Hmm, all this talk about hair dying is interesting. I tried dying a streak of my front bangs blond once, and I'll never go back. I like my dark brown hair the way it is..though I do need a hair styling.. I sometimes get the notion I should cut my hair to make it short, like short-short, maybe three/four inches long, but I don't think it'd look that great on me unless I used mousse and stuff to give it body. Besides, I like having long hair, even though it's in my face sometimes.

A dilemma I've run across is I'm experiencing zits. Zits galore..I have 4 that I'm either recuperating from or that are on a present attack of my face. I hate it, and didn't know what was causing it, and then I realized it started a week ago when I started adding cream cheese to my diet..but just cream cheese. I'm not sure if all dairy causes me to have zits, but cream cheese does it I'm almost certain. It couldn't be the heavy cream because I've been using that forever and never got zits from it, and I'm not sure if the cheddar, colby, or cheese from Holland I've sampled this past week would contribute to getting zits. I'm definitely stopping eating the cream cheese cold turkey..there's whey stuff in it, which is a filler, that I may be reacting to..or perhaps it's just cheap and that's why I have an allergy to it. I haven't gotten zits from good quality cheeses before, and Kraft cream cheese I guess is cheap enough to ruin my complexion.

So..I so wish I had realized sooner that cream cheese would give me these 4 zits. They suck, and I have a full day of college classes tomorrow. UGGHH!!!!

I suppose I'll just have to try to minimize redness and not go out of the house with a gaping whitehead if one pops up. My mom says its because I don't shower religiously and scrub my face with soap, but she doesn't know anything. So, I'll just deal with the zits, and probably get freaky afraid to touch cheese or cream cheese again. Darn it, I shouldn't have eating that cheese I had tonight! I suppose the complete avoidance of cheese will begin tomorrow..and in the mean time, I need to get some more lard because I'm out, and I don't want to cook all my meals in cream. Especially if I'm having adverse reactions to it too. Please, god, make these ugly zits disappear

Man, I hear ya on the zit thing. If I eat a lot of corn, I get these huge really deep painful zits that are unpoppable and take like 2 weeks to go away. UGH!

Cool Kallyn. I once went to a Morrocan hairstylist. He could automatically smell the henna in my hair and told me that every Morrocan woman uses henna after a certain age. It takes a while to set - he said to leave in all day! - , but I usually do my chores and stuff with it in my hair. Tell us how you like it.

Thanks waywardsis. I actually do buy a henna mix with indigo in it, but for some reason, my greys (ugh) turn out quite brassy red. Maybe that's as much as I can expect. My hair looks brown inside, but in the sun, it has a kind of reddish glow. Not so bad I guess. I also no-poo. I think it's gentle on my hair and helps the color last longer, but that's only an impression.

Capo, I get zits even washing with honey during certain periods of my cycle. I can always sense it coming. My own solution is to spot the zits with tea tree essential oil, and cover with mineral powder. The powder is made from natural minerals from the earth and seems to help dry out the zits even while covering them. They're simply minerals, so it seems to improve the skin. Check out this site: http://www.everydayminerals.com/. They give you a free sample of various shades, so there's no risk. Once you're ready to buy, they're cheap! But my samples from them have lasted months, and still counting because you don't need a whole lot of concealer, blush, etc. It really works for me.

Gimme dairy and my little nose turns into potato at once. Nothing magic. Sheer biochemistry

Lucysdream, sure, I’ll be reporting on the hue fading. Tho it’ll take some time, as like many of you I don’t wash hair frequently.

And I recalled another thing: to have this brownish hue one mixes henna and basma + egg yolks+ bur/jojoba/calendula… oil.
Ever tried?

Capo, I get zits big time from dairy. I'll break out the next day. Ugh. Could be that you just passed your dairy threshold...you know, you can have so much and then once you're over that limit, symptoms! So not necessarily something in the cream cheese, more like just the addition of the cream cheese to the dairy already in your diet pushed you past your limit.

Kallyn, my sample from her came in a matter of days, and I'm in Canada! I was so pleased.

Lucy's...ooh, I think I'll order some samples from them. Looks amazing.

Well, I guess I did overdo the threshold Waywardsis..!?

But now I'm going to completely avoid dairy. It kind of hit me that I got zits in times where I ate dairy, and that it could be a possible factor in why I would suddenly get some from having cheese.

I wonder if dairy causes headaches..I've had one all day. It's either the cheese I had at dinner last night or it's the erythritol I had with my chocolate last night.

Lucysdream, if I get any more zits for some reason, I'll try using mineral powder and tea tree oil. But I don't really want to dry my skin out if I don't have to. And the makeup site looks interesting..perhaps they have a better eyeliner than Burt's Bees.

I don't have classes or have to leave the house for the next three days, so perhaps I can get the zits to heal and go away by Monday by avoiding dairy.

Zits suck. Especially when you're in your thirties, trust me! Wish I'd known in my teens that diet had so much to do with it. I could have avoided so many problems if I'd known all this at, say, 18! Ah well.

Clay works well on zits too, a clay/water paste dabbed on top. Draws the crap out. Oh, honey is good too (add some tea tree!), dabbed on the zit, bc it's antibacterial. Maybe do a nice warm honey mask - it'll moisturize your skin too.

I see TV spots about what ppl spend on spa treatments, and I laugh! Especially since the really pricey ones all seem to involve stuff you can by at the grocery or HF store...like papayas and clay and honey!

BTW...the Burt's Bees avocado hair treatment stuff that someone mentioned to me (here or elsewhere) was not so hot in my hair as a pre-treatment but is AWESOME used sparingly as an all-natural styling aid! Good for my curls.

Lucy's, those mineral makeup prices are really good! Wow! All the women in my life will be getting gifts from this place. The kits are so reasonably priced.

My zits are in full recovery. And I'm telling you, I nearly barfed at the sight of them yesterday morning. OMGEWW.. It scarred me..I mean, if you had seen them, you would be so incredibly disgusted and need to recover from it. I would tell you about them, but I don't want to gross people out. Just know, that since I extracted the not-so-pretty interior of the zits yesterday morning, they've been in full recovery. I haven't experienced any other disfigurations since eliminating all dairy in my diet.

Now..I'm going to cut my hair short. I'm making an appointment for Monday to have it cut to look like this (it's curly when it's short):

Cool! The only thing about giving them as gifts is which shade to pick. I was thinking about maybe gift certificates and they can order their own free sample? How are you planning to do it?

Hi, Everyone!
I'm new. I've been poo-less for 2 years or so. When my very short hair feels dry, I massage in a little coconut oil.
I hennaed all winter. I'm a natural honey blonde, who is going blah mousy dishwater with lots of white. I experimented with cassia, too.
For toothpaste I use aluminum free baking soda flavored with wow peppermint oil drops.
I don't use deodorant, and I've even stopped using the thai crystal. I figured if it's good enough for Brad Pitt and Johnny Depp to smell like humans, it's good enough for me! I shower daily (usually)
I either use doc bronner's soap, or I make my own. I use this on my face and follow with lubriderm or coconut oil.
Although sugar is poison inside the body, it makes a swell exfoliant when mixed with some olive oil.
I'm a big fan of body brushing, and cleansing/flushing.
I do wear a little bit of bare essentials makeup when I want to look put together but need a little color. THis doesn't happen very often.
I love seeing this thread! I feel right at home here for the first time in...EVER!

Be Well,
Sarahbelle

PS, Capo, I LOVE that haircut!

Good to hear that.
As a preventive measure to avoid zits, in the morning I always use calendula extract, which has amazing anti-inflammatory properties.

Coffee body mask
I don’take coffee inside, so experiment with outside applications. Recent weeks have been trying it as a body mask to improve skin texture, remove cellulite remains. And boy, has it exceeded my expectations! The skin is baby soft, cellulite I had on upper thighs has gone at the 4th procedure, my skin is tighter overall.
So feel obliged to share my finding with the others :

Grind coffee beans in the amount depending on your size (for me it takes 3 heaped table spoons). Pour into boiling water until thick grout. Leave it for 10 min.
Then cover this mask all over your body and massage thoroughly, paying attention to your “challenge areas”. Leave it on the body for 10 min and then take a shower.
After shower you can apply coconut oil or grapeseed oil (especially if your skin is dry). I personally don’t use any oils, high-fat eating helps me enough.
Do this coffee mask 2 times a week.

At times I use upgraded recipe:
- the same amount of coffee+ cocoa + a tsp of cinnamon and a tsp cracked ginger. Usage procedure remains the same. It feels like some chocolate wrapping in spa-parlour.
-Or add honey to coffee (Did you know btw that the Russian empress Catherine the Great had used honey mask and then put lard or goose/duck fat on her body and face?)

Well...

I got my hair cut! It's so short, and I haven't had it this short since I was like 4.. Anyway, I love it and I've gotten positive reactions from everyone. It's really femine looking and gives my hair so much body! ok, I totally recommend short haircuts now.

Right on, Capo!
Can you post some pics so we can all make a big fuss over ya?

Be Well!
SB

Hmm, well, I will if I can get my camera to work. I suppose I'll try to get onto that tomorrow when I'm awake.