Using two pieces of Danielle’s beautiful Amy Butler scrapbook paper (and following her crafty advice), I recently covered the lids of the glass jars on my bathroom counter. They look just as dreamy as I’d hoped. How is this health and beauty-related, you ask? Well, the jars do contain my hair pins, cotton swabs, and face pads/scrubbies…so there’s that.

The harmless-looking, awful-tasting mixture above is comprised of  3/4 of a cup of warm water, 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar, 1 tablespoon of honey, and a little cinnamon. I just gargled with it in an attempt to get rid of my (still) sore throat, and it actually worked! I swallowed it after gargling, which was a suggestion of Danielle’s (because apparently she’s improving my life in all areas lately). You should definitely hit this stuff up if you’re suffering from a sore throat. It’s not an instant cure, but it provided me with a great deal of relief. Translation: I no longer wince when I swallow or feel like my throat is slowly swelling shut.

The ingredients:

about 3 tablespoons of ground cinnamon

around 4 tables spoons of lemon juice

contents of one bag of chamomile tea

roughly 1 1/2 tablespoons of olive oil

nearly 4 tablespoons of my current favorite conditioner

I wet my hair, applied the concoction, and allowed it to sit for 25 minutes. When the time was up, I blow-dried my hair for good measure before rinsing. I’m not sure why; it just felt right. After rinsing, I blow-dried  my hair again (yaaaay heat-styling).

The downside: My hair is exactly the same color.

The upside: None of it fell out, it’s super soft, and it smells like a minty, spicy dessert. Usually olive oil makes my hair look super greasy, but not this time! I guess the trick is to just use a little.

Lesson learned: This mixture will not lighten your hair with just one use (since my impulsive behavior, I’ve read several sources that suggest leaving cinnamon in hair overnight to lighten it), but it will make hair soft and hunger-inducing.  I’ll definitely be replacing the lemon juice with apple cider vinegar and trying this again as a deep conditioner.

Dessert hair is something to get excited about, right?

Image Courtesy of Bragg.com

Kirby and I watched a documentary called Food Matters a few nights ago, and we had very different opinions of it. He thought that most of the experts and teachers on the documentary were either uninformed or bat shit crazy, while I enjoyed the documentary as a whole and most of the people in it (especially Charlotte Gerson and Phillip Day). Regardless of our mixed feelings concerning the documentary, we were both moved to try liquid vitamins and eat more raw fruits and vegetables after watching it. We headed to the health food store the next day and purchased VM-100 Complete Liquid Vitamins, and our shopping cart was much more produce-filled than usual when we went grocery shopping. Kirby also read and article about apple cider vinegar and its tendency to help people lose weight, and we’ve been drinking two tablespoons of Bragg Organic Apple Cider Vinegar twice a day as well.

Food Matters may not be the best documentary ever, and it’s certainly not as powerful as Food, Inc., but you probably won’t regret spending eighty minutes of your life watching it. It inspired me to make at least two healthy changes in my life, and I’m feeling pretty good about the healthy decisions I’ve been making.

Care to share any healthy choices that you’ve been making?

Also, pay close attention to all the sweet ingredients you’re about to encounter.

The Answer’s PMS Clear Facial Mask- I’ve yet to find anything that completely gets rid of pre-period breakouts. I guess this stuff could be the ticket.

Ingredients- French green clay, Fullers Earth clay, green tea, and papaya extract.

Dr. Bronner’s Lavender Coconut Hair Creme- I actually just ordered this hair creme, and I can’t wait to try it. Needless to say, a review is on the way.

Ingredients-Water, Organic Coconut Oil*, Organic Ethanol, Organic Jojoba Oil, Organic Hemp Oil, Organic Lavender Oil, Organic Quillaja Saponaria Extract, Xanthan Gum, Tocopherol.

Ennecence Clean Escape Shower Gel- This stuff looks fancier than bar soap. I’m intrigued.

Ingredients- Saponified oils of virgin coconut*, olive*, and jojoba*, glycerin, vegetable gum extract, aloe vera*, argan oil*, sweet orange*, grapefruit*, and patchouli* essential oils, and rosemary extract*. *Certified Organic

John Masters Organics Herbal Cider Hair Rinse and Clarifier- I’ve had thoroughly positive experiences with John Masters Organics shampoo and conditioner, so I’m eager to try something else of  from these guys.

Ingredients- Vinegar (apple cider),* aqua (water), chamomilla recutica (chamomile) flower extract,* calendula officinalis (calendula) flower extract,* camellia sinensis (green tea) leaf extract,* rosmarinus officinalis (rosemary) leaf/stem extract,* urtica dioica (nettle) root extract,* potassium sorbate, sodium benzoate, citrus medica limonium (lemon) peel oil,* citrus aurantifolia (lime) peel oil*. *Certified Organic

Skin’s Cranberry Orange Salt Scrub- I use Skin’s Apricot Mango Eye Cream at night, and I like it.

Ingredients- Sea salt, cranberry powder*, jojoba oil*, olive oil*, mandarin essential oil*. *Certified Organic

Indian Healing Clay is far superior to any other mask I've ever used.

Sometimes I take shots of this. It is unpleasant.

I am almost certain that I have found the perfect face mask. The instructions on the back of the healing clay suggest mixing equal parts clay and water or equal parts clay and apple cider vinegar.  Initially, I mixed the healing clay pictured above with water. It was hard to mix properly, and it always ended up clumpy and did not form a paste like the instructions led me to believe it would. After a few failed attempts, I started mixing the clay with regular old Great Value apple cider vinegar. It made a paste and was very easy to apply, but I still felt like I was missing something. Today, I upgraded to Bragg- Raw Unfiltered Organic Apple Cider Vinegar. I can see a substantial difference in the results. My skin is glowing! This makes those 99 cent face masks from Walmart/Walgreens seem like a sad, cheap joke.