All Natural Sunscreens

Yes, I'm still here, I've been a bad neglectful blogger... Summertime is here and here are some sunscreens I like that are all natural and very comparably priced to the chemical junk you can get the store. Dr. Mercola, Natural Sunscreen, with Green Tea, SPF 15, 8 fl oz (236 ml)  Why just spf 15??  It blocks 94% percent of the rays.  He also offers an spf 30.  Looking for a stick for little faces?? Badger Company, All Season Face Stick, Sport Sunscreen, SPF 35, Unscented.  The Badger company even says theirs is NonNano.  I would assume mercola's is too as it both sunscreens you have work a tiny bit harder to rub in the white, but that is the price you pay a little with the natural sunscreens sometimes.  I felt like I have had chalkier natural sunscreens before so I'm ok with this stuff.  Short post, but it's something. :)  Needing to post how to make deodorant soon...

Poison Ivy

I'm posting this while it is in my head to do it.  This fall my son's ball rolled into my parent's neighbor's poison ivy.  He got the ball and ran in to tell us the ball rolled into it, and it was one of those big huge balls.  I freaked out slightly and made him wash his hands immediately as I know you want to get those oils off you asap.  We have never dealt with it before, I have never had it, nor my kids.  Anyway, a couple days past and he mentioned his forearms being itchy, there were red and a little bumpy a little welty.  I should've taken a pic.  All I saw was a little rash on his arms, and I didn't think much of it.  Till bath time came it was all up his arms, underneath his upper arms, welts bumps, his neck back of legs and behind, belly and back.  The smart thing would've been to shower the kid and change his clothes and wash them in hot water.  Duh.  I am thinking, oh crap, we are in for a fight, the google results of poison ivy pics were HORRID, but I did come across only a few that looked like him so he seemed to have a mild case, even though he was itchy and it was widespread. 

Something he did on his own that night that I read actually does help, was, he took a really hot bath.  You would think it would irritate and inflame, but I read online that it helps the rash feel better.  Which is funny that naturally, he did this for himself.  Check out this out from modernsurvivalblog. 

Then in my flustered freakout frenzy,I gave him some Zyrtec ( which I only use if someone is getting a full body rash) and I had put some cortisone cream on his wrists, but didn't like the idea of putting it all over him as even topical steroids can weaken the immune system.  I then got out my food grade aloe vera gel, just a little, maybe 3 tablespoons or so, and added a few drops each of essential oils of peppermint, eucalyptus, and rosemary and I put that everywhere the rash was.  If you can believe it, as I still can't, the next morning, his rash was nearly all gone, I could only see a little left on his wrists.  I put more on him that morning and that night and he was fine.  I thought I would need to keep him home from school but no need.  A strange fluke, I don't know, but I DO know it could only have been poison ivy, a mild case perhaps, but this is what worked for us, for what it is worth.

source for picture: www.modernsurvivalblog.com

Natural Help for Coughs and Ear Infections

Since it's that time of year I wanted to share a product that I didn't learn about till this year.  Our pediatrician told me about buckwheat honey, that it's proven to be just as effective as guaifenesin for coughs.  My son had been struggling with a cough for a few weeks and we had been using the mucinex for kids, I was desperate one night and pulled it out, he would cough to the point of puking.  Anyway he did end up on a round of antibiotics ( as much as I love to avoid them) but the dr also told me about Zarbees, it's flavor is more appealing than the molasses taste of buckwheat honey and the nighttime version has melatonin in it!  We've had some pesky coughs around here again and I have not had to be up in the night with anyone coughing, if I someone is not getting to sleep, we use the Zarbees, then it takes a little bit and sleep ensues.  SO nice to know I'm giving the kids something healthy and natural with no additives in it.  I also use a humidifier with a few drops of ecucalyptus oil. 

From SustainableBabySteps.com: "Eucalyptus oil uses have long been known to include anything regarding the respiratory system, including during asthma attacks, bronchitis infections, colds, and more. But there are dozens more little known uses for this essential oil." check out more here.

My other go to item is Wally's Ear Oil.  Refer to this post if you'd like to read how we kicked my son's ear infection without antibiotics last year.  We were able to avoid the dr. twice!

Natural Help for Crepey Dry Skin

Ah, getting older, isn't it grand?  Just when you face clears up, you look in the mirror in just the right lighting and think " what?????????"  This fall I noticed some crepey wrinkleness in the area of my cheeks below my eye, not right under the eye but below.  Needless to say my vanity kicked in and I wanted to kill those wrinkles... I wanted to accept them because it's part of aging but they didn't seem like they should be THERE of all places... smile lines maybe not there.  The skin seemed to pull and be thin and crepey, it only looked ok right AFTER I put on something moisturizing.  So I googled and I googled.  I came to the conclusion that I was over drying my skin and that skin needs humectants, which I'm not entirely sure oil provides.  Oil does nourish and protect, but humectants hold the water in the skin.  Humectants would be something like honey, glycerin or hyaluronic acid.
This would make sense that the Madre Magic worked better for my mom than the straight almond oil.  It contains honey.  Being in the freakout stage I was in, I bought two new products to add to my winter repertoire.  The Madre Magic and Andalou Naturals, Hyaluronic DMAE Lift & Firm Cream, Age Defying, 
ingredients :
Aloe barbadensis juice*, argania spinosa (argan) and simmondsia chinensis (jojoba) oils*, glyceryl stearate, butyrospermum parkii (shea) butter*†, fruit stem cell and bioactive 8 berry complex*, helianthus annuus (sunflower) oil*, DMAE, glyceryl monolaurate, hyaluronic acid, resveratrol, ubiquinone (CoQ10), bisabolol, tocopherol (vitamin E), magnesium ascorbyl phosphate (vitamin C), panthenol (pro vitamin B5), allantoin, cyamopsis tetragonolobus (guar) gum*, borago officinalis (borage) and oenothera biennis (evening primrose) oils*, camellia sinensis (white tea) and hibiscus rosa-sinensis extracts*†, phenethyl alcohol, ethylhexylglycerin, agathosma capensis (buchu) oil, citrus aurantium dulcis (orange) oil*
* Organic
† Fair Trade.

I have been using the this twice a day, oh I love it, my skin is doing so much better and this stuff actually seems to firm and plump.  Sometimes I will use a little glycolic acid cream before I put this on.  This was very soothing.  And the final help is just on my extra crepey area, I use the Madre Magic and my skin has improved more than I thought it would.

One more note for dry skin.  I have traded salt scrubs like the sea salt and baking soda for sugar since salt can pull water out.  So far so good, it never occured to me that sugar could contain glycolic acid!!  So I've been using sugar mixed with my oil on my face.  If you want to amp it up with more exfoilating add some fresh squeezed lemon, a wedge would be enough for one application, I still like to add a drop of oil or two... just cause it's winter.

So there it is, I wanted to share in case anyone else is having similar issues!!

I've also recently bought some Now Foods Vegetable Glycerine, haven't it used it yet! But it will be used it whatever random moisturizer I make next, I'm still trying to perfect my foot oil...