Jojoba - Family Style

In  all my years of working with jojoba, I have never known it to have the rich, golden color you see in the bottle above. Neither have I known jojoba to have any scent.

That changed when tried this smoky-warm scented liquid, organically grown and processed by a family in Arizona who have been doing nothing but making jojoba for the past 35 years.

I asked Allison Aronstam to share a bit about how her family at Oro de Sonora makes their jojoba. She not only accepted, but she rushed out and took these exclusive photos of their facilities.

Ingesting Essential Oils (and Applying them Neat) is Asking For Trouble

It has apparently become a 'thing' to ingest essential oils and/or apply them neat to skin. People are getting hurt because of this dangerous trend and there has even been a rise in children being admitted to poison centers.

I am horrified to see some essential oil purveyors instructing their customers how to 'safely' use essential oils.

One advises to 'dilute 1 drop essential oil with 3 drops of carrier oil for topical use'.

Another recommends applying neat to different areas of the body and have dubbed this 'raindrop technique'.

Excuse me?!?!!?

Wash Your Hair With Mud - For Real

You've been watching me fool around with this stuff for ages, and there's a reason for it – I've fallen head over heels in love.

It's been (just shy of) 2 years since I used shampoo and there isn't a hair conditioner in sight anywhere in my home, yet my hair is soft, clean, shiny, manageable, and feels absolutely fabulous.

Yes, really.

But as much as I love this stuff to bits and pieces, it is admittedly fiddly to use.

So that bit simply had to be solved.

And because rhassoul clay is completely scent free, the longer I used it, the more I wished for a subtle, magical whiff of natural freshness with my hair cleansing experience.

Challenge: remove fiddliness and introduce a touch of magic – can't be much of a problem to solve, can it?

Who would have imagined it could take this long...

Glycerine, Glycerites and Preservative Power

A lot of you lovely readers have been inspired by the glycerites I have been making lately, and several of you have asked me about the preservative power of glycerine.

Can glycerine function as a stand-alone preservative in a glycerite?

This is an excellent question.

Why?

Because the answer is not as straightforward as you were undoubtedly hoping it was going to be, but stick with me and we'll take a serious look at the hows and whys of glycerites and the preservative power of glycerine.

Brand New and All Because of You!

You made all this happen. Yes, you!

Loads of you fabulous people have been asking me for natural skincare products you can make yourself without needing a ton of experience, equipment or ingredients.

You know I can't say no to you, don't you?

So that's exactly what I've been working on – for a while now.

As a matter of fact, if you read this blog regularly, you've been following the development of many of these products right here over the past year. (cool, huh?)

So, thanks to you and your inspiration..