Laundry.....

I've started using Soap Nuts instead of regular laundry detergent for some of our laundry.  They work great for normal laundry (like mine and my daughter's) but not so good for heavily soiled laundry - like my husband's.

He refers to them as "monkey nuts" and prefers that I don't use them to wash his clothes.  :)  It makes me laugh because, well.....enough said.  LOL

So I found a recipe for homemade laundry detergent and have been using that for his clothes.  Here's the recipe:

• 1 cup of grated bar soap (any soap you like - we use all the scraps or half used bars laying around the house)
• 1/2 cup of super washing soda
• 1/2 cup of Borax

Mix these all together in a bowl and keep them in a little canister in your laundry room.

     For a lightly soiled load - start the water in your washer and sprinkle in 1 tablespoon of the mixture so it has time to dissolve before putting the clothes in.  For a heavily soiled load - use 2 tablespoons of the mixture.

This mixture works great and cleans our clothes nicely and leaves a faint scent of whatever soap you used in the mixture.

Soap Nuts are more allergen free.  Actually, I don't think you can get more natural than these nuts for washing your clothes.  You can order them online through various retailers.  Just google "Soap Nuts".  I have used the brand "Eco Nuts" (pictured above) They typically come in a box with a little cloth bag.  You take 4-5 soap nuts out of the box and put them in the little cloth bag and throw the bag in the washer with your clothes.  That's it.

When you pull your clothes out of the washer - pull the little soap nuts bag out and throw it in your next load in the washer.  Occasionally, I have forgotten to retrieve the little bag before putting the load in the dryer and consequently the nuts went through a dryer cycle.  Doesn't hurt them one bit.  Just pull em out and throw them in the washer with the next load.  They are very forgiving.

You change out the soap nuts after about 10 washes - they start getting really brittle and shrived up.  Put the used up nuts in your compost or garbage and put in 4-5 new soap nuts in the bag and you are ready to go!

The outside layer of the soap nuts is a natural surfactant so it works just like soap, you just wont see any suds (which you really don't want in your washing machine anyway).  I personally think they do a great job of cleaning - they just don't leave a fragrance behind.  So your clothes smell like...you guessed it.....clothes! Just not dirty clothes.

If you're used to your clothes smelling like a flower garden after laundering - using soap nuts may take some getting used to.  If you can't live without your clothes smelling like some kind of fragrance, you might try the recipe I listed earlier for making the homemade laundry detergent.

I've read several accounts where people have switched to using soap nuts with great results because they are allergic to the fragrances and other ingredients in the laundry detergents you find at your local grocery.  My daughter has sensitive skin so I do like using these to launder her clothes.  I also like to use them on my clothes too - especially anything delicate.  We've been using the soap nuts for at least a year with good results.  I've been using the homemade laundry detergent for a few months - also with good results.

Hope these tips are helpful to you and your family!

Tooth Powder

This is what I use instead of toothpaste now:

It leaves my mouth feeling minty fresh just like toothpaste, just without ingredients like SLS and flouride.  They sell something similar in Sprouts Farmers Market stores - the brand is called Spry.  I've never used their tooth powder but do like their chewing gum.

I purchased this tooth powder through www.soapforgoodnessake.com.  I purchase all our soap there too.  Love their soap.  I also like that when you finish this jar, you can order a refill from them and it comes in a little bag and you dump the bag of tooth powder in this jar so there's less waste for the landfill.  But if you do want a new jar each time, the jars are made of glass so they can be recycled.  :)

"Non Toxic" Care of my skin - a work in progress

I read about the oil cleansing method a while back and gave it a try.  A few days after I came across a post from someone else who tried it and had broken out severely and it took her 3 months or so to get her face cleared up. YIKES!  I promptly decided not to pursue this method further.

UPDATE (5/13/2013):  One of my fave blogs posted a great list of TIPS on using the Oil Cleansing Method if you are thinking of giving it a try - one of her tips was not to use olive oil or coconut oil.

A friend told me she loved the Pumpkin Compexion Soap that I gave her for a gift one year and has been using it on her face ever since and LOVES it.  Her face looks great so I decided to give it a try too.

Its been a few months, and I love using this soap.  Its easy to use, it takes my makeup off easily, my face feels nice and clean afterwards.  My face does feel a bit tight and dry after it dries so I do need to follow it up with a moisturizer....

What should I use?

I started with organic virgin coconut oil as a moisturizer, as well as a lotion for all over my body.  It worked ok.  My skin definitely "drank" it up promptly, but it was difficult to figure out that balance of applying too much or too little.  Too little - would make my skin itchy and dry, too much - I would be a big greasy ball and leave grease marks on anything I touched.  :/

I ordered some samples of Body Butta from Bubble and Bee to try instead of the straight coconut oil.  I loved the smell of the Rasberry Vanilla and the Coconut Lime.  Wonderful!  They both did an excellent job of moisturizing all day with one application.  Not to mention, I smell divine!

I also tried their sample of Organic Face Cream.  It was better than using coconut oil, but it is very thick and it takes a while to spread on your face - you have to let the heat of your body warm it up a bit so it melts some and then it spreads around much better.  I still felt like I needed more moisturizing than what this product offered.

A few months ago, I had found a moisturizing cream, the Healthy Glow Facial Hydrator, in my local ULTA Beauty store from a line called Belli.  This line is geared towards pregnant moms who are concerned about chemicals in their beauty products.  You can read more here.

I initially tried it when I bought it months ago, but at that point, I was still trying to move towards using the simplest products on my body.  (Products that had one or two ingredients, basically trying to use products that weren't full of preservatives, additives, no matter how natural they were touted to be - just trying to keep it simple)  I remember liking the smell of the Belli lotion, but I remember that I was also battling some minor acne at the time too, thinking that this lotion was just exasperating the problem....and so I put it aside.

Anyway, I pulled it back out about a week ago and started using it again for a moisturizer.  Its smells great, reminds me of orange popsicles....Its a very light cream that doesn't leave my face feeling oily.  It soaks in quickly and has worked great these past few days.  No feeling of tight or dry skin.  And I haven't had any breakouts either....yet.  I hope I don't.  I really like this lotion.

So what's in my cabinet now for skin care?

Pumpkin Complexion Soap - to cleanse my face
Coconut oil - to remove that pesky waterproof mascara
Belli Healthy Glow Facial Hydrator - for moisturizing my face
Bubble and Bee Body Butta Rasperrry Vanilla - for moisturizing all over

UPDATE: (5/13/2013)  I recently had a facial at my favorite spa and they just started carrying a new line of skin care called Naturopathica.  Their products are very simply made and use essential oils and other natural ingredients.  I was very impressed with how my skin felt and looked after my facial with these products.  I have been using the products for about 2 months now and my skin looks great and feels great too.  The products that I am using are:

• Aloe Cleansing Gel
• Lavender Protective Moisturizer SPF 17
• White Tea Antioxidant Mask

Simple Workout

I used this little workout to get back in shape for bikini season this summer.  I found it on Pinterest.
I do it every couple of days - basically whenever I remember to do it.  It takes all of about 2-3 minutes TOTAL.  AND IT WORKS.  no joke.  really.

I typically do this right before I jump in the shower, so you can do it in your bathroom if you want or wherever.

Here it is:

50 jumping jacks
5 pushups
30 crunches (with legs at 45 degree angle, straight)
20 mountain climbers
hold plank position for 60 seconds
30 squats

I do all of these, one right after the other.  No rest in between.  That's it. Who knew something so simple would work so well!!!

Healthy "Raw" Snack Bars

A friend of mine recommended these snack bars to me.  She's very health conscious.

A health food store employee had introduced her to them, and I went along with her to the store to check out these snack bars.  (can't remember the name of the store, but its in in the Sunset Ridge shopping center off of N New Braunfels in Alamo Heights)

I found the ingredient list to be surprisingly simple for a processed bar of "raw" food.  They also use sprouted nuts in them too - I've been hearing more and more about eating grains and nuts that are "sprouted" but haven't had the time to investigate those further.

So I purchased one bar to try it out.  $1.69/bar.  My friend told me this is her favorite flavor, the Spirulina Dream.  (What is Spirulina?) My friend also warned me not to look at this bar, and to just put it in my mouth before I judge it.  (I have to admit, it was kind of funny looking - not gross, but just not sure how to describe it)

Anyway, I tried it.  It was actually pretty yummy for a healthy snack bar.  My husband tried a piece and he said it tasted like sweet feed.  :)  I think it tastes like sweet feed smells.  Kind of nutty and sweet and chewy. Not too bad.  I'm a horse lover so I happen to love the smell of sweet feed, and horses, and leather, but I digress.....

I could eat these every now and then, for breakfast in a pinch or something like that.

There are several other flavors, of which I have only tried one other (see below)

It was not as sweet as I expected, but still good.   I hope to try some more flavors soon.  The Whole Foods market on Blanco and 1604 carries these but only the two flavors I featured here and they are $1.99/bar  there.

I plan to make a trek to the little health food store and try some more flavors soon.

Baby/Child Toothpaste

I've been on the hunt for a less toxic version of baby/child toothpaste for my daughter.  We started out using the standard Baby Orajel (with the Elmo on it) that you can get in the local grocery store.  I wasn't really happy with it - since it was loaded with all sorts of parabens.

In my search I came across the brand Jack N' Jill.  I read some great reviews online about the toothpaste from several moms and decided to give it a try.

I soon found out that the company is based in Australia - wow.  However, they did ship to the USA, but shipping wasn't cheap.  After much debating, I decided to order 3 different flavors to make the shipping worth it.  I was pleasantly surprised and my daughter loves the toothpaste so much that she comes running to the bathroom when I tell her its time to brush our teeth!

I also love that the toothpaste uses certified organic flavorings - and they taste GREAT!  We ordered the strawberry (pictured above), banana and blueberry.  We've just finished the strawberry and started using the banana, and it is amazing how yummy each flavor has been.  No wonder my daughter loves brushing her teeth.  I'm looking forward to trying the blueberry flavor along with her in the future.

I also love that you can start using this toothpaste with babies that are 6 months old and it is safe to swallow.  Overall a great product and cute packaging too!

Safer Nail Polish

I say safer, because if you really don't want toxic chemicals on your nails, which in turn can leach into your body, then don't put ANY nail polish on.

Sadly, even the least toxic polishes still have some stuff in them that I would prefer not to put in my body if given the choice.  However, there are events that would require a bit more dressing up, and nail polish is a necessity, toxins and all.

For those events, I have found a brand of polish, Honeybee Gardens, that is reasonably priced ($7 a bottle), can be removed with simple rubbing alcohol from your medicine cabinet and dries quickly.

I have two colors so far in the polish, a bubble gum pink called Valentine (not pictured) and Goddess, a frosty plum (pictured below)

I've been using these polishes exclusively for about 6 months.  They work well for me and it was an easy transition to this brand from standard nail polish.  However, I have found that the longer you leave this polish on, the harder it is to take off.  When I mean "harder to take off" I mean it takes me a good 15 minutes to get the polish off my nails instead of about 5 with standard polish.  It does state this on the product label as well.

Overall, its been a good transition for me to a less toxic product.

I did come across another brand of less toxic nail polish called Aquarella, but it was more expensive and dictated that you needed their brand of polish remover to get the polish off.  Maybe at some point I will give that brand a try....as for now, Honeybee Gardens polish works just fine.