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

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.






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.

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!!

Citronella and Alcohol Free Bug Spray

Sorry for the low quality ugly pic on my ugly counter,  I should take pics on my table, I'm that lazy I guess.. but it gives a visual of the brands of products I used to make my own bug spray.  The skeetos, as my 3 year old calls them, have been bad this summer because of all the rain we have gotten.  I've looked over a couple bug spray recipes that I had pinned and ended up tweaking them and forming my own.  The field testing has been limited to just this weekend.  I sprayed my son who was getting bit and afterwards he said nothing was biting him.  And my husband who usually get attacked while mowing, said he was left alone except for one on his ankle at the very end of the long job of mowing and he said that's because he probably sweat it off.  Very humid.  So yes after a while of being outside if you are sweating it off you will want to reapply.  A lot of recipes call for citronella essential oil but I opted for other bug repelling oils as I read citronella can be cancer causing.  Didn't research it for myself it's just what I was reading as I was going over recipes online.  And there are so many anti bug oils to choose from it really wasn't a big deal.  I chose lemongrass, clove, peppermint, and eucalyptus oil, all around 5$ or so.  A sidenote, I believe clove is also an anti fungal, so if you're like me and struggled with ,what I self diagnosed myself with, candidal sweat rash this summer, you get that added benefit.  So here is the recipe, it makes 4 ounces and I used my old bug spray bottle, but in an ideal world, this would be better in a blue or amber glass spray bottle, because light deteriorates the essentials and essential oils can break down plastic.  So I keep it in the cabinet when we aren't using it.

Recipe:

2 TBS Witchhazel <alcohol free if you prefer.

1 TBS Aloe vera gel, the kind you can drink.

20 drops of Eucalyptus oil

10 drops Clove oil

10 drops Lemongrass oil

10 drops of Peppermint

Water.

I used my pirex cup so I could see the ounces,  I put in all the ingredients except the water, then filled the cup with water up to the 4 oz mark.  Shake before applying. ( I ordered all this from iherb)

Of course you can google all the different kinds of essential oils that repel bugs, these are what I landed on personally.

Tip: works for the 3 year old.  Bentonite clay for itchy bug bites.  (I keep a jar with clay mixed with enough water to make a mask-like consistency) 

How I Beat My Child's Ear Infection Naturally

I meant to get to this post done a couple weeks ago while the whole deal was fresh in my mind but here goes anyway.  My son who is now 7 would get an ear infection about once a year, (none in his first year of life though)  Usually when he would get infections it would be him running 102.9 temp and one cough would make him lose everything in his stomach.  Once he puked 7 times in a morning and also at the dr's.  The ear infection before this last one I'm sure burst his ear drum because it drained for days once we got him on antibiotics and he was up crying in the night from the severe pain even while on ibuprofen (more often than he should have been).  And he has a high pain tolerance, as in, not even two and wouldn't cry for his flu shots.   Yes yes flu shots, this may have been our last year from what I've been reading lately.  Back to the point, a friend told me a while ago about Wally's Ear Oil, it's all natural with anti bacterial essential oils, you could use it even if your ears are just itching.  On his ear drum bursting infection, I got the oil in the mail too late in the game.  Let me back track a moment, LAST winter my son didn't have any ear infections, he seemed to grow out of them!! But then last spring he had another, and another this fall, and ANOTHER a few weeks ago.  Why?  Snot sniffing, constant packing of snot from a cold back in his ears of his own doing.  We have had LOTS of talks with him about this. 

Anyway, another cold, most of us got, but he ends up with an earache. I believe it was Tuesday late afternoon.  So we do some drops... no fever... yet.  The next day, low grade fever maybe 99.5 and ear pain, we keep up on the drops every 3 hours or so.  I also heat up a rice pack for him and make him rest on the couch, one thing I did differently this time around was refuse to let him play the wii, so he wasn't tempted to sniff, and use up energy, and also didn't give him tylenol unless he couldn't find relief with the drops and the heatpack and PBS. :)  I wanted to let the fever burn the infection as much as we could and let the fever make him feel tired enough to lay low. His fever got higher as the day went ( I did give him tylenol once inthe afternoon to sleep, and then he woke me in the night hurting so I gave him some then)  I really thought we were headed for the dr. I kept thinking I need to call the dr, antibiotics are the only way to kick this, but I thought, just wait another day.  Tuesday night and Wednesday night were rougher nights, the tylenol and ricepacks seemed to help him not be completely miserable and sleep  and we kept on the ear drops but I would do every four hours or more if he was sleeping and I did BOTH EARS because I think the infection can shift as it did in his ear draining infection.  We got up with him at 1a.m. on Thursday morning, he was hurting and I took his temp, 101.6.  I thought that's it, calling the dr in the morning.  Well, he gets up Thursday morning and says his ear feels a lot better!  I say, reallly?? let me touch your ear, usually he won't let me NEAR it.  He let me pull on it gentley.  I took his temp, 97.9.  Thank you Lord.  And he continued to improve the fever did not return, not even a little. I did do the drops a couple times a day for day or two, then just did them at night for a couple more days.  I have never had this happen so I was so encouraged to not have to spend the money, and put the antibiotics in his body!

Recap what I learned from this:

1. Wally's Ear drops, use them at the first ache in the ear, or if your child is prone to ear infections use them during the initial cold to prevent infection.  I used 2-3 drops every 3 hours, but don't wake the kid to the do it, I did not make him stay long with it sitting in there, about a minute then let it drain out.  Do BOTH ears.

2.Elevate the head with pillows so the ears can drain.

3.  Use a humidifier to thin mucus.

4. Hydrate with water, and eat healthy, he ate lots of fruit and we avoided crap foods and unnatural sugars.  Eat organic yogurt or something probioticy. ;)

5.  Rice packs ( so easy to make yourself, sew a rectangle, dump a bag of long grain rice in, sew it up, heat in the microwave for a few minutes) use as often as needed.

6. Rest and Sleep, make your child take a break from all tv and see if he falls asleep in his bed.  Sleep is critical to healing.

7.Tyelnol only when pain is too much or it's keeping patient from sleep.  Otherwise, let that fever burn.

8.  Know when to fold, if the pain becomes severe, fever gets high, ear is draining or puking is involved time to call the dr.

9. Do not put anything in a draining ear

10.  Go with your Mommy gut, don't have a hippie spaz freakout if your kid needs antibiotics, we do our best and that's all we can do right?  Right.