revolutionize beauty and self care???

Hey. I have question I've been thinking about for a long time now…
Can we permacultural femmes revolutionize beauty and self care practices?
Could we create a culture of self care that respects the planet and celebrates the uniqueness and complexity of beauty?


Sometimes this feels like the last thing we should be focusing on with the earth burning around us, at least that’s what I’ve told myself so many times. But I keep coming back to these questions.

It’s been a theme in my life because I was raised by a single mother esthetician (if you’re not familiar with that high-tech word- that’s somebody who gives facials and removes peoples- usually women’s- unwanted hairy parts). So basically I grew up hanging out in salons with an inhaler in hand, due to my body’s absolutely normal reactions to the chemical body products.

It’s honestly mind blowing how many nasty chemicals are used- from hair spray to nail polish to just everything involved in the beauty industry has a bad ecological footprint and wreaks havoc in our bodies.

On purpose???

Ughh

And while I love letting my underarms grow hairy, embracing natural smells, colors, all that great stuff- I mean we certainly should not be ashamed of our bodies, but sometimes I get that urge to invoke the spirit of glamour…

Anyone relate?

So I was thinking this thread could be for badass hotties who want to be permie glamourous.

I recently saw that you can dye your hair blue with Indigo leaves. That is something I always wanted to do but thought I never could because it just went against my environmental ethics.

I found a sheep shearing kit and gave myself a haircut. this is revolutionary for me because since my teens I would only let very qualified hair cutters cut my hair

I nearly always wear my hair in inside out braids.  I vary the number and position according to my time and mood.  Sometimes I wrap them around my head.  Sometimes I add sparkly metal and enamal accessories.  

A cool thing about braids is they will hold brooches and that greatly expands my options.   Some of the older ones that you'd never put on your clothes look really cool on top of a braid or a bun.  Otherwise the available options in my price range are pretty repetitive.

I make all my own hygiene and beauty products, except hair conditioner bars, which I buy from beautyandthebees.com (I'm still trying to work out my own formula for that) .

Cocoa comes in several shades, for eyeshadow; activated charcoal can make a great eye liner &/or mascara, with just the tiniest bit of sweet almond oil and beeswax(optional, but provides more staying power and a bit of water resistance). Beetroot powder, and a tiny bit of cocoa or cinnamon makes for a lovely dusty-rose blush, and lip color. Two or three parts sweet almond oil or macadamia nut oil, and one part either beeswax, shea butter, cocoa butter, or mango butter malted together is an incredibly versatile lotion bar that works for the face, hands, feet, elbows - and will even gloss & moisturize lips. I usually infuse my oils with herbs, to make them even better for my natural-red-head's ridiculously sensitive skin.

Henna makes beautiful red hair, and even covers gray (my gray came in SOOO weird, so I balanced things out with henna for a few years, until my gray evened out, lol). Cassia is a fantastic deep conditioner, and while it doesn't change darker tones at all, it can enrich blonde hair, and can give white hair a slightly blonde highlight. Indigo can indeed make light hair blue, and make dark hair nearly black - but, if you do try it, I'd order from (and do a lot of research with) mehandi.com. Their stuff is top quality, and their information is rock solid. And, all three of those plants can be combined in various ways, to make dyes in a lovely range.

Curls used to be created by rolling up the wet hair with strips of cloth, tying them, and sleeping on it, or setting it in the morning, and undoing & stying it, before going out. Hair spray can be made with lemon juice, or a pomade can be made with equal parts oil, shea or mango butter and beeswax.

It's amazing the amount of unnessisary chemicals are in stuff.

My husband has Crohn's, and right now his feet are covered in ulcers due to it. He takes a daily soak in an Epsom salt bath and it helps both the ulcers and the massive swelling/inflammation/arthritis in his feet.

Well, one day he went to buy more Epsom salt, and thought, "Oh, this one has mint! That should be good." He didn't stop to read the ingredients. he assumed it would just have mint and eucalyptus oil like it advertised. Nope. It had fragrance, bezzl benzoate, and benzel saucylate. It smelled horrible and my head hurt. And after his soak, his feet swelled up and the arthritis in them got really bad and he could barely walk.

I looked up benzyl benzoate side effects

-Blister formation, crusting, itching, oozing, reddening, or scaling of skin.
- Skin inflammation
- difficulty in urinating (dribbling)
- jerking movements
- sudden loss of consciousness

Why in the world is this in something people SOAK in?! All they needed to do was add the essential oils. No need for this junk. His feet got a bit better after a soaking and scrubbing his ulcers, but it still took about a week to get him back to where he was before he soaked in that toxic gick.

Nicole Alderman wrote:It's amazing the amount of unnessisary chemicals are in stuff.

My husband has Crohn's, and right now his feet are covered in ulcers due to it. He takes a daily soak in an Epsom salt bath and it helps both the ulcers and the massive swelling/inflammation/arthritis in his feet.

Well, one day he went to buy more Epsom salt, and thought, "Oh, this one has mint! That should be good." He didn't stop to read the ingredients. he assumed it would just have mint and eucalyptus oil like it advertised. Nope. It had fragrance, bezzl benzoate, and benzel saucylate. It smelled horrible and my head hurt. And after his soak, his feet swelled up and the arthritis in them got really bad and he could barely walk.

I looked up benzyl benzoate side effects

-Blister formation, crusting, itching, oozing, reddening, or scaling of skin.
- Skin inflammation
- difficulty in urinating (dribbling)
- jerking movements
- sudden loss of consciousness

Why in the world is this in something people SOAK in?! All they needed to do was add the essential oils. No need for this junk. His feet got a bit better after a soaking and scrubbing his ulcers, but it still took about a week to get him back to where he was before he soaked in that toxic gick.

Nicole, I'd recommend going super easy on the essential oils, and instead of mint, I'd likely use frankincense. It has remarkable healing properties, and can more than double cell regeneration.

Carla Burke wrote:Nicole, I'd recommend going super easy on the essential oils, and instead of mint, I'd likely use frankincense. It has remarkable healing properties, and can more than double cell regeneration.

We actually haven't used any essential oils on him. He drinks a strong mint tea, with mint from our garden, but we've never used essential oils in his bath or topically. And he's always thought it was weird/bad when I added a bit of mint to my bath/shower (I plug the bath drain when I shower, so my feet get a nice warm soak while I shower). He's usually wary of essential oils, and he actually refused me adding a bit to his bath while he was soaking. I honestly an befuddled as to why he bought the scented Epsom salt. He must have been feeling really off that day!

Years ago, I used all of the cheap makeup, hairspray, lotion, body sprays, etc. I can't use any of the cheap stuff now (chemically sensitive) and react to some of the natural ones as well. I'd love to find or make a good makeup (concealer and mascara) that won't leave me flushed, itchy, and with a headache
On the plus side, I've gotten more comfortable "in my own skin" because I haven't worn makeup in so long.

I listened to a podcast interview with the founder of Living Libations. I really liked what she said about her line of skincare, the ingredients she bypasses and why she uses natural ingredients. But many of her products look like they use too many essential oils for my liking.

For years I used commercial body care products. Not so much anymore.

I make all of our lotion from food-grade ingredients. With that as a base, I make:
- deodorant (add 15-20% non-nano zinc oxide).
  -  Add a little cocoa powder to the deodorant to make a nice sunscreen. Vary the amount of cocoa powder to the color you want.
- face cream with added frankincense, myrrh, and recently, german chamomile for inflammation due to heat.
  - Add other ingredients to the face cream to make a foundation cream (when I wear such things)
- body lotion with added magnesium chloride. This can sting on open cuts, but I need more magnesium than I can absorb orally without side effects.

I also make  frankincense and myrrh balm that smells wonderful and is really healing for damaged skin of all types. For that I start with the resin to get the boswellic acids and other ingredients that are lost during distillation. The spent resin granules are then made into a face scrub. Nothing is wasted.

Not only is this better for the body, but it is less expensive by far even when using top quality ingredients. Cosmetics are stupidly over priced for what you get. And you can make what works for you and adjust it as needed.

My suggestion would be to put on a pretty outfit and that is all most beautiful people need.

That is how I see the way to revolutionize beauty and self care.


source

Carla, what would it look like to dye salt and pepper hair with indigo? Would the gray/white hair become light blue or dark blue? The pepper part of my hair is almost black. Would it get darker? Thanks!

What I really need to learn how to make is some sort of hair gel to tame the frizzies. Any solutions out there?

Rachel said, "What I really need to learn how to make is some sort of hair gel to tame the frizzies. Any solutions out there?

For the frizzies, have you tried a vinegar rinse?

Dying with indigo might result in black and blue hair.

For frizzy hair I'd try aloe vera gel. Use just like a hair gel and don't use too much at first.

Another thing to try is argan oil. I've found that to be too oily for me but it works well for a lot of people.

Indigo is blue. The longer it stays on, the bluer it gets. So, imagine blue over whatever you have? Indigo is the reason for the term "blue hairs", in (usually affectionate) reference to the little old ladies using it to cover their whitening hair.

I use Argan oil for frizz and conditioning the ends of my hair.

Thanks for the ideas! I have several aloe plants growing for looks. I have never made use of their gel. Ready to try it! Do I just split the leaf and scrape out the gel or does it have to be processed in some way (heated? Diluted?)

Rachel, I use aloe gel from the store. I've used aloe from my plant on my skin and it leaves little solid gel bits from the internal structure of the leaf. I wouldn't want that on my hair or it might look like there are tiny boogers in my hair. Eww.

But I am intrigued by knowing how to refine the raw gel from the plant to make it smoother. If anyone knows how to do that, it would be very helpful.

I enjoy self-love, and modeling to the world that I'm good just as I am.  the beauty products I've used were mostly for comfort, to help me feel ok going out.  putting on something before going outside, to feel more strong to face the world, could nowadays be brushing my teeth or a small ritual, instead of using products.  buying and using a mass produced thing feels sad, when the power is really from inside, not from how I look.  

But I am intrigued by knowing how to refine the raw gel from the plant to make it smoother. If anyone knows how to do that, it would be very helpful.[/quote]

I would also love to know this if anyone has any suggestions. Will do some investigating and let you know if anything comes up

About using aloe, making juice is easier than making gel, since you have to add something as a thickener.

Where I live people love to use aloe in their hair. Generally you take off the skin (i usually cut off the spiky ends first, then slice off the top and bottom skins), rinse, blend with water, and then pass it through a sieve to catch anything that didn't blend up. That way you miss the latex (greenish). the final product will be sort of slimy and sudsy. Some folks also make juice that way.
I use it for my skin, instead, and fillet the aloe the same way, rinse, and then just cut little slabs as I need it and rub it on my face. As a slab dries out, i might rake it with my nails a bit til it's juicy again. I used to always just cut the leaf right open and apply to my face but some plants have more latex and that stuff not only leaves your face greenish, it can be burny.

That sounds great, thank you for sharing! So simple and no added yucky stuff.
Can’t wait to try it out!

Sauna is great for the skin. I notice dramatic differences on my girl Breeze. It also detoxes in amazing ways. When done with others, in song, drums (old plastic water bottles) and unity, it makes a wonderful smile and spirit with those endorphins to the brain.
Jbee