Avocado Hair Masque

Many factors can affect the way your hair looks and behaves. Like other parts of your body, the scalp has its own reaction to weather, stress, hormones etc, and dryness is often a symptom common to external or internal influences. This moisturizing hair masque is simple and effective, and can be made in minutes with ingredients from your kitchen cupboard.

The avocado fruit is rich in natural vitamins and essential fatty acids. It has deep penetrating properties, and is a wonderful natural stimulant for your hair. As with olive oil, avocado acts as a humectant, helping to hold onto and seal in moisture. Both offer thirsty hair a welcome handshake of friendly hydration.

Avocado Hair Masque

You will need:
1/4 cup of mashed avocado
1/4/cup of mayonaise
Drizzle of olive oil

How to:
Using the back of a wooden spoon, or a hand blender, incorporate ingredients until smooth. Apply to your hair and cover with a shower cap for fifteen minutes. Wash hair with a mild shampoo.

Notes: Make sure to peel your avocado before mashing. Always test for allergies first. Be sure to throw away any unused masque, as it is not preserved.

Golden Jojoba and Oatmeal

Spilling with wildcrafted jojoba oil and fine oatmeal, this soothing bar of extra mild is a luxury for your skin.

Hypoallergenic, non-toxic, and carrying the natural antioxidant vitamin E, the skin softening qualities of jojoba oil are exceptional. It penetrates the skin with ease, and is readily absorbed without any greasy after feel. It is non-clogging on pores, and with the anti-inflammatory qualities of myristic acid, is a very useful oil for acne. The different moisturizing properties found in oats all contribute toward maintaining the integrity of the skin's barrier, preventing water loss, and alleviating itch.

This bar is fragrance free, and yields a wonderful creamy rich lather to baby your skin with the gentleness it deserves.

From our website, find it here.

How Time Flies

This was my mum, 7.00am yesterday morning, at the start of her long 2 day trek from Wales, UK, to us here in Massachusetts. She's in her seventies, has never flown before in her life, and is traveling all by herself. What an incredible role model.

This is mum on the coach, saying goodbye to her part of the world. It'll be a few weeks before she'll see Wales again. My brother and his family saw her off. It's great to see her looking so excited.
And so the trip began. My daughters, Gayle and Shez, kept in touch with their techy savvy Nan as she traveled, and by the end of yesterday she was in London.

It's air day today, and she's on the plane as I type. We're gonna be spending a great few weeks, catching up on the last decade of stuff each of us never ever thought we'd do together. She's gonna see places she's only ever seen in films. I'm gonna see my mum. It hasn't hit me yet. It'll probably all catch up to me the moment I see her walking through the gate at the airport terminal later today. I'm stoked!

Goat Milk and Oatmeal

The different moisturizing properties found in oats all contribute toward maintaining the integrity of the skin's barrier, preventing water loss, and alleviating itch. With real goat's milk for gentle calm and soothe, sunflower oil for moisture and aloe butter for its wonderful healing properties, our goat milk with oatmeal bar is ideal for shower or sinkside and so kind on your skin.

Hand It Over

Taking time out for a manicure isn't just about relaxing in the salon and catching up on all the gossip with the girls. Looking after your hands is important, and the purpose of manicuring isn't only about improving the look and feel of your hands, fingers and nails, but also to cleanse and strengthen.

Manicuring hydrates and exfoliates the skin on your hands, and also the skin that surrounds the fingernails. Massaging the hands is great for unwinding and for melting away the stress of the day, but combined with gentle exfoliation it can work to slough off the old skin cell build up that often prevents full absorption of your moisturizing creams.

Hard skin, flaky skin, dry skin... all of this only serves to create a barrier, preventing much needed moisture from reaching the healthy young skin below. Trying to moisturize dead or dying skin cells is a losing battle. Creams and lotions settle on the surface, and that's about as far as it goes. Skin needs to be maintained if you want to avoid dryness, and the "weathering" problems often associated with it.

Regular hand exfoliation will maximize your moisturizing routine. There are many polishing products on the market specifically for this purpose, but a simple one can be made easily with a little olive oil and sugar. You can even warm the olive oil and add a little honey to really kick up the silky effect. Once rinsed, you'll notice a difference immediately in the condition of your skin.

Regular use of cream or lotion will keep hands moisturized, and again, try to take a few minutes to massage it in. This not only serves to relax and de-stress, but also helps to deliver the moisture where it's needed - into the skin.

Looking after the finger nails is also an important step in the manicure routine. Finger nails can be brittle, split or dry. And the cuticle area can be hard, often cracked and painful. A nice soak in warm water will soften them up, and a good cuticle balm or butter will deliver nourishment to where it's needed. This all serves to aid strength and growth.

All in all, there's more to a manicure than first meets the eye. It's not about striving for pretty hands... it's about maintaining hands. The prettiness naturally follows.

Loving Lavender

Lavender essential oil takes its name from the Latin Lavare, meaning "to wash". It has been traditionally respected for centuries, and nurses were known to wash the wounds of soldiers with lavender oil during the first world war, when antiseptic supplies were short.

The benefits of lavender oil for the skin are many, and these are probably due to its antibacterial and anti-inflammatory qualities. Many find lavender is very helpful with troublesome skin complaints such as acne, eczema, or psoriasis, and the soothing calm of lavender makes it a friend to sunburn, winter itch, and flaky or cracked skin.

Its varying uses in health and wellness are legendary. Its aroma relaxes, and helps with inducing sleep. Lavender essential oil is also used in aromatherapy for sore muscles, and aches and pains.

Facing The Rough With The Smooth

The value of facial exfoliating is often underestimated, and many never consider to include it in their skin care routine.

Old skin cells are shed easily when we are young, but as we age this process slows down, causing dead skin cells to build up on the outer layer of the skin. This is often the cause behind a dull and lifeless complexion.

Exfoliating the face helps to remove the layer of dead skin cells, and as the old is gently buffed away from the outer surface, the new skin cells underneath are exposed revealing a brighter, fresher complexion. This new layer of skin readily accepts moisture, and regular facial exfoliating increases the absorption of your moisturizing skin care routine, which over time can reduce the appearance of the fine lines and wrinkles.

Facial exfoliation is only needed once or twice a week. It increases blood circulation, and will bring a glow to your face. It helps with clogged pores, and breakouts, and also helps maintain the balance of excessive oil. It removes toxins, and stimulates skin cell renewal. The benefits of facial exfoliation are many, and it could be the missing link if your skin care routine is lacking in luster.