Category Archives: natural beauty

D is for Dry Hair? Don’t Despair! Do It Yourself Care!

Posted on September 11, 2012 | Leave a comment

Dry Hair?  Don’t Despair.  Your hair — your “crowning glory” – is the first thing people see when they look at you (I believe your shoes are the second thing – but that’s a whole ‘nother post!).  You want your hair to reflect all the good things about you – your natural health, your natural beauty, your radiance, your elegance.

First things first – Cut it!  Get your hair back into healthy condition by getting it trimmed and rid of the split and dead ends.  That will get you going on the right track.  To keep on the right path to a beautiful head of hair, don’t use your brush when your hair’s wet.  Invest in a good wide-toothed comb and start at the bottom of your hair no matter what length it is and don’t get stuck in the knots and pull – just gently use your fingers to unravel the clumps.  Also invest in a good soft bristle brush, maybe a baby brush, and use it gently to distribute natural oils through your hair without causing any breakage.

Cut down on the frequency of washing your hair – if it’s dry, no more than twice a week!  Check the ingredients in your shampoo and eliminate the ones that have harsh ingredients like alcohols or sodium laurel sulfates.  A soft and gentle shampoo made out of some healthy oils like almond or jojoba mixed a little bit of pure castile soap (Dr. Bronner’s is great) will keep your hair clean and shiny and healthy. Just say NO to harsh chemicals that can harm your hair!

Mayonnaise and avocados have lots of natural oils that nourish your hair from the outside.  Skip the California sandwich of avocados and mayonnaise (with sprouts in LA!) and instead, put those ingredients on your head.  Cover and sit for 15 minutes, then rinse it out with warm water.  Shiny!

Healthy fats equal healthy hair.  Deficiencies of essential fatty acids (EFAs)  can result in unhealthy hair (and body)!  Polyunsaturated, omega-3 fatty acids are the best healthy fats for ensuring your internal health and protecting against the damages caused by free radicals which not only lead to heart disease and cancer, arthritis and asthma — they also result in dry, damaged, lifeless, brittle hair!  Fish oils such as salmon and cod liver, and nuts and seeds are essential to your diet for your hair and for your health.

Drinking water is a key to natural health (see Previous Post – D is for Drinking Water).  Water will help you to get rid of unwanted fat and flab, and will help to flush toxins from your body.  Think about moisture when you want healthy hair and drink a good amount of water daily! 

Here’s a great recipe to restore the shine and moisture to your hair:

YOGURT HAIR MASK -

1/2 c plain yogurt
1 T freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 egg
Blend all ingredients in a bowl until smooth.  Shampoo as usual and apply the yogurt mixture to your hair and scalp. Leave it on for about 15 minutes.  You can cover your hair in a hot towel (put  a moist towel in the microwave to heat it up) to help it be absorbed and keep it from dripping all over. Rinse your hair out completely with warm water, and follow this with a gentle conditioner.

 

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Posted in Diet, homemade beauty products, natural beauty

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B is for Bras – Buy the right one for Beautiful Breasts

Posted on August 29, 2012 | Leave a comment

Bras – they’re part of our lives, just as our breasts are part of our bodies.  Some of you out there are small-breasted and can wear those sexy, seductive pieces of cloth that look pretty and fit well.  Then there are some of us who are more generously endowed and we need something that will fit comfortably and hold us up well.  Studies have shown that 80% of women are wearing the wrong size bra.  Wearing a bra that is uncomfortable and makes you look saggy and droopy makes you look old and feel old, and that’s not what being a youthful, juicy naturally beautiful woman is about.  We’re all about feeling good and looking good!

Choosing a bra can be as daunting as choosing the right college or career or soulmate!  There’s nothing sexy about pulling and pushing your breasts and bras to get rid of those straps digging into your shoulders or adjusting the fat hanging over your back.

Here are some signs that you’re wearing a bra that doesn’t fit well:

  1. Your cups spilleth over.
  2. The back of your bra rides up.
  3. Tight straps that hurt and give you indentations or red marks on your shoulders.
  4. The cups ripple and dimple indicating they’re too small.
  5. Saggy or droopy breasts.
  6. Straps that slip and slide off.
  7. Uncomfortable underwires.
  8. According to Susan Nethero, a bra expert that Oprah loves — Back fat doesn’t necessarily mean your bra is too small.  It actually means your bra is too big!  Change to a smaller band size bra that rides lower on your back and that will eliminate the dreaded back fat.

One thing you can do to make your breasts look a bit more perky is to sit and stand up tall and straight.  Good posture is one of the most important ways to look young and vital.

Then walk tall to the nearest department store and go to the bra department.  Most lingerie departments, especially in higher end stores, will give you a free bra fitting.  Even if you have to pay a few dollars, it’s a great investment.  You’ll be surprised at the change in the number and the change in your look and feel.  Being beautiful (and comfortable) is worth it!

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Posted in Anti-aging, Healthy Senior Women, natural beauty

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Y is for You and Youth

Posted on August 22, 2012 | Leave a comment

“Youth is a wonderful thing.  What a crime to waste it on children.” George Bernard Shaw.

So maybe you’ve got a little silver on your head and a few wrinkles on your face, but when you get up in the morning you still feel like you’re only twenty-one.  Join the crowd!  We naturally beautiful and healthy senior women keep looking youthful for longer and longer.  But, we still feel tortured and put upon by the commercials and ads that play into the youthful culture and say that beauty is in the face of youth and once you’re old, you’re done.

But think about those wrinkles and how you got them.  Life hands you a lot — and the longer you live, the more time we experience the pull of gravity.  That’s got nothing to do with “ugly.”  Quite the contrary, it’s a beautiful sign of having loved, served, lived; of having all kinds of experiences, good and bad.

Young people are in for some great big surprises as they live their lives.  Remember when you danced naked and wildly at Woodstock with flowers in your hair?  Remember how we thought this was the best time of our lives, and it would never get better?  Would you really want to turn back the clock?  Would you want to have to be young and have to start all over again?  Think about that.  Aren’t a few wrinkles and a few gray hairs worth it?

We grow wise and we grow older.  We get more hair on our faces and less hair in other places.  Now the only time you see 3 AM is when you can’t get to sleep.  You’d dance all night, but your feet hurt and your back aches.  You can go without sex, but not without your reading glasses.  Your favorite song is now playing in elevators.

You can’t stop the clock, but you can change your attitude.  As Bette Davis said, “Old age ain’t no place for sissies!”

 

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Posted in Anti-aging, Healthy Senior Women, natural beauty

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U is for Unusual Uses for Everyday Items

Posted on August 8, 2012 | Leave a comment

U can Use a lot of what U have on hand for unusual uses for your natural health and your natural beauty.  We all have toothpaste, right?  Well, it’s not just for brushing your teeth.  Toothpaste is a great way to fill in the holes in your walls or to take the sting out of insect bites.  Toothpaste also works great on drying out pimples and will remove yellow stains from your nails!

Here are 25 or more tips for unusual uses for everyday items:

  1.  Olive oil can be used to moisturize your cuticles, remove eye makeup and unstick a zipper.
  2. Cut a tennis ball in half and make earphones out of them – cutting down on noise can cut down on stress!
  3. Vinegar can make your sweaters fluffier.  Pour a few capfuls of it into the rinse cycle and your cardigans will feel soft and lush.
  4. Vinegar also adjusts the pH levels in your hair which will degrease oily hair.  Shampoo.  Rinse with a ¼ cup of vinegar, and rinse again.
  5. Baking soda has a multitude of unusual uses.  You can use it as a deodorant under your arms to absorb odor.
  6. Baking soda can be made into a paste to exfoliate your skin.  3 parts baking soda to one part water.  Gently massage with circular motion and rinse.
  7. Baking soda rubbed into a wet scalp controls dandruff.  And baking soda can ease the pain of indigestion (1/2 tsp. BS in 1 cup of water).
  8. Lemons have Lots of uses.   Use it for your natural beauty when you need to lighten up ugly age spots.  Put lemon juice directly on the spots for 15 minutes.  Rinse with water.  Repeat daily until the spots are spotless.
  9. Lemons can be made into a natural hair spray!  Cut up a lemon and boil it in two cups of water, reducing the liquid to half.  Cool and put in a spray bottle.  Lemon spray keeps your hair in place and smelling fresh.
  10. Looking to smooth out your lips and get rid of the dry, flaky skin there?  Use the sticky side of clear scotch tape.  Or apply a little piece of clear tape to your nail to test the color of nail polish and then remove it!
  11. Got marshmallows left over from a camping trip?  Use them in between your toes for a pedicure.
  12. Vaseline – perfect for waylaying color disasters on your skin when you’re dyeing your hair or polishing your nails.  Just apply around the perimeter of your nails or scalp and wipe away any drips and drabs.
  13. Yogurt is one of our “go to bests” for natural health and beauty.  (See previous post - Yogurt – On You, in You, and All Over You) Today’s tip is cooling off burns with yogurt – burn your forehead with a curling iron?  No problem!  Put some yogurt on it to speed up healing.
  14. Need a little more room in your pants after a binge?  While you’re dieting and exercising and drinking more water to lose the weight, you can expand your pants with a rubber band attached to your waist button, put through the buttonhole and secured on the other side.
  15. Spoons are very handy!  Especially if you want to curl your lashes.  Cup the spoon over your closed eye as close to the lash line as you can.  With one of the fingers on the other hand, press your lashes using the outer edge of the spoon and hold.  Voila, curly lashes!
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Posted in frugal beauty, homemade beauty products, natural beauty, Natural Health

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R is for Roses – Really Romantic Remedies

Posted on July 31, 2012 | Leave a comment

Red, Red Rose – the symbol of romance, of beauty and of love.   Romance – the allure of a loved one preparing a romantic night on a bed strewn with rose petals, or a warm bath with rose petals floating sensuously.  The natural beauty of the aromas of roses has been incorporated into the world’s best perfumes for generations.

Greek mythology gives us the story of the creation of the rose.  The Goddess of Flowers (Chloris) transformed a lifeless nymph into a flower, with the help of the other gods.  Beauty came from Aphrodite, the Goddess of Love.  The scent of sweetness was the blessing of Dionysus, God of Wine.  From the Three Graces – Aglaia (Splendor), Euphrosyne (Mirth), and Thalia (Good Cheer) – came joy, charm, and brightness.  The West Wind in the form of Zephyr breathed the clouds away and life into her as Apollo, God of the Sun, allowed the sun to shine on the flower and make her bloom as the Queen of all the Flowers.

For all of us naturally beautiful women (and you men, too!), the rose is an ingredient we can really enjoy for natural skin care and for natural health. Rose essential oil is extracted from the flower head of the plant.  Aromatherapy (see A is for Aromatherapy – More than a Pretty Smell) guides us to the head of a plant when we are looking for remedies for the emotions and the nervous system.  Roses are especially important in stress relief and relaxation.

For skin care, rose oil is used best topically.  Add about 8 drops of rose essential oil (the best comes from Bulgaria) to each 10 ml of carrier oil (I like jojoba or sweet almond oils) to make a nourishing, moisturizing and beautifying treatment for the skin.

Rosewater is effective for eye infections.  Ice creams from the Middle East are prepared with rosewater.  Rose hips are powerfully filled with Vitamin C.  Rose is a scent associated with women and femininity and so it follows that symptoms experienced by women like PMS or post menopausal distress will be helped by roses and rose oil.  Rose aroma is uplifting and can be used to balance the emotions and enhance self-esteem.

For pampering yourself or romancing a loved one, nothing does the trick like soaking in a bathtub filled with warm water and rose petals.  Sprinkle a tub-full of water with your (pesticide free please!) rose petals and lie back on a pillow as you breathe in the aromatherapeutic magic of love and relaxation.  For a little sensuality and romance you can add a half cup of coconut milk like Cleopatra’s famous milk baths.

And roses just smell good so they will make you feel good.  What could be better for a Naturally Beautiful Women!

 

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Posted in Mind-Body-Spirit, natural beauty, Natural Health, Romance and Sex

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