Natural Skin and Body Care

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!