Aztec Clay

When I stopped using so much that had chemicals in it (mind you, I am not chemical free still; even after 2 years into this. But that's more because my husband is resistant and it's easier to just go with the flow on some things rather than fight. I've been picking my battles), one of the things that I first changed was deodorant.

One of the reasons for changing to products with no harsh chemicals or more safe, less harmful chemicals is because of the connection of those chemicals to cancer and disruption of the body's hormones. Deodorant and antiperspirants have aluminum (among other chemicals) that presents a concern.

When looking into options for deodorant that didn't have that, I came across the need to 'detox' from these chemicals that have clogged up your pores in your armpits. If you don't, you are likely to experience harsh, painful rashes. I didn't want that, so I followed advice in a facebook group I was involved with and looked into Aztec Clay. It's said that the clay bonds with the chemicals and pulls them out of your body and skin.

Whether it actually does this or not, I don't know. I'm not a scientist. What I do know, is that my transition to natural deodorant was NOT painful. There were a couple days that I went without deodorant and I tried to be mindful of a lot of advice to not use natural deodorant right after you shave (not an issue for me now; I barely pay attention to that).

I did also choose a deodorant that was for sensitive skin b/c it contains no arrowroot and that seems to be an irritant.

To use the Aztec Clay:

I use approx 2 teaspoons/scoops of the clay in a plastic container
I mix in Raw Apple Cider Vinegar to the consistency of my choice
Some people put in essential oils to make it smell better b/c otherwise it smells like vinegar.

Put this on your armpits and allow to set there for 10-20 minutes (I started out with 10 minutes and then increased to 20).
To start out, I did this approximately 2-3 times per week.
Now, I do it much less often. Maybe once a month for my armpits.

FYI, you can use the same mask mixture and put on your face as well or instead. It's a great pore tightener and exfoliator!

Skin Care

Another new area of Life Wellness... beauty products! And in actually, more about reducing chemicals that are used on myself and in my home. More about why that is important later. What I really want to focus on today is more of a review of a product that I just tried. The biggest thing for me when looking at my beauty products and trying to find clean and/or green and/or safer options was that all the reviews were on YouTube and I had to sit through these videos to get to the end result - which wasn't always at the end for the information I wanted! Furthermore, I'm a reader, not a viewer so I really struggle to stay focused with video reviews (no offense to anyone who prefers them or anyone who does them! Thank you to those who do them b/c it was the only information I really had to go off of).

So I just tried Beautycounter's Countermatch Skin Care Regime. Let me say that I was a huge Mary Kay proponent since somewhere around the age of 16-18 and from there until age 32 I rarely strayed away (a brief time in college when I was trying to save money but I quickly went back when I started breaking out). However, that changed when I got on a chemical free kick after giving birth to my first child.

Since that time, which has been a little over a year ago since I stopped using most skin care products, my skin care has been up and down and mostly consisted of water and also me not wearing makeup b/c I had no way to cleanse my face!

Enter a co-worker posting about Beautycounter on her facebook and I was intrigued to find out more.

I did my research and got some information on other skin care products including recommendations for Farmhouse Fresh and Elemis and even saw a post about Thayers Alcohol Free Toner as a recommendation.

I started off by looking at ingredients and pricing. I used the ThinkDirty App to look up the ratings for these products. Beautycounter products seem to average around a 4/5 and Farmhouse Fresh products were staying steady at 5. Farmhouse Fresh products are cheaper while Elemis had too many options for me to wrap my head around starting out. With Thayers, it is cheap but I didn't know where to go to pair anything with it. I could have stuck to Almond Oil for moisturizing but I guess there was a part of me that really wanted a skin care set/routine to fall back on

I ultimately decided to try Beautycounter's Countermatch Skin Care and I just got it today and used it for the first time. I really like how my face feels right now. The cleansing milk goes on a dry face and it was nice and my face felt clean afterward - not heavy and not like there was any residue left on my face. Then it was toner which was also light and refreshing for my face. Then was an antioxidant serum which felt moisturizing as I put it on. Lastly, since it's night, there is a recovery night cream which is also moisturizing. My skin currently feels soft and refreshed. There isn't a scent/fragrance added to the products but it does have a scent to it but not a chemical one.

I did also get a free eye recovery cream and my eyes look awful right now - being pregnant with a young kid leaves me little time for sleeping and the black rings under my eyes are bad.

Another thing I really liked about this is that the bottles are all pump bottles which makes it convenient for knowing the amount you need for using the product (1 or 2 pumps) which I think is nice because there is no guessing game about how much you need or if it's enough. There's a booklet that tells you how much to do of each. You could always do less if you think you don't need as much in order to make it last longer.

I'm interested to see where this goes over the next week/month.