Sugar Fix

I am going through sugar withdrawal. I have given it up, except for the little bit I have in my coffee. This is not a forever thing...it's more of a sugar detox until I feel capable of consuming it in normal amounts instead of in excess. But I have to tell you...I'm dying for some ice cream. With whipped cream and hot fudge...

Or one of these:

-:- from here -:-

-:- from here -:-

Or both of them with ice cream, whipped cream, and hot fudge on top.

Plus, we have an entire canister of sugar sitting in the cupboard, waiting to be added to a chocolate cake or some muffins, constantly calling my name. No, I won't give in...but if I can't eat it, gosh darn it, I'm going to exfoliate with it!

Inspired by Nora and by this lovely tutorial, I mixed up my own lavender sugar scrub, hoping that by using it to remove my dead skin cells, it would be less appealing for consumption. Can't say it worked in that way, but now I do have exceptionally soft skin. Here's what I did:

-:- Materials -:-

1 c. sugar

1/2 c. olive oil (or almond oil, grape seed oil, jojoba oil)

 about 1/8 c. dried lavender buds (maybe a little more)

lavender essential oil

vitamin e capsules

a container with a lid

-:- Method -:-

Add the sugar and olive oil to your container. I used a pint-sized Bell jar.

Then add your lavender buds, about 5-6 drops of lavender oil, and a few vitamin e capsules. You'll need to break the capsules open first and squeeze them into your mixture. Vitamin e is good for your skin and it will help preserve your scrub.

Once everything was mixed in, I decided to add more lavender oil...but start with 5-6 drops and see how you like it.

Put the lid on your container and shake that thang.

Use however you feel comfortable. Remember to scrub gently and be careful in that tub! The olive oil can make things pretty slick in there.

And if you don't use anything to strain your tub water before it drains, you can leave the lavender buds out so they don't go down the drain. Totally up to you!

Good luck and happy scrubbing!

Love, T.

How I Wash my Hair

Casy has gone camping with his students for the weekend so I am flying solo for a couple of days.

What's a girl to do but wash her hair? This is how I do it:

-:- What you need -:-

2 containers...preferably one with some kind of nozzle

Baking soda

Apple cider vinegar

Tea tree oil (optional)

Water

Funnel

-:- What to do -:-

Mix 1 tbsp baking soda with one cup of water in the bottle with a nozzle. If you'd like to, add one drop of tea tree oil. Shake it up and use as shampoo.

I apply it to my middle part, then the sides of my head, then my crown and finally down by my neck...then I massage it in pretty well and let it sit for a couple of minutes before rinsing.

For conditioner, mix 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar to 1 cup water. After "shampooing," rinse with this mixture as a conditioner.

Here are a few things to remember:

• Everyone is different. Everyone's hair and body need different things so what works for me might need to be tweaked for you. If your hair is too dry, try less baking soda. Some people need more. Some people (with enviously thick hair) might need to make a double batch for themselves. Some might hate tea tree and want to use rosemary. Or whatever. Listen to yourself and do what's best for you.
• When you transition into washing your hair like this, there will probably be a period of time where your hair feels a little more greasy than usual. When we use shampoo, we strip our hair of the natural oils it produces, so then we start to compensate by overproducing these oils. When we stop stripping our hair, it takes awhile for our bodies to readjust, so you'll be making more of these natural oils than you need for awhile, which may make you feel a little greasy. It's normal and it goes away! For some this transition time is two weeks. For others it doesn't happen at all. For me it was a little less than two months.
• Some say that the vinegar rinse makes their hair more greasy, so they apply it only to their ends. I haven't had this problem, but thought you should know in case you want to experiment.
• You won't smell like vinegar. It rinses out. But rinse well.
• Here is a good resource on the hows and whys of this process. This is a link to another variation of this method that I tried but didn't work out for me (it's a paste rather than a liquid)...you might love it, though! 

What can I say? I'm a believer.

Love, T.

Natural Deodorant

My philosophy on cosmetics is centered on the idea that my body is designed to operate in a specific way, for specific reasons, and applied cosmetics should not interfere with that (toxic or not).

Adapting to this new philosophy was relatively easy for me to do, but I had a pretty hard time finding a deodorant that was as effective as the antiperspirant I had been using.

I tried all kinds of natural deodorants but my skin reacted badly to an ingredient in them, which is obviously less than ideal. The option of going without was also less than ideal, especially for the poor people who work with me...and especially in the middle of summer!

I finally started looking into some homemade options so I would know exactly what was going into them (and could therefore monitor those bad reactions I was having to the store-bought products). The recipe I'm going to share with you works like a charm. It's made of very simple ingredients, can be kept in a normal deodorant tube, and keeps you from being smelly even on the hottest days, I swear! You can customize your scent, which I love, and I haven't had one bad reaction to it.

To make some, combine:
1/4 c. baking soda
1/4 c. cornstarch or arrowroot powder
approx 6 tbsp. unrefined coconut oil

My coconut oil had been sitting in our hot cupboard and was liquid when I pulled it out to make this, so I had to stick it in the fridge for awhile until it became solid again.

Smush the powders into the coconut oil with the back of a spoon until incorporated. You might need to add an additional tablespoon or two of coconut oil...you'll have a pretty firm, deodorant-like consistency when complete. Add your essential oils and mix well. I typically use lavender and tea tree oils because they are great antibacterials. Casy likes sweet orange mixed with Texas cedarwood and a just a couple drops of tea tree oil.

Then fill whatever container you're using with your new deodorant. I keep my tube in the fridge for now...if I don't, the coconut oil turns back into a liquid and everything leaks out of my container!

If you'd like more info on how to make this, there's a video here and more great articles here and here. It's a pretty popular method and I haven't heard a bad review yet!

Good luck!

Love, T.

Alpenblumen (and Other Google History)

-:- Alpenblumen -:-

I'm reading Heidi again and love it more now than I did when I was a kid. It inspired me to look up some of the alpine flowers Heidi picked in the book and I stumbled on this site. These are some of my favorites:

-:- Cosmetics Saftey -:-
This is something I'm becoming pretty passionate about. We are careful about the kinds of food we eat, but apply all kinds of cosmetics, whose ingredients are absorbed through our skin, without really thinking about what's in them. Lately, I've given my products a makeover and am now using either low toxicity products or homemade products. I'll be talking more about this in coming posts and sharing some of the recipes and techniques that I've found work well for me.

-:- Skin Deep -:-
This is a database that rates cosmetic products based on their toxicity.

-:- Maru -:-
Stay with the first video...the part that makes me laugh out loud is about half way through.






Love, T.