She Shines From Within

this is the story of a girl

Hi there :) Welcome to my little corner of the world. What's there to know. Well, because of an inspirational blog that I visit which features the author working on her glow I decided that I wanted to discover my shine. This is slightly biblical, and slightly analogical and slightly, just being me. I don't want to be a dull, little thing, I want to glow, or rather - for me - shine. Not just from the outside, but from within. If everything is good inside - naturally - it will show up on the outside.

What else? I'm 27 - am a christian - love to cook - love to read - am crafty - am introverted - but no one believes me on the introverted part - adores drinking tea - is a workout fiend - gets bored easily - is studying to be a librarian information technologist - likes making up her own words - sings at random - has a slight addiction to smutty book - wants to be a nun - until, you know; I get married - is determined to work on her shine.

Oh. and you can call me Livvy. (or Livvie. Or Livi. it's really amazing how many spellings of one name there can be. I like them all though).

10:43 PM

Saturday, March 19, 2011

au natural

for about... hm. maybe going on six years now I've been having my hair "natural". This means I don't any chemicals (or try not to) in my hair. No more perming, relaxants or whatever. I don't want to put "fake" stuff in my hair, I don't think it is very necessary, though I will admit, I miss having straight hair.

The funny thing is - that used to be only thing "natural" about me. I didn't give a lot of thought to anything else, and it didn't matter to me. Oh - the things I used to say. My favourite was "Chemicals are my friends"

Heh.

When I moved to Calgary, I discovered a 100% natural soap store called Rocky Mountain Soap. Everything is made in Alberta and they're only located in Alberta (and I think they have a store in British Columbia. This makes my very Ontario-ian heart very sad). Anyway - when I discovered them in October, I was very skeptical about it. I mean - there was nothing wrong with buying soap from wherever I could get it for the least amount of money. I was a huge fan of Dove and the bottle and the nice lather it made.

The lovely sales lady (who is really nice), explained to me that these soaps were natural, and that it would really be benefical to my skin to use these, especially if I was prone to dry skin. That really perked my attention because not only do I have dry skin, but ever since moving out west, my skin has looked drier than the hind side of an alligator. Especially my feet. They are horrible.

[Who knew I'd miss humidity?]

So she (SalesLady) seduced me into trying the pumpkin patch soap. And for just stopping by, I got a bar of Chocolate Mint Soap as well. (Yes. That's right. Chocolate Mint soap. That's just two of my favourite things right there).

Let me tell you, this stuff is amazing. (both soaps). I find that using the chocolate mint is really good for the morning shower, especially after I work out. I feel really refresh after using it. The Pumpkin Patch soap - equally amazing, and SalesLady was quite right. It really did help my dry skin, and I am a fan for life.

The only body soap I use really now is Rocky Mountain. (I use Pumpkin Patch, Oatmeal and Honey, and Fir-Bar for my feet - this one actually has pine needles and pumpice pieces mixed in so it's really good). I also use their body butter (lotion) a lot and it locks in moisture. (I also have their foot butter for, duh - the foot). The only lament I have about using natural soap is that they kind of well... melt. A good chunk lasts about a month if used daily (and trust me, I use daily).

But I do feel a difference. My skin doesn't feel "scummy" after a shower. It's not as dry, and I'm not having a lot of breakouts which is really good. So it's worth replacing. (Thank goodness it is almost April because I'm running low).

I also recently moved on to using natural body deodorant. This took a lot of convincing from (another) Sales Lady (we will call her SalesLady II), that this stuff would actually work. I had no issues with the store bought stuff - and it was inexpensive compared to a tiny bottle of liquid... whatever for nearly 10.00. SalesLadyII said however unlike Secret, this stuff actually lets you sweat. (I did my best Spock Eyebrow here), and that is a good thing because you don't want to block the sweat. This will let you sweat, but it won't stink, and you keep fresh, and it lasts for months.

She had me on the months. I'm sorry, I'm a student, and I'm cheap. Not having to buy anything for "months" is a great thing. So I bought it. And I loved it.

The next thing that I have to find and buy is natural shampoo and conditioner. (and hair product. I think I'm kind of screwed on the hair product thing). They do sell shampoo but it is very expensive (for a little amount of product). So I'll have to see if it really balances out. Hopefully with diet tweaking and finding a good non-lathering shampoo, it will help my poor, pathetic hair.

So go ahead. Take it all off and go au natural.

Labels: rambling