Easy Peasy DIY Beauty

Recently I became part of the No-Poo movement, encouraged by my husbands success with it. No, we did not stop voiding waste, thank you very much- we stopped using shampoo. Inspired by an article in Foam, a favorite surfer/beach girl magazine of mine, Ken first took the plunge and began washing his hair with a simple solution of baking soda and water instead, and using diluted apple cider vinegar to condition. In just a few weeks, his long term problem with a dry, itchy scalp was gone. Now, I was skeptical, as I have long, wild, wavy hair, ( aka frizzy/fro-tastic), so I was leery to get on board. However, I have been Poo-free for almost 2 months now, and am NEVER going back. I do use a very hydrating conditioner on my hair once or twice a week, but other than that, I am strictly using baking soda and cider, and my hair has never been healthier or softer. Inspired by this revelation, I made my pal Kerri's recipe for a homemade face mask, and loved it so much that I have slightly modified it to make an everyday facewash that is amazing. My skin is super clear and soft, and looks better than it has since pre-puberty. Seriously, I LOVE this facewash, and you can make it with stuff you already have in your kitchen. Below is the recipe for the facewash, as well as directions of how to get started with the No-Poo movement yourself. With the money I've saved on no longer buying shampoo or facewash, I've been able to upgrade to a better quality moisturizer, and buy more of what I really love: MAKEUP!

Lauren's DIY Facewash ( Gentle enough to use everyday, but not great for removing eye makeup-for that I recommend almond oil or coconut oil on a cotton pad)

Squeeze the juice from one entire orange and one half of a lemon into a bowl. Add a bit of fresh grated ginger, and grate some lemon and orange zest from the rinds of both. Then add baking soda until the mixture is the consistency of wet beach sand. Put in a small sealed tupperware, and voila! You are done! So easy. I keep mine in the shower- refrigerating is not necessary. It will last you about a month, and will keep fresh that entire time.

For the baking soda shampoo, take an old shampoo bottle with a wide opening, and mix equal parts water and baking soda. You will need to shake it before each use, as the baking soda settles at the bottom.

For the cider conditioner, mix one part apple cider vinegar to 3 parts water in an old shampoo bottle. Your hair WILL NOT smell like vinegar after- it goes away right away when you rinse it out.

If you have long or very think hair, I would really recommend still using a conditioner once or twice a week on the ends-I only put in on my hair from my ear bottoms down.

Makeup on the Cheap; Test Drives

Okay, lady friends, as some of you know, I am searching for a cheaper alternative to my beloved MAC for a few high frequency use products (namely liner, brow pencil, and mascara). I asked my girlfriends via FB for their favorite cheapie brand suggestions, and then went to the store and made a few purchases. I then wore a different brow pencil and eyeliner on each eye and worked a busy 11hr cocktail serving shift to see which products wore best, and had the best longevity.

Last night's trial products were ELF cream liner ($3), Revlon ColorStay liquid liner ($7), the Maybelline brow pencil in dark brown ($3), and the Rimmel brow pencil in dark brown ($3).
Despite recommendations from some of my most respected makeup artist friends, I found that the ELF liner..well, frankly, kinda sucked, especially when compared to my daily go-to of Blacktrack gel liner from MAC. It wasn't as rich or opaque as I like, and it had a funny flow that made it harder to apply. Also, by the end of my shift, most of it was gone. Not so for the Revlon ColorStay-it went on easily, and stayed put with zero smudging all day. I daresay it outperformed MAC Bootblack, and is $10 cheaper. I will say, I will probably spring for Blacktrack from MAC for my gel liner until my dying day, but I'm definitely a liquid liner convert to the Revlon.

The winner of the brow pencil contest wasn't quite as cut and dry. They both went on well and easily, though they both had a slight tint of auburn-ness that was probably only really noticeable to my anal self......In terms of longevity, they both actually held up pretty well (as in I still had eyebrows at 3am), but the Maybelline appeared to have turned more reddish as the night wore on, so I'm giving this round to the Rimmel.

This little test isn't over yet. Today I am trying out Rimmel's black waterproof pencil (their version of Graphblack for you MACphiles), and the Wet n Wild brow pencil. I also plan on going by Ulta today to see what all the NYX hype is about. Stay tuned!!!!

Some thoughts on SOPA...

Over the last few days, the media world has been dominated by the SOPA discussion, from NPR to my FB page. Inspired by my friend Ranessa and her partner Jason’s post “What has the Internet done for me lately?”, I began to ask myself that question, and the list builds so rapidly that it would be pointless to innumerate, but one overarching theme became clearly dominant- The internet has EMPOWERED me. It has empowered me in ways that nothing else has, as a consumer, as a parent, as a patient, as a tenant, a home-buyer, a home-seller, a student, and employee, hell, as a citizen at large - from having the freedom and ability diagnose a mystery rash on my toddler and then treat it homeopathically at home, to understanding my legal rights, to learning how to trim my own bangs and make my own cleaning products; the internet has fully changed and augmented my life more than any other relationship outside my spouse and children. Anything you want to take the time to learn, you can learn on the internet- you are limited only by your own determination, which is gratifying and inspiring, if not occasionally overwhelming. The reason the internet is able to do this is because, by and large, it has remained the last truly free frontier, the last venue for unrestricted information exchange. The internet is the only true global democracy-your vote is your mouse click every time you navigate to a specific page. SOPA aims to change that, to begin the process of slowly regulating and dismantling the free internet. This is catastrophic. The beauty of the free internet is its capacity to support change, whether that change is personal or political, from the Arab Spring to the social-media outpouring of love and subsequent benefit organization for Esme Barrera. The free exchange of information has allowed society to progress more in the last 20 years than it has in the last 2,000. I am aware of the arguments from Sen. Chris Dodd and others, that profit loss due to piracy has lead to and will lead to many more job losses. I empathize with this-piracy must be addressed, but not at the cost of internet liberty. In my opinion, you can’t really put a price on the freedom and most of all, empowerment that the internet provides. So please, sign a petition, write your Senator, tell a friend. Do what you can to support those that are fighting SOPA. Take a stand for the fabulously free “Wild West” of the internet.