Eyeliner

Still no progress on finding a shiny, non-toxic ingredient for my eyeshadow...I'm about to give up and give in to the matte look.

I did make some eyeliner the other day and I'm pretty happy with it. You only need a two ingredients: activated charcoal and an oil (I used jojoba), but we'll get to that.

I looked up my old eyeliner and it got at 5 out of 10 on EWG's toxicity scale. Many of the ingredients are in the 0-2 rage and considered fairly benign. However, there are a couple ingredients that are way up there, the first of which being parabens. Typically "paraben" is the ending to an ingredient, such as PROPYLPARABEN or BUTYLPARABEN.

What are parabens and why should I care!? They are the preservative in your cosmetics, they prevent bacterial growth and increase the shelf life of products. They are found in a variety of products including lotions, deodorant, shampoo, toothpaste, bandages, and makeup. Additionally, they can be found in foods like jellies, salad dressings, mustard, mayo, processed veggies, soft drinks, and frozen dairy products.

As mentioned previously, the danger with cosmetics is that they are unregulated (unlike food), and they bypass the liver and go straight into your blood stream (also unlike food). Parabens are cause for concern because they're xenoestrogens, meaning they fit into specially shaped estrogen receptors located in your cells. Once a paraben molecule has fit into the estrogen receptor, other glands and neurotransmitters begin passing messages and making adjustments based on the presence of that 'estrogen.' And as you may be aware, high levels of estrogen have been linked to breast cancer. Another study indicated that not only do parabens increase the growth of existing cancer, they also can cause healthy cells to become cancerous. Seeing as breast cancer runs in the family, I will be tossing all my paraben-filled products.

On to the non toxic side of things.

I hit up my usual spots for finding makeup recipes, (pinterest and google) and really only found one recipe, which is a first. Pretty much every natural cosmetic enthusiast out there suggests using activated charcoal and some sort of oil, usually coconut. I thought I would try adding some beeswax to mine to see if I could give it some extra staying power but what I ended up with was black lip gloss. I may try again with different ratios but for now what I have going works pretty well.

Most recipes suggest using activated charcoal capsules, I happen to have a giant tub of it at my house because my family likes to mix it in with water etc. to use as a digestive aid. You should be able to pick up charcoal capsules at any store where they sell vitamin supplements.

What you'll need:

• about 1 teaspoon of activated charcoal, or 2-4 capsules (just a guess, I did not measure a thing)
• several drops of oil ( jojoba, coconut, olive, whatever you have lying around)
• a small container (I used a pill case I found at Walgreens)
• an angle tip brush (for application)

Begin by placing your charcoal either in a bowl or directly into your container. Add your oil a few drops at a time until it makes a smooth paste. If you use coconut oil, be sure to melt it first. Once it's all mixed it you can use it, that's it! 

It goes on pretty easily. I noticed that the first day it was a bit grainy, and didn't go on completely evenly. After a day it seemed to be much smoother and hasn't been a problem since. Because this is just oil and charcoal it is most definitely not smudge proof, so you should be careful not to rub your eyes. Over all I'd give it a B+ for it's ability, and A+ for being non toxic. 

Eye shadow: diamonds are not a girls best friend

Hello All,

I have not forgotten about my blog, but I have been procrastinating. I did promise another post about my red lip balm. I'm not going to lie, I am not planning on doing that post. I was disappointed with my lip balm making and don't feel writing about it. It's pretty hard finding a natural, oil based coloring agent. If anyone has any suggestions, I'd be happy to hear them.

On to this month! I'm working on eye shadow, eye liner, and mascara for the month of May.

If you're like me, you gotta have a little shimmer in your eye shadow. I came across diamond powder which I thought would be perfect. I could add it to cocoa powder, turmeric, etc. and get the color and shimmer I'm looking for. I found some online for a very reasonable price and anxiously awaited it's delivery. When it arrived I was very disappointed to find a grey, matte, powder instead of a shiny, white, powder. I'm not sure if what I ordered is synthetic, or if I ordered too fine a powder for the effect I wanted, or if diamond powder just doesn't work that way. Anyway, I am back on the hunt for something natural, non toxic, and shimmery.

Mica is a common ingredient in mineral makeup, and regular commercial eye shadow that gives a beautiful sparkle. Unfortunately it is rather toxic. It often contains traces of lead, and can cause scarring in the lungs if inhaled. It is one of those ingredients that should be avoided if possible.

I stumbles across another ingredient that might do the trick, Boron Nitride. It is a common ingredient in face powders because it assists in adhesion, has a silky feel, and provides some shimmer. I'm' getting mixed reviews on whether or not it's safe so I'm not sure I will be purchasing this stuff. Also, it's pretty darn expensive. I found a site that sells it rather cheaply, but you have to buy a minimum of one kilo, and it comes from China, so it will take a while to get it.

Pearl powder just occurred to me, but I'm not sure it will be shimmery. I cannot tell from the pictures online and I don't want to end up with another diamond dust situation.

Any suggestions out there? I guess for now, the search goes on...

My first attempt at lip balm

Sorry for the delay in posts this month, but this lip balm project has been rather complicated. I spent the first week or so (and the last week of March) of the month searching high and low for small glass containers that weren't going to cost me an arm and a leg. I never did find what I wanted so I decided to use the plastic containers I had bought a couple years ago in a lip balm kit I got at the craft store, that I never got around to making.

I looked though a multitude of recipes but could never find one that seemed just right. Most of them contained too many ingredients, and as I've stated before, I'm lazy. Eventually I settled on a 3 ingredient recipe. But before I get into my experiments, let's talk about why the commercial stuff isn't so good for the delicate skin on your lips.

Many chap sticks and lip balms contain petroleum products. This is not only a potential carcinogen, but may also damage your skin on a deep level and can be toxic to your organs. Lanolin is another ingredient that is common in lip balm and lotions. This can disrupt your immune system function and make it more difficult for your body to fight off infection. Artificial colors and fragrances are in there, and as you know, tend to be one of the more toxic ingredients.

Ironically, when I checked out my day to day lip product, baby lips by Maybelline, many of the ingredients are know irritants to the skin. I have heard that companies do this sort of thing to ensure you will keep using their product. I don't know if that is true, but it wouldn't surprise me. Overall, my product got a 6 out of 10 on the toxic scale. And considering how much lip balm I use, and how many different lip products I have (seriously, I have some sort of problem), I really want the product I use to be good for me.

So on to the chapstick making!
I have been really into the orange colored lip balm as of late, so that was the first color I attempted. I decided to try and reduce carrot juice to a syrup and color the mix. I wasn't sure if the carrot juice would stay orange once heated, but it did. It got a little darker and took on a bit of a red tint as well, but still looked orange.

The recipe I used had just three ingredients, coconut oil, bees wax, and sweet almond oil. The original recipe called for a 1:1 ratio for wax to oil, but I found that was too much and had to add a bit more coconut oil so it would spread. I followed the directions, which were to melt all three ingredients together and then add whatever coloring agent you want, but that wasn't the best idea. You can see in the picture that my reduction stayed all clumped together because the wax cooled instantly around it and completely incased it. I stirred it around and it worked somewhat. The color was very light and the mix was grainy. I used a coffee filter to strain out the clumps and it still had some color to it. Even so, it turns out carrots don't offer too much in the way oil soluble color. I then tried adding beet root powder to see if it did anything more, but had the same clumping issue. In the end it had a pale yellow color to it.

The balm itself is wonderful though. The almond and coconut mix well and it is very healing. Both oils are moisturizing and offer many benefits to the skin (detailed in earlier posts). The bees wax has the benefit of coating the lips and sealing in the moisture. Even though my chapstick doesn't offer much in the way of color, I'm still quite happy with the results.
You can see that it did get some yellow/orange color to it, but it doesn't add much on the lips.

If you want to try and make your own version of this recipe, here's what you'll need:

Ingredients
3 T coconut oil
1 T sweet almond oil
2 T bees wax
about 10 lip balm containers, tubes or pots
color (optional)

 Tools:
measuring spoon
glass cup measure with a spout

Mix oils in glass measuring cup, microwave for 30 seconds at a time until melted. Stir in coloring agent until mixed. Add bees wax and microwave for 30 seconds at a time until melted. Pour into containers and let cool.

It's as easy as that! I have made 2 more batches since this one that I will be posting on soon. The next color I tried to make was red and I used a slightly different recipe. Stay tuned :)

beet root powder win!

I'll be brief since I just wrote a post that contained information about beet root powder. I have been using this stuff instead of blush and I absolutely love it. It provides a nice, natural looking pink glow to my cheeks. I bought a 4 oz bag for $3 of amazon, definitely worth it! It goes on just like blush, and contains iron and other vitamins and minerals that help nourish the skin. It smells a little funny, but it's not noticeable on the face.
It looks quite dark compared to the rosy pink colored blush I normally use, but it goes on a light pink color. If it is too dark for your skin you can always mix it with a bit of corn starch until the desired shade is reached. It can also be used as food coloring, and is a much better choice because many food colors are petroleum products and have been linked to a slew of health problems (they are even banned in Europe). I intend to use it to color lip balm when I get to that part of my project, I forget which month that falls under. I highly recommend you get some!

foundation take two

Foundation is one of the most basic components of everyone's makeup regime, hence the name I'm sure. Being one of the products that covers the most surface are of skin I want to make sure I'm not absorbing anything super bad for me. One of the things that originally got me interested in this project was reading a post about "natural" beauty products that can actually contain some toxic stuff. Mineral makeup was on that list, claiming that it can contain lead and other heavy metals. A reminder that "natural" does not mean "non-toxic." Henna hair dye is another product that people mistake as less toxic than other brands and it turns out it is the opposite. Henna hair dye also contains toxic minerals and you might be better off using the chemical-laden commercial brands, but I digress.

I don't wear much makeup. My only everyday product is blush, it just makes your whole face look good with hardly any product. Next most used product is my day to day loose powder. I'm reasonably young and have decent skin so I don't find cream foundations necessary. I bought a jar of physician's formula organic wear powder a while back because it was at my local ross. I've been pretty happy with it. Decent coverage, light feel, it met my need pretty well. Skindeep gives it a 4 on the hazardous scale. It has a low to moderate overall risk, and a moderate cancer risk. Oddly enough, the most toxic product in there is grapefruit extract because of its "multiple, additive exposures." Other toxic ingredients include titanium dioxide and mica. Now that I've made my own powder I threw my old stuff in the trash.

For my recipe you will only need 4-6 ingredients, depending on your skin needs.

The base for this foundation is bentonite clay. Bentonite clay is aged volcanic ash, the name comes from the largest known deposit is in Fort Benton, Wyoming. The brand I bought is Aztec healing clay. I picked up a large jar of it at my local health food store for around $7. Bentonite has a lot of benefits for your body inside and out. For the skin, bentonite can help heal and prevent acne. It reduces irritation from cuts, burns, and bug bites, and can be quite calming for itchiness due to eczema, psoriasis, and chicken pox. It can be mixed with water to make a detoxifying mask, or used in place of baby powder to dry and sooth irritated skin. I did claim this foundation is food-grade, so yes, bentonite clay may be taken internally. It contains many trace minerals that are important for your teeth, and is great at alkalizing the body. It can help relieve acid reflux, nausea and vomiting, constipation, among other things. Bentonite is unique in that it has a strong negative charge, so it acts as a magnet of sorts for the positively charged toxins. Bentonite also helps get oxygen to cells as it pulls excess hydrogen and allows the cells to replace it with oxygen instead. Over all, pretty great stuff. For the full scoop, you can read more here: https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=4702462561673774586#editor/target=post;postID=4437586705578043095

http://blogs.naturalnews.com/bentonite-clay-an-excellent-internal-and-external-detox-agent/

The next ingredient you will need is cocoa powder. This is to help tint it to the right color for your skin, so the darker your skin the more you will need to add. Cocoa has some good skin benefits too. It is full of antioxidant so when eaten or put on the skin it can help reverse cell damage. This may lead to anti aging properties. It can absorb UV light, protecting your skin from from sun damage. It can also help hydrate the skin, and contrary to popular belief, improves complexion by increasing blood flow to the skin. Chocolate is amazing. <3

Turmeric is another ingredient used for coloring. The yellow pigment will help you achieve a natural skin tone. This is another ingredient that has great benefits for you inside and out. Turmeric has antiseptic properties and has been used in traditional medicine to heal wounds. On the skin it can help heal acne and blemishes and prevent them from reoccurring. If you have oil prone skin, turmeric can help regulate the production of sebum (the skin's natural oil). It can reduce the appearance of wrinkles and fine lines, and other signs of aging. It's an effective treatment for hair loss and dandruff. On the inside it can help kill harmful bacteria, like h. pylori. It has been linked to breast cancer prevention. It can help control diabetes by moderating insulin levels, and prevent cardio vascular disease. Again, another amazing food that we should all be eating and rubbing all over our skin. For more on the amazing benefits check these links out:
http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=78

http://www.stylecraze.com/articles/turmeric-history-how-to-use-benefits/
[note: turmeric can be replaced with ginger for color, not sure what the skin benefits are though. You obviously have a computer, look it up.]

The final ingredient you need is beet root powder. You can make it yourself with dried beets and a food processor, or you can do it the lazy way like me and order it off amazon. I picked up a 4-oz back from denver spice for $3, $6 after shipping and handling.(http://www.amazon.com/Beet-Root-Powder-4oz-Natural-Coloring/dp/B009UGG388/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1395463489&sr=8-6&keywords=beet+root+powder) This stuff is a must to get the natural pink tones in your foundation. Beet powder or juice can also be used as an all natural food dye. On the skin or in the body, beets give you iron, B vitamins, and vitamin C. Beets are really good for you. They help prevent the cancer mutation in cells, slow tumor growth, and contain Boron which is essential to the production of human sex hormones. I'm starting to feel lazy so you can read the full scoop on how amazing beets are here: http://www.naturesgardencandles.com/blog/category/beet-root-powder/

Optional ingredients for this recipe include corn starch and green clay. Corn starch can be used if you have extra oily skin and need a little or absorbency, or if you made your mix too dark and need to lighten it up a bit. Green clay can be added if you have a lot of blemishes or redness that needs neutralizing (green is the opposite of red).

What you'll need:

Bentonite clay
Cocoa powder
Turmeric (or ginger)
Beet root powder
Cornstarch (optional)
Green clay (optional)
essential oil (optional if you want to make it compact)
a non-metal bowl
a non-metal storage container
a fine mesh sieve
a plastic spoon or rubber spatula

I don't have exact proportions for this recipe. Everyone's skin is different so you'll have to just add everything in small increments until it looks good. Start with a couple heaping spoonfuls of your clay. Push it through the sieve to remove any large chunks or particles. Next add cocoa powder until it is about as dark as your skin (might be hard to judge when the tone doesn't match so don't over do it, you can add more if you need it). Add the turmeric and beet powder until it matches your skin tone. Test if frequently on your hand or arm to ensure a good match. If you are adding corn starch or green clay, replace some of the bentonite clay until desired effect is reached. Voila, you have a non-toxic, food-grade foundation. If you want to make a compact you can add essential oil until the desired texture is reached and press it into a container. Otherwise. pour it in your non-metal container and use like any other face powder.

Results: I think I got my powder to match my skin pretty well. I experimented with turning it into a liquid foundation by mixing it with coconut oil. It didn't work so well. I also tried mixing it with jojoba oil, also not so great. On it's own it made my skin look a bit ashy or powdery and had moderate coverage. The best results I got were by putting a layer of my coconut oil/zinc moisturizer and putting the powder on top. The whiteness of it gave me a good base and neutralized some of my red blemishes. The powder stuck to my skin better and didn't leave a powdery finish. For concealer I just melted some coconut oil between my fingers and dipped it in the powder and applied under my eyes and over my blemishes. I think it worked pretty well. Not as great of coverage as from my commercial products but decent coverage and non toxic, I'll take it.

Foundation in progress

I've been slacking off this month. It's been getting down to finals and I've been busy. I tried making some foundation with not a lot of success. I bought bentonite clay (Aztec Healing Clay) to try and make a nontoxic mineral powder. I mixed it with cornstarch, for oil absorbency, and cocoa powder and ginger for color. I wasn't thrilled with the results. I looked quite gray and very powdery on my face, and offered very little coverage. I found a good tutorial online that uses a combination of bentonite clay, cocoa powder, turmeric, and beetroot powder that has a much more skin-looking color to it. I ordered some beet powder online and will post the results with the new combo. In the mean time I looked up some all natural makeups for sale.

So far the best stuff I can find is by Rejuva Minerals. It's an all natural makeup containing ingredients I can actually pronounce and am familiar with, like rice powder and pomegranate. The catch is that it is quite expensive. A 3 gm "trial size" jar will run you $10.95, the regular 18 gm container is $39.95, and you can't test it out on your skin ahead of time to make sure the color matches, nor can you return or exchange your product. If your skin to is darker and fairly forgiving it probably won't be as much of a problem. For those with fairer skin it's a gamble. It really does seem like great stuff and if I had lots of money and were accustomed to spending $40 on a foundation it would be totally worth it. However, I am a poor grad student who has a hard time paying $12 for foundation so I'm going to keep plugging away at making my own powder.

The added bonus of buying beetroot powder is that it can also be used for a natural blush and to add color to lip balms, when I get to it.

For those of you who are interested you can check out the Rejuva Minerals products here: http://www.rejuvaminerals.com/store/

Home made essential oil fail

I promised that I had an essential oil experiment in the works, and I did. That all came to a crash today. Let me start from the beginning.

I found a link on Pinterest on how to make your own lavender essential oil. It appeared to be very simple. You take some lavender flowers, crush them up a bit, and then let them soak in vodka for a week or so. Then you remove the flowers and allow the vodka to evaporate and what you are left with is essential oil. Since I already have a vile of lavender oil I decided to try my hand at eucalyptus oil since I've been wanting some and there is a eucalyptus tree around the corner from my house. I did a little good research and found the method was the same. So I went out and gathered a decent amount of new leaves (they seemed to be way oilier) and set out to give it a try.

I cut up the leave in to small is pieces and let them soak in the cheapest vodka I could find, >6 bucks for a fifth. I let them soak for about 9 days, mostly because I forgot what day I started. I removed the leaves and left the jar open to the air to allow the vodka to evaporate. After about 3 days of very little evaporation I got impatient and had an idea. I decided it was a good idea to heat the eucalyptus vodka over the stove to speed up the evaporation process. This worked somewhat.

I kept the solution over the lowest heat setting; there were no bubbles what so ever. It worked very well for a while. The vodka slowly evaporated and the mixture was reducing. Unfortunately, the eucalyptus seemed to react to the heat and the jar of liquid that was a dark amber color turned a darker and darker brown. After about an hour there was about a teaspoon left of black looking liquid that I poured back in it's original mason jar. It smelled pretty good, not like what I was expecting though. I was going to take a picture to post, and try adding it to a bath or something, since I went through all the trouble, but while I was out somebody mistook the jar as dirty and threw it in the sink and filled it with water. Well....so much for that. I'm tempted to try it again but buying eucalyptus oil seems much easier and not to mention quicker.

If any of you are interested in trying your own experiment with making and essential oil, here's the link to the original post I saw about lavender oil http://www.condoblues.com/2011/07/how-to-make-lavender-essential-oil.html

Also I found a great website that has tons of uses for various essential oils, which I think is pretty awesome. http://thecoconutmama.com/2013/10/50-uses-for-essential-oils/

Essential oils are the perfect alternative to the ever vague and extremely toxic "fragrance," or "parfum" ingredients found in cosmetics. If you start looking up the toxicology of your regular products you'll find that one of the most toxic ingredients in most things is "fragrance."

I also found another great site that has a list of chemicals you'll find in different cosmetics and why they are bad. http://www.purezing.com/living/toxins/living_toxins_dangerousingredients.html. It's pretty shocking the kinds of things that we put on our bodies, and in turn release back into the environment.

No Shampoo Update

I guess I haven't been very faithful about writing this month. My apologies to both my readers. But I have had a break through with the no shampoo method. Finally after two weeks my hair finally looked clean! It had shine, body, and volume, instead of the usually flat, greasy mess.

It was pointed out to me that my tablespoon measure that I had been using was actually a teaspoon measure. So I had been washing my hair with 1/3 baking soda I should have. I upped the amount of baking soda and it helped my hair quite a bit. I read that if your hair is really oily you can use up to 2 tablespoons.

My hair smells good for the most part. I still gait faint hints of vinegar when I'm exercising, and on the ends of my hair from time to time. To keep my hair smelling nice, which is important to me, I decided to dilute some lavender oil in water and keep it in a small spray bottle. I spray down my hair in the morning, or after I wash may hair. I use a 2 ounce glass bottle from the vitamin store and I added 5 drops of oil, but it could stand to have a few more drops in my opinion.

Overall, I'm feeling happier and less frustrated with the no shampoo method.

Despite my infrequent blogging I have been keeping busy with my beauty experiments. Posts to come: better dry shampoo recipe, natural hair spray, and how to make an essential oil. Stay tuned!

Dry Shampoo

Well here we are, 10 days into February and about 2 weeks since shampoo has touched my hair. I knew getting into this that I was not going to see a good hair day for a while. The first week or so, my oil and unmanageable hair was a novelty. "Oh, my hair is so flat and greasy, hehehe! At least I'm not covered in chemicals! Maybe I'll do this more than a month." Yeah, that crazy idea didn't last. My hair is frizzy and greasy at the same time, heavy and dull, and I'm getting fed up with it.

After I washed my hair yesterday, it seemed to have more volume, and I thought, "Hey! Maybe it's starting to work like everyone promised me it would!" Wrong. My hair looked worse than ever after I blow dried it. It had that stuck-together-by-grease look to it, but didn't feel especially greasy. It was at this point I decided to reach for the dry shampoo. For those of you who are unfamiliar, dry shampoo is a powder or spray you put into your hair at the root to absorb extra oil between washes.

For a while I used the Suave brand of dry shampoo spray, but I've been out for a while, and with my new non-toxic endeavor, I decided to make some. After poking around the internet, I found one basic recipe for brown hair. The basic recipe is corn starch and cocoa powder. Other recipes included rice flour and arrowroot powder in addition to the first two ingredients. I opted for just cocoa powder and corn starch, as they were the only ingredients I had readily available.

Ingredients:

• ½ cup cocoa powder
• 2 Tbsp corn starch
• A few drops lavender essential oil (optional)

Mix together and put in a container. I put mine in a salt shaker I got from the dollar store. I've seen other people put it in a small jar and use a makeup brush to apply to the roots.

This recipe works pretty well; it does absorb a good amount of oil. The downside is you smell like cocoa. Maybe you won't mind; I really don't care for it. Also, dry shampoo does not make your hair look like it has been washed, unfortunately. It does take care of some of the oil, but your hair will still look a little greasy and potentially dirty. I'm on the hunt for a better recipe, and I'll keep you posted...no pun intended.

Hello February, Goodbye Shampoo!

Does anyone else feel like last month flew by? Here we are, February 1, and it's time for me to transition to the next phase of my beauty detox. Apparently the no-shampoo method is highly debated on the internet, or so say many other beauty bloggers that have tried this method. If you go looking for other information on this topic, you'll find that it's commonly referred to as "no 'poo," which I think is just stupid. It's somebody's failed attempt at being cute and clever, at least in my opinion. So you will never see me use that term, but I digress.

For those of you who are completely unfamiliar with the whole thing, the idea is that you ditch the shampoo and conditioner and replace them with baking soda and a vinegar rinse. Why would someone do such a thing?! Well, shampoos and conditioners fall into that same unregulated category of cosmetics that contains a plethora of potentially hazardous ingredients. In addition to letting those nasty chemicals seep into your blood via the scalp, what you rise away goes down the drain and is released into the environment.

Shampoos in general are very basic, typically ranging from 9–11, which is rough on your skin. Conditioners are typically acidic from ingredients like citric acid. I could not find the typical range for conditioners, but I would bet that it's not enough to balance out your skin. Shampoo's general role is to get rid of dirt and oils from the scalp and hair. Conditioner then sweeps in and replaces the good stuff you took out. Unfortunately, the artificial stuff is toxic, and it also does not do as good of a job as your scalp can do for itself when left alone.

But what about my pretty-smelling hair?! I can't walk around with my hair actually smelling like hair. Turns out artificial fragrances are one of the most common toxic ingredients in all cosmetics, and you should be wary of ingredients like "fragrance", or "parfum". How vague is that? It's like when food contains the ingredient, "flavor". You should definitely be suspicious. Don't get me wrong, nice-smelling hair is one of my favorite things, but I prefer being healthy. So I decided to go with natural oils to give my hair a nice scent.

Most shampoos and conditioners contain silicone, usually listed as dimethicone. This is to provide shine and make hair smooth and less frizzy. Apart from being an organ and environmental toxin, this stuff will coat your hair and then make it unable to absorb moisture, drying it out in the long run. Here's a link to a page with other common toxic ingredients you might find in your shampoo.

Through my readings on this subject, I came across a few different methods. Most people suggest using 1–2 tablespoons of baking soda, depending on how thick your hair is. Some suggest making a paste in your hand; others dissolve it in water, then pour it on the scalp for evener distribution. I decided to just make a paste so I could be lazy and just keep a jar of baking soda in the shower. If the baking soda is too drying for your scalp, there is the option of adding a natural oil to the mix. Common suggestions included olive oil, coconut oil, jojoba oil, and tea tree oil. The benefit of using baking soda is that it removes dirt from the hair and scalp, but leaves the good stuff like natural oils.

You may recall from my earlier post that baking soda has a pH of 9 – a bit too basic for the skin. This is one of the reasons you do a vinegar rinse after.

Vinegar works in a couple different ways, one of which is that it closes the cuticle surrounding the hair. This helps keep the hair smooth, protects it from damage, and lets the hair reflect light, making it "shiny". It also helps remove buildup and residue of dirt, oil, and hair care products. It can also stimulate blood flow in the capillaries, improving the scalp's overall health. Most people seem to favor apple cider vinegar (ACV), but white should work just as well. One blogger even preferred white because the ACV was too "heavy" for her hair.

Most people say there is an adjustment period of anywhere from 2–8 weeks where your scalp rebalances everything. During this time you can expect your hair to be fairly unpredictable, e.g. very oily one day, very dry the next, etc. I'm hoping that since I wash my hair 2–3 times a week, mine will adjust quickly.

I was afraid the vinegar was going to leave me smelling like a salad, but others who have tried this assured me over and over that the vinegar smell dissipates as it dries. Even so, I did not like the prospect of having my hair smell like nothing, so I opted to add lavender essential oil to my rinse.

One thing that was mentioned by most bloggers is the use of "hard water", meaning high concentrations of minerals in your water. Apparently, most shampoos contain ingredients to combat this problem and prevent mineral build up. One natural option is to use distilled or rain water. Installing a water softener is another. I'm not doing either of those because I'm poor and lazy, so we'll just have to see how this goes.

Here's what you'll need:

Baking Soda
1 small glass or stainless steel container
1 tablespoon measure
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 cup water
4 drops lavender essential oil (optional)

I just poured my baking soda in an airtight container to keep in the shower. You could also dilute it (1 tbsp : 1 cup water) and leave it in a bottle in the shower if you prefer. I have a cute tablespoon measure that was given as part of a favor at a wedding I went to over the summer that has just been sitting in a drawer doing nothing for months, so I decided to just leave that in the shower with my jar of baking soda.

I diluted 2 tbsp of vinegar in 1 cup of water and poured it into an old stainless steel water bottle I had lying around. I added 4 drops of essential oil and shook it all together.

The first thing you want to do is wet your hair. Then proceed to either make a paste with the baking soda in your hand, or pour the pre-dissolved solution all over your scalp, focusing on the roots. Since I didn't make a solution, I stuck my head under the shower for a second to help dilute and distribute the baking soda. Massage the mixture into your scalp for about 1 minute, slightly longer if you have very oily hair. One thing many people have noted about this method is that you get zero lather from the baking soda. It's true; it has more of a tingly, slippery feel to it. Be gentle on your hair as you work this stuff in, as your hair might be brittle from previously used, drying products. The last, very important step is to rinse thoroughly. This is important because you don't want any baking soda residue on the scalp. Not only is it drying and basic, which may cause irritation, but if you remember science class, there could be bad reaction if there is still baking soda in your hair when you do your vinegar rinse.

Many people suggest not putting the vinegar rinse directly on the scalp and concentrating on the length of the hair. I do not recommend this because of what we know about skin pH. Also, the scalp should always be your area of concern because healthy scalp = healthy hair. Besides, there is plenty of rinse to go around, so you don't have to choose! Pour the solution evenly over your hair and scalp and massage for a few seconds. I let mine sit for about 3 minutes while I wash my body. My scalp started to tingle a little, and I decided it was time to rinse.

I was actually surprised at how smooth and sleek my hair felt while I was rinsing it: similar to the way it feels when you rinse out conditioner.

Here's my "before" picture. It has been about 4 days since I last washed my hair, and my hair had been up in a bun the night before, so it has a bit more body and waves than it would normally. It was also pretty oily at the roots and dry toward the ends.

One thing I was concerned about are tangles. I have tons of fine, wavy hair, so I get tangled very easily. Fortunately, when you don't strip your hair of its natural oils, your hair is less likely to tangle. I would like to add a side note that vigorously rubbing your hair with a towel can not only tangle hair, but it can also cause damage and breakage. So now I'm in the habit of gently squeezing it dry and putting it up in a hair towel for a little while.

 After the wash my hair was about as tangled as it would be if I had used shampoo and conditioner. Typically, I would reach for my olive oil heat protecting spray, which doubles as a fantastic detangler, but since I'm going au naturel I opted for a little bit of coconut oil instead. The result was smooth, easy-to-brush hair.

When I blow dried my hair, the roots were behaving as though they were oily, even though they looked and felt quite (surprisingly) clean. I could not get any lift, and the top of my hair is quite flat. This also happened when I used commercial shampoos (though not as bad) and could be partially attributed to the heaviness of having lots of fine hair, and possibly from being left in the towel too long.

Overall I'm quite surprised and satisfied with the results. My hair is quite smooth and shiny and does not smell like vinegar! It has a very light scent of lavender on the ends. I will have to have my boyfriend smell the roots when I see him to find out if the vinegar smell has lingered there. It will be interesting to see how my hair changes over the next month.

For other people's takes on this process, you can read here:

• http://marymakesdinner.typepad.com/marymakespretty/2013/08/life-after-shampoo.html
• http://ruralspin.com/2012/04/22/tips-and-tricks-to-go-shampoo-free/

Lemons, the unsung superfood

I mentioned in the previous post that lemons are amazing. I thought I would use my internet soap box to let you all know why we should all be drinking lemon water all the time. One of the most notable things it does is alkalize the blood. I know I have spent a lot of time talking about pH but it turns out it is extremely important. I had not idea! It can seem counterintuitive because lemon juice has such a low pH, but the long and the short of it is that the high amounts of minerals in the lemon react with stomach acid making it alkaline, due to science reasons. These science reasons are explained in this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WndFDIa6a0s. 

Why is that important? Why should you care? Well, when our body's natural pH moves from alkaline to acidic it eats away at our bones to neutralize the acid. So alkalizing the blood through other means can prevent osteoporosis later in life. That's not all, there are plenty more reasons you should be drinking lemon water.

Here's a compilation of all the best, and most legit seeming, benefits of lemon water! 

• Lemons are high in potassium, which is good for heart health, as well as brain and nerve function. 303 mg per lemon. It also keeps free radicals under check, boosts the formation of blood cells, regulates blood pressure and so forth. In brief, lemon water can protect you from a number of potential physical disorders and keep you energized.
• Lemon juice not only encourages healthy digestion by loosening toxins in your digestive tract, it helps to relieve symptoms of indigestion such as heartburn, burping, and bloating. Something I have experienced personally since I've started drinking lemon water everyday!
• It helps flush out the toxins in your body by enhancing enzyme function, and stimulating your liver.
• Lemons contain pectin fiber, which assists in fighting hunger cravings. This is something else I have experienced since I've been drinking lemon water.
•  It removes uric acid in your joints, which is one of the main causes of inflammation.
•  Lemons are extremely beneficial for the cardiovascular system. The antioxidants present in these fruits can curb down the adverse effects of toxins as well as harmful free radicals on your heart and blood vessels. Moreover, the potassium content of lemons keeps all cardiac problems at bay by diminishing mental stress and relaxing the heart muscles.
•  Being a natural diuretic, lemons can increase the rate of urination, which is highly important for maintaining the health of your renal system. As lemon water promotes the elimination of toxins and other waste materials from the internal system, you can easily stay away from rheumatoid arthritis.
• Lemon is full of natural antioxidants. It can effectively combat damaging free radicals and remove them completely from your body. Being a good source of vitamin C, the fruit also repairs the damaged skin cells as well as helps you get rid of fine lines, blemishes, wrinkles, deep furrows etc. 
•  Apart from free radicals, lemon water also purges toxic materials from your blood 
• Lemon water has long been known as an amazing natural hair care solution. It can make your hair stronger by keeping the roots or follicles healthy. It also works as a natural stimulant for your hair and promotes its growth.
• he antioxidants present in lemon are extremely favorable for your scalp. Hence, drinking lemon water in a regular manner is useful for treating dry scalp and dandruff permanently.
• It destroys intestinal worms
• Blood vessels are strengthened by the vitamin P (bioflavinoids) in lemon thus prevents internal hemorrhage. Also, making it useful in treating high blood pressure.
• The citric acid in lemon juice helps to dissolve gallstones, calcium deposits, and kidney stones.
• Lemons have powerful antibacterial properties; experiments have found the juice of lemons destroy the bacteria of malaria, cholera, diphtheria, typhoid and other deadly diseases.
• The symptoms of eye disorders, including diabetic retinopathy have been shown in research to improve due to the rutin, found in lemons.
• Lemons contain 22 anti-cancer compounds, including naturally occurring limonene; oil which slows or halts the growth of cancer tumors in animals and flavonol glycosides which stop cell division in cancer cells.
• According to The Reams Biological Ionization Theory (RBTI), the lemon is the ONLY food in the world that is anionic (an ion with a negative charge). All other foods are cationic (the ion has a positive charge.) This makes it extremely useful to health as it is the interaction between anions and cations that ultimately provides all cell energy
  
  you can check out the nutritional info here http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/fruits-and-fruit-juices/1938/2
  
  Pretty amazing stuff right? Serving size is 1/2 a lemon if you are under 150 pounds and a whole if you are over that weight. I've been doing 1-2 whole lemons a day. I squeeze it into a liter of water and add some liquid stevia (a non-carcinogenic zero calorie sweetener) and it makes it like lemonade. On that note, lemonade is not an acceptable substitute for lemon water. Some people prefer it warm, particularly in the morning. I like mine cold. I read that lime juice also alkalizes the blood, but I don't know if it has any of the other benefits that lemons have. Oranges are not a good substitute because of the sugar content. There you have it. Lemons are amazing so drink up!
  
  
  
  
  

Green tea toner

I mentioned in a previous post about the importance of a toner if you use alkaline products on your skin. I have been meaning to get around to making this stuff and posting about it for a couple of weeks but always forgot or put if off for some reason or another. Usually it was just because I'm lazy, and I justify my laziness by saying, "I'm a super-busy grad student, I deserve to sit around when I have the chance," which is probably pretty true. Fortunately this recipe is great for the lazy at heart. It took me all of 5 minutes (including the time it took the water to boil, a few seconds if you don't count that time).

One of the other great things about this recipe is you probably have everything you need for it sitting right in your kitchen. Other great things include benefits for your skin and it's pretty inexpensive to make.

I did a little bit of research on what makes a good toner and came across several different recipes, many for making a rose water toner. I decided against rose water because it sounded like it was going to take more time than I wanted to spend, my roses are not blooming right now nor are there any hips remaining, and it does not have an acidic pH. That, of course, could have been remedied by some lemon juice, but that would require me to figure out the ratio of lemon juice to rose water to make it the proper pH range and I'm lazy, as I stated before. 

I kind of had an idea of what I wanted to use when I started, that being: green tea, honey, and lemon. Which is, in fact, what I ended up using, but I had to do some research on the ingredients before I could fully commit. 

Green tea is one of those things that has a lot of buzz about it's health benefits lately, so I suppose that might be why I naturally gravitated toward using it. Turns out it is pretty amazing stuff! It's considered a "superfood" (at least I think it is) because of its high amounts of antioxidants, which may prove to have anti-aging properties. The antioxidants in green tea reduce and prevent sun damage by absorbing free radicals and reducing inflammation, rather than blocking UV rays. This makes it a good choice to put underneath what ever moisturizer and sunscreen you are using. There is also evidence that green tea can offer some protection against skin cancer. I've heard people make claims about the benefits of caffeine on the skin for increased collegian production, among other things. I did not personally check out these claims (again with the laziness) but there are plenty of other benefits that make it a good choice, in my opinion. The pH of green tea typically falls between 6.7-7.5 making it an ideal base.

I chose honey mainly for the moisturizing properties. I hear mixed things about honey. Some health food people swear by it, others have called it "glorified sugar." I think it is actually pretty awesome. Honey has a lot more to offer than sugar: minerals, vitamins, antibacterial and anti inflammatory properties, it's a natural antihistamine for local plants,  it's good stuff. Unfortunately, to get a lot of the benefits of honey you need to buy raw and you need to buy local, and that stuff does not come cheap. For now, I used the stuff I had floating around the house (the kind that comes in a bear) and hoped that all the benefits were not lost in the pasteurizing process. Honey also has antioxidants which help heal and protect the skin from damage. Because of it's anti inflammatory and microbial properties, it can help treat acne. It does an amazing job of healing, I have seen its effects first hand on a gaping wound. Honey reacts with the air and essentially acts as a slow-releasing hydrogen peroxide. Another reason I chose honey is because it is a humectant. That is a fancy word for it draws in and retains moisture. Honey is actually pretty acidic, which I found surprising, with a pH of between 3.2-4.5. So it helps to tip our toner slightly to the acidic side.

Lemons are amazing, let me start by saying that, and I had no idea until researching this toner. I wanted to include lemon mainly for its acidity. With a pH of 2, a few drops should finish getting the toner in the 5-6 range the skin needs. Because of the acidity, lemon also helps exfoliate dead skin cells and leaves the skin looking brighter. Citrus fruit in general is praised for it's vitamin C content and immune system boost, which is (almost) complete malarky. Vitamin C does not do much to help immune system function but it does do amazing things for your skin! Turns out that vitamin C is essential to the production of collegian in the skin, which aids in the growth of new cells and blood vessels. More collegian also means firmer, potentially younger-looking skin. Collegian also helps you skin repair itself because it is an antioxidant. There is some research suggesting that vitamin C may reduce DNA damage to the skin. It may reduce sunburns and help prevent the consequences of long-term sun damage, such as skin cancer. It's amazing stuff. You can get the full scoop here: http://health.howstuffworks.com/skin-care/information/nutrition/vitamin-c-benefit-skin.htm

So there you have it, plenty of good reasons to choose these three simple ingredients for your facial toner.

Here's what you need:

1 tea bag or table spoon of loose leaf green tea, preferably organic* 

1 teaspoon of honey

a few drops of lemon juice

a glass container for finished product*

*I hope it's obvious why you would want organic and non-plastic containers since the point of this is to get rid of toxins. If not, look it up ;)

You need to boil some water and then brew tea in 1/4-1/2 cup of water. Stir in honey until dissolved and add lemon juice. Let cool before trying to put it on your skin. Boom. Nothing too it. I don't know why I put it off so long. 

I chose jasmine green tea for mine because it smells nice, and I like to drink it. Honestly, when I made this I mostly did it by taste. I have a handy dandy quick pour through brewer I bought in China town. I ran the tea through 4 times and had a nice strong tea. I measured the honey, but just added the lemon juice until the tea had a nice tartness to it. If I had to guess, probably about a teaspoon or so of juice. I cannot stress enough, DO NOT MAKE THIS IN LARGE BATCHES. This is food grade stuff and should be treated as such. I kept mine on the bathroom counter and it lasted for about 5 days before starting to ferment. I dumped most of it out in the end. What's cool about it though, is if you make extra you can just drink it! Which sounds odd, but also is awesome. I intentionally did that when I made it and added the mix to some lemon water I was already drinking and it was pretty fantastic. If you want it to last a little longer you can always keep it in the fridge, which may be invigorating when applied to skin! I, however, will probably keep mine on the counter because I will forget about it if I don't see it sitting there. 

Once I made my toner I figured it was a good chance to try out washing my face with baking soda. I made a past in my hand with about 1 tablespoon baking soda and water and massaged it on my skin for 30 or so seconds. It does work quite well. My skin felt soft and had a nice glow. It is a little drying, and I think I over did it with the scrubbing, so my skin was a little sensitive for a while after. I wouldn't recommend using it on a daily basis, but it's great for a couple times a week, followed up by the pH restoring toner.

Jojoba oil update: I'm still liking washing my face with jojoba oil! My skin seems to be "purging" but it's hard to tell if it's because of the oil or because of my hormones. I have noticed a reduction of blackheads on my nose, and my skin is nice and soft and glowing :) My skin care regimen is currently as follows: dip cotton pad in toner and wipe face first thing in the morning, apply coconut oil moisturizer, wash face with jojoba oil before bed. Simple, easy, non-toxic, and effective. I'm quite happy with it all!

Coconut oil facial moisturizer

It has been a busy day here in my test kitchen (aka my regular kitchen). I have a couple new recipes I've tried that I'm pretty excited about.

First, I want to start by talking about  my old face cream. I was using Trader Joe's Enrich moisturizer most days. I liked it because it is SPF 15, has vitamins A, E, & C, is light weight, and smells nice. Sounds like a pretty good product at first, but after looking it up on SkinDeep I was surprised to see it was pretty bad for me. The 2009 version got a 6 on the hazardous scale, the 2012 was moved down to a 4. I can't remember when I bought the stuff, but even with my inconsistent use I think It was after 2012.

4 isn't a terrible score, but I'm wondering if some of the ratings are skewed because of the limited data on some ingredients. Here are two of the worst things about this cream, and many other commercial face creams I'm sure.

Worst on the list Retinyl Palmitate, danger rating of 8. This is a form of vitamin A that is commonly used as a sunscreen. Why it's bad: Studies are showing that when retinyl palmitate is exposed to sun it can cause cancer. So while you are wearing it to prevent skin cancer, it may be giving it to you. Oh cruel irony. In addition to cancer it is linked to "Developmental/reproductive toxicity, Organ system toxicity (non-reproductive)."

OCTINOXATE is the next toxic ingredient, it's purpose is to enhance skin absorption. It is rated at a 6. Among the worst effects associated with this ingredient are developmental/reproductive toxicity, and organ tissue damage. 

Overall this product has moderate cancer risk, high reproductive and developmental toxicity, and moderate allergy and irritation concerns. Plus, it is stored in plastic, which I'm sure adds to the problems this may cause. You can read the full report on this product here: http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/product/437805/Trader_Joe%27s_Enrich_Moisturizing_Face_Lotion%2C_SPF_15_%282012_formulation%29/

Now, let's move on to what I made and why it is good for you.
If you have ever browsed the endless supply of DIY beauty products you have probably noticed that just about everything calls for coconut oil. This stuff has been gaining popularity, for good reason, and if you intend to make the same recipes as me you will want to stock up. I will be using this as the base of my cream.

This is the stuff I had around the house purchased from Costco. Don't be fooled by the photo, it is actually quite a large amount, 54 oz to be exact. When selecting a coconut oil you want to make sure it is: pure, organic (the whole point of this is to get rid of toxins), cold presses, unrefined, and extra virgin. This brand meets all those qualifications and costs a very reasonable $16. 

What is so great about coconut oil? Well for starters, it has a pH of on average of 5.5-7.8, making it a good match for skin (see earlier post), as it can balance the pH for most skin types. 

Coconut oil is easily absorbed into the skin and is a great moisturizer. It helps remove dead skin and repair damaged tissue. It also has a natural SPF of 2-8, depending on the brand.

The second ingredient I chose is vitamin E oil. Vitamin E is a powerful antioxidant that plays an essential role in skin protection and repair. It helps heal tissue damage, and reduce the appearance of fine lines and aging (something I'm growing more concerned with). However, this important compound is not produced by the human body and must be added to your beauty regimen. I purchased a vitamin E oil from Trader Joe's some time ago. It is also important to make sure you are eating food that contain vitamin E. For the full report see: http://health.howstuffworks.com/skin-care/information/nutrition/vitamin-e-benefit-skin.htm This little bottle cost me around $4, certainly worth it.
I looked up the ingredients and found that it could contain both artificial and natural vitamin E. I could not find any research suggesting the artificial version is less effective or toxic in anyway.

The final ingredient you will need is Zinc Oxide powder. I purchased this 1 pound bag on amazon.com for about $10! The purpose of adding zinc oxide is to provide sunscreen. On top of providing SPF, zinc also can sooth mild skin irritations and has anti bacterial properties. How does it work? "Upon application, zinc oxide particles sit on the outermost layer of your skin, the stratum corneum, where they scatter and absorb ultraviolet radiation, protecting your living skin below. Zinc oxide is unique among sunscreen ingredients in that it is truly a broad-spectrum blocker, protecting from UVA, UVB, and even UVC." 

Information from http://www.badgerbalm.com/s-33-zinc-oxide-sunscreen-nanoparticles.aspx

 So here's how you make what I did. You'll need:
1/2 cup pure coconut oil
2 teaspoons vitamin E oil
1 oz (about 4 Tbs) zinc oxide powder*
bowl
electric mixer
glass container for the finished product

*Zinc oxide will change the texture and appearance of cream. It may be omitted for a lower SPF. The 1:4 ratio of zinc to cream makes       about an SPF 20 cream.

Add all ingredients to a bowl, whip with electric mixer until light and fluffy. Because of the fat content this stuff will hold air! Place in container when finished. Voila! Easy, safe, delicious smelling face cream.

When I made this originally I did not have zinc powder so what you see on the left is just coconut oil and vitamin E oil. You can see how smooth and fluffy it will get. It does harden slightly after a few hours, but it still remains pretty smooth and light and cream-like.

Once my zinc powder came in the mail I added it and re-whipped everything. I also added a little more coconut oil because was too thick, in my opinion, so my SPF is somewhere between 15-20, which is fine by me.

You can see how much more white it is after the addition of the powder. The cream is a little bit thicker but still nice and soft and easily spread. 

I put some on my hand immediately and it left a white powdery film on top. I still had some left on my fingers that was melted and rubbed it on my other hand and it absorbed much better. I would recommend letting it melt in your hand (should only take a few seconds because coconut oil has a low melting temperature) before applying it to your face. 

There you have it. It's so simple and cost effective to make a high quality, non-toxic cream. I can't believe it's taken me this long!

Hair remover and face wash update

Anyone else have unwanted facial hair? I am 3/4 South American and 1/4 British which has left me with very light skin and pretty dark hair, especially on my face and legs. This is an unfortunate combination.

I had not considered adding a hair remover to my list of natural beauty experiments(mostly because I forgot), but I think it might be necessary. In the past I have been professionally waxed, a painful endeavor for sure. Also, it's inconvenient and adds up over time. I am very allergic to nair, it causes me to break out in hives everywhere, and I don't want to be putting those kinds of chemicals on my skin anyway. Bleaching is another option, but it has the same chemical problem as nair.

While on pinterest, a place where I spend entirely too much of my free time, I came across a recipe for natural hair remover. It consists of honey, lemon juice, and oatmeal. The original website described its effect as "controversial." I did some more research and found a few other sites boasting the hair removing abilities of a honey and lemon mask, but none of them could tell me why.

Most sites say that it will remove hair if applied 2-3 times a week. One site guaranteed permanent hair removal after 6 months of use. I'm going to give it the old college try. If nothing else, there are benefits to having honey and lemon on the skin, so what do I have to loose?

The recipe I will be using is as follows:

1 tbs Honey
1/2 tbs ground Oatmeal
a few drops of lemon juice

Apply the mask to desired areas, let sit for 15 minutes, and rinse. Repeat 2-3 times a week.
(recipe from www.benefits-of-honey.com)

Jojoba face wash update:
I have been washing my face faithfully for the last 4 days with my jojoba oil, and so far I am pretty happy with it. I was surprised at how easily the oil is absorbed into the skin. After I have wiped of excess oil and patted my face dry its feels refreshed and not the least bit greasy, and even seems to have a bit of a glow afterwards. Yesterday morning my skin still had a bit of a natural glow to it, something I have never seen or noticed before, and I decided to forgo the makeup, apart from a little blush. My skin's overall oiliness has not seemed to decrease in the last few days, but some people said to allow 2 weeks to see results. My skin has not begun to purge anything. I have noticed a reduction of acne in some of my problem areas, still plenty of black heads though.

Overall I am quite satisfied with using it so far. I'm excited to see how else it might improve my skin :)

Acids, and bases, and face wash. Oh my!

Let's talk pH. It is incredibly important when it comes to skin care, something I had not considered until I was researching cleansers. The human skin is naturally acidic, with a pH of between 5-6 typically. The skin's protective acidic layer is referred to as the "acid mantle." The acid mantle serves an important purpose, acting as a barrier between bacteria and other potentially harmful contaminants.

If you have ever taken chemistry you should know that 7 is neutral on the pH scale; anything below is an acid and anything above is a base. You may also recall that acids and bases neutralize each other. What you might not know is that face wash you are using is probably pretty far on the basic side. Many face washes (and shampoos) seem to fall in the 8-10 range, some going as high as 11, which is about the same as ammonia. So when we put these basic products to cleanse the skin, with the intention of treating and preventing clogged pores and acne, we actually destroy the acid mantle and the skin's ability to protect itself. This leaves the door wide open for all that bacteria you were tying to keep at bay and chance to move on in while the skin tries to repair the acid mantle and restore a normal pH. Additionally, most products are far to abrasive and harsh for the delicate skin on the face.

I saw a post about using baking soda as face wash and see that it has mixed reviews. Many people love it and says it makes their skin glow and feel soft because it is exfoliating. Others think it is too harsh and causes redness and drying. Baking soda has a pH of 9, so it is pretty basic. From everything I've gathered, using a basic product on your skin isn't all bad as long as you do something to restore the skin's natural pH after. A slightly acid toner should do the trick. I decided to make a toner out of green tea, honey, and lemon juice. As I have not actually gotten around to that I will cover what I will do and why in a future post. Another important step is moisturizing. Coconut oil is a good choice because it has a pH of 5.5-7.8 making it a good choice for most skin types to not only moisturize, but also restore pH. For the purposes of my own face I have decided to use baking soda occasionally (1-2) times a week to exfoliate, but not as an every day cleanser.

When trying to find something natural to wash my skin I found a post about Jojoba oil. After a little more research I concluded that stuff is pretty amazing. What makes jojoba oil so great? Turns out it is very similar to the oil our skin naturally produces know as "sebum."

I know it seems a little scary to put straight oil on your skin. Oily skin is what we're trying to prevent, right? Turns out putting oil on your skin actually helps reduce how oily it is. This sorcery is possible because you essentially trick the skin into thinking it's already produced enough sebum. Oil is oil, so putting more oil on my skin will just make the problem worse, right? Wrong. Jojoba oil has a few extra benefits that your skin's oil doesn't. That is not to say that your own natural skin oil isn't great or necessary, but it can still benefit from a little extra help.

Jojoba oil has natural anti-bacterial properties and has been used to treat wounds in traditional medicine. It is also an effective moisturizer that is easily absorbed because it is so similar to sebum (which is the benefit of using jojoba oil instead of commercial products). Jojoba is anti-inflammatory, so it helps reduce redness and inflammation caused by acne or other irritations. It also reduces the signs of aging in skin, contributing to a more youthful appearance.The pH is 5.5 making it the perfect match for the skin.

Because of these many reasons I have decided to use the "oil method" for daily face washing for the foreseeable future. It is simple and fairly self explanatory. Basically you wet the face with warm water, massage a few drops of the oil into your skin for approximately 30 seconds or so, then use a wet and warm wash cloth to wipe away excess oil. There you have it, washed and moisturized in 3 simple steps.

The oil should not only do all the aforementioned things, it should also soften and dissolve the dried sebum and skin flakes hanging out in my pores (aka black heads). Incidentally, clogged pores can be a cause of oily skin because it inhibits the skins ability to absorb the moisturizing oil it needs, making your skin think it needs to produce more. Which in turns keeps your pores clogged, you see where I'm going with this?

I have to admit, I am a little nervous because I read some people go through a "purge" phase where the skin expels all the bad stuff it's been hanging onto. Not super thrilled at this prospect but I know it's good for me in the long run. Also my boyfriend is on vacation for the next couple weeks so nobody will be getting too close to my face anyway.

I'm off to try my newly purchased oil from my local health food store. I'll post results as they come. I was intending to get around to the face cream I made but there was just too much out there on skin pH that I thought was valuable knowledge, so next time. I will also try and include pictures and recipes in posts to come (I don't want this to be boring for the 2 people that read it besides myself).

p.s. I would just like to add that I wrote this post after being up since 5:45 am and sleeping only about 4 hours. Therefor I am too tired to proofread what I have written (which is difficult for the grammar nazi in me) and am hoping for the best. Goodnight!

New beginnings

Lately what I'm putting on my skin has been on my mind. There is a growing public awareness about the bad things we put into our bodies, but it seems there is little discussion about what we put onto our bodies. Fast forward to New Year's Eve 2013 when I get the half baked idea to "detox my beauty products," something I've been wanting to do for a while but have found a million reasons to put off. At my traditional New Year's brunch the next day when I officially made it one of my New Year's resolutions, and here we are. I decided to chronicle my exploits in an effort to turn a half-baked idea into a fully baked loaf of delicious idea-bread...maybe writing a blog was a poor choice.
The challenge is to rid my beauty products, cosmetics and otherwise, of harmful and toxic products and replace them with natural alternatives; I'm aiming for as many food-grade products as possible. To make sure I stick with this, after all I've committed to a blog and put that information on the internet and I don't want to look stupid (!), I've decided to break it up by month. That is to say, each month I will be targeting a different group of beauty products. I think this project will require a lot of research on my part, so here's hoping that grad school does not get in the way of my project (which at this point I find much more exciting that school).

Here's the breakdown:
January--Face wash/makeup remover, moisturizer, face masks, and toner
February--No shampoo method
March--Foundation and blush
April--Lip stick and lip balm
May--Eye shadow and mascara
June--Lotions and sunscreen
July--Shampoos, conditioners, hair spray, heat protecting spray
August--Body wash and scrubs
September--Tooth paste, mouth wash, and teeth whitener
October--Nail polish and hair removers
November--Perfume, body spray, and deodorant
December--Special beauty treatments

I am also aiming to find affordable in-store alternatives (so I don't feel like a total hippie), and for this I will be using the database on www.ewg.org, which offers information and ratings on a variety of products. They also have a barcode scanner app specifically for cosmetics called "skin deep," which I have acquired.
 I have decided I am going to throw out as many of the toxic products as I can (I can't commit to everything), save the more expensive lip sticks and eye shadows I use very rarely for cosplay reasons. My aim here is to have safe natural alternatives to the things I put on my skin on a daily basis, and I figure my skin can handle the bad stuff 3-4 times a year.
This is definitely going to be an interesting project, here's hoping I can follow through!