Pro-Soup Propaganda

Eco-Friendly Find: Max Green Alchemy Scalp Rescue Matte Paste

As some of you know, I have been minimizing my beauty products and replacing my products full of nasty ickies with ones with ingredients that nourish and are are more eco-friendly. I have done pretty good replacing just about everything, but I just couldn't kick my matte paste habit for my hair. I have really fine, thin hair and a lot of products make it look oily or too shiny or make it flaky. Yuck! It took awhile, but I finally found a product that I really liked, however, while it had organic ingredients high on the list, the rest of the ingredients were things that I couldn't pronounce, including five types of parabens. AWESOME. So I have had it in the back in my head that I wanted to make a concerted effort when I was running out of that product to find something new. Friends, I have found my product!

Enter Scalp Rescue Matte Paste By Max Green Alchemy!

It is pretty darn awesome. Skin Deep gives it a rating of 0 (although it does say their data is limited). The ingredients are all things that I don't mind putting on my head and leaving on all day. It smells like lemons!! (Lemon is one of my favorite scents!)

I did have to use a little bit more product than I normally would, but it's not greasy at all and my hair looks great. The only drawback I can find is that when I wear a hat to keep my head warm in this chilly weather, it squishes my hair down and then it loses the texture a bit. I ended up buying some Giovanni Organic Styling Mist, L.A. Hold Hair Spritz (longest product name EVER!) to spray on to hold the texture and I think that does a pretty good job. It kinda sucks to be using two products now, but I don't mind it because it means I'm having less chemicals on my head.

I'm still open to suggestions if anyone knows of a matte paste type product that doesn't have nasty chemical ingredients that maybe has a bit more oomph than this. I still give it 4/5 stars!

Note: There are affiliate links in this post. *gasp!*

Eco-Friendly Housey Things I Love!

Recipes and DIY Goodies!

New Etsy Love: Naturallogic!

This is what I purchased... (all photos from Naturallogic)





I took a bath on Saturday night and did my usual face-washing routine beforehand. I put a thin layer of the Pumpkin Glycolic Peel on so that it could sink into my pores from the steam of the bath while I hung out in there. I read for a bit in the tub and enjoyed a glass of red wine. I love my girl time!

After I'd soaked for a bit I used the Raw Chocolate Body Polish to exfoliate. I loved it because it wasn't too greasy or scrubby the way some homemade scrubs can be. I actually could use a tiny amount of product and could feel like I was getting a good exfoliate, which is awesome because I know these products will last a long time! Plus, it smells intensely of chocolate and I could even smell it on my skin after I got out of the tub! When I got out I wasn't super oily at all and the tub didn't have a layer of oil on it that I would have to warn Jonathan about later.

After I got out of the tub I rinsed off my face, sprayed my toner on it, and then applied a few drops of the Pro-Vitamin Vegetal Serum. My skin didn't feel tight from the mask and it wasn't drying at all. I went to bed and on Sunday morning my skin looked AWESOME. I'd had a few breakouts on my chin and above my upper lip and they were at least halfway healed up. The pores on my nose looked smaller, as well. Those spots were basically completely gone by this morning! WOW! I am hooked and happy to share my new Etsy Love. :o)

I Love Schmidt's and Why You Should, Too!

Another Awesome Use for Baking Soda

Making Toothpaste at Home

I have been looking forward to making homemade toothpaste for quite some time now. Neither Jonathan nor I like the foaming action of other toothpastes and he had bought a toothpaste last time that contained foamers. As for me, when I was in Ketchikan I couldn't find any toothpaste that wasn't exactly what I wanted. (And when I returned from KTN I realized that he and I had bought the same toothpaste. :o) I had experimented with making a small amount a couple weeks ago, but Tuesday morning we officially ran out of the "other" stuff and so I could finally test out a new recipe! I used this recipe for homemade toothpaste by Crunchy Betty as my base, but I altered it a little bit.

The good part about this recipe is that it's made with coconut oil, which is really, really good for you. It is like doing oil pulling on a very small scale, as well. This also probably cost 40 cents to make or something like that, too. I always have coconut oil around because it's a main oil in my soaps, so why not try it out? Needless to say, I am very happy with the results. My mouth felt very clean and not in a weird, fake way. Also, Jonathan told me after he tried it for the first time that he really liked it, too, so it's a win!

So Excited For New Soaps!

Less than a week before my first batch of soaps made upon returning to Portland are DONE! Whoo hoo!


I have all this curing right now. What I'm super excited for is my two new soaps to be done!

About this time every year I usually start searching on Etsy for candy cane scented bath products. I LOVE the smell of peppermint and vanilla together and so I'm really excited that this year I was able to make my own soap! I find the smell really energizing in the morning. It's so happy! I hope other people love it, too. Check it out here!

My other new soap that I'm really excited about is my Hairy Sasquatch Shave Bar. I have been wanting to make a shave bar forever and now I've got one! I used the same recipe as the shampoo bar (without the beer, sorry!) so I know it will be super lathery. I also added bentonite clay to make it slippery and give you a good shave. I'm also glad to offer a shave bar because it replaces a bottle or tube of shave cream and you don't have to worry about recycling it!

Back in Portland With Some Eco-Friendly Finds!

Well, I've been back in Portland for a couple days now and things have been great! I figured out Jonathan had taken Friday off to greet me when I realized I hadn't heard from him during any of the times when I would normally hear from him on a Friday. It was so awesome to finally see him! When I came inside I was greeted by a very excited (for her) Halo Cat! She was practically giddy! And Artoo was reeeeaaaallllly excited to see me! So I had a very warm welcome home. :o)


I hung out for a bit and then went to Emily's house for a #pdxbeergeeks beer tasting get-together. Whoo-whee! That was awesome!


Lots of yummy food and beers and giggling! I can't wait for the next meet-up. After Emily's house I went home and later in the evening Jonathan and I went out to dinner at the Observatory for our four year anniversary celebration. The food was amazing and so was my cocktail! I had the ahi starter and a small spinach, red pepper, and Parmesan salad as my meal, but we started with the prawns as an appetizer. Everything tasted so good! My cocktail was a lavender gin delicious yummy thing. I also want to go back and try their blood orange negroni.

Saturday's mission was to run some errands. First mission was new pillows from Eclectic Home. They are natural latex bits surrounded by wool. We also picked up some pillow coverings to protect the pillows. With pillows of this sort I want to keep them nice as long as possible! Sleeping on them has felt really nice. They are firm but very soft. We are loving them!



We love shopping at the co-op because most of the fruits, vegetables, and meats are local, so it feels good to be supporting farmers and other people who provide our food in a direct manner.

Natural Way To Fix a Divot in My Tooth! Will It Work For Me?

For the past seven or so years or so I've had a divot in one of my back teeth. It's a little hole that isn't completely worn through to become a cavity. The dentist told me way-back-when to just take care of it and keep it clean, in hopes that it wouldn't eventually become bigger and deeper. Happy to say, it hasn't grown and I keep it clean, although I have to use toothpaste for sensitive teeth. But what if there were a way to truly fix it? I stumbled across "How I Healed My Child's Cavity" by Sarah at The Healthy Home Economist. I googled around and found stories both pro- and con- about it, so I figure "what the heck?" and am going to try it for myself.

The method I am going to try uses butter oil and fermented cod liver oil in a synergistic way. Of course, me being me, I am going to obtain my own high-quality cream, make butter with it, then make my own butter oil, also known as ghee. Best case scenario? I have no tooth divot. Worst case scenario? Well, nothing happens. Either way, it can't hurt to try.

One other teeth-related thing I would like to try is something I read about on a blog that I like, The Nourished Life. It was an article about how to brush your teeth for gum health using a Bass toothbrush. I need a new toothbrush anyway, so I'm going to order one of these and OraWellness' Brushing Blend, made with organic essential oils.

Wish me luck on my dental experiment!

Eco-Friendly Finds: Minimizing My Beauty Products

Sorry for the lack of giveaway yesterday and the update that there will not be another giveaway until next week, I promise!

Today I'd like to talk about a little bit of downsizing I've been doing that I'm really pretty excited about! I have been downsizing other things, as you may know. I'm working on using and needing/wanting less and (hopefully?) saving more, or at least having less "stuff." Today I thought I'd update on my beauty products that I'm working on replacing with better things and not needing!


When I have run out of lotion I am going to start using organic coconut oil as a moisturizer (for both my face and body), which is something I buy by the gallon, because I make soap with it! It's always around and it smells awesome! I was inspired by my friend Amy's post about how much she loves it. I have read other people's good reviews of it, but since I actually know Amy it gave her word a little bit more oomph for me.

I'm not sure how I'll like it for my face in the mornings, though. It IS very oily at first, so I'm thinking maybe if I just use a tiny bit it will work then dab my face to get any excess off before I put my powder on for the day.

I'm super duper excited to announce that my shampoo bars are DONE and I have listed them in my Etsy shop! They smell SO GOOD. I used Deschutes' Black Butte Porter, honey, organic coconut oil, sunflower oil, and many other good-for-you ingredients. I want to eat this bar. Seriously.

So now I'm using my shampoo bars, which is awesome because it cuts down on bottle waste and packaging. I've been using other people's shampoo bars for several months now, so it makes me feel awesome that I can finally use my own!

I love my face scrub. I do. But it is expensive and I have read about the benefits of using a face brush for light exfoliation, so I found one for all of like $3 or something and love it! I have actually had it since the beginning of this year sometime, but since my face scrub is almost out, I do not plan on buying more and just plan on brushing my face. It's free and endlessly renewable! (Obviously except for when the brushes wear out. But, hey, $3!)

Why do I have two toners? I finally was able to empty my giant bottle of toner into an empty smaller bottle, but I still have another bottle of the original toner in the smaller bottle. Why two? This is still a mystery to me. I'd love to not have a bottle of toner around, but I do like having something to wipe my face off with that isn't a full on cleanser for the times when I have just gotten done working out or riding my bike or whatnot. Any thoughts?

So this is what I've been working on! I'd love to hear other people's ideas about what you are doing to minimize your beauty products and beauty routine! I find it funny that I have as much "girl stuff" like this because I'm not even a product person. I don't usually have a bunch of extra products or bags full of makeup, etc, sitting around, but I do have my little bit that I want to work on. :o)

Thoughtful Tuesday

Sorry for the lack of giveaway today! I don't have any one else scheduled! If you are an artist-type who would like to do a giveaway on my blog, please contact me! I would love to hear from you. :o)

In lieu of a normal Tuesday Giveaway post, I have been forging ahead on my "Getting Rid of Things 2011" plan. Yesterday I went to my dad's shop to start going through my things that have been out there since I graduated high school. Short version of my life ten years ago: My dad was working down south and I was staying with my (now ex-)stepmom at our house. Things got bad and so when I graduated high school I needed to go "somewhere" and so that ended up being Portland for a year. When I left Ketchikan my dad put all of my life stuff (and all of our house stuff...again, long story) into the upper storage level of his giant workshop behind our house. I left for Portland with all of the pertinent stuff that would fit into my car (sound familiar?).

I have never gone through my things out at the shop because it was kind of a "out of sight, out of mind" thing. I apparently was living life well enough without these things so I just didn't need my stuff. But now a decade has passed since I graduated high school and I am now a different person and I want to go through my stuff. My dad has never asked me to do this, but recently he was telling me how he would eventually like to extend the upper level of the shop out so that it is all the way finished and, though maybe he wasn't even thinking it, but I was thinking, "I need to go through my stuff so that he can do that and has more space." Since I am actually in Ketchikan for an extended period of time, I'd like to go through my stuff as much as I can. Some things will be given away, some things sold, some things I will not be ready to part with, and some things I may never BE able to part with. But it has been an extended enough period of time that it is now more easy to go through my things and be okay to give them away than it would be if I had only been without these things for maybe a couple years. (Does that make sense?) The money from things I am able to sell will go toward Jonathan and I's savings, since the money I make from selling soap goes toward me and my savings. (Although some of it gets spent on fun stuff for the both of us. :o)

Yesterday was a gorgeous sunny day in Ketchikan and so I headed out to the shop, only to be greeted by the super duper cute cat who belongs to the people renting our house.



I went up to the third floor and, though it was a beautiful day, I was kinda wishing it wasn't so gosh darn nice out because being next to the roof in the top of a metal building was HOT. I would stand there and had sweat rolling down my forehead. I only managed to be out there for an hour before I got way too hot. Bummer! I still managed to go through a good chunk of stuff and am feeling positive. I made a big pile of boxes to break down at a later date. I got together a full bag of things to donate to the Salvation Army. I found things to send to friends. I found all four of my planners from high school that I comPLEtely decorated that are basically journals of my life from then, so I am not getting rid of those, although it was hilarious to look at. I also found these pictures of myself with horrible, horrendous hair that my now-ex-stepmom put me through.


(She was the wearer of bangs that curled down at the bottom and up at the top in a perfect little pouf. Because she thought I didn't take care of my hair (aka I just liked to wash it and call it good. I have never been one to mess with my hair much.) she thought I should at least curl it. (This was closely followed by me cutting my hair reeeallly short when I was 12. If my hair is super short then it is always in a style! I use this method today and I am always cute. Always. ;o)

Anyway, TANGENT!

I managed to get together some stuff to take home and list online, several items of which are technically sold and I will be paid for them and meeting up with people today! Huzzah! Some things will be listed on eBay. I also kinda got a visual of some of the stuff that was up there, like my stereo equipment, that I will be able to sell, but I will have to go back to the shop at a later date to get that stuff because it was so freaking hot in there.

The rest of my evening was pretty darn nice! I have had the door open the entire time I've been home so it is nice and cool in here. I washed my laundry and stuck it outside in the sunshine.