When I was in college my mom always wanted me to take daily vitamins, why you ask? Because I ate JUNK and never really got all of the nutrients that my body needed. I took the giant women's one daily, but I had to take it with a tummy full of food or I would get SO sick that I couldn't even stand it. Eventually my stomach became so sensitive to those giant multi vitamins that I couldn't take them anymore. Still wanting to get my daily values of proper vitamins I tested out some gummy vitamins for children. They tasted delicious and worked amazingly well as far as tummy sensitivity!
These are the tasty little vitamin treats I take every morning.
Now I have found adult versions of gummy vitamins in BULK at COSTCO. So I buy two giant gummy vitamin containers and work my way through them. They don't make me sick and also trick me into feeling healthier! If you have a sensitive tum you should totally try them! I know that they had other options as well, not just the daily vitamins. I have seen a variety of different ones at Target such as calcium, zinc, and an immunity version.
For pretty much everyone who lives in America, and any other country that has running water, using commercial cleansing products full of nasty chemicals is a normal average every day part of their life. Generally people jump in the shower, lather up with body wash and jump out. They wash their face every morning and evening with face wash. They shampoo and condition their hair regularly and put in tons of random styling products.
For someone with ULTRA sensitive skin like myself this can be a nightmare. My skin is super sensitive (like if someone is wearing a perfume that I am allergic to I can break out in hives.... Not a good time). Every winter I would get so itchy and dry that my legs would HURT every night after my shower. My faces gets so dry and sensitive that it peels for no good reason. I thought that this was just 'normal' and unavoidable.
Once I got a little older I started googling things - like any good 20 year old, and I found out that there are so many toxic and harmful chemical ingredients in pretty much EVERY SINGLE PRODUCT THAT I USED. Since then, I have been on the hunt for less harmful ways to stay clean and hygenic while using as few and as mild prodcuts as possible. Now don't get me wrong, I love trying new products and fun make up. I just want to be able to cut out as many harmful chemicals as I can while still being clean and getting to try new fun products. My last post about my journey on my water only hair care 'experiment' is my next step in my journey to less chemicals.
So far I have made the following changes since my teenage years:
1. In the shower I use primarily water to cleanse myself. I will use a more natural body wash/scrub to wash my 'hot spots' but everything else just gets a nice rinse and I am EXACTLY as clean as when I did a full body wash, except my skin is MUCH HAPPIER.
2. I DO NOT USE SHAVING CREAM. I shave with a razor and water... and I never cut myself or have in grown hair issues. The secret is to let the warm water soften your hair for about 3 minutes before you shave. It may take some getting use to, but try it. You'll like it.
3. The only time I use face wash is at night when I am removing my make up. I wet down my face with warm water and splash off as much make up as I can, then I use a mild face wash (Simple Brand) to wash of my face. I then pat dry with a soft towel and put on my night time face lotion. In the morning I rinse my face with warm water and am ready to go!
4. I have switched to deoderant ONLY. I no longer use antiperspirant. I tried many natural deoderants along the way and could not find a single one that I was not allergic to. I now use a men's deoderant. It may take you a few days to adjust to using simply a deoderant, but your body will acclimate and you will not sweat as much as you did before. Promise.
5. I switched to more natural lotions. I now only use lotions with natural ingredients and no parabens. I found that I am allergic to parabens and they were part of my issues with itching on my legs. Once I cut them out, problem solved! Coconut oil is a great natural moisturizer as well.
6. For my hair I have had years and years of trials and errors. In high school I would shampoo and condition every night then blow dry and straighten as well. This was a bad idea. My hair quickly turned to dried out straw. I switched to letting my hair dry naturally and this helped a lot. I have tried many things since them. Natural shampoos, cutting out shampoos, using the curly girl method, stretching out the time between washes. Right now I am doing a water only washing method experiement. I will let you know how it goes :-)
7. For my face washing and lotioning I have switched from the 'normal' versions to more natural versions of the same products. I have also switched out my night time lotion for a more natural version and sometimes I use oil as well.
One last thing, when you have an option to choose 'regular' or 'sensitive skin' products. Always go for the product formulated for sensitive skin. In my experience these have less harmful ingredients. Also, when having the option to go for Fragrance Free or Unscented, always go Fragrance Free. This has less harmful chemicals. Unscented products may have even more harmful chemicals in them because often times they have an added agent to mask the smell of the product to make it appear 'unscented'.
Do you have any additional suggestions for me to avoiding harmful chemicals? Also, what has your experience been like if you have been trying to cut out harmful products?
Today was just one of those days where you wake up and everything seems to go to heck in a hand basket! I woke up all cheery and ready to spend my day at work... I showered, got all fancy and walked outside to get into my car. I put the keys into the ignition and what do ya know... NOTHING HAPPENED. Well, something happened but it certainly didn't start as it should have! The car started CLICKING, confused, I took the keys out... STILL CLICKING! This was a bother.
Thankfully I have a very kind and understanding boss. I popped the hood and started checking things out. I guessed my battery was dead. What a selfish little battery to die on a Wednesday morning after Jeff had already left for work. Thankfully his mom and nephew were inside the house so I knew I wasn't totally alone. I fiddled around with the car for a bit and plugged in the jumper box. While waiting for it to charge I decided that I would go in and eat breakfast... just one little problem I AM LOCKED OUT. Of course, so I wander back around the car thinking I would just enjoy the morning outside until the box charged enough for me to jump start my car. Then what happens? At that very moment Gwen decides the grass is a little bit dry and needs to be watered :-| She goes out the back door and unknowingly pops up the sprinklers and waters ME. With this turn of events I think it's probably time to cut my losses and go back inside and eat some oatmeal. I text her asking her to let me in. About one minute later I hear her coming around from the side of the house... Oh no. She has locked herself out of the BACK door. So there we were, a couple of ladies totally beat, slightly damp, and locked out of a house. Luckily James came to the rescue and let us inside.
After I finish my oatmeal I go outside to check on the jumper box thing.... Still no charge. Fabulous. I do what any girl does when she needs assistance, I called my dad. My pop was to the rescue in no time armed with a small tool set and a brand spanking new pair of jumper cables. We try to jump the car. No luck... We wait for a while longer to let the charge increase... No luck.. Dad finally has to ninja pull the battery out so we can take this bad boy to wally world and get a new one.
We ventured to WalMart hoping that the battery is under warranty since it was still less that three years old. The WalMart man tries to look up the original battery purchase on his WalMart computer. No luck. Turns out some WalMart employees forgot to enter in the original purchase (how does this even happen?) SO after being in the store for about half an hour the nice WalMart man finally says he will give me a discount on a new battery since the old one was faulty. Sure. Great. Just give me a battery. That discount was $2.99. Score. Better than nothing! I paid just over $100 for a dang battery. I guess that's less expensive than buying a new car!
We finally get back home and install that pain in the bum battery into my impala and guess what. INSTANT SUCCESS!! Overall I feel like today is a win. It's only noon, but I'm decently pleased that my luck went from zero to hero in the course of half a day! Now this new battery has a five year warranty. It will literally out last my car, which has 167,000 miles on it. WOO!
Now I know that I have insanely sensitive skin. I break out in rashes for no apparent reason and if anything TOUCHES my skin I will get pink in that spot. I am especially sensitive to fragrances and have had multiple full body rashes from perfumes.. What a glamorous life HA! With all this being said, if any of you out there have sensitive skin like me you may want to steer clear of this product:
This is the Stila Face the Day Moisturizing Gel Cream. I was so excited to try this sample after I loved the philosophy gel moisturizer so much, but alas... The scent is far too intense for my delicate Snow White skin.
The texture and moisture power were very nice but once I had it on my face I became overpowered by an intense citrusy chemicals smell. My eyes were burning too. I left it on and tried to tough it out through the night. When I woke up in the morning my eyes were sore, and I was all broken out. In this products defense, I should have washed it off right away after the initial burn, and I'm sure someone with normal human skin would not have this issue. I just wanted to give a shout out to my sensitive skinned homies so that they can possibly avoid the same fate!
I've read a million different blog posts and articles on how to clear up break outs and flare ups. My skin is incredibly sensitive, any time I tried an over the counter acne product my skin BURNED, so I had to go about my treatment in a different way. This is what helped my skin, every one's skin is different, but this may help you as well!
Basic Advice:
1. Drink enough water!! - It is generally recommended that a person drink 8 - 8oz cups of water a day. (athletes, pregnant women and people living in extremely hot or humid conditions usually need more)
2. HANDS OFF THE FACE! - Touching your face with unclean hands introduces bacteria onto the skin, we want to avoid this at all costs.
3. Do NOT pick! - We are all guilty of picking at spots every now and then, but your face will heal much quicker and more efficiently if you do NOT pick. (if you do pick, and end up with a giant scab on your face, I have noticed that using a tiny dot of neosporin directly on the wound right before bed can speed up the healing process)
4. Let your skin breathe - If you can go a day or two without make up on, do so.
5. Keep your pillow case clean - You can get hair products build up on your pillow case which can then transfer onto your skin and cause blocked pores.
6. Use clean towels - Using the same towel to clean your hands every day and your face is not the best idea, try switching out your towel regularly.
7. Use products specifically designed for sensitive skin - These products generally have less harmful chemicals in them, less fragrances and less damaging ingredients which can trigger breakouts.
8. Take a multi vitamin - I use the gummy kind because they are best for a sensitive tummy :-) I take one in the morning.
9. Try taking a zinc supplement - You can purchase these almost anywhere, I get mine at Wal Mart. The zinc helps build your immune system and fight off the bad bacteria that causes acne. I take one at night after dinner.
My Products:
1. Olay Foaming Face Wash - Sensitive
2. Fresh Soy Face Cleanser
3. Olay Complete All Day Moisturizer with Sunscreen Broad Spectrum SPF 15 – Sensitive
4. Alba Botanica Very Emollient Natural Sunscreen Mineral Protection Fragrance Free SPF 30
1. In the morning I wake up and simply rinse my face with luke warm water from the sink or in the shower
2. I apply either my Olay lotion with SPF or my Alba Botanica SPF
3. After allowing the lotions to dry I will apply my make up
4. Before bed I use my Olay or Fresh face washes to remove all of my make up, since I do not wear much make up, this is all I need to do to cleanse my face properly
5. Spot treat your spots with tea tree oil on a cotton pad or q tip
6. Once the oil has absorbed, I apply my Dessert Essence moisturizer
7. A couple times a week, I make a mask out of the honey and sea salt, I spread it all over my face, let set for about 10 minutes, splash water on my face, then lightly scrub the salt all over my face to exfoliate, then thoroughly rinse off the honey and salt and moisturize
Watch the video I made on this subject here:
My last bit of advice is this - if your acne persists or worsens SEE A DERMATOLOGIST! They have so much knowledge and have seen pretty much anything and everything. They also have access to all kinds of additional treatments that may be right for you! Never give up because you CAN have clear skin :-)
When the dog bites... when the bee stings.... When I'm feeeeeling sad. I simply remember my favorite things and then i don's feeeel soooooo baaaaaaaaaad!
Ok, enough with the Sound of Music. Seriously people of the blog-world... It's MAY so that means it's finally time for my APRIL favorites!
I've tried a nice amount of products this month so I had some newbies as my most loved things.
Watch my video to see each product and hear my option <3
Watch my video below for all my favorite products of the month and short descriptions of each one :-)
+I picked the following for my face - Philosophy Take a Deep Breath Oxygen Gel Cream Moisturizer, no. 7 Exquisite Curl mascara in black, Fresh Sugar lip treatment in Rose, OCC Lip Tar Pack, Tarte Amazonian Clay 12 Hour Blush in Dollface.
+For my hair my Tresemme Platinum Strength Strengthening Condtioner won the prize.
+For body, my Body Shop Olive Body Butter that I purchased with my Groupon *woot*.
+For my random favorite I picked my up&up brand Adult Gummy Vitamins.
Some days I just feel like I need a little boost. I don't feel as happy or as positive as I should, and these two little quotes help perk me up and put my mind back into the right place.
If you are new on the scene you may not have heard of HauteLook. Let me bring you up to speed. It is essentially a members only online site (that is free to join) that has daily flash sales of high end/designer goodies. They carry items for men, women, children, the home and of course beauty.
I think one of the greatest uses for this site is to pick up and try out high end make up at a reasonable price.
Today's sale includes The Balm, which I have been very curious about after seeing on LeighannSays on YouTube! I may pick up a blush or two and a palette or two just for the fun of it. Have you ever ordered from HauteLook?
This is a screen shot from my HauteLook iPhone app.
I picked this little guy up on my last adventure to Target on my sister's recommendation. I have been in search of a good mascara that will keep my stick straight blond lashes curled and dark all day with zero flaking or irritation, and this guy totally nailed it!
Just in case any of you are natural skin care lovers like I am, I wanted to point out the amazing Groupon that ends today ---
$10 for $20 at The Body Shop!
WOO!!!
Screen shot of my Groupon app
As far as I can tell, you will be able to use this along with any sales that the store is currently offering! I am going after work this evening to test this theory out!
Isn't it strange how some days you can wake up, go through your routine and look fabulous, then other days you wake up, follow the EXACT SAME routine and look like a frizzy train wreck?
Maybe it's just me, but my hair is like a mood ring in that it's entire look changes based on... who knows what!
A few weeks ago I went on an after work shopping adventure with my sister, we had coupons, money was spent.
As usual, we wandered into Sephora. Since Sister and I each had 15% off coupons, we were tempted into purchasing a few items. Having picked one up a while back, Sister convinced me to invest in a Clarisonic.
Now, as you will learn, I am a sucker for any sort of thing that I can qualify as a 'good deal' so when I stumbled upon beauty subscription boxes I about lost my pants with excitement! I love trying new products! I also happen to love sampling 4-6 new products a month for only 10 bucks! It was a very exciting moment for me when I signed up to be on the Ipsy Glam Bag waiting list... and it was an even MORE exciting moment for me when I got my confirmation email telling me that my first bag had been shipped.
In my opinion this subscription service is a great value for my money. I am pleased!
Check out my video for a quick review of each product that I got this month:
... actually this not my very first blog post *ever*. Back in my middle school (and even high school) years I typed up many a blog.. Xanga anyone?? BUT this is my very first official blog post as a semi-adult lady..
Does 25 count as an adult?
Even if I still occasionally shop in the children's section of Target?
YES!?
Thank you for that validation.
I am starting this blog to accompany my YouTube Channel. I plan to post my videos along with links to items that I mention, to make them easier to access for my viewers (because I love you). Also, I am planning to post other random exciting things..... ENJOY!
