Monday, February 18, 2008

What's up with that hair?

Natural way of living and holistic approach to body is my specialty. There is so much bad things out there that we , as parents, have to be always on a look out about what our kids eat, what they play with, what we bath them with, and so on. So I've been keeping my eyes open and remembered and implemented a lot of forgotten practices of leading a healthy life style from my childhood.
I don't rush the kids to the doctor's office with the first cough or a fever. I know how to treat cuts and other wounds, we practice prevention through proper nutrition, trying to keep us active with going on hikes, nature walks, swimming, biking, etc. So far we have been blessed with our health and energy levels, plus every day I am trying to learn something new in the field of holistic health that interests me so much.

Some of my favorite little secrets are using baking soda and vinegar for house cleaning purposes, using lemon instead of deodorants for your underarms (it's a bit sticky in the beginning and might give you a bit of a burning sensation if you've just shaved, but works great!), using organic coconut oil as face and hands moisturizer. One rule to remember here! If you won't want to eat it, then don't put it on your skin, since our skin is the largest external organ and absorbs everything! Coconut oil has a fantastic aroma and Mirek always tells me how "sweet I smell"!

Have you tried to brush your teeth with baking soda? I basically grew up doing that, since a lot of times we had no tooth paste at home, and baking soda came in handy. It is not pleasant (no strawberry flavorings here, let me tell you that!), but the results are phenomenal, it just takes some time to get used to it , plus you don't have to brush with it all the time, but can substitute with natural tooth paste (Tom's of Maine, for example).

And recently I've learned another trick... I am coming closer to the true story! One of my favorite health web sites is Dr. Mercola's. The compendium of his expertise in leading a healthy life style is amazing! So, I have read that you can actually use olive oil instead of conditioner. And since girls' hair gets soooo tangled, even if I brush it right after the bath before they go to bed. In the morning there are always plenty of "auches"! Don't you think I wanted to give it a try? Of course!
We washed their hair as usual with their natural shampoo, and then we used.... extra virgin first press olive oil!
"Mom, why did you do that? Now I smell like salad!", Ivana was saying almost instantly after I've applied the oil on her hair. I thought that Leona would chicken out and refuse, but no way. She wanted to have olive oil on her hair as well. And so I poured it generously!
Then we washed it off with warm water, and I must admit it was noticeably easier to comb their hair right after washing. I was on the cloud nine to have found an alternative to a conditioner (just read the label to see what it contains, some of the things you won't be able to pronounce!)

And that is how my beautiful daughters looked in the morning! I think the picture says it all! Shall we get the scissors?
To make things worse, it has been four days of hair washing now, and their hair is still rather greasy! I guess I'll be buying natural conditioner! But... I would never have know if I hadn't tried.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Oh man, it's so funny about the olive oil and hair!!! It's cute!! You know, Ulia, I love natural staff too!!! I'm definitely gonna try the coconut oil mosturizer. Does it really works for skin though? I've been trying a good cream for years now :( no luck so far.