Some {favorites}

Once again I have slacked on this......somehow this is not surprising! Honestly my brain and life have been full of things to blog about, but I have not found myself sitting down to do it. Oh well such is life right!!!

One thing that I have been on a quest for, is simplifying my inventory of toiletries and cleaning stuff. My bathroom and shower were beginning to look like CVS. Seriously all joking aside, I had enough Shampoo and Condition to rotate them daily and not use the same one all week......maybe even for two weeks! eekk!.....I was always on a quest to find the best one, you know, the one that smelled the best, and controlled the fly aways in this 100% humidity weather! .....And if I had a coupon, and it was on sell you better believe I was going to buy it just to say I paid .50 for it!!! ........Well these little tendencies led to a somewhat ridiculous situation in my personal toiletry department!

I am pleased to say that I have overcome this little addiction and am loving my simplified bathroom!! Our shower now is home to only 1 shampoo bottle, 1condition bottle, and 1 bottle of soap! And these are all products that my husband loves as well so we share!

{ Shampoo and Conditioner}

 Can I just say I LOVE this stuff!!!! This is Natures Gate Henna Shampoo and Conditioner! It is paraben-free, alcohol free, and pH balanced. ( yes did you know that there is alcohol in some shampoos! ) Natures Gate has several different ones to choose from, and all the ones I have tried are great, but the Henna one is my favorite! I get so many compliments now on how shiny my hair is!! Gotta love that! These cost around $4.99 a bottle at Village Foods ( the closest thing to a Central Market or Whole Foods that we have here.) I have seen them at HEB as well, but they are more expensive.

{Soap}

This is Dr. Bronner's Magic Soap. This stuff is simply amazing. It is free of detergents and it is a Certified Fair Trade Product. We love the Almond scent and the Lavender scent, for when I take a bath or shower at night. I also use these on Ava! ( carefully though because they are not tear free, they have essential oils in them and will burn the eyes. ) If you ever want to be entertained, sit and read the label on the bottle! It has me all sorts of confused. They are a little more pricey than other body washes, but I find they last FOREVER!! We have had these bottles for well over 2 months, and still have close to half a bottle left. The larger bottle you see is about $8.00 or so, and the smaller one was about $5.00. We have super soft water here, so I love that I do not feel like I still have soap residue all over me after using this stuff.

{face wash}

oh boy .....is this a touchy subject for me. I have battle bad skin for most of my life after puberty. I have spent hundreds of dollars on products with promising results, only to be disappointed. Yes, I have even tried Proactiv......it was equivalent to rubbing bleach on my face. Acne was gone, but it was traded for very red and dry skin. I know it works for a lot of people, but I have very sensitive skin, and it just tore me up!!! ...These two products above I { heart } so very much! My sister introduced me to a method called "Oil Cleansing," and I love her for doing so. I will be honest with you. My first reaction to the thought of rubbing oil on my face to clean it was terrifying. I mean, oil clogs pores and causes Acne right??? That is what the dermatologist said all my life. Well, I have news for all of the dermatologist who ever treated my skin issues by prescribing me birth control pills, ridiculous amounts of antibiotics, and the awful drug Accutane ..........cleaning my face with this oil has helped me tremendously! Sorry, yes there is a little bit of bitterness running through me here! ....okay I am over it. Back to Oil Cleansing. To read more about it go HERE. Basically you mix the Sunflower Oil and the Castor Oil together using a ratio that is good for your skin type. I use  90% sunflower oil to 10% Castor oil. If you have oily skin you would increase the Castor Oil a bit......really just go read the article it will enlighten you. 

By no means is my skin completely flawless BUT it is much more predictable, and I don't feel like I am going to have a nervous breakdown while doing my makeup every morning, because my skin is so bad. I use to wear very heavy foundation to hide behind my acne. I am pleased to say now I wear only a light powder and concealer when needed. { LOVE IT!} 






{Deodorant}

Okay I am not ashamed to say it, I am a sweater...and not the kind you knit and wear. The kind that you want to run away from in the other direction. Switching to a deodorant that was aluminum free was scary for me. This would mean I would sweat more.....or would it??? I am pleased to say that I made the switch to aluminum free deodorant, and have managed to keep all of my friends, and my husband. The shocking results.......I actually do not sweat as bad I use to. Imagine that! I will say that the transition period was hard. What was happening in my case, was the aluminum in my deodorant ( which is the anti-persperant) was causing my body to overcompensate and sweat more. Sounds funny I know! But now that I have taken that out of the equation, I sweat only when necessary, and not all the time. For this I am thankful because sweating is natural and normal, and one way the body rids itself of toxins. And now I can live in peace knowing that my deodorant is not contributing to a risk of getting breast cancer or Alzheimer's because it is aluminum free! 

 I have tried a few other aluminum free deodorants and this has left me feeling the most confident. Also shocking......my husband uses this too and loves it. And he is a big time sweater......the kind I sometimes want to run away from! I have seen this deodorant range any where from about $2.50-$5 a bottle. The cheapest place I have found to order it from is amazon in bulk. I have seen it at HEB, but it is about $5.00 a bottle.






{Cleaners}

 These are my new favorite cleaners! .....Like I described my bathroom earlier, under my kitchen sink was not any better. It was full of cleaners containing very harmful chemicals that could cause someone to possibly grow three eyeballs if inhaled too much......not to mention the awful things it could do to a child if they got a hold of it. I love these J.R Watkins cleaners. I use the Universal one for pretty much everything except for mirrors and windows....hence the Window Cleaner on the left. They smell absolutely delightful.  I have also used some of the Mrs. Myers cleaners, and I like them just as much. The bottles are smaller though and the same price of these $3.99-$4.99. I have lucked out a few times at TJ Maxx and have scored some Mrs. Myers for $1.99 a bottle! 


{for my BABY} 

Even though she is a big {three} ....she is still my baby! I love this shampoo paired with my Henna Conditioner for her. It leaves her hair silky smooth, and tangle free. She has never complained about it burning when it gets in her eyes. I think you could use this a a body wash as well, and I have. Even though it says Shampoo. This is also about $4.99 a bottle.



Whew!......Sorry I did not expect for this to be this long! I hope this helps my one blog reader pick some "better for you" toiletries.


There is one last thing that I will throw out there, and I will not be graphic about it. ( or try no to be!) The Diva Cup. Have you heard about this. I will be honest, when my hippie sister first told me about these I wanted to barf. Literally. Well after having a baby, and not being about the wear tampons afterwards for whatever reason, I thought I would give it a whirl! And I have never turned back since then. Love it! ......Anyway that is all I am saying about that. If you have any questions ask me I will enlighten you.......and for obvious reasons I did not take a picture of this. That would be major barf material.