Feel Good Friday: Meet Maca

Have you ever heard of maca? I stumbled upon this mighty root the way I stumble on most things these days: social media. A friend had mentioned to another friend (yay, voyeurism!) that they took maca before a workout to help them push harder in the gym. As I was recently getting back into the gym at the time, my ears (eyes?) perked at the mention of this mysterious substance. As I am wont to do, I began scouring the Internet for anything and everything I could find about this “maca” the guy spoke so highly of. What I found turned out to be (for me at least) life-changing.

A Natural, Manly Gift

photo credit

Father's Day is coming up, so I decided to share an excellent gift idea that promotes natural living, is cost-effective, and much appreciated by the men I know who use it! An old-fashioned shaving kit!! Isn't it "old-fashioned" for a reason? Such as, it's not effective, harder to use, irritating to the skin, etc.? Nope!! Quite the contrary!!

Why my husband likes his old-fashioned shave

My husband keeps a short beard, but has to shave the non-beard areas a couple times a week, and his old-fashioned shave gives him the closest shave he's ever had. His skin feels quite smooth afterward, and it's not irritating at all. In fact, the soap is very moisturizing. He fought razor burn when using other razors to shave his neck, but he never has that problem now.

Additionally, as noted on the Art of Manliness, an old-fashioned shave makes you "feel like a bad ass. It’s nice taking part in a ritual that great men like your grandfather, John F. Kennedy, and Teddy Roosevelt took part in."
 
There are several reasons that I, as a wife, also like the old-fashioned shave.

Feel Good Friday: Soak Yourself into Health

I have some critical information to share with you today, folks. Don’t be alarmed, but did you know

roughly 60% of Americans have a magnesium deficiency? Yes, that means that number probably includes YOU. I know what you’re thinking…you eat right, you take your multivitamins, there is no way you are deficient in anything. Well, I hate to break it to you, but you probably are lacking in the magnesium area, and if you’re on the east coast or part of cubicle nation like me, probably also Vitamin D, but that’s for another post. How did you become so deficient in magnesium, despite doing all the right things? Well, I’ll tell ya:

Feel Good Friday: My Favorite Deep Conditioner

photo credit: Atalanta Black Star

Happy Friday! I don’t know about you, but we here on the East Coast are just finally getting a taste of warm weather. After such a brutal winter, the sunshine is a most welcome change. These first few days have done wonders for my spirits and help to banish my winter blues. My mind isn’t the only thing eager to shake off the doldrums of winter; my hair is practically begging for some moisture after the harsh, dry winter months. So, this weekend, I will treat myself to my favorite deep conditioner, which helps to restore moisture, shine and elasticity to my hair. And, of course, I’m sharing it with you! This deep treatment is chock full of natural ingredients that are awesome for your hair and can be found right in your own kitchen.

Feel Good Friday: Stop Seasonal Allergies in Their Tracks!

Happy Friday! Well, for some of us. With the onset of spring, I’ve seen many an allergy victim trudging through life in a zombie-like state lately. Amanda has shared her past history with allergies; I, too, used to battle this demon every spring. However, it’s been years since I’ve had an allergy attack and I’ve (almost) forgotten allergies even exist! I want you to know this joy as well, so without further ado, I present to you my top allergy-busting tips:

(As usual, these are just recommendations based on personal experience, and these claims have not been evaluated by a physician!)

Feel Good Friday: Dry Brushing



Photo credit: christinebullock.com

Have you ever heard of dry brushing? I first came across this technique, also known as garshana, as a recommendation from an Ayurvedic practitioner. At the time, I didn’t adopt it into my already crowded daily routine. To be honest, my mind just wasn’t open to natural, holistic practices at the time. A couple years later, however, I ran across it as a possible treatment for cellulite, and this time, I sat up and took notice. I did a little more research, and by all accounts, dry brushing seemed like a panacea for all my body beauty woes.

DIY Roll-on Sunscreen

We tried some sunscreen by Kiss My Face that's approved by EWG, but we didn't like it ant it was expensive. It did the job well, but it didn't rub in easily or well. So, I started looking for a DIY natural option, and here's my first outcome:

Almond oil -- originally purchased off Amazon; 16 oz for around $10

Dark glass roll-ons -- Amazon; $8

Carrot seed essential oil -- Amazon $14

Other essential oils -- purchased various places for varied prices

Here are some tips about DIY sunscreen and such: 

When using essential oils you should store in dark containers because light "kills" essential oil. 

Carrot seed oil, from my research, naturally has around 35-40 SPF, which is the highest.

Almond oil, coconut oil, shea butter, and cocoa butter all have around 2-5 SPF, so they're great additions to a DIY sunscreen since they also moisturize your skin. I'm going to do a post on making sunscreen with some of those items too.

Citrus oils do not belong in sunscreen; they encourage the sun's rays instead of repelling them!

Sunscreen needs beeswax to be semi-waterproof, so this mixture isn't waterproof. Stay tuned for a post on waterproof DIY sunscreen.

I put in about 12 drops of carrot seed first, the same amount of one of the other oils, and then filled each container with almond oil. I snapped on the tracking ball and lid, and then swished the mixture around. Carrot seed oil carries a strong earthy scent, so you definitely want to tone it down if you use it. Even with 12 drops of another oil in each batch, you can't really smell the other oil, but it does tone it down some. In fact, you may just want to wait to apply this until you're outside. It should work immediately, unlike purchased sunscreen. 

Natural Bug Bite Relief and Healing

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e4/Lemon.jpg

Last week I hung out with my cousin outside a coffee shop because it was too noisy inside, it got dark, and we got bit by mosquitos. I had probably ten bites total. Within a few hours of noticing the annoying itch, I was flipping through Facebook and saw natural relief for mosquito bites posted by Mama Natural. One of the suggestions was to rub lemon right on the bite, so I did.

After 1 day of lemon rubbing: It relievef the itchiness, not completely though. The lemon also seemed to be healing the bites well. The redness spread out from the bite, but the skin was less puffy.

After 2 days: The skin just had red sections where the bites were instead of any raised sections. Some of the bites scabbed and fell off. The bites were much less itchy.

After 3 days: On the third day after getting bit, I only needed to relieve itchiness once, right when I woke up. The bites continued to heal, becoming smaller red spots that were no longer itchy.

For other suggestions, see 9 DIY Home Remedies for Relieving Itchy Mosquito Bites

Review: Alaffia Shampoo, Conditioner, and Body Wash

I purchased the Everyday Shea Alaffia super-size bottles of shampoo, conditioner, and body wash a few months ago now. I really love the lavender scent, but I'm partial to lavender. I find it incredibly soothing and relaxing. Anyways, we got the vanilla mint fragrance in the body wash because my husband doesn't like lavender as much, and that smells like winter fresh gum!

The shampoo and body wash lather well, but they don't over-lather. They're very cleansing. My hair isn't frizzy from this shampoo, which is an improvement. Overall my hair is smooth and has nice body since switching.

We tried mixing some Dr. Bronner's soap with water for our body wash, but it wasn't doing the job, so we got this instead. The fragrance is fabulous and it works a lot better. I just got a set of Bass exfoliation gloves for washing with, too, and I love it!! My skin is noticeably smoother! I'm not brushing off dry skin with my towel when I get out of the shower because the gloves are getting all of it off in the shower instead. I recommend the exfoliation gloves to everyone! I got my pair at Sprouts for about $5.50.

All-Natural, Moisturizing Almond Oil

For years I've struggled to find a lotion that actually helps my reptile-like, dry hands. Actually, I never found anything that kept my hands moist for a significant period of time or healed them thoroughly. Winter was so brutal, and summer could be bad too if it was dry enough. I would put this super-cream on my hands at night before bed at those times of the year because that would ease the itchy dryness. However, like all of my other lotions, it had toxic chemicals in it, so I got rid of it a few months ago and looked for an alternative solution. I found that pure almond oil is a great alternative, so I bought NOW Foods brand off Amazon:

I got a 16-ounce bottle for just under $10, and I only need three to four drops for my hands, so it will last a long time! It's not fragrant, so you can mix in an essential oil if you want. I did that for a massage oil. You can also get bottles in four, eight, or 48-ounce sizes off Amazon.

How do my hands feel now? They're never itchy or cracked, and as long as I apply the oil daily, it smoothes on the surface level too. Even if I don't apply it daily, my hands never feel uncomfortable.

There are other oils you can use as a moisturizer, such as jojoba oil or coconut oil (alone or mixed with almond oil), but almond oil was very inexpensive compared to jojoba and it works!! I use coconut oil for my deodorant mixture, and it would take a lot more work to massage into my skin, so I'm sticking with pure almond for now.

Make your Own Deodorant--EASY

Antiperspirant makes me itch, but I've never found another deodorant without it that worked well, until I used a men's deodorant. However, that had toxic chemicals in it, I later found out. Boo! So, I mustered up the courage to make my own. It's SUPER EASY! Easier than making a dessert! Check it out!! Plus, a batch like mine costs you less than a dollar!

I made my husband try this, and he LOVES it too! He says it works better than any other deodorant he's ever used, and he didn't use antiperspirant either. He sweats easily and walks around constantly as a teacher, and he's pleased with the results of this deodorant.

Here's what you need:

• 1/4 cup of baking soda 
• 1/4 cup corn starch (not corn flour or any other corn product) 
• 1/4 cup coconut oil  
• A small pot
• A spoon

Here's what you do:

1. Put each ingredient in the small pot.

2. Turn the heat on low and start stirring. It starts to melt, but it quite clumpy at first.

3. Stir until it's super smooth. Add a couple drops of an essential oil at this time, if you want. I added the Serenity mixture by Doterra.

4. Let the mixture cool down a bit, and then transfer to a container that's easy to get your fingers into.
Don't let the mixture cool too much, otherwise it won't pour into a container, but you don't want the heat from it to release chemicals from the container into it.


I've been using this for a couple weeks now, and the consistency seems to have dried up a little. It was going on clear at first, but now is a little powdery and white. I'm going to try adding a little more coconut oil to see if that helps.

Has anyone tried this? Do you have any other deodorant recipes you like or want to try? Do you make any other personal care products for yourself?

Personal Care Items from Sprouts

I have been dying to share my Sprouts finds with you, my readers for at least a week now, but life has been too busy! We went to a parenting conference last Friday night and Saturday morning, and then church on Sunday. Baby came down with a cold yesterday. Lots of laundry. Blah blah blah. Anyways...

Kiss My Face Sunscreen: This particular sunscreen by Kiss My Face ranked a one or zero on EWG's scale, with zero being the best. This means there are few to no potentially harmful chemicals in it! Or the chemicals that are in it aren't dangerous, but then they're not really "chemicals." Sprouts had this on sale last week for 25% off. With summer approaching, I'm sure this brand and/or Badger products will continue to go on sale. I haven't had a chance to try this as the weather has been gloomy here, and I don't spend much time in the sun since I work from home. I need to work on that.

This shower caddy used to be completely FULL, but since we're eliminating potentially toxic products, this is all we're using in the shower.

Everyday Shea Shampoo and Conditioner: These are Costco-size bottles that were on sale for $10! They come in two scents--vanilla mint and lavender. I got lavender because I love it, but apparently my husband doesn't, so I'll be opting for vanilla mint next time. I really like this shampoo. I have slightly dry hair that's on the thicker side, and it works great.

Dr. Bronner's Shave Gel: This works best if you squirt it right onto your skin because it's rather liquidy. I like the feeling my skin has after I use this, and the scent isn't strong at all, though I did get lavender. I also found I have to use more than I would if it were a cream.

Dr. Bronner's Pure Castile Soap (liquid and bar): I am in LOVE with this soap, by the way. I got almond, peppermint, and unscented in liquid form, and a peppermint bar. These bottle sizes were on sale, 25% off, only $12.74! I use diluted peppermint and almond soaps for--

• Foaming hand soap containers
• Body soap
• Dish soap
• Mopping

I use the unscented soap for my baby and our laundry. For laundry, the soap doesn't need to be diluted and I use the same amount that I did with my other soap. I'm planning to take the bar of soap on the road to use for washing my hands and body while away from home. I wanted to try out the bar of soap to see how it might be different, too.

Nature's Gate Natural Toothpaste: These anise and peppermint toothpastes received good ratings from EWG and were on sale. I really like it! I tried a drop of Dr. Bronner's peppermint soap on my toothbrush because that's one of the many things people use it for, but it tastes too soapy.

Tom's Mouthwash: I don't know what this is rated on EWG, but I didn't want my husband to continue using the high alcohol content Scope anymore. I figured this has to be better!

Chocolate Granola: Okay, this isn't exactly a personal care item, but I had to share it. It's regular granola and chocolate-flavored granola, plus there are little chunks of chocolate. Super tasty! Way to make a snack healthy and junky! Haha.

I hope this is helpful! Do you have a Sprouts near you? Have you tried any of these? What do you use for soap and such?

Toxic Chemicals in EVERYthing!!

AHHHHH!!!! My cabinets have been full of products with scary stuff in them. I was watching Candid Mommy on YouTube the other day, and she mentioned this website called EWG where she found out about the safest sunscreens to use. So I traversed over to this site last night, and could hardly fall asleep after looking up a couple products I use because I could only think about replacing them. Environmental Working Group (EWG) has gathered test results and ranked a bazillion skin care products and household cleaners, but this is just two of the pieces on their website that I have explored today! They also have stuff about food--eek! What will I find there??

After reading over the skin and household cleaner parts of the website, I did some cabinet binging.

Here's a closer look at a couple of the bags

 All of these bags are full of products I'm throwing away that have toxic chemicals in them (except the soy milk box). And it's made a ton of room in my cabinets, which I won't be replacing with much! What am I doing about it?

Household Cleaning
 
Nearly all of my soap-based products are being replaced by Dr. Bronner's soaps, including Sal Suds as a tougher cleaner. Dr. Bronner's soaps are replacing my body wash, hand soaps, floor and surface cleaners, laundry detergent, toothpaste, dish washing soap, and probably some other things. You can get Dr. Bronner's 18-in-1 liquid and bar soaps at Target. You can also get huge amounts off Amazon or the company's website. This will be much cheaper than purchasing all those other products, especially since I'll be diluting it for my body wash.

For the dishwasher, I'll be using Seventh Generation Automatic Dishwashing Powder (available at Target, I believe) and pure citric acid to fight the hard water here in So Cal.


For dusting, I'm just going to use microfiber towels. They're supposed to wipe up dust well; it's what's recommended for dusting electronics and cars, so it should work in my house. I'll also use them for mopping up messes and other surface cleaning.

Personal Care

As mentioned above, I'll be using Dr. Bronner's soap for many personal and household cleaning items. Dr. Bronner's even makes a mild baby soap! And it's available at Target!!  

Moisturizing: I'm also purchasing Dr. Bronners lip balm, shaving gel, and unscented body balm off Amazon. Additionally, I'm getting 100% almond moisturizing oil for my everyday moisturizer, and it only costs $11.99 for a 16oz bottle! That's only 75 cents per ounce! Lotions from Bath and Body Works in 8-12oz amounts cost at least that much and more! I'm also planning on making a mixture of coconut and almond oil for an extra-awesome combination; it was recommended by an Amazon reviewer.

For deodorant, I'm planning on mixing together pure coconut oil, corn starch, and baking soda. Cotton Bottom Mama's blog explains how to do it, and I'll be trying it out as soon as I can make it to the store!

For sunscreen, I'm going to peruse Sprouts tomorrow to see if they have the Kiss My Face Natural Mineral Sunscreen because that brand is on sale this week. I will also be checking for Badger sunscreen products. If they don't have these, you can be sure I'll be purchasing something from Loving Naturals off Amazon, as Candid Mommy recommends.

Unfortunately, all this change means I'm throwing a way A TON (well at least several pounds worth) of products, but I like feeling confident in my choices, and in the end I will waste less and spend le$$.

By the way, in case you think your products are safe because they say "natural," or they're made by Burt's Bees or Yes to __ brands, think again. Some things made by these companies are safe, but not all of them. To make it easier on myself, that's why I'm using mostly Dr. Bronner's brand.

You can be sure there will be MUCH, MUCH more to come on this endeavor. Do you make any of your own personal or household products? What do you use? How have you liked them? If not, what do you think about this?