What better time of the year to use the antioxidant rich ingredients of chocolate and coffee in your skin care than Valentine’s Day? Capture the power of these rich ingredients to exfoliate and protect your skin with antioxidants. The darker the chocolate, the more antioxidants it has, so when choosing cocoa powder, darker is better. Multiple research studies have shown coffee to be the leading source of antioxidants in most American and European diets.It is full of polyphenols, a powerful type of antioxidant. When selecting coffee for your skin care, choose organically grown, locally roasted, unflavored coffee.

The following scrub and mask contain chocolate and coffee as their source of antioxidants. Following these recipes and the instructions will leave you with a sweet and glowing face. I recommend you prepare the scrub and mask before beginning your wash.

Wash

Begin with a natural bar of soap to wash your face. Lather the soap and rub your face gently using circular motions that are upward and away from the mouth. Rinse with warm water and pat dry using a clean towel.

Scrub

Apply the scrub to damp skin using gentle upward circling motions. Avoid such delicate areas as the eye. Focus on problem areas such as the T-zone. Feel free to use this gentle scrub on the neck and chest area as well. Rinse well using warm water and pat dry.

Mask

While your face is still warm from the scrub, apply the mask. Using your fingertips, apply the mask liberally to face and neck area. Wait while the mask begins to dry. When you begin to feel the tightening of the mask, it’s time to rinse again with warm water. Pat dry and follow up with your preferred toner and moisturizer.

Coffee Scrub

2 T. finely ground organic coffee beans (espresso level grinding is best so as not to scratch)

1 T. organic sugar or fine sea salt

2 T. organic almond oil

Mix ingredients together in a bowl, let sit for 5 – 10 minutes to allow the beans to seep into the oil.

Chocolate Mask

¼ cup organic yogurt

2 T. honey

1 T. organic chocolate powder, dark.

2 T oat flour (using blender to ground oats)

1 vitamin E capsule

Crush the capsule so the Vit. E is added to the yogurt. Discard the capsule. Add the remaining ingredients, stir and let it rest for 15 minutes. If the yogurt is very runny, add up to 1 T more chocolate powder and 1-2 T oat flour to absorb moisture and ease application.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/skin-care-articles/sweet-complexion-for-valentines-day-4031819.html

About the Author

Angela is the founder and Chief Sustainability Officer of Celtic Naturals. As a mother, trained engineer and environmental enthusiast, she believes it is possible to be green and glam. She specializes in teaching others how to live toxin-free. Her blog topics range from green living to healthy cooking, from gardening to organic self-beauty tips. Please visit www.celticnaturals.com for toxic free skin care tips and products.

As the words in the labels become lengthier, it is becoming more difficult to discern their meaning. Education is how you, the consumer, can protect yourself. Is there a product or ingredient name that you would like to have explained? Email me and we’ll respond. Have a comment, question or concern about one the ingredients below? Please let me know!

angela@celticnaturals.com Angela J. Buckley

Once upon a day, we didn’t have to read labels. You didn’t need to. You went to the Farmer’s Market to buy essentials, such as flour, oil and fruits and vegetables. Then you went home and “processed” yourself, that is, you baked, you sewed, you made it. As a result, you knew exactly what was going on your skin and into your mouth. However, as society progressed, individuals specialized in producing products. Still, the customer and the vendor knew each other. This intimacy in the marketplace served as a protection to the customer. Individual service, mindfulness of the customer’s needs and limitations where (and still are!) the hallmark of the small vendors.

Today, with globalization, the vendor is no longer uniquely tied to her customer. Without the direct personal interaction, labeling becomes a safety requirement. However, labeling is a shared burden. The manufacturer must honestly follow the law and serve the interest of its customers. Reading and writing is a two-way street. The manufacturer writes, but the consumer must read, and comprehend.

Labels by Law

Labels are designed by law to protect the consumer. However, the practicality of law is compromise between manufacturers, lawmakers seeking reelection and watchdog groups. As a result, different products have different labeling requirements. Soap, for example, has an exemption. Soap is not required to have any product or ingredient label on it. Other skin care products are required to list all ingredients that exist in the product at levels greater than 1%, unless the ingredient is specifically an active ingredient, or the ingredient has been listed by the FDA. In California, any ingredient found on their “Cancer List” must also be listed.

Below are terms and ingredients most commonly found in all natural soaps.

Glycerine: Glycerine is a natural humectant, which means that it attracts moisture. This wonderfully useful ingredient has many uses. In skin care, it is most notable for its ability to smooth and soften. It absorbs naturally into the skin while drawing in moisture. Glycerine is a natural byproduct of the soap making process. Unfortunately, during the ramp to WWII, glycerine was also need as an intermediate ingredient to use smokeless gun powder and other explosives.

Saponification (the soap making reaction) was the primary source of glycerine production, essential to the War Effort. It became patriotic (and profitable) in the USA to remove the glycerine from soap. The resulting soap was drying and aggressive to skin.

Lye: In order to make a natural bar soap, sodium hydroxide better known as lye, is required for the reaction. A warm lye solution is mixed with a warm oil/fat solution to create soap. In a proper reaction, there is no lye left in the soap, as it is broken down and consumed by the soap process. The proper soap is completed in a pH range that is safe for human skin, typically with approximately 5% extra oils for skin moisturizing.

Potassium hydroxide: The “lye” used to make an all natural liquid soap. Although the process requires more time (and energy), the reaction process is essentially the same. A liquid paste is created, then diluted with water and adjusted with a boric acid solution to bring the pH into range that is safe for human skin.

Sodium hydroxide: see lye.

Saponified: Saponify, saponification all refer to the soap making process. The saponified precursor indicates that the coconut oil has been used in the soapmaking process. Frequently, the manufacturer will then leave “sodium hydroxide” off the label, since it was consumed during the soap making process. Furthermore, all natural soap manufacturers attempt to write clear, understandable ingredient lists. Most consumers do not understand the proper chemical name of sodium cocoate, therefore, the label reads saponified coconut oil. There are currently no legal guidelines (as of yet) which say how an ingredient is named, so long as it is clear to the consumer.

Sodium palmate: saponified palm oil using sodium hydroxide for solid soaps

Sodium olivate: saponified olive oil using sodium hydroxide for solid soaps

Sodium soyate: saponified soybean oil using sodium hydroxide for solid soaps

Sodium cocoate: saponified coconut oil using sodium hydroxide for solid soaps

Sodium tallowate: saponified beef tallow using sodium hydroxide for solid soaps

Potassium palmate: saponified palm oil using potassium hydroxide for liquid soaps

Potassium olivate: saponified olive oil using potassium hydroxide for liquid soaps

Potassium soyate: saponified soybean oil using potassium hydroxide for liquid soaps

Potassium cocoate: saponified coconut oil using potassium hydroxide for liquid soaps

Potassium tallowate: saponified beef tallow oil using potassium hydroxide for liquid soaps

Sodium bicarbonate: baking soda

Sodium borate: Borax

Sodium tetraborate: Borax

Disodium tetraborate: Borax

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/skin-care-articles/read-the-labels-whats-in-soap-4031887.html

About the Author

Angela is the founder and Chief Sustainability Officer of Celtic Naturals. As a mother, trained engineer and environmental enthusiast, she believes it is possible to be green and glam. She specializes in teaching others how to live toxin-free. Her blog topics range from green living to healthy cooking, from gardening to organic self-beauty tips. Please visit www.celticnaturals.com for toxic free skin care tips and products.

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Gather the girls for an in-home facial party. Celtic Naturals provides themed, customized products tailored to your skin, teaches you the steps and gives you the recipes. After an evening of camaraderie, you leave feeling refreshed and sporting glowing complexions.

Care

This spa workshop empowers you to remove the synthetics and preservatives from your skincare. While sharing your time, you’re caring for each other, and your surrounding environment. By removing synthetics and preservatives from your skin care products, you are providing the healthiest ingredients for your skin. Not only are you helping yourself and your friends, you are helping the environment as well. Where do those chemicals go when you wash them off your body? Down the drain.

Celtic Naturals is committed to helping you reduce the chemicals that are washed down the drain. That’s why we are helping the environment one shower at a time.

Show them you care.

Please contact Angela to schedule your party.

Suggested Themes, Winter 2010-2011

Peppermint Twist

Silk and Honey

Winter Ginger

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In the recipe below, feel free to use butternut squash, carrots, acorn squash or pumpkin flesh interchangeably. The nutritional contents attached are for the recipe as it is written.

Compared to most snacks, the nutritional content of this recipe is much higher in potassium, Vitamin A, Manganese and Selenium than your traditional cookies, not to mention a reasonable dosage of the Vitamin Bs. Still, they are snacks, not a main meal. This is one recipe that I haven’t added a scoop or two of protein powder to.

Happy cooking. Good health and healthy skin.

Ingredients

1 cup sugar
1.5 cup shortening
2 eggs
2 cup whole flour
3 cup white flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup cooked, mashed carrots
1 cup cooked butternut squash

———-
1 cup powdered sugar
3 Tablespoons orange juice

Directions

Bake 350 for 15 mins. Drop dough using two teaspoons. Makes 120 2 inch cookies.

Bake at 350 deg for 15 mins.
Let cool on racks.
Mix powdered sugar with orange juice, 1 Tablespoon at a time — approximately 3 to create a tart drizzle

Number of Servings: 120

So, after a few disgruntled exclamations, I agreed. She does all the packaging design for Celtic Naturals (at this point, for free), so I definitely owe her a few favors. I just received an entire package of It’s Enzymatic cleaners from Green Irene, so this would be a fantastic opportunity to test them and receive some very critical feedback. If it can pass for clean between my mom, my sister and myself, well, it could very well pass for anyone.

Enzymes: What are they? Why do we care?

Remember high school chemistry? We learned about catalysts: those inert substances that speed up a reaction without actually getting involved. Back then, our discussions were (thankfully) limited to the much simpler non-organic reaction. Fast forward to the more thorough understanding and consciousness of the world around us though, and we as a society must have a greater understanding of organic chemistry.

Enzymes are the catalysts of the organic world. The enzyme is so influential, when multiple reaction possibilities exist, the enzyme can determine which reaction occurs. According to the Enzyme Nomenclature Database, as of November 2010, there are 4367 named enzymes. (An increase from the mere 3705 named by October 1999.) It can be expected that many more enzymes will continue to be detected and understood.

It is the natural order of organic life to decay. Dirt, dust mites, grease, viruses: all die and break down to their basic elements, eventually.  Carefully selecting which enzyme is exposed to the dirt and microbes in your home can greatly enhance your cleaning efforts. You can now clean organically, breaking down these offending elements into their basic elements, which are water soluble.

Selecting Enzymes?

Different surfaces of the home tend to attract different types of soil. Certainly, the glass tables in my sister’s home seem to attract my son’s fingerprints. The keys on the piano are also suspiciously dirty. The hardwood floors, the floorboards, fans and the grease in the kitchen all collect different types of dirtiness.

Are you overwhelmed? Have no fear, the It’s Enzymatic cleaning line offers a different collection of enzymes for each surface:

• Kitchen,
• Bathroom,
• Floors (hardwoods included),
• Stainless and Glass,
• Spot and Stain Remover, and
• Mildew.

Overall Assessment

We started only with hardwood cleaner, and tried to clean nearly everything with it. It was fantastic on all the floorboards, the piano and fan blades. Scrapes and general scuffs on the wall came out well, however, those unnamed spots of goo that are the result of pets and toddlers were resistant. For those, we choose the Mildew Remover. Wow! Worked like a charm.

In my personal quest to choose natural cleaners, I have found glass cleaners to be the most difficult. I was quite skeptical when I heard of the glass cleaner. Since I have a toddler and glass coffee tables (as does my sister) I was quite delighted to find that in combination with the microfiber cleaning cloth, the glass cleaner was fantastic. Playdough, cat snot, toddler fingerprints are all a thing of the past – with no obnoxious smells, no streaks, and no chemical residue. This is one happy mom (who has a happy sister!)

In fact the glass cleaner was so effective, we tried to avoid opening the Kitchen cleaner, but found that it was necessary when trying to clean the grill on top of the microwave. The grease here was thick enough to measure, so we needed some heavy duty grease cutting. The grill required some patience and a second application (and a little more patience) but using nothing more than the Kitchen cleaner and a soft cloth, the microwave was sparkling.

My mom was so impressed, she is ordering products as a housewarming gift for my cousin – who took possession of his first home last weekend. For now, I know that my son will be playing in a clean and toxin free home when he visits my sister. All in a day’s work.

I’m so impressed, I’ve decided to represent Green Irene products. Check ‘em out, they are about as green as they come. Prices are reasonable, and they have the same philosophy about packaging as Celtic Naturals. If you’d like to know more, I’m always available to answer questions.

Helping the environment one shower at a time.

Angela J. Buckley

P.S. We calculated that we used approximately $10 worth of products for the great room, the family room, dining room, kitchen and entryway. This included wooden floors, floorboards, kitchen cupboards, chair railings, two ceiling fans and piano. I find this to be significantly cheaper than the baking soda, vinegar, water and essential oil method that I would have used. (I’ve also never been happy with an eco-friendly glass cleaner before.)

What’s involved?

1. Reduce your use of harsh and toxic cleaning chemicals.
2. Reduce your personal exposure to toxins by using all natural skin care products.
3. Increase your recycling efforts.
4. Eliminate dryer sheets by using dryer balls.
5. Choose alternative transportation once a week: carpool, bike or walk.

The list of options above is by no means an extensive list, however, these are excellent first steps. Taking these first initial steps are simple and achievable improvements in your life. Fit these actions into your current life. When they become second nature, reconsider your actions and make improvements accordingly. It’s a reiterative process. We all learn as we go, and the environment will thank us for our efforts.

Congratulations! By becoming a Personal Environmental Activist, you have exhibited two very important characteristics: stewardship and leadership.  You have begun the journey of stewardship, showing that you are caring, cleaning, supporting and maintaining the environment. Leadership by example is a very powerful tool. Children and neighbors will see your actions.

Please post your comments below. Take the pledge today. What will you do to become an PEA?

Fall has arrived in Central Ohio. Summer camping, canoeing, bike riding and gardening activities have taken a toll on the Buckley household.  With outdoor activities a priority, I seldom spend time inside to focus on those extra cleaning chores – like the grout. Honestly, I’d prefer to just ignore the white grout and pale tiles the contractor installed, but enough is enough. Before the dirt and grime of winter arrives, I will clean the grout in our kitchen and entry way.

The trick is, of course, to maintain a clean toxin-free kitchen and home, while maintaining healthy cuticles and nails. There will be no use of harsh chemicals that cause difficulties breathing, no detergents that strip the oils from my skin. This leaves me with a scrub brush, water and baking soda.

Baking soda is surprisingly effective at removing dirt and grime. Your grandma probably knew this trick, but with aisle upon aisle of cleaning agents from which to choose, our generations have forgotten some simple tricks. Baking soda also softens the water, so scrubbing and cleaning is not harsh on your skin.

You Will Need

• Baking Soda
• Stiff Scrub Brush with Ergonomic Handle
• Bowl
• Water
• Towel/Sponge
• Dab  of olive oil

Create a paste

Create a paste with 1/2 cup water to 1/2 cup baking soda in a bowl.  Mix together so the baking soda is fully dissolved.  You will see some separation. Pour the the solution over each grout line that requires cleaning. If the paste becomes too thick, add water as you approach the bottom of your bowl.

Scrub

Using a scrub brush with an ergonomic handle and stiff bristles, follow the grout lines. Use care when scrubbing to position yourself properly.  A towel under your knees and shoulders located directly over the area you are scrubbing will help prevent sore muscles or carpal tunnel discomfort.

Clean Up

Your scrubbing has now been rewarded with a dirty mess of brown water atop the grout and tile.  Use a sponge or towel to soak water and remove excess baking soda. You may need to rinse once or twice to be thoroughly rewarded with a clean area.

Limited Repeats

Scrubbing is not fun. I know, you already know this, but taken in small spurts, it is not hard on your back, your knees or your wrist.  The limited exposure to the water is not hard on your fingernails and cuticles.  By working only with this amount of baking soda and water each time, you can scrub only a 3 foot x 3 foot area.

The small amount of paste made here was intentional. By limiting your scrubbing to 10 – 15 minutes, you prevent injuries — and you are rewarded with a small section that is super clean — providing you with the motivation to clean the next section. Taken in bits and pieces, the task is not overwhelming.

Although our floors and walls are cleaned regularly, grout focused cleaning happens only once a year. It’s OK if the task is spread out over a few days. Small tasks fit into busy workdays more easily than one large one, and it’s so much easier on your skin and body.

Review

Congratulations! Now you have soft hands and clean grout. Follow up with olive oil rubbed into your cuticles while they are still damp to keep them healthy and moist.

Unless you have significant stains, you will see immediate improvement. The stains in our grout include mildew, coffee and spaghetti sauce. See our next post on getting tough on grime if this is not successful for you.