Hello Lovelies,
As I promised myself to make this series, I am doing so even when it doesn't feel ''beautiful''.....as in tooth aches. Nuff said.
I want to make sure you don't miss anything in this series and I would hope and ask that you also share this series with as many friends as possible to help them with information in case they don't have this. We all need to be thinking green and taking better care of ourselves not with more chemicals but with beautifying products Nature has provided us with.
I have accumulated alot of helpful knowledge in all the decades I've been organic and making all my own products and I've learned lots of wonderful things and still learning, but I want to be of more service to others, not to just a handful, and not to hold this cache to myself.
I don't have alot of followers by a long shot, but I was hoping to reach as many women as possible to help them as much as possible with beautification and greening and that can only happen if you share this post with those you know or even don't know, and hopefully they can share too and many others can be helped by this series.
There is not a woman who cannot use the information in this series by me and by many others who are thankfully also going green and beautiful naturally and posting about it.
There is not a woman who does not want both health and beauty, and easy ways to acquire them naturally without the use of chemicals, and to know she can do it herself. This is for all of us.
Mixed in with this series I will also add photos of beautiful flowers and gardens as I work on them again.
I began this series here and explained what I am doing and why. It is imperative that we all go green for all the known and very concerning real reasons of literally tons of cancer causing poisons in everything we use. This is about poison vs safety, both for ourselves and Earth to choose to eliminate carcinogens from our bodies and the environment which is both negligently and criminally destroyed. Criminally because the ones who invent and distribute the pollutants via dispersing within consumer products and illegal disposal know what they are doing. Negligent because the ones who assume they are safe (us) just because they are found in consumer products are not boycotting them as we should, women being the number one consumer of most products in the world, AFTER industrial equipment. Every single year we discover what was once ''thought safe'' is causing cancer and toxicity.......and this conservative list is only growing. It is us the user and consumer who can break this deadly cycle.
BACK TO BEAUTY.
My first post was about Lymphatic Drainage as that is the first key to not just health but beauty, because without regular lymphatic drainage we are puffy, swollen, in pain and this does not contribute to beauty. n'est ce pa? It is also my most recent discovery and I am still reaping the positive accumulative effects of this daily invigorating practice which I recently began.
DRY SHAMPOO.
Today I will speak of another new discovery which is dry shampoo.
When I first heard the two words together ''dry shampoo'' sounded like a contradiction, an oxymoron. Didn't make sense and I felt it was just another one of the many fads that come in like fireworks and fizzle out just as fast because there is no substance to it. However, once again, I was wrong.
I was on a site where a woman who had gone minimalist and natural to her beauty's benefit and she uses it and it works for her. All of her other tips I knew of and that they worked, so I trusted her and finally decided to try it.
I saw there are commercially made ones but I wasn't about to start there I wanted natural and to do it my self. All things we use for body and face care are best made by our own hands. So I looked into reading about it, checking recipes and watching videos of women who tried it. I found lots of DIY recipes online which I will not link here because it is so easy to simply google them and you will find tons of stuff, and once I found a combination that sounded right to me and I had all the ingredients already I went to mix them and try it. I found a site that spoke about these and her experience in France and how a woman gave her some dry shampoo to try and her journey with this since then is pretty impressive.....for shampoo that is. :D So I went with the information on the site that first inspired me and then mixed the other ingredients I found were common and I only made a little bit.
My recipe for Dry Shampoo for dark hair:
1 part cornstarch (like a teaspoon to start?)
1 part Rhassoul clay
1 part cinnamon powder
and 10 drops each of Rose Geranium Essential Oil and Rosemary Essential Oil.
I mixed it and put it into a pretty jar with a sprinkle lid like this
Some people just use one ingredient like cornstarch or baking soda, I like the mix I use. Also for pale hair or silver, just leave out the darker ingredients and sub with others, but its not necessary since it is not visible, after rubbing in and then brushing, it really doesn't matter.
When I began to apply this powder onto my scalp, first parting the hair which seemed like work to me, (lol, I don't mess with my hair much, just goes up in a bun or down).....but I did it as it didn't seem right for powder to sit on the hair, this was for scalp after all. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the smell of this one and that alone was encouraging as even if it didn't work I now had a scalp perfume! But I did sprinkle, sprinkle, sprinkle and enjoying the smell waited for the magic.....and lo and behold......I was seeing something I'd always wished I had seen and was flooded with all kinds of sentiments of how much wasted time and years have gone by without me knowing about this and NO ONE telling me of this miracle which my hair specifically loves. See, if someone had told me of this I would not have had the lifelong disappointment in my flat hair, working all these years to develop all sorts of routines that would give my hair body, when a simple natural product could do it in minutes. These kinds of regrets because no one told me is why I really wanted to begin this series to inform as many others as possible of wonderful things that work beautifully! All I could say, was ''why didn't anyone tell me of this before"?!
I parted, sprinkled and rubbed, parted, sprinkled and rubbed, powdered, sprinkled and rubbed till done with the areas. I tousled my hair but did not brush it out, I left it.....cause I'm lazy that way. I just lean over the sink and tousle my hair to remove what is loose and that is that, I'm done.
Soooo......dry shampoo works on my fine long hair, the slightly oily areas were no longer oily, for sure, but surprise! the bonus and exciting part for me was the lift and volume my hair got at the scalp level...and this was the part of my hair I didn't like was not having scalp volume. This simple powder did this for me and for this alone I wear the powder....and sometimes to just make my head smell nice.
It works.
I don't like washing my hair often anyway, as I don't trust shampoos designed conveniently to need conditioning afterwards always struck me as a scam and it is, first you dry it out then you need to apply another product. Why make the product do something that requires another product to fix it after? Money. I have yet to find a shampoo that does what I need, without conditioner. Still looking.
The baking soda no poo thing worked for a time then it didn't work at all. I went back to shampoo.
Also I haven't found anything to give me the volume and thickness I craved....and ''dirty'' hair is the prettiest for me anyway, cause it does have more life and bounce anyway. I personally do not use products or equipment on my hair, not even a blow dryer. I shampoo and let it air dry in 10 minutes as dry heat dries out the hair which requires then more product. Its a catch 22. Then I twist it and roll it into a messy bun for 2 days and only then I have the body and waves that I love.
Now I have this wonderful product I am in love with, that has taken care of both the oily areas and the much coveted volume of the scalp area. It is soooooo nice, I just wish I had known of this sooner.
So I am telling you ladies, dry shampoo can be a boon from heaven for beauty and scent both. If you haven't tried it, please do, you probably already have some of the ingredients in home already, for example baking soda is popular, as is cornstarch and cinnamon. I use the Rhassoul as clay is naturally absorbent and healing and is mineral rich, just in case, and this Rhassoul is also a darker color and combined with the cinnamon is a good color for me. I could have used cocoa powder too but I prefer cinnamon for its purifying aspects as well, plus the scent with the oils I use are amazing.
And there you have it. Please let me know if you use it, have tried it, if not, what are you waiting for? :D
AND FLOWERS FOR THE GARDENS.
Some flowers, as I'm beginning slowly to reemerge from hibernation to work around the gardens again.
I found some delphiniums in the garden center. I was looking for something special and different for this pot and this was different and special. I've never had them before. These are gorgeous.
The colors fascinate me.....can you see they look painted? with sky blue strips on the lavender and as a background frame for the lavender?
Inside some mauvy pink hydrangeas.....the most gorgeous ones I've seen yet in Florida......
The front porch is being redone. I hung all new netting panels, the fresh white is heaven! Even the chinese food delivery guy said the porch was lovely and this was at night.....
Here I planted a small topiary in an urn. I have to refill the base with some draping lysimachia again which is what is next to it.
Another potted Delphinium whose flowers are done but there are still budding stems on the way.
And some alyssum soon to be planted.
These are dusty miller, begonia and petunias soon to be planted in window boxes and another urn will get the begonias.
Until next time, thanks for visiting. Please share, share, share.
sharing this post with A Delightsome Life
and The Charm of Home
and with Rooted In Thyme
As I promised myself to make this series, I am doing so even when it doesn't feel ''beautiful''.....as in tooth aches. Nuff said.
I want to make sure you don't miss anything in this series and I would hope and ask that you also share this series with as many friends as possible to help them with information in case they don't have this. We all need to be thinking green and taking better care of ourselves not with more chemicals but with beautifying products Nature has provided us with.
I have accumulated alot of helpful knowledge in all the decades I've been organic and making all my own products and I've learned lots of wonderful things and still learning, but I want to be of more service to others, not to just a handful, and not to hold this cache to myself.
I don't have alot of followers by a long shot, but I was hoping to reach as many women as possible to help them as much as possible with beautification and greening and that can only happen if you share this post with those you know or even don't know, and hopefully they can share too and many others can be helped by this series.
There is not a woman who cannot use the information in this series by me and by many others who are thankfully also going green and beautiful naturally and posting about it.
There is not a woman who does not want both health and beauty, and easy ways to acquire them naturally without the use of chemicals, and to know she can do it herself. This is for all of us.
Mixed in with this series I will also add photos of beautiful flowers and gardens as I work on them again.
I began this series here and explained what I am doing and why. It is imperative that we all go green for all the known and very concerning real reasons of literally tons of cancer causing poisons in everything we use. This is about poison vs safety, both for ourselves and Earth to choose to eliminate carcinogens from our bodies and the environment which is both negligently and criminally destroyed. Criminally because the ones who invent and distribute the pollutants via dispersing within consumer products and illegal disposal know what they are doing. Negligent because the ones who assume they are safe (us) just because they are found in consumer products are not boycotting them as we should, women being the number one consumer of most products in the world, AFTER industrial equipment. Every single year we discover what was once ''thought safe'' is causing cancer and toxicity.......and this conservative list is only growing. It is us the user and consumer who can break this deadly cycle.
BACK TO BEAUTY.
My first post was about Lymphatic Drainage as that is the first key to not just health but beauty, because without regular lymphatic drainage we are puffy, swollen, in pain and this does not contribute to beauty. n'est ce pa? It is also my most recent discovery and I am still reaping the positive accumulative effects of this daily invigorating practice which I recently began.
DRY SHAMPOO.
Today I will speak of another new discovery which is dry shampoo.
When I first heard the two words together ''dry shampoo'' sounded like a contradiction, an oxymoron. Didn't make sense and I felt it was just another one of the many fads that come in like fireworks and fizzle out just as fast because there is no substance to it. However, once again, I was wrong.
I was on a site where a woman who had gone minimalist and natural to her beauty's benefit and she uses it and it works for her. All of her other tips I knew of and that they worked, so I trusted her and finally decided to try it.
I saw there are commercially made ones but I wasn't about to start there I wanted natural and to do it my self. All things we use for body and face care are best made by our own hands. So I looked into reading about it, checking recipes and watching videos of women who tried it. I found lots of DIY recipes online which I will not link here because it is so easy to simply google them and you will find tons of stuff, and once I found a combination that sounded right to me and I had all the ingredients already I went to mix them and try it. I found a site that spoke about these and her experience in France and how a woman gave her some dry shampoo to try and her journey with this since then is pretty impressive.....for shampoo that is. :D So I went with the information on the site that first inspired me and then mixed the other ingredients I found were common and I only made a little bit.
My recipe for Dry Shampoo for dark hair:
1 part cornstarch (like a teaspoon to start?)
1 part Rhassoul clay
1 part cinnamon powder
and 10 drops each of Rose Geranium Essential Oil and Rosemary Essential Oil.
I mixed it and put it into a pretty jar with a sprinkle lid like this
Some people just use one ingredient like cornstarch or baking soda, I like the mix I use. Also for pale hair or silver, just leave out the darker ingredients and sub with others, but its not necessary since it is not visible, after rubbing in and then brushing, it really doesn't matter.
When I began to apply this powder onto my scalp, first parting the hair which seemed like work to me, (lol, I don't mess with my hair much, just goes up in a bun or down).....but I did it as it didn't seem right for powder to sit on the hair, this was for scalp after all. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the smell of this one and that alone was encouraging as even if it didn't work I now had a scalp perfume! But I did sprinkle, sprinkle, sprinkle and enjoying the smell waited for the magic.....and lo and behold......I was seeing something I'd always wished I had seen and was flooded with all kinds of sentiments of how much wasted time and years have gone by without me knowing about this and NO ONE telling me of this miracle which my hair specifically loves. See, if someone had told me of this I would not have had the lifelong disappointment in my flat hair, working all these years to develop all sorts of routines that would give my hair body, when a simple natural product could do it in minutes. These kinds of regrets because no one told me is why I really wanted to begin this series to inform as many others as possible of wonderful things that work beautifully! All I could say, was ''why didn't anyone tell me of this before"?!
I parted, sprinkled and rubbed, parted, sprinkled and rubbed, powdered, sprinkled and rubbed till done with the areas. I tousled my hair but did not brush it out, I left it.....cause I'm lazy that way. I just lean over the sink and tousle my hair to remove what is loose and that is that, I'm done.
Soooo......dry shampoo works on my fine long hair, the slightly oily areas were no longer oily, for sure, but surprise! the bonus and exciting part for me was the lift and volume my hair got at the scalp level...and this was the part of my hair I didn't like was not having scalp volume. This simple powder did this for me and for this alone I wear the powder....and sometimes to just make my head smell nice.
It works.
I don't like washing my hair often anyway, as I don't trust shampoos designed conveniently to need conditioning afterwards always struck me as a scam and it is, first you dry it out then you need to apply another product. Why make the product do something that requires another product to fix it after? Money. I have yet to find a shampoo that does what I need, without conditioner. Still looking.
The baking soda no poo thing worked for a time then it didn't work at all. I went back to shampoo.
Also I haven't found anything to give me the volume and thickness I craved....and ''dirty'' hair is the prettiest for me anyway, cause it does have more life and bounce anyway. I personally do not use products or equipment on my hair, not even a blow dryer. I shampoo and let it air dry in 10 minutes as dry heat dries out the hair which requires then more product. Its a catch 22. Then I twist it and roll it into a messy bun for 2 days and only then I have the body and waves that I love.
Now I have this wonderful product I am in love with, that has taken care of both the oily areas and the much coveted volume of the scalp area. It is soooooo nice, I just wish I had known of this sooner.
So I am telling you ladies, dry shampoo can be a boon from heaven for beauty and scent both. If you haven't tried it, please do, you probably already have some of the ingredients in home already, for example baking soda is popular, as is cornstarch and cinnamon. I use the Rhassoul as clay is naturally absorbent and healing and is mineral rich, just in case, and this Rhassoul is also a darker color and combined with the cinnamon is a good color for me. I could have used cocoa powder too but I prefer cinnamon for its purifying aspects as well, plus the scent with the oils I use are amazing.
And there you have it. Please let me know if you use it, have tried it, if not, what are you waiting for? :D
AND FLOWERS FOR THE GARDENS.
Some flowers, as I'm beginning slowly to reemerge from hibernation to work around the gardens again.
I found some delphiniums in the garden center. I was looking for something special and different for this pot and this was different and special. I've never had them before. These are gorgeous.
The colors fascinate me.....can you see they look painted? with sky blue strips on the lavender and as a background frame for the lavender?
Inside some mauvy pink hydrangeas.....the most gorgeous ones I've seen yet in Florida......
The front porch is being redone. I hung all new netting panels, the fresh white is heaven! Even the chinese food delivery guy said the porch was lovely and this was at night.....
Here I planted a small topiary in an urn. I have to refill the base with some draping lysimachia again which is what is next to it.
Another potted Delphinium whose flowers are done but there are still budding stems on the way.
And some alyssum soon to be planted.
These are dusty miller, begonia and petunias soon to be planted in window boxes and another urn will get the begonias.
Until next time, thanks for visiting. Please share, share, share.
sharing this post with A Delightsome Life
and The Charm of Home
and with Rooted In Thyme
Good morning Serena.....what a BEAUTIFUL post!! I have been doing dry brushing for some time now and it indeed is a good practice to engage in each day. Dry shampoo although good for others does not seem to work for me. I have extremely thick hair that tends to being a little oily...so I must use a regular shampoo. But thanks for this info anyway.
ReplyDeleteHave a beautiful day.
Jo
You have thick hair, slightly oily which is perfect. I guess I am speaking to those who have oilier hair, thinner which becomes a problem in just 2 days after washing. You're lucky with the thick hair.
DeleteAnd thanks for mentioning that the Dry Skin Brushing works for you too, all the testimonies to this help to encourage others who are on the fence, like I was.
Blessings, Serena
Whey Sweet Pea I have silver hair, any suggestions for this color? Your delphiniums and other flowers are gorgeous! Hope you are feeling better with Spring on the way❣Mary Anne
ReplyDeleteI named my first cat Sweet Pea after that fragrant beautiful flower. For silver hair you would use just white items, like the cornstarch, white clay maybe, oat flower, etc, there is a link I posted that has several recipes.
DeleteThank you for this post, dear Serena. I love the ambiance of the flowers and the use of pink (I always wanted a pink kitchen and a pink stucco house! Near the beach, of course! In my dreams!) These photos are so soothing to the soul. And thank you also for the dry shampoo recipe. I will check our health food store for organic corn starch. Where can I find the Rhassoul clay? I haven't found any satisfactory shampoos since the early 1970's. I used to use Herbal Essence which used to be made from real herbs, even nettles were in it, and I loved the fragrance, and the rich green color of the luxurious shampoo, and you knew it was made from nature and not a bunch of chemicals; with the green goddess lady on the front of the label surrounded by garden flowers (she wasn't green, just organic and natural with long flowing tresses). Then Herbal Essence coined their phrase to make way too many types of shampoo fragrances full of goop, with fruity chemical smells. I won't touch the stuff now. And most all shampoos today say 'do not get into the eyes' and to rinse the eyes with lots of water if you do. And it's like, Duh? It's going to get in the eyes if it is a shampoo! I am equally disappointed with dishwashing liquid for the kitchen sink. ALL of them now say 'do not use with chlorine' which causes a reaction and fumes. And most water districts dump chlorine and ammonia into the city water systems without metering it, so hence, the liquid dish soap immediately will react with the chlorine in the water. It literally makes me feel sick and I won't even use any of the products on the market. We need a really good dish washing formula. That and the fact most everything comes from China, even the bubbles that children use to blow bubbles with now come from China, and there is a warning not to get the solution into the eyes! This never used to be the case! It's just ridiculous. Where did the good products go? I used Luster Cream Shampoo as a child, and I would wash my own hair in our bathroom sink, and it lathered up the most luxurious shampoo, and it never stung my eyes. So shame on mass production of what used to be harmless, good, clean, shampoos, soaps, and kitchen and laundry supplies. Yes, our lakes and rivers are polluted with chemicals which is killing the environment. So, thank you for helping some of us to want to get back to nature. I wish I had the formula for the wet shampoo with nettles in it that smelled like heaven! Maybe pine or juniper was part of the ingredients as pine is cleanings and fragrant. But the fluid is what is the dilemma. Just thinking out loud.
ReplyDeleteblessing and hugs,
Miss Teresa
Hi Miss T, you can find the Rhassoul online, probably Mountain Rose Herbs is good, I forget where I got mine some years ago but many people now carry it. Also you don't have to use the clay, some people just use one ingredient, either cornstarch or baking soda....I just like to think something of benefit in other ways in in the mix. :D
DeleteThanks for writing, I always enjoy reading.
Blessings, Serena
Hello dear Serena...I have long, natural curly hair, and dry shampoo and I don't get along very well. If I let my hair go for too long, I end up with a look of dread locks kind of hair style. I braid my hair to keep it from tangling alot....especially in humid weather....it's VERY unruly!! Most of the time I look like the "sea hag". I don't mind...I love the "wild" look for summer months. I live at the lake, so it fits...LOL.
ReplyDeleteYour flowers are amazing! I LOVE the blue delphinium! I was just telling my hubby that I'm putting in a dried flower garden again this year. So larkspur will be on the menu. I wish delphinium dried well. Since they fall apart, I use the annual species...larkspur. Globe amaranth, German, and colored statice, veronica, tansy, feverfew, yarrows, more lavender plants, and sage will be going in too. I have quite a few roses, but you can never have too many...so I'm sure I'll be adding more come spring! Oregano dries really well for arrangements and wreaths. I love the small babies breath for drying, and also sea-lavender. I'm on the look out for old window sashes for cold frames to start the seeds in when the weather warms the soil enough for planting. I'm excited to get started. I used to have a dried flower business when we had the farm. I miss it, and have been making lavender sachets for the past year. The need for lavender has sparked my love of working with dried flowers once again...thus the desire for a garden for flowers for drying.
Your post is informative, and interesting. Good for you, for being concerned for the environment!! You are an inspiration!
I truly love seeing your home and gardens, sweet girl. They reflect your beautiful spirit.
Love to you.
Debbie
xo
I love about your hair going to dreads !!! I wish I could have hair like that, I always wanted that. Mine is fine and tangles far too easily too and this is getting to me now. I kept it in a braid for a week so not to have to deal with it and I do believe I could have kept it that way for longer but I needed to get a trim. I have fine straight hair which can get oily at the top, but discovered only since moving to Florida that I have a wave that comes out in the humidity, who knew? I try to encourage it but do have to work at keeping it fluffy which I can now with the dry shampoo. Lucky people do not need it. You are one of the lucky ones. "unruly" hair rocks!!
Deleteohhh so you are growing flowers for drying! ohhh....you can grow what you wish....pick out seeds and plant them and they grow......does that still happen on planet Earth? I have tried sooo often and it fails 80% of the time. I will try again though as this does not make sense to me. I use organic soil and my own organic compost, and mix things as suggested by professionals but things refuse to grow. Too sad.
If I could I'd grow everything by seed I would, and I'd even grow things I didn't want just because seeds are growing!
Blessings, Serena
Lady of the Woods, I ran across your blog as I was looking up crushed tulle fabric. The post I was guided to was December 27, 2012. You were making a crushed tulle skirt which was beautiful. What really caught my eye too was the wrapped sweater bolero that was Camel color that topped the crushed tulle skirt. I loved it so much I wanted to make one out of old sweaters pieced together or knit fabric. I could not quite figure out how it worked though and posted the photo of the outfit on Facebook where there is a debate going on about how it is made. My thought was it is a regular shawl collar on the right side and on the left a long cascade that folds and wraps up over the right, then attaches somehow under the collar. I would love to see the sweater un-wrapped if you can post that!
ReplyDeleteYour Delphiniums are exquisite in their colors, very fantasy. I'm an artist so they make me want to paint them on a large canvas. Thank you so much!
Lady of the Woods, First let me tell you how much I love your blog. I ran across it while looking for crushed tulle fabrics. I am an avid gardener, seamstress, and artist. I was so attracted to your Delphiniums colors that I want to paint them in large size. It's funny how we stumble upon these wonderful blogs while searching for something else. I am a little embarrassed to ask this question but I fell in love with the camel wrap sweater bolero that is pictured atop the crushed tulle skirt that you made and would love to make one out of old sweaters pieced together or knit fabric. I posted the photo of your outfit on Facebook asking all my FB friends who sew and knit to figure it out and we are stumped. My thoughts are that the sweater is a regular shawl collar on one side and the other side might be a long pointed cascade side that you can fold and wrap up to meet the shoulder, maybe attaching under the collar. I would love to see the sweater, if you still have it, unwrapped or explained how it works. The post was made on December 27, 2012, sorry. Thank you so much for any information you can share and thank you for your blog! Seamist
ReplyDeleteSeamist thank you for your comments, lovely to know others are finding and reading, enjoying, learning and mostly being inspired to create some beauty!!! MY JOB DONE! lolol.
DeleteI have the bolero still and could take some pics for you if you can email me your email address, and I will not publish that comment, is that ok?
Lovely, Thank you so much Lady of the Woods. Seamist
ReplyDelete