My Core Essentials - Skin and Hair

 

  I have a very minimal hair and skin care routine. While I've never been much for primping, when I was younger I definitely fell prey to the idea that I needed cleansers,toners, body lotions, day and night moisturizers, and shampoo and conditioners. Makeup is something I've avoided, preferring to go with tinted lip gloss, and an emergency trial size of mineral powder for those occasional gag inducing blemishes, or when I think I need to look older than 12 and not bloodless.

     I am the first to admit that almost everything about my lifestyle, hair and skin, and preferences allows for simplicity. I am not employed outside my home, so there is no pressure to use cosmetics and our social life travels more along the lines of hiking and drinking tea cross legged on people's floors, so no need for it there either. I am also casual and extremely low maintenance, so my need for various products is small - for salon services it is nil. That is not to say I look like a model and wouldn't benefit from services, more that I don't care.  Finally, my skin is cantankerous and looks its best when left alone and I have straight hair. I gather from all the curly headed peeps out there that having curly hair is significantly more labour and product intensive than straight hair. In fact, when two curly heads get together and talk about their hair, they enter a realm no straight haired person can follow; it is sacred, the path is hard, and they discuss putting oil on their hair. Baffling, I know, but we lank haired people must count our blessings, we are not at war with our combs.

 

    Here are my core essentials, used daily or several times a week:

• Aritha powder for washing my hair. I've been using this for a few months now and am very impressed by how clean my hair is after washing. You may know it by its other name: soap nuts. Can be used to wash clothes and hair. Multifunctional and very inexpensive at the local Indian store.

• A peach wood comb. I had heard that wood combs  were an excellent way of distributing natural hair oils evenly and they do not scratch the scalp. I used this as an excuse to buy this comb because...well, look at it, 'tis beautiful and simple. And not plastic. Then I used it and loved it.

• A dry brush for skin. Dry brushing has a number of benefits, including encouraging your body to release toxins, stimulating your immune and lymphatic systems, and exfoliating your skin.

DryBrushing.net

The Dry Brushing Technique

• Vitamin E oil. I use this on my face. It's vitamin E oil mixed with some quality carrier oils since vit. E alone is quite sticky. It's done more for me than any high priced cruelty free moisturizer ever has. I've also used coconut oil, but it made my face break out occasionally.

• Soap. I have and will always use vegetable based soap - tallow can clog pores, plus I make it a point to only use skincare products that have no animal (flesh - sustainable bee and dairy products I'm fine with) by-products in them. Two reasons for this: I eat a plant based diet and want to keep my skincare plant based too, and the animals that have been converted for use in skin care are quite often the meat industry's leftovers: sick, diseased, downer animals, euthanized animals from shelters, and roadkill. Yes, roadkill. Even if you aren't eating a plant based diet, you might want to avoid putting this on your skin. Nothing like a good slathering of asphalt baked opossum to make those wrinkles just vanish.

Roadkill Soap Anyone?

13 Gross Ingredients Hidden in Your Beauty Products

 

• Homemade deodorant. Works as well as anything I've used from a natural foods store (never used a drugstore variety, so I can't comment on its efficacy compared to that). It is not an antiperspirant, but I'm not looking to stop sweating. Here is my recipe for deodorant:

To A Good Smelling Spring

 

• Body Lotion. I get very dry and itchy in the winter, so while I do sometimes use vitamin E oil as an allover moisturizer, I often alternate it with a lotion for hand and body. This brand, SheaMoisture, is my new favorite because several "natural" brands include ingredients that are potentially harmful and this doesn't. Smelling divine doesn't hurt either.

 

    I do occasionally use other products or items throughout the month, but these are what I use daily or frequently and I wouldn't want to get more minimal than this. I might write another post on my expanded and not as necessary "essentials."

    This is just a peek into part of my daily/weekly routine, and not a judgement on, or a gloat over those who use more than me. I'm just sharing for the sake of doing so, and I hope you feel free to comment about what your essentials are, whether you're into natural, sustainable, homemade, frugal, and minimalist or a total product fiend!

 

Comments

[Kim]

My bathroom cupboard contains: a wooden comb (Love 'em, don't you?), soap, shampoo bar, dry skin brush, alba sea moss moisturizer, and a deodorant mineral stone. I have some Physician's Formula mascara and bronzer that I use on the rare occasions my husband and I go out in the evening. Oh yes, contact solution and contact case, toothbrush, toothpaste, and a razor.

Let's see, what else? Oh yes, 1 towel (per person)and hand knitted organic cotton washcloths.

[jaime]

Haha!! Your comment about curly haired individuals conversations made me laugh. It is a very serious business. When I tell my straight haired friends I put coconut oil in my hair, they cringe. However, when I tell my product loving curly- haired friends that all I use is co, they think I am crazy.

I think I may give soap nuts a try. I tried using baking soda and cornstarch for deodorant. It worked, but it gave me a ash. I think I will try making the one you listed here and see if the creamier texture helps.

[TheSimplePoppy]

Yes Kim, I do love my wooden comb! I thought people were hyping them, but turns out it's all true, rare when that happens. I wish I could get down to one towel per person, but I don't think that is possible until the kids are older. Some days it feels like we go through three a day! Thanks for letting us get a glimpse into your bathroom cupboard!

[TheSimplePoppy]

Yes Jaime, us straight haired people cannot fathom the oil thing because our hair would look like someone bombed us with an oil filled balloon.

I have to admit that the soap nuts powder is not the easiest to wash with, but the results are great, and I figure it would be good for a variety of hair because it's been used by South Asians for a long time and their hair tends to be more coarse and curly. My deodorant doesn't give me or The Man a rash, and I get rashes over everything. It feels a tad grainy because of the cornstarch, but it goes on nicely and melts into the skin. Also the coconut oil is antibacterial and antifungal so it's got everything covered!

[Tanja from Minimalist Packrat]

I used to have the exact same skin brush! I've got a different one now, but I just needed to chime in on it. I LOVE skin brushes. The Japanese are definitely on to something with them. I also use a firm textured exfoliating wash cloth. It feels so good!

[TheSimplePoppy]

I'll have to look into exfoliating wash clothes since sometimes I'm in too much of a rush to do a whole skin brushing. I love the way it makes my skin feel alive; I think the entire Japanese bathing routine is really the way to go, just wish I could fit a wood ofuro in my bathroom!

[Oily Skin Soap]

I am using aritha powder for washing my hair. I have been using this for a few months now.My hair is very clean after washing.
Great works.And you shared many information here. Let me try first, I will tell you later.