If you wouldn't eat it...

When I was younger, a good friend of mine gave me some advice. She said, "Lexi, if you wouldn't eat it, why would you put it on your skin?". I was a teen at the time and would do anything to cure my horrible skin. I used proactive and all sorts of prescription skin creams. Not until I was an adult did I think back on her advice.

The friend that gave me this wonderful advice is Jannell Brown, owner of Sol Spa in Harwich Port, MA. She is an amazing massage therapist and makes the scrubs she uses in her treatments. If you are from, or are visiting Cape Cod, check Sol Spa out!

As I'm sure most of you are aware, our skin is our largest organ and anything put on it is quickly absorbed into the blood stream. Can you pronounce the ingredients on the back of your shampoo bottle? Do you know what they are? Scary! If you are curious about levels of toxicity in your skin care products, check out this site: http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/

image borrowed from: http://patientadvocates.com/is-your-make-up-killing-you

The past few years I have given up all my commercial facial cleansers and lotions. I now stick to baking soda and coconut oil. My skin has never looked better! Of course other things have changed, I gave up eating anything processed, cut back on my dairy consumption, and drink a lot more water. The other day someone told me I had beautiful skin. I had never heard that one before. 

I plan on going completely all natural once the last of my shampoo runs out. I tried the "no-pooing" and I loved it for a short period of time, but after a while my hair was really drying out. I read an article about balancing out the pH in your hair, and the "no-poo" method can reek havoc if you don't know what you are doing. For those of you who don;t know what "no-pooing" is.....

The method of cleansing and conditioning hair without using conventional shampoos. common no-poo concoctions include baking soda and water, apple cider vinegar and water, etc.

The first few times I told people I was trying the "no-poo" method they responded with, "Wait... You're not pooping?".

My next plan of action will be making my own shampoo and conditioner. I will of course keep everyone updated and share what works best (as well as what didn't work). Making all my own skin care products will drastically decrease the amount of waste our household produces, bringing us that much closer to being zero-waste!

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask away!