Lemon Coconut Sugar Scrub

It's almost Valentine's Day, and you know what that means! Hearts and flowers? Candy and gems? Nope. Figuring out a gift for my son's teachers that won't break me.

I know that a gift isn't required, but I wanted to do something for them at Christmas and never managed it. I'm totally going to make that right for Valentine's Day.

But how?

Well, Valentine's Day is getting a reputation for being about indulgence, right? (Otherwise, who would need a ginormo heart-shaped box of chocolates?) Let's capitalize on that.

Recently I walked into one of those expensive beauty stores that I have no business entering. The lovely, slightly scary, over-plucked sales lady offered to let me try a lemon coconut sugar scrub.

I did. It smelled wonderful. It worked like a dream. It was $50 for 4 oz. Bye.

After the sticker shock wore off, I figured that I can do better. I experimented and made a simple, inexpensive scrub that works like a dream, smells wonderful, and costs pennies.

Buy the Big Bottle

I'm not super crazy about bulk shopping. I have see those 'extreme coupon' people on TV who have about 30,000 rolls of paper towels and enough canned goods to feed the neighborhood for six years, and I have to shake my head. Sure. I'd love to be trapped at their house during the Zombie Apocalypse, but living like that? Nuh-uh.

That being said, we do have a membership to BJ's Wholesale Club. While I have no desire for a 20 lb jar of mustard, I have found it helpful to buy some things in bulk - like diapers, peanut butter, jelly, and especially olive oil.

The bottle on the left cost about $7. The bottle on the right cost about $21. We've refilled the bottle on the left from the bottle on the right about 5 times.

I love this. It means that I have good quality olive oil on hand for things like pizza, vapor rub,
and of course, experimental beauty treatments.

The only trick is to fill the bottle VERY SLOWLY. Otherwise, you are likely to have to grab some spray cleaner and a wash cloth to clean your table.

I love links.

Homemade Vapor Rub

So I was cruising along with about one blog post per day, mixing my business and planning to make my own laundry soap, when WHAMMO! Sick. It started with my preschooler (because apparently every preschooler comes with a free subscription to the germ of the month club), then spread to the toddler. Only after I had the two of them out to the doc and on antibiotics for respiratory infections did it occur to me that I couldn't breathe. The nice man at urgent care informed me that I have bronchitis. Between hacks, I decided to make a little home made vapor rub. Here's what is going in it.

For the base I am using a basic recipe for homemade vaseline of about 1/2 cup of oil to 1/8 cup (2 Tbsp) of beeswax melted in a pot over low heat on the stove (variants of this are all over the interwebz. I chose at random).

The olive oil is from my pantry and the beeswax is from a local natural foods store and cost me about $4 for a half cup (about $1 for the 1/8 needed for this recipe). To make that awesome vapor-y smell, I used some essential oils from a box of such things I keep in the basement. I was inspired by this recipe at Crunch Betty and REALLY believed that I had all of those oils. Sadly, my peppermint had leaked and was empty. I did find a bottle I had made of a peppermint/lavender blend, and used that instead. The totals came somewhere to 3 tsp of the blend (1.5 tsp mint, 1.5 tsp lavender), 2 tsp eucalyptus, and 1 tsp rosemary.

The whole thing yielded two little jelly jars of vapor rub - one for the family, and one for the neighbors who gave me the jars.I'm not sold on the final fragrance. I think I might have to put the jar in some hot water, melt the contents, then stir in some peppermint when I find it. Either way, it was cheaper and easier than running out to the store with bronchitis and two sick kids.

By the way, with this much beeswax, the mixture is actually solid at room temperature, but melts easily with the heat of your hands. It's less the consistency of vaseline, and more of one of those balms in a tin (like from Burt's Bees). I'm going to have to experiment more before I'm truly happy.

Olive Oil for Frizz?

I love listening to people whine about having thin hair. I have thick hair, and it drives me nuts. My hair is not only thick, but it is FRIZZY. On humid days I have trouble fitting through doorways. How can I solve this problem? To the internet! I have read quite a few articles saying that olive oil can be used to magically tame my hyperbole of hair! Could it be true? Could it really be that simple?!

This is what I look like on a normal day. Try to ignore the monkey pajamas. Just try. Right after this picture, I put a metric ton of olive oil in my hair. (Okay, it was actually a half cup, but it felt like a lot.) I warmed it first in the microwave (for about 45 seconds), then rubbed it liberally into my hair. I was slippery, soggy, and smelled DELICIOUS. I also looked like an idiot because I used a plastic bag to cover my hair before wrapping it in a warm towel. (Why make more laundry?)

I rock this look. Anyway, I was supposed to keep it in for 30 minutes, but I was actually able to sit and watch TV without being assaulted by my kids, so I left it in for 45 minutes.After a wash, my hair felt wonderful, and the rest of me felt seriously hungry (45 minutes smelling warm olive oil? It's a triumph that I didn't start licking my hair).

Much better, right? Well, it totally stayed that way...for about two hours after drying. Then it started to puff up again. Sad. Well, at least 24 hours later it is still super shiny.

Pardon the whole no-make-up-feeling-sick look. On a related note, does anyone have any home made cold/bronchitis remedy recipes I can try?