Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Going green?? No...saving $$ and crap on my skin?? YES!!!

Since I have discovered a love of Pinterest, a wonderful online pin board type thing, I have discovered this whole world of natural beauty products that I didn't know existed!  I have always been really into skin and hair care and was always on the lookout for the best products to make my skin and hair perfect.  Well needless to say, that product just doesn't exist.  Then a while back I read a book about being a normal everyday girl going green, I can't remember what it was called, but it was something like Green Diva or goodess or something.   Anyway, I didn't want to be nor am I even close to being a hippie, but I figured we should take care of this earth, and like Gandhi says "Be the change you want to see" so it starts with me.  Well after a while I realized I didn't want to take all these steps, they are major life overhauls, but I did start making my own facial moisturizer based on the book's recipe, which I loved!   So fast forward about two years to a few months ago.  I had gone away from my oil moisturizer and started going back to the beauty industry for my miracle cures.  On Pinterest people started pining recipes to make your own beauty stuff; like face and body scrubs, hair masks etc.  Now mind you, I have always been suspicious and hesitant of the beauty industry marketing practice.   They airbrush everything, check out my Pinboard on exactly this, I called it Gilded Lilies for obvious reasons :)  http://pinterest.com/cap92977/gilded-lilies/  
But it really has bothered me, that coupled with the fact that EVERYTHING you put on your skin goes into your bloodstream (a scary fact!!!) AND realizing that all this crap on the market is just that....CRAP!  Really!  I still see the same issues, same problems etc.  However, I also have bought into the whole notion that they have sold us through very effective propaganda that only science works....then all these companies started to realize that natural is selling so they all started using these "sell" words like natural, and organic, however these claims are very loosely regulated!  Real natural ingredients have short shelf lives and don't always have the pretty perfumey smells (actually never!)   So they add fragrance, which is literally toxic for our bodies.  I won't get into all the science because frankly I don't understand it, but I understand it enough to know its no good!  




The first recipe I came across was a recipe for body lotion, touted as the best lotion ever!  It was a mix of vaseline, baby lotion and vitamin E cream; mix it together and viola, best lotion ever....OR NOT!  Its just a mixture of a bunch of crap lotions, not to mention that petroleum jelly isn't the best for your skin.  Then I heard about this new craze of cleaning your face with oil!  Initially I was horrified by this!!  However I decided to read this article and was convinced, then googled it to make sure it was a big arguable debate and I wasn't going to possibly end up with boils and low and behold, nothing but good press!  http://www.simpleorganizedliving.com/2011/02/23/homemade-facewash/   So I use the normal skin mix and started using it.  I used 70% sunflower oil and 30% castor oil.  The first time I used it, thought it was very odd and a bit icky, it doesn't just rinse off, you have to used a nice hot towel and wipe it off, but then you don't need a moisturizer!    I loved it!  My skin issues started to clear up and it felt great!!!  My skin started to look healthy and had a nice glow!  




Then I  found a link to the miracle of coconut oil: http://www.hybridrastamama.com/2012/01/160-uses-for-coconut-oil.html:   I had never heard anything about this before but was interested...  so at the time I had athletes foot and it says it will cure it.  So i decided to try it, and it was gone in two days!!!!  Then I started using it for other things, like I used as a make- up remover and it was perfection!  I was nervous to use it on my face, but then I decided to try it, and let me tell you... I AM HOOKED!  All these things that the beauty industry promised is bull crap, its all lies that can't be substantiated, look at their tests they say 98% experienced this or that when using this product, but if you notice, its verses using NOTHING!  Well duh, you can use any lotion and EVERYONE will feel more moisture!  You could throw water on your skin and it will feel better!  Anyway, I finally found something that delivered!!!  I use it on my hair once a week as a moisturizing mask and it has truly changed my hair.  Its soft and silky, I actually finally can say I like my skin and hair!  No beauty product ever gave me these results (long term!)  I used coconut oil for everything!  I brushed my teeth with it for the first time this morning.  The jury  is still out on this one...since no one is here to smell my breath, though my mouth feels really clean and tastes good!  I did this because of my concern for animal testing and I use Colgate who is owned by Proctor and Gamble who tests on animals.  I have to say no to that!  I am ok with testing on animals for some things like cures for cancers etc, but for beauty products??? NO!  Test it on yourselves, why torture (and they do torture) these poor defenseless animals for our vanity!  It makes me angry.  We have to care about something other then ourselves, so if this is my small step, then its worth it.  We have to protect the defenseless.








Thanks for reading this friends!  I hope you will try some of these!  Take your beauty into your own hands!  What you can get from nature is far better and WAYYYYYY cheaper then anything you can get at a drug store or department store  (which, I might add is where I got all my stuff, I used pricey department store brands)