Soap - What's in a Name?

Have you looked at the ingredients in a bottle of soap?  No matter if it's hand soap or body wash, the list is HUGE! What is up with that?  Soap is such a simple thing, but manufacturers of soap have led us to believe that we need all these chemicals to get us clean.

Wrong.

All those chemicals are poisoning us- especially our children.  They are still developing and growing, and all those chemicals get right into their skin, going deep into their cells.  What is it doing to them??

Here's a very simple, practical solution.  Make your own.  Yes-- I said make your own soap!!  It's so easy.  If you can boil water and grate cheese, you can make your own soap.  Here's how.

You'll need:

• Bar soap- the fewer ingredients, the better
• Kirk's Castile (Kroger)
• Ivory 
• Glycerin bar- the very best!
• Cheese grater or a food processor and a knife
• Large heat-proof glass container - I use an 8 cup Pyrex measuring cup
• Several pump soap dispensers
• Glycerin- any drugstore (you'll have to ask for it)- only use if your bar of soap doesn't have glycerin

Directions:

1. Grate a bar of soap using a cheese grater - or cut it up and use a food processor (don't worry- it cleans up very nicely- it's soap!)
2. Boil 6 cups of water
3. Stir the soap flakes into the boiling water constantly until melted ( I use a big glass measuring cup)
4. Let it sit out overnight, covered
5. Test it.  If it will pour nicely through a funnel into a pump dispenser, it's good.  If it's too thick to pour, just add some water and stir.  We can't be too scientific because bars of soap come in all different sizes.
6. If you didn't use a glycerin soap, add two or three drops of glycerin to the mixture.  This gives it a better consistency- with the added benefit of making it more moisturizing!!

That's it! Isn't it simple?  We use it for hand washing at the sink and in the shower.  It lasts a long time, too.

Tips:  Use essential oils in your soap.  Two reasons why-- for a nice scent, and for its antibacterial, antiviral, and/or antimicrobial properties.  Use Lemongrass with Lemon, Lavendar, Rose- really expensive, but wonderful-- or anything you like, really!  It's all good.

I want to be me- chemical-free!!

Kidney Stones

What fun; what joy!  Lots of you know just what I mean.  What started out as a pain in my back, intensified  to "let me know" it was there.  What to do?  I needed an answer.  We haven't had insurance in over 20 years, and we must pay out-of-pocket for every doctor visit, so mainstream medicine was out of the question.  Besides, many times the doc doesn't know what's wrong, either, and all he can do is send me out for (costly) tests.  (I think it was $800 for an MRI!-- which found nothing, by the way.  But that's a different story.)

So  I prayed about it.  Sure enough, my mom "just happened" to mention something to her doctor, who "just happened" to mention kidney stones.  What would we do without our moms??

I began treating with essential oils.  Using helichrysum and a blend called Hair Support (of all things!), I applied it to my tailbone thrice daily for about three weeks.  To my surprise and delight, little by little, the pain subsided until it completely disappeared.  Cool.

How did I know which essential oils to use?  Muscle testing.  But that's another blog.

Astaxanthin

I have discovered a wonderful new supplement!  The benefits are many, and oh-so-practical!!  Astaxanthin, (pronounced asta-ZAN-thin) is a nice little gel cap that delivers powerful benefits.  I have been taking it for just over a month now, and so far, I have noticed several changes.


Every day I peered into the mirror to see if I could observe any changes in my skin.  It didn't take long to see those large pores on the T-zone begin to shrink.  Really!!  This means less blackheads from oil on the face.  I was elated!  It also gives the skin some color, so my face has this kind of glow.  (Astaxanthin comes from the algae that both salmon and flamingos eat, giving them their reddish color.)  No more pale-wizard-in-a-blizzard look.  It's protection from sunburn in a little brown pill.  About two weeks into it, I found a patch of skin peeling off from around an old scar from a skin tag removal- like a sunburn peel.  I had read that it would reduce old scars, and look!  it did!!  But the coolest thing of all is the colorless mole-like bump on my cheek that is shrinking every day.  (I've hated that thing since the day it reared its ugly head!)  I can't wait to see if it actually disappears.  In the meantime, shrinking is good.


Then, I noticed that, on the days when I work out, I am able to do so much more than I could do before.  That's another benefit of Astaxanthin- speedy recovery from exertion.  It reduces inflammation, a major contributor to pain. 


In fact, inflammation is a major contributor to all kinds of pain issues.  Reducing inflammation on a cellular level is tantamount to curing many illnesses.


Benefits have been "seen" in my vision, too.  I have noticed that I can see a little more clearly.  How great is that?!?  I can read fine print a little better, and my night vision has improved.  


I started by taking only 1mg a day for two weeks, then upped the dose to 2mg/day.  Then I bought a 4mg pill, and have been taking that now for a week.


My husband, a very hard worker, has decided to give it a try after hearing all these improvements in me.  He just started a week ago, so we haven't seen any benefits just yet.  I'll keep you posted.


**Other benefits of this powerful antioxidant Astaxanthin include: 

• boosts immune system
• helps prevent heart attacks
• helps prevent the initiation of cancer cells
• helps prevent Alzheimer's and Parkinson's
• normalizes blood pressure
• relieves prostate problems
• gives you better resistance to colds
• prevents and relieves diabetes
• prevents gum disease
• enhances reproductive health
• protects all parts of the cells from oxidative damage

Welcome to my blog!  This is my first post, and I must admit, I'm a little apprehensive to "put it out there"... if you know what I mean.  My take on health for the last 20 years has, of necessity, been a do-it-yourself approach. 


When we lost our insurance due to a job change, I knew that I would need to take on our health care for our growing family.  At the time, our four young sons had the usual problems- earaches, colds, flu.  As our family size grew to include nine children, I have since learned a great deal about health-- and I yearn to share!


May you benefit from our trials and successes!  Let me know how it works for you and yours.