Natural Beauty Care

I don't know about you gals, but this winter has been brutal for me! At least my skin. Goodness, I've used so much lotion, it's ridiculous. I finally decided enough is enough, and I made the change to "natural" beauty care. Now, keep in mind, I'm only on day 2 of this new stuff, so I am by no means an expert. I'm just sharing my experience.

I've had a bit of dandruff my whole life. But a little bit of 'Head and Shoulders' once a week always kept it away. Until this winter.. NOTHING I tried would work! My scalp was so dry, and so itchy! And the past few weeks, it has been tender, almost painful. Like when you first take your hair out of a tight ponytail? And it kind of hurts to move it? Like that, but all the time. So I shopped around for different anti-dandruff shampoos. To my surprise, most of them contained salicylic acid. Does that sound familiar? It should. It's the main ingredient in most acne creams. So why in the world was I putting this irritating stuff on my tender scalp? It just made no sense.


I've seen a lot of articles lately about the new "No-Poo" method. Meaning no shampoo, at all. I was pretty skeptical at first, but I finally got up the courage to give it a try. I've tried everything else at this point, why not try this too? First I started by using a boar-bristle brush to exfoliate my scalp. (I wont go into detail about all the tiny flakes in my brush afterwards. Ew.) I spent probably 10-15 minutes gently brushing my scalp to really loosen up and dead skin that may have been trapped in the hair follicles. After that, I followed the instructions in this article. I used the first method, with the baking soda and water in a squeeze bottle, and I used white vinegar and water in a spray bottle for a "conditioner." After the shower, I used a small amount of my normal leave-in conditioner, and let my hair air dry. It has been almost 24 hours since that shower, and my scalp still feels great. It's a little dry, but definitely an improvement over the last few weeks. My hair still feels normal. It's not oily, or dry and brittle. I'm expecting to have a couple days where my skin over-produces oil. So I have my headbands and hair ties ready to go. But I'm really looking forward to seeing the improvement in my scalp.

Along with my scalp, I've also had a lot of problems with my skin on my face. I've been breaking out, while also dealing with dry skin. It's a horrible cycle. I treat the pimples and blackheads with astringent and acne creams, but then my skin is so dry and flakey, that I have to use moisturizer. I haven't been able to find anything to clear it up. Until this week. I saw a comment on a blog once about "oil cleansing" for your skin. And then one of my favorite bloggers posted about using olive oil on her face every night to keep it moisturized. I was intrigued, so I hit to the internet for answers. This website is fantastic. It tells you everything you could possibly need to know about oil cleansing. I've only been doing this for two days, but I have seen a HUGE difference in my skin already. My face hasn't felt tight, or dry at all, and I haven't had a single pimple. This morning, I was searching my whole face, and not one. I didn't even have to use cover up! It was amazing!

I always shower before bed. So my routine might be a little different than yours. I start with a regular face in the shower, makeup and all. I put a small amount of olive oil in my palm, and rub my hands together. Then I massage the oil into my face. Really take the time to give some good pressure here. You want to work the oil down into your pores, to break up the oil and dirt in there. Afterwards, I put my face into the hot water of the shower, to coax my pores open. Then I use my face scrubber (crocheted out of cotton yarn) to sort of wipe the oil off. I rinse in the water about 3 times, and then pat my face dry when I leave the shower. As my skin cooled down, and the pores closed up, my face still felt a little tight. So I put a very small about of rosehip oil in my hands and applied that to my face like a moisturizer. The oil soaks in really well, so I'm not making my pillow all greasy, and I wake up with soft healthy skin. It's fantastic. I don't wash my face in the morning either, just a splash of cold water, and on to my makeup.

I'm starting to wish I had tried these sooner! This switch really has been like a miracle for my skin and hair. I definitely recommend it to anyone struggling to find the healthy balance. If you have any questions at all, please PLEASE ask me! I am so excited to share this with everyone. It's like when you have that obnoxious friend that loses a ton of weight on some fad diet, and they brag about it to everyone. Yeah, that's me. I'm the obnoxious friend.

Source for hair care: http://www.coderedhat.com/no-poo/
Source for skin care: http://www.theoilcleansingmethod.com/