential oils, and not on the baking goods aisle, I figured I’d just use it as a skin supplement and see where that took me.  
But like I said, it was pretty solid.  I set it on the bathroom counter and decided I’d have to figure out later how to melt it down for use.  But as luck and motherly distraction would have it, I accidentally left the bathroom heater on during the night.  The next morning when I discovered that the coconut oil was partially melted and actually “scoop-able,” I decided to give it a try. 

WOW.  That is one rockin’ moisturizer!! I used it on my legs and feet – that’s where I decided I would most notice if a moisturizer was doing its job.  Let me just put it this way: my heels – my wintery, moisture-deprived heels – are totally soft again.   It’s virtually unscented, not oily at all, soaks in nicely and leaves a pretty glow. My hat’s off to coconut oil, friends!

Of course, I can’t just leave it at “woo-hoo, good moisturizer!” You need to know the health benefits of coconut oil, too! You will find that the baking aisle does have a coconut oil suitable for cooking, and I imagine that is where you will find the most true health benefits, like cholesterol management, heart health, and immunity boosts in fighting bacteria and viruses.

According to one source, coconut oil consists of about 50% lauric acid which actually helps prevent heart problems including high blood pressure and high cholesterol. Sadly, this probably doesn’t mean that my tendency to overdose on Almond Joys has any true benefit. But it does entice me to find some good recipes now.

My most immediate goal is to make a lip balm from coconut oil and jojoba oil together, since I think it will make a suitable consistency. I just gotta find the right container for it, and then concoct a recipe.   

Worms one day, lip balm the next. THIS is fun!