Ahhhhh … it’s now time. Time for the craziness and the traveling and the family.
And the Quelf.
(You want to play that game. I promise.)
There will be a post here and there around these parts over the next couple of weeks, but not a whole, whole bunch. You’ll be so focused on your own families, though, you’ll hardly even give little old me a second thought. This makes me happy and sad. I think the word fancy people use is melancholy.
But! Over the next few weeks, I plan on giving Crunchy Betty an editorial makeover and getting back into the habit of four posts a week after the first of the year. I need YOU to help me do this.
So I’ve created this handy-dandy notebook poll so you can tell me EXACTLY what you want to see more of on Crunchy Betty in 2012. Is it beauty recipes? More household and food stuff? More Food For Your Soul (my personal favorite)?
There’s also a place where you can write in YOUR ideas and I promise I will put them all in a spreadsheet and then look at it over the next few months for post ideas. So don’t be shy.
What do you want more of on Crunchy Betty in 2012? You can vote for as many things as you want. (And you can even write in “apocalypse” if you’re so inclined.)
Food on Your Face for Acne and Oily Skin On Holiday Sale!
If you’re still struggling with an idea for something to get for your friend/daughter/son/neighbor/waitress for the holiday season, Crunchy Betty’s Food on Your Face for Acne and Oily Skin is on sale again … only this time it’s much, much better.
See, this time, both the PDF (my favorite version) AND the Kindle Version is on sale for 25% at a whopping total of $5.99.
That’s 25% off, my friends. And the sale is on through 1/1/2012.
Give your lovies the gift of a crunchy face this holiday season. YOU KNOW THEY WANT IT (even if they don’t know that yet).
Want to Discuss What You Want to See on Crunchy Betty?
One of my favorite thing about you guys is the way you talk things out with each other – helping and problem solving. YOU INSPIRE ME.
So, if one of the things you want to see on Crunchy Betty in the coming year is an “other” answer, why not share it here in the comment section, too? We can hash it out together, and you can help me help you help everyone.
So don’t be shy. What have I NOT given you that you’d love to have?
(Please don’t say diamonds, mkay?)
Ho ho ho!
Two Stories to Touch Your Heart and Open Up Your Givingness
I agree, more info about how you use essential oils would be fantastic! Your blog is my favorite by the way 🙂
Ohhh, how about hair dye… As in henna! Currently searching for someone local who knows how to do it. Covering the gray results in an attachment to chemical dyes that I can’t seem to break free from – vanity, yes. I cringe each time I go and trying to hold my breath that long isn’t practical! 😉
Hi,
I would love to see some of the posts that have done in the past re-posted according to skin type. For instance, I love all of the articles about different recipes for your face, but I have to bounce from one to another to find the specifics I need to put it all together. It would be great to have a “cleaning regimen for oily skin only” with your recommendations for cleaners, masks, astringent just for oily skin, dry skin, all in one place.
Also, any ideas for safe, effective hair removal?
I have a follow up idea. I want to start doing much of this on myself this year, but I also want to be prepared as my son enters the era where he will have skin problems (if his parents are any indication). However, I don’t see him doing all the steps. Do you have any regimens that are compressed for impatient kids?
As a side note, do you know of any evidence that years of using commercial products actually makes skin issues worse in the cumulative? I want to give my kid the best base for good skin as possible starting NOW if that will help avoid skin problems.
PS. Betty, my brother is a dermatologist and I would rather use your methods to protect my son’s skin in the future if I can!
KathleenLou, our heighbour had terrible problems with her skin, and went to a dermatologist who told her to throw away all her products and use a very basic Nivea cream..(!!) ?
(It’s actually not eco to throw away, better to donate.. to someone who could possibly find any of it useful..)
When I was younger, my mum made me ‘spa treatment’ – hot chammomile tea, either as ‘inhalation’ and/or put on a gauze, put on the ‘problem areas’ on face (with zits/oily skin), towels over that to keep it warm, then RELAX… (she changed the gauze and re-soaked in ‘hot tea’ to keep it well, hot!)
It was great RELAXATION & I enjoyed it A LOT!!
I would love love, pretty please, another fabulously crunchy book for us gently over 40 year-olds, with skin that sometimes blemishes but is on the dryer side, & needs tender loving anti-aging care. I know this is a huge request, but I enjoyed reading your 1st book so much & my daughters find it irreplaceable. May your New Year be filled with all the crunchy good stuff possible! Thank you for all you do.
i know it’s way past Christmas, but i really want something that makes acne disappear in a day. hey, a girl can dream, right?
Heya Matilda. Have you tried the Oil Cleansing Method? I had nasty acne during my teens and all through my twenties until I started OCM. It won’t clear it up in a day, but it will stop making it worse, instantly 🙂 Highly recommended!
I absolutely love your blog and while I completely understand you taking time away to be with your family (MUCH DESERVED), I can’t wait for you to come back! I made the peppermint lip balm and I LOVE IT. I can’t think of anything specific because I’m still figuring out all the wonderful things you do have here, and I can’t wait to try more of them. Oh, do you have a post on how to store herbs? I just bought a bunch and am not quite sure how to keep them. I’ll have to search and see if you’ve already written that….Happy New Year!
I have to say it: thank you, thank you, thank you! I love your blog and I enjoy reading all your posts. They are very diverse, but have that same crunchiness feeling yet.
In 2011, thanks to you, I went no-poo (kids too!), started washing my face with honey (still does and husband too!), made my first home made oatmeal face mask, infused vinegar, oil and honey with herbs, flowers and fruits, blended my first coconut milk (this became a weekly routine task!), and just made cocoa lip balm with my daughter (Santa brought us all the needed crunchy ingredients).
Happy Holidays! 🙂
I’d love more things for hair. I love all of the beauty recipes posted, and I would love some more 🙂 Especially if there were different things for different hues of hair.
I lurve your site and have tried several different things with great success. I’m having a baby in March and would love an article on baby friendly items. Or even momma friendly after baby. Like a nipple salve or some such. Sorry for lack of ideas my brain doesn’t function quite as well. Stuff that I should have on hand in case baby gets sick would be great.
My first time here – and how have I not discovered this blog before??? Love the beauty and household recipes. Can’t wait to try them all out!
I wanted you to hear this: I bought your book & had it printed & bound for my 18 year old daughter . . . . I think it’s her favorite Christmas gift!
Hi there. I am going to ask for exactly what I would like to see. I keep looking for hair oil recipes. I just went through treatment for cancer this year and my hair is growing back. I almost have enough hair to style, though I look shaggy at the moment. My question is, why not hair oil instead of flax seed gel? I don’t really savor having hardened hair. I would rather play with oily, waxy good hair oils or creams. Your thoughts?
Happy Holidays!!! I’ve been so very very swamped with work (which is good), family (which is crazy) and just plain getting ready for the season lately that I haven’t commented much, BUT I want you to know my 2011 was much happier because you were part of it!! MWAH! I think you’re amazing and talented and well, just plain awesome and so here’s to more food on all our faces in 2012!! Hope you have an amazing holiday season!!!!
Hi Betty (Betty),
I would like to see you do a series on healing damaged skin. My father has steroid damaged skin from attempts to treat a severe chronic itch. The doctors all say that the skin is permanently damaged, but I wonder if there isn’t a “crunchy” way to help his skin regenerate and heal.
I stumbled upon your blog while searching the internet for something to help both his terrible itch and his damaged skin. I have enjoyed all that I have read here and have found several very useful ideas.
Thank you for all that you do.
Looking forward to 2012!
Cheryl
Of course, I’d love to see more beauty recipes (hair help!) and household/DIY stuff. Specifically, I loved the food posts. Water kefir and homemade cheese posts were great. Did you do a yogurt one, too? Anyway. I’d love some more of those. Maybe a sour cream/creme fraiche post sometime? Or a milk kefir post? If you do any gardening, I’d love to read posts on gardening related things, too. Keep up the good work! And happy holidays 🙂
Gardening would be awesome!
Sometimes I can get overwhelmed by the sheer number of ways to do the same thing. I think I would vote for more information that really helps me understand the options I have and why I might want to choose one product (or way of making a product) over another. Otherwise I just have a huge to-do list of things to make which can make me freeze up instead of taking the plunge. Thanks again for all you do. I love coming here to this site and community!
I’m loving the idea of four posts a week just because I always love to read them! I would also love to see more crunchy hair care and recipes (for eating, not beauty. Although both is always nice :D)
How about regular/bi-weely/occasional essential oil profiles, like all the ways we can use them. I impulsively bought lemongrass essential oil because it smells good, but — not really sure what to do with it. Aromatherapy books are on my wish list, I swear! But in the mean time… Oh and I love you and your blog. You brighten my day all the time, and remind me there are good, conscientious, intelligent people in the world. Because reading the news as often as I do, it’s easy to forget and fall into existential despair. Sigh.
I would love that! I’m new to essential oils and it would be fun to profile different oils. Also to be very specific in instructions. For instance, a friend told me to use “elderberry” to get over a cold. This is frustrating because 1. how do I buy it and 2. what do I do with it? Is it a lotion, a pill, an oil, a plant… you get my drift… When you are new to holistic healing vagueness doesn’t puncture through the brainwashing our current culture has embedded our heads.
I’m really interested in a Neosporin substitute. You briefly mentioned a rosemary infusion for minor cuts and scrapes, but when you have bunnies, you get gouged a lot and rosemary infusions just don’t help that a whole lot (as you also mentioned).
How about coconut oil? I cut my hand pretty nastily over the summer, didn’t have any Neosporin on hand but really felt it needed something as I had been gardening with dirty hands when it happened. I washed well and put on coconut oil then a dressing. I was under a lot of stress at the time and it surprised me that it healed so fast. I have no scar.
I only thought to try it on my cut because in 2010 I used it on a chronic wound and scar tissue my dog had and the results were nothing short of a miracle. She had a lick sore on her foot from a skin allergy that turned obsession for over 5 years. She had been on antibiotics and steroids more times than I can count. She had a chronically swollen lymph node in the back of her knee from the chronic infection. Even after we got rid of the allergy, she would still lick the area and reinfect it from time to time due to the scar tissue aggravating her (it was right where the foot and leg bend). The vet said the scar tissue would never go away. I had been reading about coconut oil and figured why not, we’ve tried everything else. I covered the area with coconut oil, wrapped with gauze, and then put on her “hock sock” (custom boot) to cover it. Every 2 days I would remove everything and let it breathe for a few hours, clean, and redress. It took less than 2 weeks and it was completely healed. NO scar tissue. She never licked it again. She was almost 16 years old and had suffered with this thing for over 5 years. The relief I had for her was immense. She lived another year, wound and scar tissue free.
That’s a wonderful idea. Maybe add some vitamin E oil to it too? I’m mainly only hesitant about coconut oil because the oil will cover a regular bandaid and cause it not to stick. Hmm. You inspired me. I’ll experiment. Thank you.
So, I really want a crunchy way to shave. No more disposable razors/razor heads and as little water usage as possible (as well as to avoid pain….).
My hubs and I use a Norelco. It takes a little longer and doesn’t get as close as a razor, but it’s comfortable enough and we’re not throwing razors in the trash.
My hubs and I use a Norelco. It’s comfortable enough on my legs without any water.
I use old Grandpa’s razor (‘REAL’ one with ‘REAL’ Gilettes.. lol.. and soap) can’t vouch for ‘no cuts’, but at least no throwayway plastics… (not sure if any place in world recycles metal Gilette blades tho? theoretically, one could??)
I love the blog. It always makes me excited to try more things but more household/diy would be faboo!
Susan
http://75percenthippie.blogspot.com
http://happyhippieheart.blogspot.com
I totally agree, I have so much fun reading your blog. I would love to see (and I see others do to)more on household products/diy – style. I feel like I have an awesome arsenal of crunchy beauty care – thanks to you but I would love to apply some good old crunchiness to the house too! Happy Holidays!
The Dec/Jan issue of Mother Earth News has an article with “recipes” for several DIY cleaning products. I just mixed up the dishwasher detergent. It calls for 2 cups washing soda, 1cup baking soda & 1cup borax. Use 1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons for each load of dishes. I found all the stuff at my local supermarket. I, like you would love to find all natural cleaning products.
I’m hesitant to use borax for food utensils/dishes… (researched it a bit) would love a good DIY dishwasher detergent tho!! (or a few options, found one with lemons on Youtube, still gotta grow eco lemons though lol!)
Ditto what KarinSDCA said. Here’s a cyberhug from across the big pond. 😉
I love everything you give here, Betty. You are inspiring and amazing and funny and just plain FUN!
I hope you enjoy your holidays with family and loved ones.
Happy 2012 to the Ultimate Crunchy Betty!