Spring is in the air around here. My body was acting up in ways I never imagined pre-kid/pre-30′s. Asthma was flaring up, I was sneezing, my eyes were itchy, and my skin and scalp were screaming from dryness and irritation from the dry winter months.

About a month ago, my husband and I were walking on a childless day around the flea-market and came across a booth with homemade bath bars and such. Since I love things natural and I love helping local business/entrepreneurs out, I decided to buy a glycerin bath bar infused with herbs and a shampoo bar (which I am STILL using to this day) spending $5 for each. About that time I also won a bath bar made from goat milk.

For someone who was used to ordering skin care products and buying the high end shampoos and conditioners from the stores and sometimes in the salon, money spent on “beauty” was not that big of a deal. Those 3 pieces were the best $10 ever spent and won on skin products because the outcome of these products after a couple weeks of use was astonishing. I’ve used natural products before but never for as long as a month and without using other store bought bath products in conjunction. This time I ONLY used the shampoo bar (was amazed that a separate conditioner was not needed) and I only used the bath bars. My hair has so much more body that lasts the ENTIRE day, it’s shinier, super healthy looking, and my once stick straight hair actually has some bend to it now!

I found that I LOVED the herbal bath bar (glycerin base) on my skin because the scent of the herbs used lingered on my skin even hours later. BUT I must admit that I preferred the goat milk base over the glycerin soap base. It seemed to last longer and my skin felt softer. In addition, I wasn’t too fond of how the glycerin soap just seemed to “melt” and become “goopy” over time unlike the goat milk version.

I also stopped using my regular facial lotions, eye creams, and body lotions. I switched over to using just Jojoba oil which I LOVE! I can literally put it on in the morning and the next day my skin is STILL soft even if I don’t put it on after my evening shower. It’s also great for removing makeup every evening. I won’t even mention how much money I’ve spent on facial lotions and creams in the past. These products were ordered so you can guess at how much money was spent every other month or so. Perfumes, colognes, spritzes, and smelly lotions from the stores have even become too strong for me and I now much prefer the oils infused with essential oils as a scent on me. Talk about SAVINGS by using a natural substitute in lieu of perfumes and facial products!

BYE-BYE…

I’ve decided that it is time to declutter my beauty & bath products. I held on to them for security in case the “natural” route didn’t suit me. But now it’s time to clean out the old and rid as many bath & beauty products possible with harsh ingredients (like alcohol & sulfate). The less number of ingredients, the better. I have talked to hubby about making our own soap and shampoo bar recipes and he couldn’t agree with me more. I mean, why pay someone else the money to homemake something for you when you could do it yourself and maybe even turn it into a business if you found/created the right recipes.

Now I need to find more natural makeup products! The good thing is that my skin is more radiant now than before and honestly the only thing I feel like I need is mascara and some soft eyeliner. I rarely wear foundation and I only occasionally wear eye shadow. So if I can find a good natural brand that’s all I really need.

Right now I am also on the look out for a good natural substitute to covering grays (or silvers like I have) instead of using the harsh store or salon hair color products. I’ve heard that coffee, sage, and rosemary rinses are good but to expect doing the rinse a couple of times for coverage on brunettes. I’ll have to try that since I have a huge rosemary bush out back and plenty of coffee around here.

Do you know of a good natural hair color solution? Please share!

What Next?

TOOT TOOT for me on this beautiful sunny Tuesday! Spring is definitely in the air and to get myself in the spirit of cleansing the dreary winter days, I’ve been de-cluttering and re-organizing. Yesterday I cleaned out and re-organized under the sink. I swear I was under attack by the dust bunnies! I actually tossed out 3 bags of old lotions, make-up, and medicine! I went from “I can’t find anything” and “ooh I had that here?” to “ahh I can finally easily get to that without taking all of this other crap out”. It was such a nice feeling of victory and I definitely felt “lighter” after ridding all of that junk!

After purging all the junk out from under the sink I decided to tackle my son’s clothes as he appears to be going through another growth spurt. Lately I’ve been putting clothes to the side as he tells me they no longer fit. I THOUGHT this was working until I tried putting an overnight bag together for him and discovered his jeans too big in length and shirt a little too short. All I can say is “thank goodness” he’s only 9 and isn’t AS fashion conscious yet. LOL

Since I achieved success with de-cluttering earlier I grabbed him just before bed and together we went through EVERY PIECE of clothing both in drawers and in the closet hanging up. I was amazed at how much he had grown out of! Unfortunately he’s in between pant sizes so it appears I have some hemming to do since my little man is quite the shorty right now. After all the clothes were tried on and sorted, I happily (yet sadly too) found lots of drawer/closet space. Happy I no longer have the baskets filled with clothes from over flow, sad that we’ll soon need to go clothes shopping once again. In the end I have 3 garbage bag full of clothes to bless another little boy like we were.

What’s next on the list? Well, over the weekend I DID give away 57 books (this was amazingly not even 1 shelf of books!) and I have many more to weed out. I’ve promised my husband that since I prefer hardback to paperback I’d starting getting rid of the paperbacks and eventually replace the “good stories” with hardbacks as I come across them.

What are you doing to get into the “Spring” of things?