Natural Skin and Body Care

Spring is here and now’s the time to start thinking about getting your skin in shape for the summer.   During the hot weather we had here in NJ a few days ago, I saw a few feet, elbows and knees that were not quite ready for primetime, if you know what I mean.  Take this time to make sure you’re not on the list of those most in need of a pumice stone.

while in the shower or bath use either a pumice stone or foot file (one made to be used on wet feet - some are only for dry feet) to scrape off the dead winter skin on the heels and the ankles.  If you do this every time you take a shower or bath, then you won’t have to do a whole ‘thing’ once sandal weather really arrives.

Pay close attention to the skin on back of the upper arms and the elbows  - keeping these areas exfoliated and clear of dead skin is most important if you plan on wearing sleeveless shrits and tank tops.

Finally, check out those knees.  Grap a handful of wet baking soda and scrub those knees gently then rinse clean.  Believe me, you’ll have yourself looking great in no time!

There’s nothing worse than the itch of eczema, especially in children.  I have known many mothers who have children that suffer from this skin condition as well as reading many stories on the Internet about baby eczema issues. Both my daughter and my husband suffer from mild forms of eczema now.  However, my daughter suffered from bleeding eczema when she was an infant.  During my search for an eczema cream that would help both her and my husband, I discovered a whole world of not only people with the eczema skin condition,but also a wide array of skin creams that supposedly treated the condition.

In my search for that magic eczema cream that would ease my daughter’s itching, as she had it much worse than my husband, her pediatrician directed me towards Eucerin, Vaseline as well as  hydrocortisone cream.  Reading the ingredients on these items was enough to make my hair stand on end - I’m not a big fan of mineral oil mixtures or petrolatum jelly.  Mind you, these two oils do have their uses, but in my opinion, they are not for regular use on the skin.

After much research, I found my own magic eczema cream that worked for my daughter and my husband.  The base of the eczeam cream was unrefined shea butter to which I added other oils such as soybean oil.  After using this natural eczema cream on my daughter’s legs and my husband arms, there was a marked improvement in the appearance of their skin.  Of course, I used this shea cream on my two sons also and their skin improved, even though they had no marked skin conditions.

As it stands, I have not purchased commercial lotions or eczema creams since I discovered my recipe!  Please understand that I don’t claim that this cream will cure your eczema - I’m just relating my own experience.

However, if you would like to try out my homemade eczema cream, take a look at http://www.neosoulessentials.com/store/WsDefault.asp?Cat=FortheBody and try a product today!

The stores are full of the same looking decorations year after year. Often, we purchase these ornaments, use them once or twice and they either end up breaking or we find something else in the stores that catches our eye. So much waste for such a short season! Try a “green Christmas” this year by using ornaments from nature or made from. Your garbage can and the environment will thank you. Plus, you don’t have to purchase all those storage containers in the after Christmas rush.

A green Christmas is very easy to have. Not only does a green Christmas lessen waste after the holidays, it saves you money too. By using materials from your own garden or a nearby park, you can create unique green Christmas ornaments that can make your holiday a special one.

Some ideas for creating green Christmas ornaments and decorations are dried leaves, pine cones, tree branches and fresh or dried fruits. You can even create your own fragrant wreaths by picking up the broken branches at the live Christmas tree lots.

Pine cones make great green Christmas ornaments. If you would like to get creative, use a small amount of glitter to add a bit of sparkle to some of the cones. Or, you can lightly spray paint the pine comes with gold or silver paint. Smaller pine cones can be use as Christmas ornaments with a bit of black thread and paper clips!

You can create a beautiful green Christmas centerpiece with colorful fruit, such as red and green apples, oranges, and even bananas, with a few sprigs of evergreen thrown in to add green foliage and visual interest. And of course, a beautiful red or white poinsettia can add the perfect touch, As an added bonus, your poinsettia, if handled correctly, can be revitalized to bloom the next Christmas season!

These are only a few ideas to create your green Christmas. With a little luck and a lot of creativity, you can create a beautiful eco-friendly Christmas each year to come.

This blog post is in response to what I’ve been thinking about for a while.  Why did I go natural with my body care?  The reason why I began researching about the use of natural butters and oils was because of my daughter, but why have the rest of the family jump on the bandwagon.  Certainly, it would have been cheaper to just purchase products for my daughter, so why go this whole route?

I think that after my research into what we’re really putting on our bodies when we purchase that $1 or even sometimes $20 bottle of cream and/or lotion, it seemed to scare me away from a lot of those products.  Now, I can’t even go into a store w/out taking a peek at some of the lotion labels.  I mean, I don’t mind a synthetic fragrance here and there, but why must a list of ingredients for lotion be 10-20 items long?

So tell me readers, why did you decide to “go natural” with your body care?  Post your comment here about your reasons for switching to natural skin care or why you want to if you haven’t yet and you will be entered to win a 2 oz Jar of Eva’s Shea Buttah, Hempseed Oil Formula.

The winner will be selected randomly and will be notified via email.  Giveaway closes Sunday, November 30.

Planning an easy Thanksgiving dinner can be stressful because this is one of the holidays where it seems that the focus is on the food and table presentation.  Certainly we all understand the history of Thanksgiving and that we are giving thanks for what we have, but most of us, especially the moms, understand that it can be all about the food!  Creating an easy Thanksgiving dinner can take the stress off you and the family as a whole so that you all can enjoy the holiday.

If you are planning a Thanksgiving dinner, it goes without saying that you should plan and prepare in advance.  Sometimes this is difficult to do, especially when the grocery stores sales usually begin the Sunday before Thanksgiving.  Take note, that in order to have an easy Thanksgiving dinner, you should keep yourself as stress free as possible!  This is where careful planning and simplification come into play.  Prepare yourself, however, for the fact that even with careful planning, there are always several last minute party preparations that you will have to do.

Grocery Shopping:
If you have not all ready completed your shopping try to do so MOnday or Tuesday evening.  If you truly want to have a stress free, easy Thanksgiving dinner, DO NOT by any means try to go to the grocery store, liquor store or any other store on Wednesday afternoon beyond 1 pm.  Schools usually are half-day that day and some workplaces close early.  And always, remember to go to the store with a list, which will prevent last minute trips to the QuikCheck

Decorating:
Keep it simple, keep it low key for your easy Thanksgiving dinner - remember, the key word here is easy!  A nice fruit bowl/basket and some candles placed in strategic places (lit or unlit) will give you the ambience you need.  You may also try using candle warmers with tarts to give an olfactory boost to your celebration.

Preparing Ahead:
You might want to prepareome of your foods and side dishes early. While you can prepare a number of dishes in advance, there are some that need to be made at the last minute. Perhaps you would like to prepare fresh salad or serve a cut cheese/fruit tray. These, by design would have to be done the day of.   If you don’t mind heating and eating and you have plenty of gravy, it may be advisable to cook your turkey or ham or other main dish ahead of time. Side dishes can be prepared or even purchased in advance and heated in the oven or microwave before serving.  In this way, the pressure is off for cooking the “day of” and you can merely reheat your dish.  An easy Thanksgiving dinner preparer knows how to take the shortcuts.As dinner is eaten, heat your pies in the oven.

Cleaning:
Again keep it easy.  if you don’t have small children, you should be able to do a “deep cleaning” ahead of time and merely do a quick vacuuming the day of your easy Thanksgiving dinner.  However, as one who has three small children and a dog,  I don’t stress about how immaculate the house is or is not.  In fact, immaculate house is not even in my vocabulary.

I hope these tips help you pull off your own easy Thanksgiving dinner.  And take it from someone who had takeout Chinese food one stomach-flu ridden Christmas - it’s not about the food, it’s about whose there.

Oh, and you may ask, how do I pull off my easy Thanksgiving dinner?  I buy it from Eden Gourmet in South Orange!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I certainly didn’t forget about the fellas when it comes to my natural bath and body products. I know it seems like when they’re talking about natural bath and body, the guys are almost always left out. Not here!

As I wrote before, my family is my guinea pigs and my husband works closely with me in the testing and development of my products. My daughter is my tester for my eczema products and my two sons, well, let’s just say they stay oily and fragranced.

Oh, yes, about bald men. My husband is a baldie by choice – he shaves his head every week or so. I noticed that even though he used shaving cream and rinsed well after shaving his head and used (gasp!) lotion, sometimes the skin at the back of the neck would dry out during the course of the day. It just wouldn’t do for the husband of “the natural skincare sista” to walk around with dry skin!

Now, my husband is a really simple person and, like many men, don’t want to deal with a lot of potions and creams in his morning routine. So I persuaded him to try to use the megamix whip on his head and it worked great! Not only did it absorb quickly and nourish that dry skin, but it left a nice sheen on the skin.

Some tips for bald men to keep that dome sexy and sleek:

• Always shave with a sharp razor – a dull razor will not give a close shave and may cause razor bumps
• When using a razor, always use a moisturizing shaving cream or shave oil to avoid nicks and cuts – virgin coconut oil can be used
• Use a soothing scalp conditioner on your head after shaving – you need to replenish your scalp’s natural oils try our Megamix Whip which is availabe u

After you’re all done, head over to Black Pearl Style Creations for a custom made knit scarf set to keep your head warm during the cold winter months!

I’ve been working with oils for the last three or so years, trying to find that perfect combination that would leave the skin smooth and soft.  Along the way, I’ve learned so much about these oils and their benefits.   While these oils are great for your skin, some of them are even more excellent when used in other ways.

Virgin Coconut Oil is one of these very versatile oils that is good for you inside and out.  Let’s take a look at this oil

Origins:  Virgin Coconut Oil is the oil that is pressed or extracted from the fresh meat of the coconut.  It melts on the skin and smells of fresh coconuts.

Benefits:  There are three ways that virgin coconut oil can benefit you and your body.

• Cooking - yes, you can cook with virgin coconut oil and it will not make your food taste like coconuts.  It’s a great monounsaturated fat that can be used for frying (yes, you’re not supposed to fry food, but you know full well we sometimes do), in smoothies ( a great energy source) and in salad dressings.
• On the skin - Use it straight as a natrually scented massage oil or as a lotion for those dry spots.  I often use it to cleanse my skin and remove makeup and the environmental “dirt” from the day.  It’s a gentle cleanser that leaves your skin feeling great.  (Did I also say it smells good too?)
• On the hair - I use coconut oil as an “cold oil” treatment for my hair.  I slather on as much as possible, pop on a plastic cap and tie a bandanna around my hairline because the oil will run in your eyes (ask me how I know).  After about 20-30 min, I rinse my hair using warm water and a dab of shampoo, not too much -don’t want to rinse all that good oil out of my hair!  I also use it as a hair oil for mine and my children’s hair.

Try a small sample of virgin coconut oil to see how it works for you!

Conclusion

Understand that while the USDA regulates agricultural ingredients that go into the organic body products, they do not regulate and have no authority over the labeling or production of products that do not utilize agricultural ingredients. Which basically means if that mascara you’re buying claims to be “organic” it’s most likely is not or it is “certified organic” by an entity other than the Department of Agriculture.

In addition, be aware that the organic body products that you may purchase in the store might also be certified by private agents that are not connected with the USDA and thus are subject to private standards, not the government’s.  AND containing organic ingredients doesn’t always mean chemical free.

I do not make the claim that my products are organic, although they are 95% natural.  The virgin coconut oil and the soybean oil that I use is certified organic because it can be and is used in cooking in the United States.  However, the shea butter that I use is not certified organic by the Department of Agriculture.  Shea butter is not recognized as ‘food’ in the United States and thus is not certified organic by the US Government.

Hopefully, this information will assist you in making an informed choice when you visit the personal care product section of your local store.

Your body needs vitamins, whether it be from food or supplments, in order to function properly.  Vitamin C is one such important vitamin.  A lack of vitamin C can lead to scurvy, a disease which manifests itself physicially through swollen legs, tiredness and itichiness.  Sailors in the 19th century were prone to this disease because of the lack of fresh fruits and vegetables on long sea journeys.  Today, the best way to provide the body with vitamin C is through foods sich as green peppers, citrus fruits, broccoli and tomatoes.  In addition, there are many drinks on the market such as Emergen-C and  supplements that you can take that will provide you with the Vitamin C that you need.

There are thirteen vitamins that the body needs a steady supply and vitamin C (sometimes called ascrobic acid) is one of them.  A few of these vitamins are fat-soluable, which basically means that our bodies can store them  for future use.  However, Vitamin C is not fat-soluble and thus is not stored by the body.  This means that in order to keep ourselves healthy and happy, we must ingest vitamin C, in one form or another, every day.  The recommended daily allowance of Vitamin C varies according to age, weight and health, but everyone should have vitamin C every day.

What is the purpose of Vitamin C?  vitamim C is an antioxidant, which basicallly means that it protects the body against free radicals in the environment that may cause cell damage.  In addition, vitamin C may also have anti-aging properties.  Large doses of Vitamin c (1000mg or more) may also assist in reducing or eliminating symptoms associalted with the common cold and may reduce the duration of a cold.  Please note that this information is not meant to diagnose or treat your specific condition.   Please do not make any changes to your current medical program without first consulting a medical professional.

If you and your doctor decide that taking Vitamin C supplements are right for you, be sure that you follow your doctor’s recommended rate of dosage.  Although your body does need Vitamin C on a daily basis, there is a possibility of taking too much vitamin C.  If you do take more Vitamin C than your body can properly use, you may experience diarrhea and other side effects.  In addition, check the labels of  Vitamin C supplements before purchasing, to ensure that you are buying the right dosage per pill.

Vitamin C is an essential vitamin for your health and well-being.  Take care to always include it in your diet.  Check with your doctor if you have any further questions about Vitam in C supplementation.