The Beauty of Clay

I am not talking about,

I meant clay as in clay mask.

Clay has many types, what I'm using now is Glacial Clay although I'm also using Camelia Rose's Rose Clay, Goats Milk & Shea in soap bar form and LOVING IT !!!

Clay mask in general is an awesome product, basically what it does is: the mask goes inside our pores where all the nasty gunk & dirt hides, once it's dried, it pulls away the impurities and dead skin cells away from your skin, so when you wash it off, those bad stuffs & dead skin also being taken off of your skin.

Glacial Clay is also full of protein & nutrients for skins which is great for rejuvenation (lighten up discoloration of my acne marks). I have been using this mask after I ditched my Queen Helene Mint Julep mask, it contains fragrance and I just didn't feel comfortable slathering fragrance on my acne-prone skin.

Another thing I like about it is it's pretty hydrating so even after I wash it off, my face doesn't feel tight. I noticed Mint Julep mask does dry up my skin a little bit.

I purchased mine at Garden of Wisdom, and they're pretty damn cheap. My glacial clay costs $4.75 for 2 oz in powder form. So what I do is mixing the powder with liquid in small dish until I meet my desirable consistency.

The liquid that I use is Spring Water, which is quite basic. Some people use Hydrosols, Aloe Vera Juice, Aloe Vera Gel, Yogurt, and sometimes mix other stuffs inside with Honey, Manuka Honey, or Seamollients.

How much liquid, you may ask? well it's all up to you, I like mine to be lotion-like consistency, not as thick as toothpaste (found it hard to smear around) or too watery. I leave my mask for 30 minutes before I rinse off to give it time to barging into my pores & do the job. I use mine 1x a week (every Sunday) but you can double the dose to 2x a week if you like.

Some other great clays worth trying are: Blue Clay, Dead Sea Clay, French Green Clay, Kaolin Clay, and Red Kaolin Clay (all from Garden of Wisdom)

GoW also offers a Clay Sampler, basically a 12 ounces of various clays for $20.05

I took these today:

I love Glacial Clay!!! . What? Green face is out of date? . Aaron just called me HULK :(

I really recommend you to try clay mask, it's pretty awesum!

How Natural are You?

Do you guys know using deodorants could cause cancer?
A new research in UK found women who used deodorants had deposits of aluminium in their outer breasts. The samples were taken from women who had undergone a mastectomy for breast cancer.

Most deodorants contain aluminium salts, because the metal is effective at stopping skin sweating. These aluminium is known to cause cancer in animal models.

Ok, don't throw away you deodorants YET, because this study not fully proven and not enough evidence to clearly stated that "Deodorant = Cancer". Although, when I think about it, how many chemical toxins have I consumed so far? Using cosmetics, skin care, shampoo, even our toothpaste could contribute to a building up toxins inside our body.

I once read in BBC health *if I'm not mistaken*, our generation today consumed so much more chemical ingredients compare to the older generations due to number of chemical contents inside our products, in simply everything we use.

So what do I do?

I know I NEED deodorants and although my mom once said "It's ok to sweat..it shows you that your heart is still healthy", it's just annoying to sweat.

That's why I switch to Natural products, the ones don't contain unnecessary ingredients that are harmful to our body. Using all-natural skin care *Garden of Wisdom* surely triggered me to using other natural stuffs for my body.

I'm just starting out and so far I'm very pleased to what I've tried and excited to try more.
These are my picks:

1. CRYSTAL Body Deodorant Roll On (Hypoallergenic, Fragrance & Paraben Free)

Paraben is a bad preservative chemicals that could agitate breast tumor

Since it's fragrance-free, don't expect any scent out of this roll-on, but I have no problem because for me, it does the job and I could always use perfume or body spray after. Speaking of spray, I use this for alternative:

2. CRYSTALUX All Over Body Spray Deodorant (100% Pure & Natural, Paraben Free)

Ideal for underarm area, sensitive intimate area, foot odor, and any skin-fold producing sweat&odor area.

I use it for my back since it's harder to reach and interchangeably with the roll-on for my underarm. It works as well, also Fragrance Free & No Animal testing.

I got both of them at my local Longs Drugs, and I have seen them at Walgreens as well.

3. Burt's Bees Baby Bee Shampoo & Wash Tear Free

• pH Balanced
• SLS (Sodium Lauryl/Laureth Sulfate) Free
• Paraben Free
• Phthalate Free
  

Yes, it's a baby shampoo : ) but I've read reviews in Makeupalley and the grown ups love it. Now, if it's your first time trying a natural shampoo, you might be surprised on how dry it feels in the shower (especially if you're not using conditioner), but don't give up right there because we're very used to the silky feeling from commercial shampoo with SLS that gives the hair some sort of 'coat'.


The first time I tried this shampoo, I freaked out on how dry my hair feels in the shower, but once I let it air-dry, my hair felt very smooth, just like baby hair : ) It's 96.08% Natural as it was shown, because it still contains fragrance, if I could describe the scent, it'd be an Apricot sweet smell, my bf said it reminds him of Playdo a lil LOL but he likes it.

They don't carry conditioners for this baby shampoo, but I believe other Burt's Bees shampoo does.

Now if you want a more natural ingredients or if you're allergic to fragrance, you can check out their Supershiny Grapefruit & Sugar Beet Shampoo, it is 98.80% Natural and fragrance free.

For a complete list of Burt's Bees Shampoo, click here.


What I'm dying to try based on awesome revies:

1. Aubrey Organics Honeysuckle & Rose Moisturizing Conditioner


2. Desert Essence Organics Italian Red Grape Conditioner


3. Chagrin Valley Shampoo Bars:

• Cafe Moreno
• Chamomile & Citrus
• Honey Beer & Egg
• Summer Sunshine

So anytime you guys want to switch to natural products, the choices are already out there. I personally think it's important to pay attention on what we put on and what we consume especially for our generation because we suffer the most from all those toxins inside today's commercial products. The sooner the better hehe.

Hope you guys find it as a good reading ^_^