homemade, all-natural and organic skincare

Since embarking on my quest for healthy goodness I set myself a little challenge to revamp my skin and haircare routines and do beauty naturally.  I’ve already posted about going no ‘poo and hair-related things but realised I haven’t yet mentioned skincare.

Let me remedy that right now!

Since the whole natural haircare experience wasn’t so scary in the end, I decided it was time to trial organic, natural skincare.  Which was a MASSIVE step for me.  You see; I’m pretty darn protective over what goes onto my skin. For the past ten years my face has displayed the wonderfully attractive combination of extremely dry, peeling skin coupled with outbreaks all over the place.  Nice.  Doctors have been scratching their heads and referring me onto colleagues and specialists  and so on and so forth; you get the picture.  No amount of creams, dermatology or medication has had a positive impact so far.  In fact, normally within minutes I’d react to anything other than cold cleansing cream.  Even water would have an impact.

But after discovering how many toxic chemicals are in beauty products, cosmetics and skincare products (search yours on the  Environmental Working Group website and you’ll catch my drift) I reckoned maybe I should at least try going all-natural.

So all-natural I went!  And so far (2 months in) so good 🙂

The ‘recipes’ below are what works for me – if you’re gunna try it you may wanna adjust some of the quantities – it’s up to you!  I cleanse and moisturise my face every morning and night, use the oil cleansing whenever I take off make-up or every few days and use the face masque about twice a week before I get in the shower.

Cleanser

• 1 part Apple Cider Vinegar (with the mother left in)
• 2 parts water

Apply a little with a cotton pad.  It smells of vinegar (obviously) but only for a few seconds – don’t freak out!

Moisturiser

• Argan oil

A tiny amount goes a long way – honest!  I use 2 squirts which is about the size of a 5p piece for my whole face and massage it in for a minute or so.  As with the cleanser don’t panic when it smells (this will be nutty though – not vinegary!) – the odour disappears within a minute!  Make sure the argan oil is 100% pure, cold-pressed and stored in a tinted (probably brown) glass bottle.  I bought the Truly Moroccan argan oil for £10 (the cheapest I could find for the quality) – I know it’s pricey but so far I’ve used about 1/4 of the 100ml bottle I bought 2 months ago, which works out at about £1.25 a month and THAT’S not too shabby!  AND I use it for the oil cleansing method!

• Coconut oil

A-MAZ-ING.  Seriously. If you haven’t read 300 versions of ‘100 uses for coconut oil’ doing the rounds on pinterest, blogs and other sites check one out.  Coconut oil is awesome.  Just not for you face – it clogs the pores!  The rest of your body, however, will flippin’ love it!  It smells yummy, is soooo good for your skin and again a little goes a long way! Make sure to buy cold-pressed organic virgin coconut oil – I use Coconoil organic virgin coconut oil which was £10 for 465g and lasts FOREVER!

Face Masque

• 1 part Raw organic honey
• 1 part Apple Cider Vinegar (with the mother left in)
• 1 tbs fresh lemon juice

Mix this all together and apply to your face.  It smells amazing!  Leave on for 15 minutes then wash off.  Enjoy silky soft skin!

Oil Cleansing Method

• Argan oil
• Flannel face cloth

This sounds kind of strange but it works – oil dissolves oil and the hot flannel means that you are effectively steaming your face and opening your pores which helps them clean out!

1. Wash your face with the flannel then pat it dry with a towel
2. Run the flannel under hot water (dont go crazy and scald yourself but as hot as you can handle), wring it as dry as possible and place it over your face until it cools down.
3. Massage argan oil into your skin for a couple of minutes.  I use 4 squirts or about the size of a 10p piece.
4. Repeat step 2.
5. Once the flannel is cool, use it to gently wipe your face
6. Rinse the flannel and repeat steps 4 and 5
7. Allow your skin to air dry.  I then massage a small amount or argan oil into my skin as a moisturiser, but that’s optional!

Voilà! Lovely soft skin 🙂

big love

gollygoshgirl xx

 

homemade, all-natural and organic haircare; the No ‘Poo method

   

Since embarking on my quest for healthy goodness I set myself a little challenge to revamp my skin and haircare routines and do beauty naturally.

Leading me onto my next point; I have a confession.  I haven’t ‘pooed in over a month.

I’m talking SHAMPOOED.  I haven’t SHAMPOOED in over a month.  (Fear not; I solemnly promise that I will never share my bowel movements with the whole of cyberspace.)

Anyway; what I was trying to say is that since mid-April I have not put any chemicals in my hair.  That’s not to say I haven’t cleaned my hair; just that I have used homemade natural, organic goodness rather than the toxic substances I was using before.  Think that’s a pretty extreme statement?  Check out the toxic levels in any of the haircare, skincare or cosmetic products you use right here and make up your own mind.  The website I’ve just directed you to is the Environmental Working Group’s cosmetics database and they rate ingredients and products in relation to the hazard to your health or the environment.  They also detail what the hazards are.  Pretty nifty ey?

Other good reasons to go no ‘poo;

• More body
• Easier to style hair
• Less oily hair
• Less frizz and fly-aways (great for curly haired ladies)
• Added shine
• Quicker growth
• Stronger hair
• Safe for dyed hair
• Great for grey hair (commercial shampoos can cause grey hair to yellow – boo!)
• Fewer hair washings, as your scalp will no longer be over producing oils
• No chemicals on your hair, scalp or washing down the drain (Win!)
• More money in your pocket – baking soda and apple cider vinegar are crazy cheap compared to commercial products (Massive win!)

Below are the ‘recipes’ I use for my hair and a little bit about how I’ve found the transition to ‘no poo’.  The reason I’ve left it a month before I posted about this is that I wanted to see for myself if it would actually work for me and be able to give you a balanced honest review of what happened – hopefully you’ll find it helpful!  There are so many variations on how people transition that if you fancy giving the whole ‘no poo’ thing a go I recommend doing some research and finding people with similar hair to yours and starting with what works for them.  Alex Raye’s blog has lots of info on natural haircare and for a detailed explanation of the transition to the no poo method I found Leah’s explanation really helpful. There are also many, many other bloggers and pinterest-ers who offer their own experiences and advice and are worth checking out!

So without further ado may I present to you….(drumroll please)…

  

Before you start you need to clarify your hair.  Most commercial products have silicons in them, which will remain stuck to your hair unless you clarify.  If you don’t, you’ll end up in the pretty gross situation I got myself into where your hair literally looks wet even hours after you wash it.  Yuk!  My only regret in the whole process has been that I didn’t realise I should have clarified before I started and carried on for a week before I discovered this vital step!  I used a paste of Bicarbonate of Soda mixed with a little water and covered my hair in it, left it for 20 minutes then washed it out.  Easy peasy!

Every other day I washed my hair with a ‘shampoo’ alternative of 1 tablespoon of bicarbonate of soda mixed with 1 cup of water.  The ‘conditioner’ I used was 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar (ACV) with the mother left in (don’t worry it’s nothing weird – Google it and check!) with 1 cup of water.  How cheap and cheerful is that!?! First off don’t expect it to have the consistency of commercial products.  It literally feels like you are putting water into your hair.  Also, invest in a couple of squeezy condiment plastic bottles with narrow tips – makes such a difference in being able to reach all of your hair – especially close to the scalp!

I have long blonde, fine hair that is naturally straight.  I only washed my hair once a week (and dry shampooed it once between washes) before transitioning to no ‘poo so I don’t know if that helped my hair to adjust well, if I was just lucky or if I has just totally overestimated how horrible my hair would get!  Apart from the first week (where I hadn’t clarified my hair), I had a couple of days where my hair looked a bit greasy but nothing too dramatic.  I used the homemade dry shampoo once during the whole transition (it’s best to avoid using it during this period) and wore my hair up or curly using the no heat curls method on the few days I felt it looked a little greasy, which worked pretty well!  I now wash my hair two or three times every fortnight using the bicarbonate of soda mixture in the roots of my hair and ACV mixture in the tips and don’t have any problems!

As for hair masques, once a week it is recommended you use a natural hair masque on your hair.  There are SO many recipes out there that, as I said before, it’s best to find out what works for your hair so get researching!  The first one I tried was a disaster.  I used coconut oil and I think it is just too heavy for my fine hair.  My hair went back  to the wonderful wet look stage I told you about before I clarified my hair – big fail!  I know coconut oil works for a lot of people but apparently not me!  I had to ‘clarify’  my hair again right after to get rid of the residue gunk!  What has worked is using equal parts ACV and raw organic honey on the tips of my hair (NOT the roots – that makes my hair look greasy).  After leaving it in for 20 minutes, I wash my hair as usual with the bicarbonate of soda and ACV mixtures.  Simple!

The only other thing I do to my hair is use a boar bristle brush (it helps distribute the hair’s natural oils evenly) and a wide toothed comb after washing or when I need to tame it into some sort of style!

I’d love to hear your feedback on the no ‘poo method or what’s worked for you – please feel free to get in contact! 🙂

big love

gollygoshgirl xx

beauty; naturally! (a little challenge)

So after deciding that it was time for a little health overhaul I realised that I had started paying pretty close attention to making sure I’m filling my body with goodness.  Obviously a big step forward on the journey, right?

But then I had a little think and came to the conclusion that healthy goodness does not simply involve what I eat (or don’t) and how much I exercise – oh no; it’s not just what I put into my body that counts – I put a lot of stuff onto it too!

If consuming fewer unprocessed foods, chemicals and additives has had a positive impact on my body from the inside; then I’m willing to bet that if I treat the outside in the same way I might well get similar results! With the added bonus that it will not only benefit me (hopefully) but the environment too (definitely)!  PLUS it will work out way cheaper than the products I currently buy! Win!

Now there’s a website I stumbled across by a pretty cool organisation called the Environmental Working Group (you can find it right here).  They rate products based on their toxity and give them a rating out of ten as to how hazardous they are.  It’s really easy to use and simple to understand (phew)!  I may have got a little bit carried away and put almost every product I’ve ever used in there….be warned that some results are a bit of a reality check – lets just say it has encouraged me that trying natural beauty is the way to go!

And by natural beauty I in no way mean that I am planning on turning into a tree-hugging hippy with dreadlocks and a wardrobe full of tie-dye and rainbow coloured woven jackets.  Not yet anyway!

I’m simply going to seek out some ways of tweaking and adapting my skin, hair and beauty regimes so that I only use natural ingredients and products.  I’ll be posting the results so you can see how it all goes down – it’s gotta be worth a try for the sake of my pocket, my health and the planet!

Wish me luck………!

gollygoshgirl xx

A little footnote (added 20.05.2013) ;  if you fancy seeing how I’m getting on take a peek at these – I’ll update below as I go along! 🙂

natural, organic skincare,  the no ‘poo method, homemade dry shampoo,  natural leg scrub, no-heat curls and plenty more to come!