Hair Products ands Tips

Ok as much as I like to save money making beauty products, sometimes, I'm tired of it, I'll admit it, some things really aren't that bad to make, others take longer... like when I was looking up how to make my own hairspray.... too long, no thanks.  I really like this product, as usual I get it off iherb.  They really should pay me for these plugs but my audience isn't that big so oh well....


Andalou Naturals, Hair Spray, Perfect Hold, Sunflower & Citrus,

 

I hadn't used hairspray for a really long time because of the chemicals and sometimes, my hair does need it.  I love this, it smells great, decent ingredients and has great hold if you ask me. Unless you're looking for Aqua Net...;)  I have been using Andalou Naturals, Styling Cream, Sweet Orange & Argan for a long time.  I may try the hair gel next.  All these smell really good, as does the shower gel that I just got not long ago, and the conditioner.  Though I don't think I can afford to keep getting the shampoo or conditioner.  I checked out these ingredients once upon a time and they were ok.

Another hair tip.  Soft water.  We got our old one going again and I hated my hair a whole lot less. ;)  It seems to get cleaner, softer and is easy to comb out.  I noticed a difference in the kids hair too.  If you don't have soft water and hate your hair.. I do believe they sell shower heads that soften your water.  And never under estimate the power of getting your ends trimmed.  I still can't tell you I have found the perfect shampoo, price, ingredients and performance as I struggle with scalp build up issues.  I just have to spend a lot of detailed scrubbing time when I wash.  At this point I use Nature's Gate which is what I consider a lesser evil but not perfect in ingredients, it was it has fragrance but it's phalate free fragrance.  I would rather it be all out NATURAL fragrance.  And speaking of making crap, I DID make some hair serum that I am pleased with actually.

Hair Serum Recipe:

2 tbsp. Aloe vera gel ( the kind you can eat)

1 tbsp. coconut oil

2 tbsp. almond oil

a few drops of peppermint oil and rosemary.

  Shake each time and use sparingly and not too far up towards the roots, you can use on wet or dry hair.  I mix it with my styling cream sometimes too.   AND  I have in the past few days started using some on my face since it's been such a dry winter... so far so good but I am not to the point where I would say forsure put it on your face!!  But it's something you wouldn't need to rinse off your hands and if you have some irritated itchy skin, it works pretty darn well.






Natural Face Products

Here are some products that I get off iherb that I wanted to throw out there.  First off is a moisturizer I got for my mom, who has had rosacea in the past, and was using almond oil for her skin, but it just wasn't cutting it for her this winter.  After one night of using this, her face felt much better and very soft. Ingredients: Olive (Olea europaea) Fruit Oil*, Beeswax (cera alba)*, New Zealand Manuka Honey, Bee Pollen Extract, Royal Jelly, Bee Propolis Extract, Glycerin (Plant-Derived), Cetearyl Olivate, Sorbitan Olivate, Tocopherol (Non-GMO).



 Also if you're looking for a great alternative to Burts Bee's 2.99 lip balm. Sierra Bees, Organic Unflavored Beeswax Lip Balm   This brand is great for less than a buck.  They have many other scents that are naturally scented if you prefer.

Another all time fave of mine that I started using often at night, after toning and before using oil as a moisturizer, is Reviva Labs, 10% Glycolic Acid Cream.  I used it years ago and came back to it for quite a few nights a week, the ingredients are simple and glycolic acid exfoliates.  It can be irritating as you're getting used to it.  They have a 5% version too.

And here is one more. Abra Therapeutics, Alpha Enzyme Peel If you are looking for a glycolic peel to try, this was one is nice and all natural, 6% glycolic acid. It doesn't take much, just a thin layer.  I did try leaving it on all night, but my face got irritated and little itchy in places.  The jar says 15-30 mins I think. I use this about once a week,  leave it on for a couple hours, then rinse it off with a wet washcloth, skip toner and moisturize as usual.  ( it makes my skin feel very soft) I do NOT use my glycolic cream after this, I do my Mychelle Serum, or if I do this in the day, I do my daytime moisturizers, my almond oil mix ( essential oils added) then spf moisturizer which I have blogged about previously.  Check the labels if you're interested in that.


*and in case you were wondering, no, I don't get paid to endorse any product and I had to pay for the products.  I just spend way too much time researching and shopping around reading ingredient lists and reviews and pass along my opinions and faves to you.

Greener Cleaning

One of the last things to go for me was my blessed Comet Bathroom spray.  Nothing could compare to it's cleaning abilities, or so I thought.

This is going to be a hopefully a not too fancy, not pinterest worthy, no pic post.  Most of them are. ;)

What I have in every bathroom:

Spray bottle with half vinegar half water.  I like to keep them in the shower to spray a little afterwards too.  Vinegar is antifungal and combats mold and hard water and odors.  Don't like the vinegar smell??  Well you get used to it, really, and it fades away to nothing once it dries.  And let me tell you, you won't build up toxic fumes that weaken lungs and immune systems in your home.  You can even add some antibacterial and or antiviral essential oils, like clove, grapefruit, lemon, tea tree, the list in endless (and some essential oils are very affordable, to your spray bottle).  The bottle I have with essential oils I under the sink to protect it from light.

Washing soda and/or baking soda.  I recentely saved the lid of a shaker of parmasean cheese and put it on an old mason jar with a half and half mix of baking soda AND washing soda,  it works amazingly well at grime!!  AND natural!! No more pausing to hack up a lung and open a window while I clean.  And no lingering toxins.

Windows:

Half vinegar half water.  Old hand towel.  You will think at first, THIS isn't working!! But it does it really does, as good or better than windex.  Just don't get your cloth overly damp.

"Armorall" for vehicles:  A little water, a drop of dishsoap, and a little olive oil.

Cleaning and shining up your wood table( mine gets a water film and this brings it back to rich shiney life):  Half vinegar/half sunflower oil.  Olive oil is fine too.  Wipe with the wood grain.  Test a small area first just to be safe.

Hand soap:  this I have been doing for 5 years now, and it's so easy and doesn't dry out your hands and you are avoiding all that junk we talked about in the hand sanitizer post.  You will need a foaming hand wash dispenser and castile soap.  I do about a 1/4 to a 1/2 inch in the bottle with castile soap then fill up the rest with water, shake and voila!  As you can see, I avoid exact measurements at all costs if I can, it wastes my time. ;)  You could also add germ killing essential oils if you prefer. 

*A note on Tea Tree oil:  I have read not to let boys use it as it can disrupt their hormones.  So for something that the whole family is using often throughout the day, you can choose from many other essential oils.

Laundry:  I have gone back and forth with making my own with kirks unscented castile soap and using ALL free and clear.  The best homemade I ever made was with the borax, washing soda and Dr. Bronners bar of soap.  But that wasn't cost effective enough for me.  And darn it, it takes TIME when you make your own stuff.  I have practically eliminated fabric softener.  1/4 cup vinegar in the rinse.  I have also read that if you dry on a lower setting, it doesn't get so staticy.  Sometimes if I have a load that's real bad in the winter. I'll use a sheet of unscented.

Ok, that's all I can think of at the moment. 

A documentary if you have the time.

Laundering Your OCM Washclothes

Once again, story of my life blogging, I've been meaning to post this for a while and blah blah blah.  So if you do OCM cleansing you have probably discovered how the oil can build up in your washclothes and start repelling water like a duck's back.  I had searched online and hadn't found any good advice on this, so I had to trial and error it on my own. 

What I did that finally worked for me:

Whatever towel load you usually wash the clothes in, start with just the washclothes on your longest sturdy washing cycle, small load, HOT water.  I use All free and clear detergent ( yes I know, not homemade but I keep coming back to this...) use what you would for a full load especially if this is your first time getting the oil build up out, you may then be able to decrease the amount you use once you are getting them properly clean everytime and also depending on how soft your water is.

Use about a half cup of Washing Soda< not to be confused with Baking Soda, they are NOT the same, but it is natural.  I had been using oxyclean free, but I discovered that not only did this work better, it was cheaper too.  I didn't measure, I dumped some in and I''m guessing I did about that much. ;)  It's an excellent degreaser and it works wonders dry on a damp sponge to get that brown dirt, oil goo build up off your washer tub.  And the ring around your bathtub.

Put about 1/4 cup of white vinegar in the softener dispenser.

I then start the timer for 9 minutes and let the washer clean the crap out of washclothes.  When the timer beeps, I move the water setting to warm, and load size to a full size and then put in the rest of my towels and launder as normal.  The cycle on my washer still has another 10 minutes or so, so the towels didn't miss regular clean time. 

Aw yes, I get my washing soda at Walmart.

Homemade All Natural Hand Sanitizer

 Sick season is upon us, well it's upon our family ALL freaking year long- anyway,  homemade hand sanitizer it is!!  First of all why not just use the crap alcohol gel at the store, read this from  The Holistic Mama:


"They are harmful to the Environment. Most anti-bacterial products contain Triclosan, an antibacterial agent that kills bacteria. Some scientists are calling for the removal of triclosan from consumer products because it is building up in the ocean’s food web. One-third of the bottle nose dolphins tested off South Carolina and almost one-quarter of those tested off Florida carried traces of triclosan in their blood. The concentrations found in the dolphins are known to disrupt the hormones and growth and development of other animals. Studies in bullfrogs found that triclosan disrupts the endocrine system – blocking the tadpoles’ development into frogs at concentrations found in the environment. In addition, a 2008 study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention three-quarters of people tested in the United States had triclosan in their urine. A substance that can cause hormone disruption and growth problems isn’t something we want in the human body, or in animals for that matter.

They are damaging to your immune system. Hand sanitizers kill bacteria on your hands. The problem is that there are good bacteria and bad bacteria and the sanitizers aren’t selective. Some bacteria may be the cause of getting us sick but other bacteria actually protect our immune system. 
Killing off the friendly bacteria can damage our natural defenses against other infections. We definitely don’t want to kill off that bacteria. In regards to the bad bacteria, or the ones that can cause sicknesses, it’s not certain that its in our best interest to kill them either. There is considerable evidence that some exposure to bacteria in the environment is actually beneficial because it helps the immune system develop. Some studies have shown an increase in allergies and asthma in people who were raised in an overly sterile environment. Mothers are always trying to keep their kids away from germs but some exposure is not bad. That’s not saying that kids shouldn’t wash their hands but using a harsh hand sanitizer even a few times a day probably isn’t helping a child’s immune system.

They might cause superbugs. In some countries, like Canada, the use of anti-bacterial products are not recommended because of resistance. Resistance is already a problem with antibiotics because they have been overused. Triclosan is thought to cause a similar resistance especially because it is very widely used. The concept is easy to understand. If a product doesn’t kill all the germs, it’s the susceptible ones that get killed first, leaving the hardier ones behind. These can multiply and eventually outnumber the susceptible bugs."

Let me say first thing , that Clove Oil is my new favorite essential oil. " Clove essential oil killed more than 60 types of bacterial strains, 15 strains of fungi plus several viruses (Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, 2004)" And like I say, that's just scratching the surface of it's uses, I have a friend that used it for her baby's teething and it gave him relief!!  And it smells spicey good.  I even put it vinegar water spray to kill a puke virus in our house and it stayed to only 2 out of the 5 of us, thank You Lord!!  It's also a very warming oil.  When I was coming down with a cold a couple weeks ago, I took my vitamins, zinc, caprylica acid, etc etc.. I also put some of this on my wrists and breathed it in a few times in the day, the cold never got a chance to really materialize and fizzled out... so placebo, who knows, but I'll try it the next time I'm fighting off something.  I read if you put some on your skin it does get in your system.
Recipe:
 
You will need a 4 oz spray bottle, ideally, glass and amber or blue to preserve the integrity of the essential oils and protect them from light.

-Water

-2 tsp Aloe vera gel, the real kind you can eat.

30 drops of essential oils that are anti bacterial/ anti viral  I would be careful about using tea tree oil on boys, I read it can disrupt their hormonal system.  You can use any combo  I believe I used eucalyptus, clove and grapefruit.

Put your aloe and oils in the sprayer, fill the rest of the way up with water and as my 3 year old would say " voila!"

*I use a 2 oz bottle so you can half the recipe for a 2 oz bottle for on the go.

All Natural, Alcohol free Citris Toner

My apologies for not having a smartphone for better pics and being too lazy to take pics with my camera and upload them, so this is better (maybe) than nothing...  so here I am, FINALLY posting my toner recipe.  The ingredients are simple.  I use a  4 oz bottle so I will post the recipes in "parts" vs. measurements.  It's water, lemon juice, from a freshly squeezed lemon, and Thayers Alcohol -Free Witch Hazel.  Oh yes and grapefruit essential oil.

- Lemon juice helps lighten dark spots and helps to cleanse and exfoliate the skin.  Do put on sunscreen as it can make you more sun sensitive.  Avoid your eyebrows... unless you're looking to lighen them. ;) I found that out this summer, nothing drastic but I could tell... oops. 

-Witch hazel helps to sooth the skin and reduce inflammation and is an astringent.

-Grapefruit essential oil unlike other citric oils this does not make you sun sensitive.  It is anti bacterial and anti fungal < a common cause of acne.  Just google it, essential oils have a wide array of uses.  I'm barely scratching the surface!  It will smell citrisy good!!

Recipe:

1/2 bottle with witch hazel

1/4 bottle with real just squeezed lemon juice. ( no big deal if seeds or pulp end up in there)

1/4 bottle with water

a few drops of grapefruit essential oil.

*if you find this is too strong for your skin, instead of a 1:1 ratio of water and lemon you can 2:1 ratio doubling the water and decreasing the lemon juice.

Shake before each use.  I love this and have been using it for I can't remember how many months now.  I won't go back...since over hauling my skin regimen, while a bumpy road... has been totally worth it. I don't think my skin has been clear since I was in the 6th grade!!

Some random thoughts on Skin issues.

I have been battling my skin since a teenager, I blogged about that previously.  But one thing that I think might actually be something worth noting is the candida(yeast) imbalance acne connection.  I am no stranger to yeast imbalance, aka my constant need to ward off my foot fungus, which I have made an all natural treatment for that, that is working better than anything else I've tryed and is chemical free.  I will post that hopefully soon.  Anyhow my point, overall my skin has been doing way better and I think part of it is the role of baking soda.  Baking soda is alkaline.  Let's talk PH balance for a minute, I'm no dr or expert, anyway the balance is between acidic or alkaline.  Yeast thrives in an acidic environment, we all have yeast on our skin and in our intestines, which isn't a problem, it's when the balance gets thrown off that the yeast overtakes.  A big part of helping the skin and immune system is maintain a healthy balance.  I have done so much research this summer because after mowing on a really humid day, I was so itchy from a sweat rash that I deemed candida because it would NOT go away after I cooled down for weeks.  So I tried to cut way down on sugar that feeds yeast, and take acidolpholis, caprylic acid, garlic oil, bentonite clay, aloe vera gel, apple cider vinegar.  Sound desperate? oh I WAS!!  I also made up aloe vera gel to put on myself with tea tree, and grapefruit oil.  At one point when it was disrupting my sleep, I ( and I quote my husband) went against everything I stand for and sprayed Tentactin on my back for a week.  I will still get a little itchy if I am out the humid heat for very long.... annoying.  But back to the point, from the inside out, yeast can be dealt with.  My body obviously wants to be acidic and yeasty.  ANYWAY back to this and acne.  I use baking soda on my face every night.  Sometimes, I have only been doing oil cleansing if I have makeup to remove but either way, I scrub my t zone with, only really scrub my nose and chin and smooth the baking soda all over my face and let it sit and wipe with a washcloths at the end of showering.  Anyway I am thinking it helps alkalize what I think is yeastyness that wants to thrive.  So random skin tip.  I have more... I just don't have the time to post them.

So coming up, someday,;) footfungus oil, face oil, astringent and the role of the all natural glycolic peel.