works for me wednesday

My "real life" friends have probably heard me talk about these two things, but I realized that I haven't mentioned them on here. So, just a quick post to share two "crunchy" things that work for me, and I think will work for you. For both of them, I started out very unsure of them, but now I'm a convert. 


#1: I don't know if I mentioned it before, but earlier this year (January actually), I started doing the Oil Cleanse Method. Crunchy Betty has one of the best summaries and reviews (click the name to find a complete run down on the hows), so I'm going to point you there rather then rehash the whole thing... but in brief: Its using clean, natural oils to dissolve the dirty oils on your face while moisturizing in a way that helps your skin regulate how much oil it needs to make. The best part of this is that it is so versatile. It can be easily customized to work with oily/problematic skin (mine!), combination, normal, or dry.

My skin is very acne prone/problematic. Since I started breaking out as a teen, I can think of only one or two times that I would have called my skin clear. The time that comes to mind was when I was taking birth control, taking an oral acne medication, using a prescription wash, and using two prescription gels/lotions. Way too much! Plus, I can't remember the names of the meds, but I bet you they were Class X drugs, which I definitely have no interest in ingesting anymore.

While the OCM hasn't made my skin clear, it has made it better. I still break out, but in much smaller "doses." Putting aside the actual acne, my skin is definitely way less oily too, which is one of my favorite parts. It used to be that my skin would be an oil slick by the end of the day, now, I can go a few days between washings if needed. My skin just isn't making the extra oil. After a 2 or 3 day adjustment period, my skin was dewier, but less greasy... it just looks and feels better.

Sunday of our camping weekend... hadn't washed my face since Thursday night.

Normally I wash about 3x a week, and just give my face a quick warm water wipe down the other nights. My oils are jojoba, caster, and a few drops of tea tree (again, check out that Crunchy Betty page above for a list of the oils and what skin types they are good for).

So, no more products for me... no more hoping from cleanser to cleanser to find something that works. Instead I got a few big bottles of my oils of choice from ama.zon, and those bottle are going to last me a LONG time (both, after 8 months, are still about 2/3 to 3/4 full).

I'm a convert, and I'm not looking back!!


#2: If you read green/crunchy blogs, then maybe, like me, you're a little sick of hearing about coconut oil. Honestly, I just didn't get it. Why would I need it? Why would I want it? There is always some "new" thing that everyone latches onto and it gets spread around like crazy, until the hype dies down. So I didn't use it.

Until Daisy wanted her belly rubbed one day and I saw that her belly was covered in weird, coarse, black spots. I was worried. So I looked online a bit (there are some great "ask a vet" sites) to see if this was something common. Turns out it is... normally caused by either a bacterial infection or skin irritation. And the vet recommended coconut oil* (both orally and on the spots themselves)! So, I grabbed some coconut oil, fed it to the pup daily and within a few days the spots were fewer and smaller. Fast forward a week and the spots were gone. Daisy's skin looked great.

Since then I've seen that it can be used to moisturize your hair, as a lubricant, or in cooking (though should be done very sparingly as it is high in saturated fats). I'll definitely be keeping a jar around from now on.


Does anyone use either of these? Will anyone try them?
What "crunchy" thing works for you?



* If the coconut oil hadn't shown signs of working within a week, Daisy would have gone straight to the vet, but I wanted to try a natural, and less costly, method first.