New Haircut

I got a haircut today and I am sooo happy I took the plunge! It is similar to the way I had it cut before Mike and I met. We cut off over 9 inches of hair! I donated it. So, here is a pic! It was hard to get a decent one so sorry about the flash...

Drench Yourself in Lavender

These fragrances by Lavanila Laboratories, Home of the 100% Healthy Collection are wonderful, but a little expensive. I like their ideas though. Click here for their pretty website and to get a free fragrance sample with every order! Or, get inspired from their website to find more affordable luxuries...

This Epsom Salt with Lavender is 2/$6 at Walgreens. I am not paid to advertise for Walgreens, really; I just live a block away from it and have discovered there's cool stuff there. It just really needs a better name and a cooler atmosphere and then it would be the "in" thing. Anyway, hot bath water + 2 heaping hand fulls of this salt + a minimum of 15 minutes soaking in it = amazing. Brandon loved the smell and really complimented me on it and it felt great. Plus my skin has never felt softer. I'm still doing the regimen with the "Oil-Free Acne Wash: redness soothing cream cleanser" by Neutrogena and the "Eucerin Plus Smoothing Essentials body lotion". And I added Dove's "Deep Moisture" body wash that I got at Costco and I love it, except it makes my shower floor a little slippery.

Another thing I really like are these Arm & Hammer "Essentials Fabric Softener Sheets in Lavender & White Linen." They are dirt cheap and smell so good!

Try also Softsoap's Hand Soap in Lavender & Chamomile. Layering is they key to enjoying the experience. You could even get some lavender sachets and use them to keep your linen closet and dresser drawers smelling wonderful and empty the contents of the sachet into your vacuum bag to spread the love all around your house! Get a lavender candle! See what layering the scent can do for you.

Btw, a quick way to freshen up the house is to put the contents of your favorite smelling sachet into your vacuum. Then, before you vacuum shake a LARGE box of Arm & Hammer Baking Soda over every inch of your carpet. Wait for 30 minutes. Then vacuum, slowly and repeatedly. You'll love it and your carpets will smell like new. Then you can spot-clean the stains and feel good getting THAT close to them to clean them well.

Another not so important thing...

Who said this blog would be important, anyway? I think the importance of this blog comes from being able to share the unimportant and have someone listen. Maybe it's the listening that is important and not the thing being listened to. Like Wallace Stevens once said, "Not ideas about the thing, but the THING itself." Aha! It's like not the details that are being shared but sharing that is the important detail.

Anyway, TEETH!! Have you noticed that there are some cool advances in tooth care these days? For cheap, too! Like this Oral B Power toothbrush...I got Brandon one for $7! True, it requires batteries but if you buy them in bulk at Costco, so cheap! I got one for myself and I love it. Only I got it for $8 because I was in Fairhaven. We'll have none of that posh, Fairhaven prudery here...j/k...I am totally making that up; I would call Fairhaven somewhat posh, but not prudish, except when it comes to people, maybe. I find that in Fairhaven, if you're a dog, you are treated better.

So TEETH! Have you tried the Colgate wisp? It's awesome. Forget breath mints. Those are so passe! It's all about the wisp now. They are about the size of a lipstick and are so refreshing. I could wisp all day and then twitter to my friends about it.

Then there's this great Crest Glide floss. Seriously. I totally floss everyday now. Eewww...you might say? Oh COME OFF IT, I KNOW I'm not the only person to skip a floss except maybe my sister "TEEF." But now, flossing is my favorite nighttime ritual.

I swear these 3 things are going to put dentists out of a job.

My other two favorite things are the Crest toothpaste with Scope. And I like the Crest Pro-Health Mouthwash because it doesn't burn like Listerine. So go ahead...I'm inviting you to BRANCH out and try these new toothy things! All of them you can get at Walgreens of course. Walgreens is the new Target. It's totally about the "Walgreens Run" now!

"I haeve yourr answerr!"

I love the movie, "My Big Fat Greek Wedding." I love how the dad thinks anything can be cured with Windex. I really could relate, not with the Windex, but with his character overall.

So, are you curious about the developments with my skin issues??? "YES!" (you unanimously shout). Okay, here's the rub, no pun intended:

Step 1 $5.99 per 6 fl oz: Oil-Free Acne Wash redness soothing cream cleanser by Neutrogena (Acne Stress Control is essentially the same). Keep it in the shower, but WAIT before you turn on the water. First, rub this cream cleanser into all KP or "chicken skin" areas as if you were applying sunscreen. Then, rinse off in the shower (don't use soap or body wash on your KP areas and don't use a loofah-see step two for directions on exfoliation).

Step 2 $7.29 per 8.5 fl oz: Loreal Hydrafresh Toner Alcohol-free. Keep this in the shower as well. Turn off your water. Then, dry off completely with a soft towel. Use your towel to exfoliate your KP or "chicken skin". Be aggressive. Then, after you've used the towel to exfoliate, apply the toner. Air dry.

Step 3 $12.49 16.9 fl oz: Moisturize with Eucerin Dry Skin Therapy Plus Smoothing Essentials. Fragrance Free Alpha hydroxy formula.

Do each step in order every time you shower. How did I come up with this genius plan? It took forever. First, I spent about 5 hours on the Internet reading people's sob stories about how they've had troubled skin since Junior High. Then, I read up on all the expensive products that claimed to be specifically for KP and they all had one thing in common-AHAs, especially glycolic acid. So then I spent a couple hours in the closest Walgreens reading the labels on all of the lotion, exfoliating shower gel and toners and that's how I came up with this system. Basically, you need the AHAs to break down this troubled Keratin build up. But you have to break it down gently and other treatments for acne or troubled skin such as benzoil peroxide or lactic acid can be too strong. And do you know what? AHAs ain't cheap, nuther. And they ain't as widely available as I had supposed. AND, I didn't find ONE product over $10/bottle with AHAs even in it. In fact, most of the really expensive creams were the same ingredients as all the cheap-o ones. Just cooler packaging. Go fig. You'll know it has AHAs in the product if it says AHA or Alpha Hydroxy on the label, or if it gives you a "Sunburn Alert" warning (AHAs make your skin more sensitive to sunburn so wear sunscreen if it's sunny out).

I have loved this routine because all of these products are relatively cheap, available at Walgreens and I have seen dramatic results so far. Basically, the KP on my legs is gone! And the KP on my arms is still visible but the bumpiness is for the most part gone. The fragrance free claim on the lotion holds true and I haven't noticed any burning sensation on my skin, except once and that was when I re-applied only a couple hours later when I could have waited until my next shower. Of course, add a multi-vitamin and some omega fatty acids and lots of hydrating water. And don't forget to eat your tomatoes! Good luck Defenders Against KP!

B. Kamins

I have found this website to be really intriguing because of the positive reviews of its products and the natural ingredients in its products. Have any of you tried B. Kamins? Anyway, it seems like for KP, all the sites I have searched says that products with 8 -10% glycolic acid work best if used daily. And that you should see results within 2-3 weeks. Most over the counter products with a concentration of glycolic acid at 8-10% will cost at least $20-$50. Here's the B. Kamins website to see all their natural products (some even made with maple syrup); Canadians, go fig. http://www.bkamins.com/

KP Blues

I have the worst KP right now and it's really getting me down. If you don't know, it's those irritating red bumps on the back of your arms and sometimes on your legs, not everyone has it and not everyone knows what it is but everyone has seen it before, especially on people with sensitive skin. I used to spend a lot of money on Dermadoctor's KP Duty that I bought off Amazon but I found it was too expensive to maintain, so I switched to AmLactin that I got at Walgreens but it hasn't been as effective at treating my KP since I had my baby. Weird, yet true. So I'm looking at the Internet for solutions. I can't believe entire websites are dedicated to this annoying skin ailment.

What do you do for KP? Does anyone know of anything that really gets rid of it? I've spent an hour online trying to find creams/treatments that are around $20 and all of them are $20 - $100. I just need to find something cheaper so I can maintain it. I don't know if this would help my KP, but in my search I did like the Dove website because on the right-hand side of the page, you can click on "Product Finder" Steps 1-2 and I found that they do have a body wash and a body lotion that may help with KP based on the other info. I found. For step 1, select "body wash" and step 2, select "exfoliate." I've already tried the gentle exfoliating and it doesn't work for KP but maybe I should try the proage. Aside from Dove, here's some general info. I found on KP: http://www.helpforkp.com/

"what the"

I have a cute nephew who says "what the?" when he sees something strange. I had a "what the" moment last night. A bunch of us girls went out to get pedicures...now, I usually don't paint my nails at all because then I just have to deal with chipped paint on my nails but occasionally I am up for a pedicure (although Kaitlyn pointed out last night, "maybe this just isn't for you"). She said that because 1) I am so ticklish and have such a hard time relaxing that a) it is stressful for me, not relaxing and b) I laugh out loud nearly the entire time and it makes me have to use the bathroom and also 2) because of this story I'll relate here. As I was leaving the house to meet the girls at the salon I asked Brandon, "what color should I paint my toes?" He said, "just any color that looks natural." So I thought I'd be pretty safe with either pink or red. So the lady doing my pedicure was very nice but English wasn't her primary language and there was all this noise in back of me from the massaging chair so she said "mmmmm naaaa maaaa?" And I was like, "It's great!" Even though inside I was like, "huh?!" Next thing I know, she starts to paint these flowers on my toes. I couldn't say anything because I didn't want to hurt her feelings (dumb, I know). But I was freaking out because I have never had a flower on my toe before and although it seems like it would be no big deal, it scared me. So I guess I'm stuck with these for a while. The thing that is the most awkward for me (aside from posting a blown-up picture of my hairy toes, I didn't know I had hair on my toes, btw, I just found out at the same time you did), is that in the center of the flower, there's a little gem! It has a texture to it! Aaaahhhh!!