Hi folks. I’m Kristin from Peace, Love and Muesli. Stepping in for Betty and sharing my crunchy story.
I am a pretty easy sell when it comes to make it yourself. It is possible that I have been known to go off the deep end with the homemade stuff. Sometimes people roll their eyes. Mostly my sisters.
Mixing up home beauty products is not new to me. Mixing them up and them being super awesome, that’s new and thanks goes to Crunchy Betty. Betty is researching and studying and being our crunchy living guinea pig. When she tells us what to put on our faces or hair, we can be sure she’s tried it and it rocked.
The first post I read at Crunchy Betty was things to do with a leftover lemon. That day I started putting lemon juice on my age spots. They are totally fading. Me and lemon juice are thick as thieves now and we have an anti-aging plan. Out damn spot.
Thus my trust in all things Crunchy Betty started.
What Betty writes I try. I’ve had pumpkin guts, coffee and honey on my face. Coconut oil in my hair and brushed my teeth with baking soda. When you trust a source, you will do nearly everything they recommend. I’m resisting putting fennel on my face.
I jumped on the no ‘poo train as soon as Betty suggested it. Converted everyone I met along the way too. My husband didn’t have much choice, I hid the shampoo. I tried my hardest but I had to throw in the towel. My hair, currently, needs a soapy lather. Disappointing. Instead I stopped using deodorant. I live in Canada, it’s winter now and I’m wearing lots of layers. It’s an interesting experiment and I haven’t decided how I will know if it’s successful or not. Come summer I might have to re-think the no deo stand.
If you would rather move to Rapunzel’s tower than give up your daily hair washing, then keep washing. There are no hard and fast rules with crunchy beauty. Do what you like and don’t do what you don’t like. Hmm, I guess that’s a rule. Can we call it a guideline?
Choose an idea that is simple for you, mix it up and go to it. I can recommend a place to start- my favourites are the no nonsense face scrub and the Frappuccino face mask.
Experience has taught me that when we take on something new on in our lives it is far better to move at a snail’s pace than to jump head first into the deep end. Which is near torture for us impatient folks. But if you are aiming for success, slow and steady wins the race.
It’s no different with crunchy beauty. Try one recipe, get comfortable with it in your routine, and then move onto something else. Emptying your bathroom cabinets into the trash and spending $400 on essential oils is a hard way to get started. And you might want to hang onto that deodorant; you never know when a crunchy experiment will go afoul.
Here’ s what I’ve learned reading my daily dose of Crunchy Betty- skin care need not be a long drawn out 7 step paraben ladened perfumed reproductive system disturbing regime. Get some milk and some nutmeg and you will be beautiful.
What was your first crunchy beauty step?
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Be sure to visit Kristin at her blog: Peace, Love, and Muesli, where she gives all of us healthy and delicious recipes, as well as all kinds of nutrition facts we need!
Winter Daily Facial Scrub: Make It Yourself
My first ever foray into Crunchtasticness was switching over all my toxic cleaning products to vinegar and water. Who knew vinegar had so many uses? I love using it to wipe surfaces, clean the bathroom, get stains out of clothes (with a little help from baking soda.) Being crunchy really saves you money, time, and toxicity!
I’m jealous…my husband now uses the “I hate the smell of vinegar” excuse to get out of cleaning, so unless I want to be on for ALL of it, I have to let him keep some of his yucky commercial cleaners.
A woman’s got to make her choices. 🙂
–Jenn
Jenn,
I know what you mean about the yucky vinegar smell…I’m lucky my boyfriend can tolerate it (his favorite chip flavor is salt & vinegar!)
I found a good trick to cut down on the vinegar smell- I just add a few drops (10 to 20) of lemon essential oil to the mixture of vinegar and water. It smells like fresh lemon!
Hope this helps!
Robin
Hmmm…I’m not sure what my first ever crunchy beauty step was, I’ve dabbled in slathering food on my body for a while now – but since I found Crunchy Betty it’s become a full blown love affair, lol. My two favourite CB recipes thus far are the Mocha-Frappucino mask (seriously, if you have not tried this, I COMMAND YOU to whip some up, it is the absolutely most awesome homemade facial mask I have ever tried) and the winter scrub (I actually made it with only the rice flour, oats and coconut ’cause that’s all I had on hand and it still totally ROCKS!). My skin, which I’ve always gotten compliments on, has now time warped back to about 1985. And I find myself obsessively trolling my favourite online natural products store plotting my next ingredient purchases 🙂
I’m going to give the no ‘poo thing another shot in the new year – I don’t know whether I’ll be able to give up the shampoo totally but I’m hoping I can maybe get it down to once every week or two (I used to be a daily shampoo-er but I’m down to twice a week now).
For me the whole crunchy beauty thing started with, and I kid you not, diaper rash goo. (I was going to say, “I s*$t you not,” that would have actually been sort of funny…). Started making it for my babies. Then I realized the stuff would be good on my own chapped hands, and then I graduated to making lotion in the blender, then eventually to other stuff. Got into aromatherapy, and worked that into the mix–antibacterial and antifungal blends, and also antidepressant blends (I had a fairly fierce couple of PPD battles). I was well on the crunchy beauty bandwagon thing long before I met the Ever Fabulous Crunchy Betty and her blog, but she’s the one who’s clued me in that it doesn’t have to be a big complicated potion-making project, you can slap together what’s sitting there in the pantry. Way cool.
–Jenn
I’ve only ever made lotion on the stove, never in the blender. Please tell me more!
Absolutely!
The basic method is here:
http://www.greenphonebooth.com/2009/11/making-lotion.html
And my elaborations on it are here:
http://greenmomintheburbs.wordpress.com/2009/11/20/make-your-own-lotions-and-creams/
It’s messy, but it’s amazingly easy, and a couple of hours some morning in December gives me all I need for the year plus a whole bunch of gifts for my kids’ teachers and babysitters and stuff. Enjoy!
Jenn, thanks so much for posting those links – I’m going to give it a shot once the holiday craziness is over 🙂
Great post! I think honey on my face was my first crunchy attempt. Still fantastic. You have to try the fennel steam and toner. I think its my favorite, and since I love everything I try here, that’s saying a lot. And it doesn’t smell all licorice-y. To me anyway. Not a fan of the licorice. The no-poo is on my potentials.
Ok, ok. I will try the fennel toner. I could use a toner.
Great post and great question! I first found CB through a google search for homemade mouthwash. I read page after page after page for days following. I’ve been here ever since.
As I use up the store bought stuff in my cupboards, I switch over to the crunchy versions here. Babysteps make the transition very budget-friendly.
I didn’t even know there was a recipe here for homemade mouthwash. I’m going to search it out!
One of my favorite people in one of my favorite places, the Betty Crunch o Sphere!
I plan on no-poo as soon as my (sham)poo bottle runs out…and since I don’t actually use any products on my face it should be an easy place to start.
Great post Kristin!
Thanks Yuliya! I’m half in and half out of the no ‘poo. Semi-poo.
My first step was the vinegar hair rinse.
I was desperate. There was so much product build-up in my hair that I could sculpt it into the forward flung Emo-flip without even trying.
And then I did that rinse…and….
I could feel my hair again.
I’ve been here ever since.