Aloe there!

It has been a long time, hasn't it. But time passing means I've actually done a few things that could actually warrant a post or two.

Recently, my husband got some local college football tickets for cheap. Someone at his work was trying to get rid of tickets for (now this past) weekend. While watching a football game without the benefits of commercial breaks or other stuff to do isn't usually my idea of a great Saturday, my husband loves college football, and one or two games a season I can handle. At that rate, it can even be a fun day out!

The game itself started out with an exciting rush (a kick off return for a touchdown! against an undefeated team!), but ended on a high-note for the visiting, still undefeated team.

It also ended with the left side of my face and neck a little sun-burnt! I had managed to save my ears from a similar fate by keeping my hair over them (score one for long hair!).

Months ago, my uncle gave us an aloe plant. He had several, and we were fortunate to get a very full pot of aloe. (I still need to split some of the little plants into separate pots!) When we got home, I picked off a leaf, and squeezed. I was there in our living room, slathering aloe-straight-from-the-plant all over my face and neck.

Gotta tell you, it felt great. The aloe was soothing, cooling, and moisturizing. It is working so well that I've been foregoing my jojoba oil as moisturizer after washing my face since Saturday. Pretty sure I'll return to jojoba and vitamin E oil once the sunburn fades; have to preserve the aloe plants!

All in all, it was a great day. Inexpensive tickets (that were in a great location!), overpriced-but-budgeted-for stadium concessions, and a free, as well as natural sunburn remedy.

Bargains for being ageless?

Recently, I came across this article about bargain beauty secrets for looking younger. As someone who does care about how I look, and always interested in finding new beauty tricks and tips, I clicked. I have actual opinions about some of the tips, but about others, I plead ignorance. Like those about make up; I plead ignorance about make up.

Some highlights:
Add volume to hair by using mousse. Generally, this necessitates washing (or at least wetting) your hair in the morning, and using a blow dryer (which I don't have, and haven't had since December 2004). The idea and technique discussed is sound, though, should you want to use mousse. And a blow dryer. If not, and you are a bit of a planner, washing/wetting your hair the night before, and sleeping in curlers, pin-curls or even a bun placed on the top of your head (a very lovely sight, I assure you  ;) ) can temporarily 'train' your hair to stand up a bit. Another quick volumizing trick - part your hair differently. If your hair is used to laying a certain way, changing that up will give you a bit of volume.

Hot oil for luster. Admittedly, when I first saw the line "Give yourself a hot oil treatment," I cringed, thinking about how if you don't do it right, or use the wrong oil, it can do more harm than good. But... they highlighted jojoba oil, something I haven't gotten around to talking much about, but want to. So... their method is actually pretty good. Plus, the whole cool-water-trick is good hair care in general. Kudos. I'll add that you can also try an apple cider vinegar rinse. This is one of those things that I haven't gotten around to trying myself, but have heard good things from long-hair communities (yes, on LiveJournal).

Most of the other tips, honestly, I have no experience with. And, the article is geared towards helping you look younger. I am still regularly asked if I am a student at the university where I work. (granted, there are some older grad students, but still...) A lot of the tips are also on how to use make up, something I don't really use. Aside from my admitted lack of experience with applying make up, I have yet to find one that doesn't feel heavy after an hour or a few, or that doesn't make me break out after using it.

What are your thoughts on these tips? Helpful? Do you have anything to add?

Where did Monday go? And more on Honey.

Over the weekend, we house-sat for my dad and step mom. A great way to have an inexpensive mini-weekend away. We did spend for gas to and from their house, and ate out a bit more than normal, but, all in all, a lot cheaper than a hotel! Plus, seeing as it was a family home, that we have previously visited, we were comfortable there.

That's really an aside though, and the reason for no Monday post. I was in transit.

Between my recent business trip and this weekend away, I was confronted with the question of how do I transport my attempt at sustainable and earth-friendly personal hygiene.

The honey that I've been using to wash my face comes in a large jar. It is pretty tasty, too. I had two reasons for not just packing up the entire jar. One: it is big. I didn't want to be carrying that all around, and in and out of people's homes and hotels. As it is, at home, I take out of the jar roughly what I need. The jar stays in the kitchen. Two: I figured that my husband would not appreciate being deprived of honey while I was gone.

I was also completely out of commercial face wash, so just taking an old bottle or bar of that was not possible.

Off to the store with a Christmas gift card I went. I bought a squeezable honey-bear of honey, and put it in my toiletry bag, slightly amused.

Using the plastic squeeze bottle of honey was a bit easier for application than what I had been doing at home (spooning out sugared honey into a small bowl, and scoping some up, as needed with my finger). I could just squeeze what I needed onto my finger, instead of guess-timating.

What I noticed, though, is that my skin was happier at home than when traveling. Could be a number of things, like the constant change in temperature, humidity and the general stress of traveling. What I suspect, though, is that it has to do with the fact that the honey at home was sugared, and therefore was exfoliating and cleansing; and the fact that for my business trip, I had left the tea tree oil at home.

So, I've deduced that my skin like regular exfoliation, and regular application of tea tree oil. I don't use the tea tree oil every time I was my face, but have been aiming for at least once a day.

As far as my jojoba and vitamin E moisturizers - the jojoba oil I have is in a small bottle, so that is transportable enough, and I just threw a few vitamin E capsules into a bag (one pre-stuck with a pin) and was on my way.

Recap:
1) Honey is still working out well on my face, and I'm happy with it.
2) Learned that my skin likes regular exfoliation, and tea tree oil as an acne treatment.
3) For all my fretting, traveling with this regime is surprisingly easy (I almost always forget something!). And, if I want to exfoliate on the road, I'm sure that I can always just mix some sugar and honey together in my hand.

Et voila!

How do your toiletries usually travel?

Honey do Two: The Results

Last Thursday, I started using honey to wash my face. This grand experiment was born out of a rapidly diminishing Neutrogena bar, research about using honey this way (see previously linked post), and well, reluctance to spend more money on beauty products. Plus, I am trying to replace bad-for-me and bad-for-the-earth products with good-for-me-and-the-earth ones as I can. (To see how the products you use rate on a good-for-you/earth scale, check out the Skin Deep Cosmetic Safety Database. The face wash I was using is here. Here's honey.)

If this honey thing worked out, it seemed like a good way to reduce my beauty product purchasing (and the plastic that they come in), and help steer my usage towards the good-for-earth.

Since then, I've only used honey to wash my face, following it up with tea tree oil once a day, and using jojoba oil or vitamin E oil as a moisturizer. (I'll talk about those oils as moisturizers later.) I am pleased to report that my skin feels better, and not dried out after washing, and that the acne I had appears to be clearing up.

I cannot be 100% certain that this improvement in texture and acne is due to the honey or the moisturizers, since I switched both at the same time. I do know, however, that it was not the tea tree oil that single handedly defended my face from encroaching pimples, as I had been using that for a few weeks. It was helping when I was using it in conjunction with more conventional products.

So, I am quite happy with the results so far. My husband thinks it is a little odd, and only protested because of how tasty the honey is. I plan on continuing to use honey as a face-wash, and look forward to seeing how it works long-term.

Did my experience convince you to try honey to wash your face? If so, tell me about it. Or does it just prove to you that I'm touched in the head? Feel free to tell me that, too. Do the reports of bee and honey shortages impact your opinion on this at all?

Iron: 1 Emily: 0 A Minor Medical Post

**I am not a doctor, nor do I have any medical training at all. Please use common sense, and do not hesitate to seek medical treatment.**

I have long hated ironing. It always felt like...well, such a chore. My solution? Quite simple: avoid. I don't iron.

Never took an iron to college. Didn't register for one for my wedding. May have inherited an abandoned one from a roommate, but that quickly got shoved to the back of a closet, and eventually made it either to the dumpster (for shame, Emily!) or Goodwill (that's more like it).

To keep from sending either myself or my husband out of the house looking like a wrinkled mess, I was simply vigilant about removing clothes from the dryer promptly (a good thing to do when working with laundromats), and carefully shaking out/folding any should-be-ironed clothes. The seams of pant legs got quickly matched up, and smoothly folded, while button-down shirts were pulled from the pile before the crush of t-shirts and jeans could cause permanent wrinkles. After carefully hanging these clothes, I simply let gravity, and the weight of the rest of the closet take care of the rest.

For our clothes, this has been working well enough. But, it won't do for quilting.

As you may know, I've recently started my first full quilt. This requires a lot of measuring, cutting and piecing together of fabric, and in order to do this correctly, so that everything will match up in the end, the cloth needs to be washed, dried, and ironed before a single measure is taken or line drawn.

I needed an iron. *sigh... I tried to avoid this, but broke down, and got one. Also got a small, table-top ironing board, that is perfect for craft-ironing, but not for "real" ironing. I found this out the hard way.

In an attempt to iron my first shirt in years (promise that I know how to do it), I managed to maneuver the iron and myself so that I grazed the iron with my hand. There was a small flash of pain, just enough for me to realize what was happening, but not much. So, because of the apparent lack of searing, lingering pain or any visible damage, I simply continued on. Probably should not have done that.

I did wash my hands, and try jojoba oil on the burn, followed by my normal oatmeal-lotion. I used jojoba oil because that is what I had, but should have used vitamin E oil. I use an oatmeal-based lotion, like Aveeno, because I inherited dry skin from my mom.

So, here's the burn. According to the Mayo Clinic, it is probably a second degree burn, because of the lone, solitary blister. Also according to them, I should have immediately cooled the burn by running it under or immersing it in cool water, instead of continuing to iron. Next, I should have covered it with a sterile, lint-free bandage, such as gauze, instead of leaving it completely exposed. The Mayo Clinic site also lists some things not to do, like use butter. 

The Mayo Clinic did not specifically say to put on any creams or antibiotic ointments, but they do make burn ointment for a reason. A previously listed link includes vitamin E oil as an option for soothing minor burns and helping skin heal.

So, why vitamin E oil over a burn ointment? Well, because vitamin E oil is multi-purpose. It can be used as a body and face moisturizer alone, or even in conjunction with other lotions. It can be used to help reduce the appearance of scars and wrinkles. It can even be used in hair-care products. Since vitamin E oil has many purposes, using it means that you can reduce the number of other products you buy. 

It should be noted that the burn I sustained was minor. It was no more than an inch long, and scarcely a quarter of an inch wide. Regardless of the severity, my attitude toward the burn was really quite negligent, and I do stress that if you burn yourself, you should take it seriously, and determine that it is indeed a minor burn before you attempt to care for it yourself. It may be less expensive to slather on vitamin E oil or burn ointment, but in the long run, if the burn is serious, you will save yourself money, pain, and possibly more if you seek immediate medical attention.

Honey do!

I have been carefully and slowly experimenting with and transitioning to more natural products. Instead of buying up the natural aisle of the grocery store and going for broke, I am simply replacing one or two products at a time with more natural alternatives. Sometimes, they work nicely; other times, I find myself on a journey.

For me, this has meant steering away from sulfates in hair care products, as well as silicone derivatives. It also means avoiding bleached flour and high fructose corn syrup in bread. Baby steps. Additionally, I try to find natural replacements for products I use on a daily basis, and multiple uses for things.

Things like honey.

I like honey. I used to make PB & honey sandwiches to take to school for lunch, loving the part of the bread where the honey pooled and started to crystallize. Honey on toast or biscuits is divine. Honey in tea is delicious and soothing for sore throats. Drambuie, whiskey with honey and spices, is a very nice way to cap an evening. Innumerable body, skin, and hair products are made with honey as a main or active ingredient.

Basically, honey is amazing, anti-bacterial, and generally pretty good for all sorts of applications. In fact, the protagonist of a book series I'm reading uses honey as an anti-bacterial agent to seal and protect wounds in pre-Revolution America. While I have never personally used honey on an open wound, this is not nearly as far fetched as it might sound.

So, can we agree that honey is awesome? Good. Now I have something else for you. Last night and this morning, I washed my face with honey. I did a modicum of research into this, first, but when it came time to wash my face, I stared at my usual cleanser, and thought... "Why not?" and took the plunge.

I padded into the kitchen, unscrewed the honey we had purchased at a farmer's market months ago, and dipped about a tablespoon or two out into a clean bowl. Rinsed my hands with warm water, and then stuck them into the honey, which had started to sugar, so I got bonus exfoliation!

Last night, I did this just before taking a shower, so rinsed it off there, and was pleasantly surprised by the ease with which it rinsed completely off. I followed up with my customary spot treatment of tea tree oil, but deviated from more traditional moisturizer.

I have a small bottle of Jojoba oil on hand, and used several drops to moisturize. It went on evenly, and my skin did not feel stretched and dried out, or overly laden with heavy moisturizers. When I woke up, it still felt good - normal. So, I followed the same steps again.