Putting My Best Face Forward with Clear Sinuses and a Truly Healthy Glow

Quick shampoo update to get out of the way.  I have given up on anything containing castile soap to touch my head.  My hair is way to thin to handle the harshness of the soap and to offset it with even a tinge of oil will only prelude to a greasy meltdown.  I decided to simplify instead.  I now wash my hair with a half a palm full of baking soda (I have small hands so that’s probably 3 Tbsps) and work it into a paste on my head.  If my hair feels too much like straw, I bought Dr. Bronner’s lavender conditioner to soften my hair.  Furthermore, the magical powers of cornstarch rubbed into your hair starting at the scalp works in a pinch as dry shampoo.  

I do have a confession - this past weekend I slipped up and had forgone my all natural homemade concoctions for the convenience of the toiletries in my boyfriends shower. I was wrapped into staying at boyfriends house this weekend (he lives close to Lesley’s library) without going home to get my coffee/honey face wash and Dr. Bronner's soap.  I soon found myself faced with a plethora of shampoo options in his shower (I know, I could've gone without or used cornstarch) but the temptation was too strong.  I used the chemically laden lathers on my head and reveled in their suds.  Gah!  Although, I did miss my coffee/honey face scrub - it’s amazing how quickly your face can change depending what you put on it.  I broke out on my chin, and my skin tone became uneven because of the differing dry/oily parts from whatever face wash I could find in his bathroom.  

Adopting all natural allergy abatements has given me mixed success.  I have been eating  a spoonful of local honey daily and rinsing my sinuses with a neti pot and saline nasal sprays about twice a day for the past few weeks.  This has certainly helped with  keeping my sinuses clear from the allergens, but I still get that drowsy histamine - zombie feeling from time to time. I’ll keep at this regiment, as I do believe it is helping.  One allergy related attack that has lead to drugs is when my body caves to dog or cat allergens.  I’m OK at first, but repeated exposure over a few days can have disastrous effects on my airways and causes me to breakout in hives.  I was reminded of this reaction this past weekend after rough housing with the cute pups belonging to my boyfriend’s roommates.  In an instant I wanted to scratch my way out of my skin and slept sitting up until the Benadryl kicked in.   Back to the drawing board with that one - anyone have any homeopathic remedies for animal allergens? 

The lab in my kitchen has churned out homemade face powder and bronzer.  The blogger, Crunch Betty, has some amazing recipes for all natural beauty products.  I tried her homemade bronzer and made my own face powder with just cornstarch, cinnamon, nutmeg and a few drops of jojoba oil.  I cleaned out an old compact for my face powder and found a little plastic jar in my tupperware bin for the bronzer.  For application, I cut up the padding inserts in an old bra instead of using cotton appliques.  Results?  Meh.  The jojoba oil for the face powder really helped congeal the powders and made it easy for me to pack it into the compact.  However, upon application it feels heavy.  I got the color to match my skin tone, but it is a little grainy and weighs on my face.  The bronzer, however, is great!  I can now sport a truly healthy glow.  Here are some photos from the lab:

I have adopted Liz’s mantra for cleaning products to my cosmetics and toiletry usage.  If I wouldn’t cook and/or eat what I’m putting on my body, why should I use it?  If something is toxic to ingest, then how is applying it to my skin any different?  Your skin absorbs everything it comes in contact with, and after perusing what I used to wear in the Cosmetics Database, it is frightening how much toxins are a commonplace fixture in the beauty industry.  It is ironic how the purpose of make-up is to make someone look more attractive, and give off an image of health and of good offspring producing genes, yet those products can cause major health problems for the long term user.