I had all my hair chopped off earlier this month into a nice little bob, not too many layers but enough to give it a bit of oomph, also had a side sweeping fringe added in and what a difference. Well it was until I woke up the next morning and it was flat again. I was so disappointed and set off to finding products that would help me have lasting volume, something that was quick and easy to use, and finally and probably most importantly wouldn’t break the bank balance. After browsing the shelves for an hour reading various boxes I decided to give the Tresemme range a try, there seemed to be a lot of choice and their products seemed to describe everything I was hoping to achieve.

So the first products I used were the TRESemme Naturals shampoo & conditioner:

This was followed with the blow-dry lotion while I dried my hair, I then used the sky high plumping powder to add volume and added in some large rollers. Finally I finished off with Finishing Shine spray.

Well my initial reaction was that I really wasn’t sure if the products would do what it said on the bottle but I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. The blow-dry lotion is the best one I have ever tried, others I have used in the past have left my hair feeling sticky or dry, this one however left no sticky residue and it didn’t feel like I had used anything in my hair at that stage. Then there was the plumping powder, I had never even heard of this stuff before so again I was pessimistic about whether it would actually work. But it did, and it worked brilliantly. Yes it did feel like I had straw-like hair but I could cope with that because the effect it gave me was fantastic. I only had to scrunch my hair a little and it actually had volume and stayed that way, didn’t just flop back down against my head. Once I’d took the rollers out I finished off with the shine finishing spray (which did actually make it look shiny!!) and this really did hold it in, despite the wind etc. the style stayed, the volume lasted me all day and night and it was amazing. For the first time in my life I had hair with volume in a style that looked really nice and was really easy to achieve:

For a busy mummy that doesn’t get much time in a morning to style their hair and put make-up on I have found that these products have changed my mornings, I can actually style my hair while I’m getting ready for work and I can actually walk in to work knowing that my hair will look the same as it did when I left the house…

Executive Summary about Health and Beauty Products by Zarko Z Zivkovic

By insuring top products you are insuring what’s best for you and at the same time you use less of the cosmetic product in question.

There are cosmetic products you can save on, but don’t try to save money on cosmetic products which quality really matters. When it comes to body nurture products you most definitely shouldn’t try to save money, nor decide based on the smell or the package of the cosmetic product in question.

When buying a nail clipper or scissors, or nail brush you want to buy the best one, you will pay a little extra but their sharpness won’t break your nails and they will last much longer. Top quality products ensure that you have the best possible care and they will save you money eventually.

You want a cosmetic product to do what it is intended to do. Sometimes spending money on high quality products will not only keep you beautiful but it will also save you money in the end.

Health and Beauty, Health Beauty Products

Importance of Health and Beauty and How to Obtain It

Do you know why health and beauty are important to us? Health is also something we need to work on. As for beauty part, that is something that genetic predisposition helps a lot but with all the beauty products and cosmetics these days are quite easier to obtain beauty through artificial means, and with a little bit of care.

Cosmetics and make up may help you work out skin issues problems; they can also help you in stabilizing your skin structure permanently while proteins and some health product along with healthy diet can cleanse your body from harmful material.

In order to obtain health and beauty you must look out for your needs, many people tend to get health crazy and listen to any advice that they come by and they end up hurting their body more. You first must understand your needs, and once you do you can find the right health and beauty product for you.

Keyword: Health and Beauty Products, Health and Beauty, Health Beauty Products

Check out my other guide: Beauty Makeup

Master Tonic Ingredients are Fresh: Jalapeno Peppers, Garlic, Onions, Ginger, Horseradish and Raw Apple Cider Vinegar – Use Organic!

The recipe calls for equal parts of the above ingredients. I peeled the garlic, onions, ginger and horseradish and pulse each item in the food processor. I then placed it all in a gallon glass jar to about 3/4s full and filled it up with the raw apple cider vinegar. I just sat it on my kitchen shelves for several weeks and I shook it everyday.

I’m not sure if I shook it enough, but I think it’s okay. The minimum is two weeks to steep it, but you can leave it there as long as you like. It doesn’t spoil. Here’s what it looked like just before bottling.

I purchased 16 ounce amber bottles from Mountain Rose Herbs. I’ve heard many recommend the company, and since they are here in Oregon, I thought the shipping might be reasonable. It was. Oh, and they do carry herbs, too.    They carry a lot, actually. You should check them out.

I started to strain the liquid through a stainless steel strainer into the bottles. But then I changed my mind and strained it all into a jar so I could mix it up before bottling it.

So I ended up straining everything twice before bottling it. In the colander is my pulp that I put into a cheesecloth bag so I could squeeze more liquid out of it. Unfortunately, although the mixture had steeped for six weeks, my hands still felt the burn of the peppers afterward for a while. Ouch! It didn’t last long, though.

The finished product, six 16 oz. bottles of Master Tonic that will never spoil. That’s right, it has an indefinite shelf life. Take 1/2 to 1 Tablespoon at a time when ill or when you’ve been exposed to illness. More information may be found here. 

And, if you’d like to see a video of someone making the tonic from start to finish, click here.

Want to know what I did with the pulp?  Stay tuned for an answer to that later this week.

KEEPING OUR SKIN HEALTHY & DEVELOPING A NATURAL FACIAL CARE ROUTINE

General Care Of Your Skin

To keep your skin healthy and your skin’s natural acid mantle functioning properly you should follow a daily regimen of:

Ÿ  Eating a healthy, whole foods diet

Ÿ  Getting a daily dose of essential fatty acids through the intake of unrefined, expeller pressed plant oils or fish oils

Ÿ  Daily lubricating your skin using a nourishing, natural, skin-friendly moisturizer

Ÿ  Drinking plenty of fresh water

Ÿ  Getting regular outdoor exercise

This is very basic but that’s because it is basically easy to keep our skin healthy. One of the ways our body eliminates toxins is through our skin. Removing additive filled, factory made, fast, nutrition-less food from our diet will decrease the amount of toxins that our body has to eliminate.

Increasing our water intake helps our kidneys do major toxin removal and protects our skin from dehydration. Applying lotions also keeps our skin hydrated and certain natural oils provide some sun protection.

Developing A Healthy Daily Natural Facial Care Routine

Developing a healthy daily skin care routine can work wonders for your face.  It’s easy and in no time these simple steps will naturally be part of your day. This is a habit that will have long term positive results that you and others are sure to notice.

The four basic steps to healthy facial skin are cleanse, tone, moisturize, and weekly exfoliation.

Cleanse:

Avoid products that are harsh to your skin. Many of the “beauty bars” and liquid cleansers in the stores contain detergents, such as sodium lauryl sulphate, that strip your skin of nutrients and upset the acid mantle. These detergent based products should definitely not be used on your face.

Mornings: The best way to cleanse is with plain warm water on a soft, all cotton washcloth. A gentle rubbing action exfoliates dead skin cells and removes the nighttime build up of oils while the warm water opens and cleanses the pores.

Evenings: Wash with a gentle, all natural soap or natural cleanser to remove the daily build up of excess oils, makeup, and other environmental impurities.

Despite popular opinion, soap is a simple and safe way to cleanse your skin. Choose a natural soap that contains moisturizing plants oils such as olive, coconut, avocado, hemp, and/or jojoba. Make sure it says “soap” on the label, otherwise even if it has good botanical ingredients it also has detergent in it that will strip your skins natural oils and promote dryness.

If using a liquid cleanser is should not contain any alcohol, parabens, or urea which are harmful to your skin.

Note: Adjust the cleansing step to best fit your lifestyle. Some people like to use cleanser in the morning instead of the evening. Either way, you should only use a cleanser product once a day. Excessive cleansing causes your skin to be too dry which can cause premature wrinkling.

Tone:

Toning is an important step. Toning rebalances the pH after cleansing. It also tightens and closes the pores which creates a smooth appearance and it helps keep bacteria and dirt out.

Avoid facial toners that contain alcohol. Alcohol is harsh and can destroy your skin. Instead use botanical flower waters, better known as hydrosols. Fruit vinegar also makes an excellent facial toner.

Toners are applied immediately after cleansing. Either spritz on or dab on and let it air dry.

Moisturize:

The most important step! To prevent premature aging and wrinkling of your skin you must moisturize it.

Avoid moisturizers that contain alcohol, mineral oil, parabens, propylene glycol, urea, and other petroleum products as they will rob your skin of vital nutrients and eventually cause a mottled, wrinkled appearance to your skin. These ingredients are now being shown to cause harmful, long term effects to our body.

Use moisturizers that contain natural botanical oils such as jojoba, avocado, olive, and contains pure essential oils.

Exfoliation:

At least once a week, preferably twice, you should exfoliate. Exfoliating creates a smooth feel and appearance to your skin by removing old, spent skin cells and revealing the fresh new layer below.

Clays make excellent facial exfoliators that are gentle and also absorb toxins from the skin. It’s best to mix clay with a liquid that is rich in natural hydroxy acid such as milk.  Use small circular motions while applying which helps scrub away the dead skin cells. When face is covered let the clay sit for 5 minutes or until dry to absorb toxins. Then splash rinse with warm water.

Essential Oils Are Essential

The regular use of pure essential oils helps to keep your skin healthy. Essential oils contain nutrients from nature like minerals and vitamins that are essential for proper skin health. Our skin cells recognize these nutrients and will readily accept them in through our pores. Essential oils help to create health and balance to our system.

Which essential oils to use depends on your skin type.

Acne/Oily Skin: lavender, tea tree, lemongrass, geranium, bergamot  (these essential oils can be found in Natural Family Botanicals Skin Therapy Cream, Aromatherapy Complexion Mist, Aloe Coconut Cleansing Facial Milk, Restorative Herbal Clay Mask, and Lavender Clay Facial Scrub).

Dry Skin: rose, sandalwood, neroli, myrrh, chamomile (these essential oils can be found in Natural Family Botanicals Evening Primrose Cream, and Aromatherapy Complexion Mist).

Sensitive Skin: lavender, neroli, rosewood, chamomile, rose (these essential oils can be found in Natural Family Botanicals Organic Daily Facial Moisturizer, Skin Therapy Cream, Lavender Clay Facial Scrub, and Aloe Coconut Cleansing Facial Milk).

Mature/Sun-damaged Skin: bergamot, carrot seed, lavender, myrrh, sandalwood, neroli, frankincense (these essential oils can be found in Natural Family Botanicals Evening Primrose Cream, Aromatherapy Complexion Mists, Organic Daily Facial Moisturizer, Lavender Clay Facial Scrub, and Aloe Coconut Cleansing Facial Milk).

Natural Family Botanicals products are safe and effective. You can feel confident that your skin is getting premium healing compounds that will make a visible improvement to your skin. You can find more information about skin care and our natural products on our website at http://www.nfbotanicals.com

©Kelly Frohnauer, Natural Family Botanicals

Today, I’m excited to introduce a guest post by Kelly Frohnauer, local business owner and manufacturer of all natural skin care products.  I asked Kelly to educate us on why what we put on our skin is so important.  Kelly’s bio is at the end of the article with a link to her web site.  Feel free to leave comments and questions for Kelly, and check out her web site to learn more about her products.

Why Use Natural Skin Care Products?

Our skin is the largest of our body’s organs and our first line of defense against harmful substances, toxins, infections, temperature and dehydration. Keeping our skin healthy keeps us healthy!

60% of what you put on your skin is absorbed into your blood stream. Most of the skin care products on the market today contain numerous synthetic and harmful ingredients. With these unnatural additives in our blood stream our body has to work hard to filter them out which in turn can weaken our bodies natural defense system. This strain on one of our major organs can have a snowball effect creating other conditions such as unsightly skin irritations (eczema, for example), rashes, and debilitating allergies.

Many of the synthetic substances in main stream skin care have not been proven safe to use and have been linked to birth defects, breast cancer, liver damage, and hormonal imbalance. These toxic ingredients are byproducts from the manufacturers of motor oil, petroleum products, insecticides, and worse!

Avoiding skin care products and cosmetics with these harmful ingredients only makes sense! So check your labels for ingredients such as mineral oil (found in baby oil), petrolatum (Vaseline is pure petrolatum!), sodium lauryl sulphate, methylparaben, propylparaben, propylene glycol, and dibutyl phthalate, to name a few.

At Natural Family Botanicals we are committed to manufacturing skin care products that are 100% natural, and are filled with oils and ingredients that are known to nourish, restore and strengthen our skin in order to help keep it healthy. When you use natural ingredients that work in harmony with your body you are sure to have healthy skin…and healthy skin is your first line of defense for a healthy body!

Next week we will discuss the basic steps to having healthy, beautiful skin!

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If you like having the freedom to purchase natural skin care products from local and small businesses instead of the big box store brands, please take the time to sign this petition to defeat The Safe Cosmetics Act of 2010 (HR  5786). This bill will impose many unfair and unnecessary requirements upon small manufacturers of skincare products and cosmetics which will be impossible and extremely expensive and force many to quit business. Please act now!

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/oppose-hr-5786-safe-cosmetics-act-of-2010/

©2010 Kelly Frohnauer

Kelly is the founder and product formulator of Natural Family Botanicals and has been marketing her natural skin care products since 2002. Kelly’s interest and studies in herbology and aromatherapy began as a newlywed over 30 years ago and she has since practiced her natural remedies regularly on family and friends. Kelly has been a homebirth midwife since 1986 and has birthed all 5 of her own children at home. Currently four of her children are homeschool graduates with the youngest still being homeschooled. You can learn about and shop for all natural skin care products on her homemade website at http://www.nfbotanicals.com

Health and beauty products have been successfully marketed in such a way that we are made to feel like we need them rather than want them. TV adverts and brand packaging always lures us in. Well, they do me (as a woman).  Are there any other women out there that feel the same? Take, for example, the Olay adverts – the slogan “Love the skin you’re in” makes you feel more positive about yourself and you feel inclined to get the product that is urging you to feel better about yourself. And the catchy slogan sticks in your head, doesn’t it.

I find it remarkable the hold that healthy and beauty products have over us women. There is so much competition out there, that we don’t just remain loyal to the brands we know and like, we also go and try out others from other companies, so we end up with 15 shampoos, 3 different foundations and about 600 lipsticks. Okay, slight exaggeration there, but you get the idea.

Lets remember girls, that make up is supposed to be disposed of after 6 months. I wonder how many of us still use that clogged up old mascara?!! I have done this before, and the annoying thing is, since you can never tell how much is left at the bottom of it, you just keep using it time after time, even though you are probably only getting a tiny layer on your lashes.

So, are health and beauty products a scam? If we see a new toaster that does exactly the same job as our old one, we don’t go out and buy it, do we? We wait until it breaks. But when it comes to health and beauty products, we just can’t get enough pf the same product in a million different varieties!