New Routine

When I turned 30 last year, I made it my quest to be as Chem-free and local as possible. This means we (Diego has been fully supportive although skeptical at times) have been on a long journey to find the right deodorant, shampoo, soap, cleaning, skin care, food...and the list goes on. One of the hardest things that is still an ongoing battle is finding a skin care regime that works for me. Since eliminating the chemical-ly stuff my skin has reverted back to my 15 year old state and I have frequent break outs. Also, many of the natural creams out there are butters and are too heavy for my face and only enhance the 15 year old look (with wrinkles so it really is not and anti-aging tactic!) of my skin.
In comes the sugar scrub seen above. I happened across this page from Little House in the Suburbs and decided to give the naturally clear skin regime a try. It goes like this (taken from Ivory's site):

1. Use homemade basil sugar scrub in shower and leave on for a couple of minutes.

2. Rinse a bunch and then a little leftover shampoo bubbles or other dilute amount of soap over my face for the final rinse.

3. After shower, wet washcloth and sprinkle a few drops Tea Tree Oil on it.

4. Wipe over face.

5. Apply Tee Tree Oil directly to any trouble spots.

So upon discovering this I promptly made a batch of the sugar scrub. Instead of dried basil, I added rosemary and lavender and 2 drops of peppermint oil. Let me just say that I love the scrub! It leaves your skin feeling soft, smells wonderful and the peppermint is very energizing and invigorating in the morning!

After I apply the tea tree oil to my trouble spots, I follow up with a new not so heavy face cream that I discovered a few months ago. It is the youthful glow face cream from Avalon Herbals.

It is water based rather than oil based and is wonderful for the face and chest. They are a local company (for those of you in Nova Scotia) that sell in Pete's Frootique and every two weekends at the market. They are lovely people and grow a lot of their own ingredients. What more could you ask for!! Actually, definitely ask for the "Bliss" foot cream...IT IS AMAZING! It smells of rosemary and feels like heaven. I use it on my hands and they have dramatically improved in elasticity and no longer look dry...hang nails...gone!

As for the rest of my body, I am still in LOVE with Earth Elementals Soaps' Midsummer Night's Cream for my eczemic arms and Cocao Butter Mousse (you just want to eat it it smells so good!) as an aftershave delight. They too are local, grow many of their own ingredients and are just all around wonderful people. They also sell at Pete's and every weekend at the Market.

So I have been on the new facial routine for a week now. It usually takes a couple of weeks for your skin to get into a new skin care rhythm. So I will give it at least a month (likely 2) to see if the results are consistent. I will keep you posted.

Happy Sunday!