BlogHer - Skin - Comments

Hellish heartburn

Beth Terry — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 19:26:34 -0600

@blueberryjunkie There are so many recipes available on the web for DIY cleaning products that don't cost a small fortune, and they are non-toxic. I often wonder why so many of us are duped into believing we have to use all these chemicals and special preparations to have clean homes.

@Leighbra I hear you. My dad and I have heartburn too. The only reason I didn't add it to my list is because of the high sodium content and danger of people taking too much. I didn't realize it was used for that purpose in hospitals. Still, I like my Wintergreen-flavored Rolaids. :-)

Beth Terry
www.fakeplasticfish.com
@fakeplasticfish
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Heartburn from hell...

Leighbra — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:20:01 -0600

I inherited my father's super fantastic acid reflux, and since we're out in the middle of nowhere, if I have no antacids, I've used baking soda for heart burn.

It works, but you have to be careful about injesting baking soda because of all the sodium. Read the directions, consult your doctor, yada yada nurse CYA.

We actually still use baking soda in the hospitals at times. Sometimes you can't argue with the old methods.

Great tips

blueberryjunkie — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 16:52:37 -0600

Thanks for these great tips. Ever since I became pregnant with my first child I ditched a lot of toxic products in favour of "green" products. So, I have been buying, and spending a small fortune on anything from laundry detergent, all purpose cleaners, shampoos, etc. I will definitely give baking soda a try, especially for household cleaning applications, and save some money.

Carla

Blueberry Junkie Blog

Blueberry Junkie Studio

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@beany, I'm glad the baking

Beth Terry — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 05:50:04 -0600

@beany, I'm glad the baking soda "shampoo" is working for you this time around. I am impressed, though, that you found a bottle of shampoo that would last an entire year. That's a good second choice, compared to most bottles that last a month.

@midnightbliss, if you do try the baking soda shampoo, please be sure and read the Guide and the Forum at the links I provided. Many people find that their scalp takes a few weeks to adjust if they have been using conventional shampoo and conditioner for a while. You may find you have a case of the greasies for a while until your scalp stops overcompensating for the lack of artificial moisturizers.

@LisaLaGrou, hope the baking soda soak works for you. I think it's a far better alternative than the chemicals in Efferdent. One person I spoke to said she adds vinegar to the solution to make it bubble like Efferdent. But after reading Melanie's post about not mixing vinegar and water, I don't think it's such a great idea.

@kazari, I do think the bubbles from the baking soda/vinegar can help to loosen baked-on yuckiness. However, it's not a good idea to mix them together in a bottle, as you'll end up with nothing more than salt water. Hope the deodorant works out for you! Please feel free to contact me at Fake Plastic Fish (http://fakeplasticfish.com) if you have questions.

@mashadutoit, I'm so sorry to hear about your poor dog, but glad the baking soda helped with the odor at least. That tidbit about little white dogs with the red around their eyes is very interesting. I've certainly noticed it but had no idea what it was from.

Beth Terry
www.fakeplasticfish.com
@fakeplasticfish
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Doggy Uses

mashadutoit — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:31:22 -0600

That tip about dog urine burns on the lawn is interesting. Going to try that out.

But here is my baking poweder tip - its the only thing that removed the smell of dog urine and vomit from my carpet.

My Anna was incontinent for a while, poor girl, and would leave big wet patches wherever she was lying. Stank like you would not believe.

Nothing worked. Not enzyme cleaners, not vinegar. But sprinkling a very healthy layer of baking powder on the carpet and working it in - leaving for a while and then vacuming it out completely removed all the smell.

Also worked for the time both my dogs vomited fish liver onto the carpet. That was a bad, bad moment.

I need to look it up, but I believe its also good for removing those red stains that white dogs get around their eyes and lips. The red is actually a kind of yeast that grows in the hair.

I didn't know about deoderant...

kazari — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 21:50:44 -0600

But I've been using bicarb to clean my kitchen for ages. I'm asthmatic, so most of the nasty oven cleaners make me cough. Bicarb works great, though.

I do combine bicarb and vinegar to clean the stove - sprink bicarb, spray with vinegar, and the 'fizzle' cleans it for me!

http://myrope.wordpress.com

Thanks for the Soaking Retainers/Mouth Guards tip

LisaLaGrou — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 21:43:18 -0600

I, too, have to wear retainers at night to keep my teeth (which are somewhat loose) straight, and to help me when I grind my teeth as well. I use Efferdent to clean them and kill the bacteria. I can't wait to try the Baking Soda. Thanks so much for the tip!

wow i didn't know that

midnightbliss — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:11:36 -0600

wow i didn't know that baking soda has a lot of uses, I like to try is as a deodorant and as a shampoo. thanks

I first began using baking

beany — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 13:48:57 -0600

I first began using baking soda instead of shampoo in 2008. It was a failure. My hair was sticky, gooey, and smelled very unpleasant. I had switched straight from evil shampoo to baking soda. I gave up and switched to Giovannis after reading Crunchy Chicken's post. It worked remarkably well and I used very little shampoo and had one bottle last me nearly an entire year.

4 weeks back I decided to give baking soda another go, and it works now! No ickiness, no smell, no nothing. I think the crap that was in my head from using conventional shampoo (even the so called organic brands from Whole Foods) is all gone. I wash my hair about once or twice per week and my hair feels as soft as baby hair.

proactiv USED TO be my BFF

Cellulite_Analyst — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 12:56:52 -0500

You're not kidding about that sunscreen warning. I LOVED Proactiv until I studied abroad in Tunisia, North Africa. where my normal sunscreen routine was no match for the Tunisian summertime. I never burned, but I developed a condition that was even worse than my adult acne: melasma. It's a skin pigmentation disorder. It looked like a dark shadow on my upper lip. Very Hitler-esque. Not the most flattering look for me!

Thankfully, the melasma went away when I stopped using benzoyl peroxide (after several heavily make-uped months). Now, if I even think of putting a bp product on my face, I start to see that familiar shadow. But my story does have a happy ending. Forced to abandon my proactiv ways, I discovered the real source of my adult acne is that I have fluoroderma, or cystic acne caused by flouride ingestion.

I know I'm not the only one with this condition, either. I just started blogging several weeks ago and I already connected with a couple of readers who suspect they have the same problem (and trust me, i don't have that many readers at this point so it must be more common than we think).

If you've tried everything and your cystic acne is worse than ever, you might want to start researching halogen acne (iodine and bromine can cause acne, too). It worked for me! Let me know if you have any questions about it. I would love to help if I can.

The Cellulite Analyst

http://www.CelluliteInvestigation.com

Bananas are also pretty good for hair...

the_pretty_year — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 19:48:07 -0500

Not sure if you'd want this but banana can be great on hair. It just needs a fatty carrier like Mayonnaise. Banana contains tryptophan and potassium (helps to soften). You can get a really unbelievable shine. They're pretty good for leg cramps, too.

-Settica

Cocoa Butter

Southerngirl — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 08:24:48 -0500

My son as well as most of my family has Eczema. I use cocoa butter cream on my son with a few drops of tea tree and vitamin E essential oil mixed in. Not the white cream stuff this is a very thick greasy brown formula I think it is Palmers. We use Nutrogena T-gel shamoo and palmers olive oil spary on his hair. When we were younger my grandma used to mix medicated vaseline with cocoa butter, olive oil and mint for my cousins. That stuff worked wonders. None of us have been able to get the formula just right so we have had to resort to store bought stuff. I find that as long as I drop a few drops of tea tree and or pepermint essential oil in what ever we use our skin seems to be fine.

One the other hand I have found that the more junk we eat the more prone my son is to have an out break.

Michelle

I blog at http://www.mommycan.blogspot.com/

ShiKai Borage Dry Skin Therapy has worked for me and my kids

HapaMama — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 23:12:20 -0500

We've also used the California Baby Calendula cream, but the ShiKai lotion comes in a much larger bottle for the price. Borage contains one of the Omegas, which is supposed to be good for healing dry skin. I think Asian skin is more acclimated for humid climates. But oh well!

Grace Hwang Lynch, blogs about Asian mixed race families at www.HapaMama.com

Cetaphil lotion is good, too

Karen Walrond — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 20:57:13 -0500

My 5-year-old has had eczema all her life, and we've found Cetaphil lotion to be pretty great as well. It's as good as Eucerin, but tends to spread a bit easier. She does shower every day, but then we SLATHER this stuff on, and it tends to keep the eczema at bay.

Good luck!

---

Karen Walrond is a writer and photographer in Houston, Texas. Read/See more of her life at www.chookooloonks.com

Dream Cream from Lush

sassymonkey — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 20:28:16 -0500

I've had eczema issues for as long as I can remember. Plus during the winter I have just general dry skin (we have forced air heating). I mentioned it in a blog post a few years ago and HeatherB recommended I try Lush's Dream Cream. Love. It. It won't do anything for a bad flare up but I find it helps prevent minor ones from getting out of hand without turning to prescription stuff.

Jojoba can help too. I get breakouts on my scalp sometimes (OMG HORRIBLE) and I find that washing my hair only a few times a week with shampoo that contains jojoba and blow drying it rather than air drying helps.

Sigh, calendula. The Body Shop used to make a soy and calendula cream that I found really helpful not for dry skin but for those days I accidentally got too much sun.

Sassymonkey and Sassymonkey Reads.