No 'Poo.

No, not THAT kind of poo! Ditching the shampoo! Gave it a try today since it's the weekend and I don't plan on going anywhere. So if it was yucky I could hide. :). So gave it a try. Was pretty skeptacle. I have greasy hair and staticy with out conditioner. Here's how it went.

I took 1 TBS of baking soda and put it in a sqeezie water bottle. Added 1 cup warm water. Shook it up. That's your "shampoo". For "conditioner" take 2 cups water and 2 TBS of apple cider vinergar in my 2 cup glass measuring cup. Hauled that into the shower. I wet my hair then started squirting the BS water mix over my scalp. I'd do some then work it through my scalp. I'd go back and forth squriting my scalp and rubbing it around until it was gone. Then I worked it around my scalp a little bit more then rinsed well. At first I didn't think it was going to work but by the time I was done my hair did feel clean. You want to focus on your scalp. After I rinsed well I took my apple cider vinegar mix and started pouring it over then ends of my hair. I'd pour a little then squish through my hair. I did this with about a cup and a half of the ACV mix. Leaving 1/4 to 1/2 cup left in the measuribg cut. I let the ACV mix sit in my hair then shaved my legs. Then I rinsed my hair. I took the remander of the ACV mix and poured it through the ends of my hair and squished again. I then rinsed lighlty wanting some of the ACV to stay in my hair as a leave in conditioner. You want to avoid your scalp with the ACV as it can leave your scalp greasy especially if you have greasy hair already. I wrapped my hair in a towel as usual when I got out of the shower. Then I went to brush my hair. I expected a tangled mess. Nope. My brush glided right throug my hair just like when I use regular conditioner. I was pretty impressed! I'm letting my hair air dry to see how it looks. Then I will style and see how that goes as well. My hair feels so soft! My hair does not smell like vinegar. It just smells clean. So this may be routine every other day. I have read that your hair and scalp can so through a detox type phase for a couple of weeks as your body purges the toxins and adjusts back to natural oil production. Shampoo strips it all away despite what all the fancy comercials advertise. this may be my new hair washing routine. We'll see how it goes with no 'poo! Happy hair washing!

Oatmeal and Almonds.

For 3 weeks i have not used soap on my face. It really isn't good for your face or even those face cleansers. They all contain harsh chemicals you can't pronounce and just aren't good for your skin. I am slowly trying to find better alternatives for my body, inside and out.

I love this daily face scrub i came across on my favorite blog. It's easy. It will keep for a while so you could make a big batch of it and store in a jar in a cabinet and use as needed. You also probably have what you need already!

You will need:

1/2 cup finely ground oats. Nothing fancy. I used store brand oats
1/2 cup finely ground almonds. You'll want raw almonds. no salt or flavorings.
Liquid of your choice. (Water, Witch Hazel for oily skin, milk for dry, rosewater for any type) you will add the liquid on a single serve basis.

Grind your oats in a food processor and sift through a mesh stainer. Do the same with the almonds. You want them to be a fine powder almost. I will add the bigger pieces back to the food processor and pulse again and strain again. A spice/coffee grinder would be perfect for this! Add both to a clean, dry jar.

To use: place a teaspoon or 2 into your palm or small dish. (I prefer a dish) add a bit of liquid to the powder and mix well. You'll want a paste to loose paste type texture. You want to be able to rub it on your face and not crumble or ooze and drip everywhere. Let it sit a moment to let the liquid lightly absorb into the oats. Gently rub and massage into your face with upward circular movements. I go for about a minute. I like how it feels! Then either rinse or let dry on your face a couple of minutes for a mask then rinse! You will have perfectly clean and soft skin! I've been using this every evening for 3 weeks now and my skin is very happy! I have significantly reduced the oils in my skin. No more shiny face! Now i can give my mineral make up another try. It always looked like it was dripping off my face by the end of the day! Not pretty!

You can customize this even more for your skin type.

Oily skin (like me!) add: 2TBS fine sea salt, 2 TBS finely ground dried peppermint, and/or 5 drops rosemary essential oil. I might try some tea tree oil next time i make some. I added the mint this last time i made it. Nice! Put it in with my oats as i ground. Smells nice. :)

Dry Skin add: 2 TBS powdered milk (full fat if you can find it), 2 TBS finely ground calendula, and/or 5 drops Roman Chamomile essential oil.

Combination Skin add: 2 TBS cornmeal, 2 TBS finely ground dried chamomile, and/or 5 drops of lavender essential oil.

The cool thing about this scrub is that you can change it every time you make it. You can take stuff from each skin type or whatever sounds good too you and add it. So easy!

http://www.crunchybetty.com/no-nonsense-daily-scrub-for-any-skin-type for even more info!

Alvin Corn.

Who is Alvin Corn you may be wondering? Well, it is a pretty good homemade glass cleaner and at the moment my all around cleaner until my herb infused vinegar is done for an all purpose cleaner. Is it just like Windex? Nope. Does it clean and shine mirrors and glass as well as other shiny surfaces? Yep! Sure does! She tested many recipes and this was when she came up with and loves and so do I! Recipe from the Crunchy Betty blog is as follows:

1/4 cup rubbing alcohol
1/4 cup white vinegar
1 TBS cornstarch
2 cups warm water
*optional--lemon, lemon grass, or orange essential oils.
Clean squirt bottle

I mixed the rubbing alcohol, vinegar, and corn starch in my 2 cup glass measuring cup for easy pouring. Poured into my squirt bottle. Then measured in my 2 cups of warm water. I did not add any essential oils as i do not have any. Something I will be getting very soon! I did end up shoving some dried orange peels into the squirt bottle. Cleans well but I don't recommend putting them in the squirt bottle. Pretty tricky fishing those soggy peels back out! Any way, to use, give the squirt bottle a good swirl to mix the cornstarch up. You'll have to do this before every use. Mist your cleaning cloth and wipe down your mirror. The first time i used the cleaner i sprayed my whole mirror all over like i do with blue glass cleaner. I wiped the mirror, and wiped and wiped and wiped and wiped some more! Took while to dry up. I did end up with a nice clean and shiny mirror! As well as a good upper body work out. So mist your cleaning cloth! Don't soak! A little goes along way. You can also polish your mirror and glass with black and white print newspaper. My old cut up bath towels seem to work just fine. As long as i use the fluffier ones. I am pretty happy with this and will continue to use it. Ingredients are pretty easy to get and probably already have in your kitchen. They are also pretty inexpensive too. Alcohol, Vinegar, Cornstarch....get it?

The Crunchy Betty Post

To Hippie or Not Too Hippie....

Actually i am preferring the term crunchy. While i was cleaning the kitchen for Super Bowl Sunday i soaked down my kitchen counter with my trusty 409 cleaner. I heard a little cough, as well as my own, and saw that James had snuck up and was standing next to me. I realized he got a face full of 409. I decided i didn't like that one bit. I usually shoo the kids out whenever i clean something so they aren't around the fumes. But he was sneaky that day. I remembered my mom one time making cleaner with vinegar and water when we were out of our regular cleaner when i was a kid. I thought she was crazy then. I wanted my blue glass cleaner. I used it and it stunk. On i went with my life. Here i am almost 32 and have 2 kids of my own. And am wanting to make my own cleaner. Maybe mom wasn't so crazy all those years ago! So I Googled for it as well as other homemade items. With my sensitive skin, i though why not. Might be better for me. So in my Googling for lip balms I came across the Crunchy Betty blog and fell in love! My new year’s resolution was for self improvement. I still don't know what all that includes but i am working on it along the way. Here was the Crunchy Betty blog and just what i needed for more self improvement. I came across her blog almost 3 weeks ago and go back daily and look over all her posts. Most homemade stuff is so easy! Just need some time and find the items. Most of which you probably already have in your kitchen. She has so many great household cleaning recipes as well has skincare, hair care, home remedies, beauty products. The list goes on. So i started small and easy. I knew what i had in my kitchen so i started with glass cleaner. All i had to buy was a $1 store squirt bottle.