Posts tagged cosmetics
April 6, 2012 · Filed under diy, Environmental Detox, Health Care, Herb Recipes, Hobbies & Crafts, Natural Beauty, Personal Care · Tagged chemicals, cleaning, cosmetics, crafts, diy, ecology, handmade, herbs, homemade, how to, natural, non toxic, recipes, safe, washing
Although most people are happy with the huge array of choices we have in our department stores and find that most commercial products work well for them, there are many of us who find hair care challenging and difficult. For me, it’s an allergy to fragrances and a sensitivity to chemical additives. If I use the wrong shampoo, my head itches, flakes, gets a rash and sometimes burns for long periods of time, even as long it might take me to wash the residue out with another shampoo. So my search for shampoo has become a real challenge. I just can’t use whatever my sister leaves in the shower. Mine has to be fragrance free, without dyes or chemicals and usually has to have organic ingredients. Same for my hair color. I have found a few products that work for both purposes, dyeing and washing, but they are expensive and I have to order them online. In the meantime, I have come up with a lot of homemade alternatives and most of them are really good.
In my next post, I will give recipes for making homemade rinses and conditioners. I am also working on an ebook about homemade hair dyes and the methods for using them. Here, in this post, I want to share some of my recipes for homemade shampoos. These are safe, non toxic, hypoallergenic, easy to make and to make adjustments to. You will see when you get started on the recipes and after you use this stuff, you may be inclined to give up the commercial chemical based products you’ve been using most of your life.
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June 18, 2011 · Filed under diy, Environmental Detox, Herb Recipes, Hobbies & Crafts, Natural Beauty, Personal Care · Tagged aloe, avocado, chamomile, comfrey, cosmetics, crafts, diy, feverfew, healing, herbs, homemade, how to, ivy, lavender, natural, non toxic, oil, products, recipes, remedies, sesame, shopping, skin, skin care, sunbathing, sunburn, suntan
Not too long ago I wrote a post on sunscreens. I investigated their ingredients, the effectiveness of those ingredients and any known hazards presented by their use. You can read that post HERE . And, from that, you can decide whether sunscreens are for you and whether the benefits outweigh the risks in your situation. But there is a wide range of needs in the area of sun care for your skin, from the professional tanner who spends endless hours in the sun to the weekend tourist who is exposing tender white skin for the first time. I have been on both ends of this spectrum, living in Florida and growing up in the 1960s when every girl on TV was blond and tan. Even the English ladies had tans! So I wanted to be dark, blond and thin, of course.
Young girls have every reason to want a tan. It is considered a form of beauty in white culture and girls who are “too white” are laughed at. And although suntanning can be dangerous to the skin, especially if you have a history of cancer or a family history of skin cancer, most people do it anyways. So I want to offer some projects to make your own homemade skin products for suntanning that will be natural, sustainable, safe, non toxic and good for your skin. If you read my post on sunscreens, you will realize that most sun products are made of chemicals. Why expose yourself to that, as well as whatever danger and / or damage the sun might do to your skin. Here are my recipes:
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January 28, 2011 · Filed under diy, gifts, Hobbies & Crafts, Home and Garden, Personal Care · Tagged cosmetics, crafts, diy, gifts, handmade, homemade, how to, natural, projects, valentines day
Valentines Day is just around the corner and that special someone in your life is expecting something special. Can you afford to go out and buy them something sparkly and gold? Have you already bought them something like this and now it’s time for something different? Have you ever considered giving them something you created yourself, as a special gift that takes thought and consideration? Is your special someone who would enjoy something special like this? If so, then consider making something sweet, lovely, warm and creative that will leave them with something they can use all year and perhaps think of you every time they do.
Most of these projects are very simple and require very few ingredients. The ingredients they do require are easy to find for the most part and where they aren’t, I either provide links or good leads on where to find them. Overall, I truly believe that making these items yourself not only saves you money but it also stimulates your creativity and craftiness. Once you see how nice the items are that you can make, you may be motivated to keep going. Natural products are safe, holistic, organic, cheaper, funner and more full of love! Only the most jaded lover or partner would reject these thoughtful, loving gifts because they weren’t made in China or came from Walmart! Remember the days when we used to be able to buy local, handmade arts and crafts that cost a bit more but had truly lasting value and were usually made here in the good old U.S.A? Well, it’s up to use to rekindle that kind of quality product. Give it a try. Who knows maybe you’ll be so good at it you’ll end up selling your product to your neighbors! At the very least, you will have given someone you love the ultimate expression of love: something you took the time and energy to make, just for them! Happy Valentines Day!
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August 17, 2010 · Filed under conservation, diy, Hobbies & Crafts, Home and Garden, Natural Beauty, Natural Cooking, recycling · Tagged cooking, cosmetics, crafts, diy, eating, foraging, gardening, handmade, homemade, how to, projects, recipes, recycling, reuse, roses
You have been enjoying the Rose Garden all summer, watching the lovely flowers bloom and smelling their luscious fragrance. Now you are left with the coming of fall and the bloom is off the Rose. You have a house full of fallen petals from those lovely stalks you had in vases. You have a garden covered in pretty red, pink and yellow petals as your plants thin down, preparing for the colder, darker days ahead. You are thinking about raking them up but maybe just let them scatter. DON’T! Get busy and gather them all up. Don’t throw them out and let them fly off in a gust. There are many wonderful things you can make using these Rose petals, leaves and stems! They will make fodder for fascinating fall projects during the boring, indoor days you must now face. The beach and the sun may be fading, but the flowers are about to take over your life.
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August 5, 2010 · Filed under diy, Environmental Detox, Health Care, Natural Beauty, Natural Remedies, Personal Care · Tagged chemicals, cosmetics, diy, health, homemade, how to, natural, non toxic, products, recipes, safe, skin cancer, skin damage, sun care, sun tan, sunscreens, tanning
Sunscreens have a history of being greatly desired, on the one hand, and generally feared, on the other. This is because everyone has become convinced that sun exposure causes skin cancer and sunscreens are the only remedy for this while, at the same time, coming to the realization that sunscreens are made up of unnatural chemicals and additives that are suspected of toxicity. Very few of us remember this, but the very first sunscreen made for public use was made up of red vetinary petrolatum (yes, I said vetinary) and it was just a horrible, sticky goop that wasn’t proven to do much of anything. And, yet, it was the only product offered at the time. In contrast, today we have more than 500 choices for sunscreen, mostly because people have become terrified of sun exposure and this has carved out a an enormous wallet in the market.
But regardless of the fact that we have come to believe that sun exposure causes skin cancer and sun screens are somehow a miraculous barrier to that exposure, and thereby desired and, in some cases necessary, tools in the summer safety kit, the only thing that sunscreens are truly proven to do is prevent sunburn. In fact, according to the FDA’s 2007 draft sunscreen safety regulations, the “FDA is not aware of data demonstrating that sunscreen use alone helps prevent skin cancer.” The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) agrees with this and, in fact, they recommend clothing, hats and shade as primary barriers to UV radiation. Their materials also say that “sunscreens should not be the first choice for skin cancer prevention and should not be used as the sole agent for protection against the sun. In other words, there is NO PROOF that sunscreen prevents skin cancer.
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March 8, 2010 · Filed under diy, Health Care, Natural Beauty, Personal Care · Tagged cleanser, cosmetics, crafts, diy, face cream, homemade, how to, natural, non toxic, products, recipes, safe
I absolutely love baking soda. I used it for everything. I brush my teeth with it (with either peroxide or lemon juice for whitening power!), use it for antacid (works great and saves $$), use it as a mild abrasive household cleaner, use it in the cat boxes to reduce the ammonia stink and I rinse my sinuses with it (you need a neti pot). But it has a large list of other uses, many of which don’t matter to me personally for various reasons but may be of use to you. And this has nothing to do with making biscuits or tortillas (which you may use it for if you like!).
You can buy any brand of baking soda, whatever is cheapest, it’s all the same basic ingredient and just doesn’t vary from brand to brand. If there are additives, avoid it! Pure sodium bicarbonate is all you want or need. You can get a basic version store brand at almost any store, from Dollar General to Walmart. Or you can just go with old fashioned, old faithful, Arm and Hammer. I buy several boxes every couple of weeks and usually get them on a 2-for-1 deal. You just can’t beat the price.
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February 17, 2010 · Filed under Environmental Detox, Health Care, Home and Garden, Personal Care · Tagged antibacterial, antibacterial soaps, cleaning, cleanser, cosmetics, healing, health, Health Care, Personal Care, products, safe, shopping, toxic, washing
It seems like you can’t even buy a soap that isn’t “antibacterial” anymore and often that those soaps are cheaper than the others! Indeed, it seems like antibacterial soap is everywhere now, in everything from shampoo to bar soaps. The idea is that we are crawling with germs and this stuff will keep us from getting sick. However, being an old lady these days I remember a time before they invented this stuff and I don’t recall being sick all the time. So are they really an upgrade in our lifestyles or is this just overkill?
Well, according to doctors in hospitals all across the country there is growing concern over “antibiotic resistance” which is fast becoming more dangerous than the germs themselves. We have developed antibiotic resistant bacteria that are responsible for killer diseases like MRSA and flesh eating bacteria. The general consensus is that factory farming is to blame for this with the non stop treatment of farm animals to prevent infections. But there is also a concern over the use of antibacterial soaps and sprays. Our immune systems need to be exposed to germs in order to develop resistance to them.. and the current rage over antibacterial environments does not allow that to happen.
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June 10, 2009 · Filed under diy, Environmental Detox, Natural Remedies, Uncategorized · Tagged chemicals, cleaning, cosmetics, health, how to, non toxic, products, safe, shopping, toxic
If I was going to eliminate only the worst toxic stuff from my world because, let’s say, it was too expensive, complicated or uncomfortable to work my way through ALL of it, then which ones would I choose? How would I know which ones were the worst and how would I find them in that pile of junk I have around me that I’ve become dependent upon and used to? Well, I know that this is a daunting task and it could take a novice years to get up to snuff, as well as taking many months to work the bad stuff out and to find new.
So knowing this and thinking about how people are, I thought it might be a good idea to give a list that people could write down, print out or record for future reference. A simple enough list to be added to the grocery and household shopping lists. So I came up with a “worst chemicals in the world” type of list with the names they go by on the labels you read so that you can snoop them out in your buying expeditions. I also give a short description of what they do and why there are bad for you so that you can understand that this is important. So get your pen, open your text document or start the voice recorder. Here they are:
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April 1, 2009 · Filed under diy, Environmental Detox, Natural Beauty, Personal Care · Tagged cosmetics, diy, face cream, fruits, green, homemade, how to, natural, non toxic, organic, recipes, veggies
I have been posting an awful lot of stuff about how awful commercial beauty products are and I haven’t even covered all of it yet. But I thought I would take a respite from horrible news and try to offer something useful and wonderful. I have a lot of natural ideas that will help everyone take it down a notch and I thought it was time to share some new ones. I just wasn’t sure what kind of post to create, other than I knew it shouldn’t just be herb based because I’ve already done a lot of that. And that’s when I received a great gift right out of my own TV.
I saw a great local program last month that showed us how to make natural, organic and cheap beauty products from everyday stuff. I laughed at first, watching the women painting their lips with fresh strawberries but then was pleasantly surprised to see that I liked the color and it did not just fade away. In fact, it’s kind of hard to wash off. So it got my interest and I started to think about how you can use fruits, veggies and other natural resources, to make organic beauty treatments that are cheap and safe. The trick is to make sure that the fruits, veggies and herbs you use are truly organic to begin with.
So here are some great, safe beauty product projects that you can get started on right away. Check out the recipes before you go shopping and make a list of the produce you need to get. And remember to make it organic.
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March 25, 2009 · Filed under diy, Environmental Detox, Health Care, Natural Beauty, Personal Care · Tagged chemicals, cosmetics, diy, health, homemade, how to, lead, lipstick, natural, non toxic, projects, recipes, safe, toxic
I am sure you have heard this before. I am also sure you think that something was done about it and Lipstick is safe for use. But did you know that, even though it’s been more than a year since the health groups reported that top selling lipsticks contain lead, the FDA is still just sitting on this research? It almost seems meaningless to ask why because a reasonable answer is never forthcoming. In fact, they tend to act like nothing of the sort has come to light and no action is necessary. This has been the sketch of their previous behavior concerning dangerous ingredients in these sort of products and in my last post I addressed the litany of horrible toxins that are included in the most popular personal care and beauty products.
You would think the beauty industry owned the FDA. Perhaps they do. Perhaps in the future I will do research on their lobbying efforts and get the names of their lobbyists just for your reference and consideration. I’d love to know the names of the lawmakers who have held the hand of this industry through what is tantamount to a rout of the American public’s health and well being. Now that Obama has named Lester Crawford as the head of the FDA, my question is this. Will the FDA reinstate it’s mission and act on behalf of the public interest.. or will it just continue to give all of us this toxic treatment and not look twice, much less reprimand, the perpetrators?
I think if you have read these posts and are reading this one now, you should go to the FDA website or send them an email demanding action in this matter. In the meantime, you need to get yourself and your own out of harms way. And that doesn’t just mean eschewing lipsticks but also taking great care in the purchase and use of all personal care and beauty products. Just recently, Canada announced that it had found lead, arsenic, mercury and cadmium during routine testing of children’s face paints. I would suggest you stop allowing your children to paint their face with anything at all until safe, natural and non toxic products are available.
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Harmony Green 