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.

Garden Update Week #4

My plants have been growing so well!! Here's my lettuce:

The original lettuce is growing tall, and the one in the pot is growing fabulously. I don't think the others are getting enough sun. Here's my zucchini:

It's had four blooms on it, so I'm very excited for the fruit it will give us! Here's the squash:

A couple weekends ago I replanted the squash and zucchini into five-gallon metal paint buckets, and since then the squash has taken off! It looks like it will flower soon. I love the metal paint buckets because they look cute and they were under $3 each! My husband just punched three holes in the bottom of each one with a hammer and a screwdriver. Why buckets? We're moving soon, and I really wanted to take my plants with me. When I re-planted, I added a little 10-10-10 fertilizer, as suggested by Omar, and fertilized the rest of the plants in the yard also.

When I re-planted a couple weekends ago, I also planted green bell pepper seeds. I have kept it in the house though in a bay window in the dining room. Finally, this week I noticed a tiny green sprout!

I also grow green onions in clear jars in the bay window. All you have to do is change the water each day. I had no luck growing them from seeds in the yard.

A couple weekends ago, I also bought a large sweet basil plant and re-planted it in a metal bucket too. I have yet to take the time to use it in any of my cooking, but I have plans to make my own pesto in the future. In fact, I recently pinned a recipe for pesto to my Pinterest recipes. Check it out!

Lastly, here are a couple roses that bloomed recently. They're so beautiful, I had to share!

Garden Update: Week 2

My lettuce sprouts have been growing magnificently!

This week I harvested about six more leaves from the lettuce that's already been growing awhile. It seems to be growing more and more healthy.

My zucchini is looking fabulous! It has grown a lot this past week.

However, the squash isn't growing as well. I was told that maybe the roots are getting wrapped around each other, and I may have to pull it out and take care of that.

What are you growing? What do you suggest I grow that's easy and doesn't need full sun all day?

First Garden Update!

So sorry it's been awhile since I posted! Craziness! I do work part-time, care for my child full-time, and help with all the household chores, so blogging becomes a last priority quite often. This past Saturday, I planted a new batch of Romaine lettuce seeds, and to my astonishment, I already noticed green seedlings popping up!! I'm so excited!! Here's a look at my garden:

Can you see the little green sprouts?! I planted some in a pot and others in the ground, for comparison.

Thank you, Suzy for starting this squash plant for me!!

And again, I thank Suzy for starting this plant for me!!

The following two photos are of my first lettuce seeds planted. I planted them in mid-February and have already harvested from the plant a couple times. I was having serious problems with rolly-pollies eating my lettuce, but I found a solution! I was in Lowe's looking at bug killers, and one of them said "contains Lemongrass: a natural insecticide." So I thought, "What if I just use Lemongrass essential oil mixed in water as my bug killer?" So, that's what I've done, and it works! I barely ever have bite marks out of my lettuce now!!

 

I also have rosemary, but I just cut it back a ton because it got scorched by the recent heat wave. There's still green on it, so I'm hopeful it will grow back nicely again as long as it's watered well. Additionally, I'm growing green onions, but not on the patio. More on that in another post though.

What's in your garden? Or do you have aspirations to grow a garden? 

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?

Review: Crunchy Clean Diaper Detergent

I've been using cloth diapers for nine months now and have used Crunchy Clean's cloth diaper detergent the whole time. I bought three bags at $13 each, and only opened the third bag a couple weeks ago. I figured it would take about a year for me to go through three bags, so my friend and I each got three bags to take advantage of the free shipping offer for orders over $75.

I chose the hard water unscented version in particular because I have hard water, and I wanted to be careful with possible skin sensitivities regarding the scent.

I use one tablespoon per wash, which is for about two dozen inserts and a few covers. I haven't had to strip my diapers ever! Thus, this stuff seems to work great!

Here's the back label too:

Crunchy Clean also makes detergents for regular laundry as well as other household cleaners, including pure oxygen stain remover. They're a family-owned business that's been making cleaners for five years now. I will definitely continue ordering diaper detergent from them and may check out their other cleaning products when I place my next order in a few months. If you "like" them on Facebook, you'll receive periodic discount codes and sale notices in your news feed, but they won't inundate your news feed.