Simple, green skin care

 
Although I've always loved skin lotions and creams,  I've honestly been fairly lazy when it comes to skin care. Soap (most of the time), moisturizer (sometimes) and sunscreen (always because I'm a ghost). Despite being so transluscent that you could map my circulatory system from a good five feet away, aside from a bit of blotchiness, I don't think my skin looks too terrible. So I've never really bought into the idea that I need 12 kinds of product to look decent. As a teen, I loved to spend my babysitting money on St. Ives masks and different kinds of creams for fun but never really kept up a serious skin-care regimen.

About 7 years ago I started to break out in hives after using my moisturizer. I switched to something more "natural" which I now realize was more expensive, but more or less the same. Very quickly, I became unable to use anything with fragrance and most drugstore skin care brands were off-limits. My dermatologist then told me that most eye creams, wrinkle creams and the like are pure bullshit - its about making money and doesn't make any appreciable difference to one's appearance.

Since then, I've become really interested in (actual) natural skin care. Coconut oil was the gateway drug - luscious and moisturizing, plus the BEST eye makeup remover I've ever tried. A few years ago I added shea butter, for areas that need a bit more moisture. Recently I've started using rosehip seed oil on my skin at night, jojoba oil on my legs after a shower and argan oil on my freshly washed hair.  It doesn't have to be complicated. I've even heard of people using pork fat and ghee as facial moisturizers, believe it or not (my dogs would lick me to death).

I'll do some posts on natural skin care in the near future with some recipes and ideas. Suffice it to say,  you can use bulk goats milk or olive oil soap and pure oils and have lovely skin. As well as a fatter wallet and less crap on your face.

This blogger is my spirit animal

I discovered, and devoured, a new blog last night over a glass of wine.  Called Paris-To-Go, it is written by an American living in Paris (jealous), who is passionate about minimalism, sustainability, fashion, travel and healthy living. Pretty much all of the things that really get me going.

I was so very happy to stumble upon this gem because I sometimes feel a bit lost in the world of "green living", permaculture and sustainability. Although I know this is silly, it sometimes feels as though there isn't a place in that world for someone who feels naked without a good red lipstick. I've often had to encourage myself to find a balance between the side of me that loves being stylish, having a nicely decorated home, and eating delicious food with the side that is passionate about homemade things, sustainability and minimalism. Its nice to see an example of someone who is really living those values, something I'm still and always striving to do.

Its worth reading the blog simply for the author's writing style. A sample, about eating out gluten-free "I have one rule when dining sans gluten - it should taste like gluten. I don't go out to eat healthy. I eat out so I can press the skin on my arm down afterwards and feel coagulated blood." 

Amazing.

Mmmmm...Coconut oil

Its funny to think back a few years and realize how far we've come in our quest to live a healthier life, particularly in the area of beauty and self-care products. Our home used to be filled with scented candles and room spray, and my makeup bag contained beauty products that met two criteria: cheap, and pretty-smelling. Six years ago, I broke into hives after putting on the body lotion I'd been using for ages and over time, I started reacting to pretty much every product I tried.  I went through the usual suspects at the drugstore, ventured into higher end beauty stores and gawked at the prices, and tried small, independent retailers of "natural" products. Some were far too expensive, some filled with noxious chemicals despite their "natural" labels, and some just didn't do the job. I was frustrated, rash-y and annoyed. Until this:

Jay was the one who finally found coconut oil and holy cow, I had a solution. THE best moisturizer, hair conditioner, lip balm, eye makeup remover that I've found and it was really natural, not just labelled as such, inexpensive and as an added bonus, can be used for cooking.

 I realized that I'd been approaching my search for the perfect products in the wrong way- it had never occurred to me to look back to nature. I'd been sucked in by shrewd marketing and thought I'd need to spend bazillions of dollars to get what I needed. How silly is that? It just shows how powerful the beauty industry is and I'm so happy to be on the road to finding a better, more natural way to take care of myself. Its not an easy process, to be sure, and I'd be lying if I said that my makeup bag had no harmful products in it all, but I'm on my way and at the very least, our family is committed to finding the least harmful ways to take care of ourselves. 

So. Coconut oil. Best thing ever. 

And also, olive oil for baby massages and castor oil for massaging gassy babies' tummies.  Don't let anyone tell you that you NEED fancy packaging and pretty labels and ingredients you can't pronounce. Don't get sucked in to the idea that everything has to come out of a lab when there's plenty available in nature that will do an even better job.