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Hair and consistency

Hair, , , , , , ,

I have been pondering on this of late. Why is it that most black women are not consistent when it comes to their hair? It seems that other cultures tend to accept how their hair grows out of their scalp and can basically wear the same style for years upon years. Other cultures do not seem to have a problem growing out their hair, and we all know by now that all hair grows. On average hair grows at about 1/2″ a month whether you are black, white, Asian or any other culture for that matter. Of course, some people’s hair may grow slower or faster but this is based on genetics.

Now with other cultures, other than black, they tend to know exactly how to wash and condition their hair, how to dry and detangle their hair and how to wear their hair on a daily basis. It might be that they choose to wear it out and down for the most part and on special occasions change things up. Or maybe occasionally it is in a bun or ponytail. But let’s be real, they know exactly how to handle their hair for the most part (unless they are damaging it severely with heat styling or colour in which they know what the actual issue is and how to handle it). And if they were to have a bad haircut, they know it just will be a matter of time before their hair grows back. It’s basically predictable.

But when it comes to us black girls, we tend to change things up with our hair so regularly that when I wrote a list of the styles I have done to my hair in the past, I was pretty shocked! I have put my head of hair through so much it’s unbelievable! Now I know that our hair is versatile and we can do so much to our hair, and lots of us like to use our hair as a form of expression. But could this be the reason why lots of us cannot get our hair to retain length? Could this be why so many of us suffer from breakage and damaged hair a lot of the time?

I have been pondering on this because it has been a very long time since I have been trying to grow my hair long. It was 15 years ago when I went natural and I told myself that I will like to grow my hair to bra strap length. I never did get there. And now here we are, 15 years later and I have changed my goal to waist length. Yes, optimistic I know, especially considering that I did not get to grow my hair to my initial goal of bra strap length. But I am optimistic and I believe one day I will grow my hair to waist length and even beyond!

So, through the years I have of course had a lot of setbacks and have had to start again on my hair growth journey a few times. Even as recent as last year. It was November 2021 when I went to get the damage chopped off. It was the best decision for my hair. The longest I had ever grown my hair is to below shoulder blade length (BSB) but my hair was definitely not at its healthiest then. Anyway, after my chop in November 2021, I was back at neck length. My hair was short again and could not even fit into one hair band talk less of a bun. And so the journey continues. Now I am here just over 4 months after what I hope is my final set back, and I am proud to say my hair has been growing in steadily and I have been retaining a good amount of length. I am now at collar bone length (CBL) if stretched at the back.

I truly believe that in the black community, we do way too much with our hair. I think there is no argument with this point. We continue to chop and change our routines, our hair styles, whether we are going to wear extensions or a braid out, wash and go, or have it straightened or in a Bantu knots, relaxed or maybe this time we will wear weaves. It’s just too much! I don’t see how our hair can thrive if we keep changing things up!

It was just this week I told myself I am going to give myself a 6-month hair challenge because I suddenly got the itch to change things up and I knew it was not going to serve me or my hair! It got to the point where 2 weeks ago I wanted to experiment with wash and go styles and that same week, I found myself straying from my hair wash routine of once a week, to washing my hair every other day to keep up with my wash and go maintenance! Let’s just say things did not turn out well for me and I thought I was going to have to chop off a bunch of my hair yet again! Thank God that all I needed was a thorough trim after that week. That week I literally washed my hair 4 times! I knew it was time for a challenge. I am not about to have another setback, this time I am certain I will reach my goals.

So of course, I pondered on it and thought, why is it so hard to just be content with my hairstyle of choice and keep things consistent. Surely, with a consistent style choice, there will be no confusion and I will keep up a healthy regimen to allow for my hair to grow and thrive with minimal breakage. And this is what I aim to do.

Just to point something out, last year in August, I decided I was going to stay away from wearing extensions until at least the end of the year. I had had enough with the damage that was caused by wearing extensions. I literally had thinning hair, and breakage and the icing on the cake was that I had a very noticeable bald spot in the middle of my head, which I am still recovering from now. I am proud to say that up until now, I have not worn any form of extensions in my hair. Oh, I almost cracked a few times but my husband thankfully talked me out of it (he loves my natural hair and has tried to get me to care for it properly by looking after it without the need for extensions). So here I am, 8 months later, and I can say I am recovering from the need to wear extensions. Side note – there was a whole movement where black girls were going natural and staying away from the ‘creamy crack’, but I think a new movement of staying away from wearing extensions and simply accepting the hair that was created just for us, is necessary!

Anyway, back to what I was saying about consistency. For the next 6 months, I have decided that boredom is what I need. My hair should not be what I use to experiment with. That is, if I want my hair to grow long anyway! I do not need to chop and change things up, or just see what my hair will look like in this style or that style, or focus on other people’s hair journey’s and try to imitate what they are doing. I simply need to choose a style that I like on me, with my own hair, and simply stick to it for a long enough time. My hair does and will grow, with consistency it will continue to retain length. I have even decided that washing it and moisturising it, will be based on my hair’s schedule, not on what other people says I need to be doing. I do not necessarily need to choose a day out of the week to wash my hair and stick to a rigid ‘regimen’. I can simply get to know my hair, feel my hair, is it dry? does it need extra moisure? If it does, I give my hair the extra moisture that it needs. If I notice that my hair has reached a point where it can no longer except extra moisture, and I know that with my hair this happens and this is because my strand is full of too much product with no extra space to take in more moisture, and in that case, I will simply wash my hair and remove the excess buildup. And it should be as simple as that! I pretty much guarantee that by the end of my 6 months challenge, I will have retained the length I want, and that is at least another 3 inches meaning I will go from my current length of CBL to APL (Arm pit length). And at that point, the journey continues and I simply repeat until I reach my goal of 20″. In theory this should take me 2.5 years taking account of extra trims throughout the year.

So yes, I have already calculated this, it is not rocket science. We as a black race, are just doing too much. We need to choose 1 style and stick to it.

My style of choice? Mini twists. I actually have in my hair now, mini twists with a twist. I had mini twisted the back half of my hair and flat twisted the front into 4 large mini twists. It turned out that I like the style. So, i’m either going to wear my hair just like that for 6 months – of course re-doing my hair when needed, or I will have my whole hair in mini twists. And that’s it! The rest is a waiting game.

Stay tuned for more content on this topic and subscribe to follow me on my journey.

Hair challenge and regimen

Hair, , , , , , , , ,

I have been researching a lot about the benefits of Castor oil of recent and I’ve seen some impressing results with using this oil.
Castor oil is a natural oil that derives from a plant.
Castor oil has many benefits for the body, skin and hair amongst more. Some of the benefits for hair include:

– Promotes hair growth
– Thickens hair
– Darkens hair
– Thickens eye brows and eye lashes

I have decided to incorporate using castor oil in my regimen to receive some of the above benefits, therefore I am setting myself a challenge. I will start off with a 3 month challenge and extend it if I see great results! Please comment if you will like to join me on my challenge to grow healthier, longer hair.

The challenge rules:
– Apply castor oil to scalp at least 3x a week (I am planning to apply it every other day)
– Massage the oil in to scalp for 1 – 5 minutes (massaging will increase blood flow and help aid in faster hair growth)
– The night before washing and conditioning hair, apply castor oil to scalp and hair, wear a steam cap to bed (I aim to do this at least 1x a week as an added deep condition step)

Note: You may want to mix your castor oil with a carrier oil e.g. extra virgin olive oil or coconut oil etc. This is fine and will help to lighten the otherwise thick consistency but make sure you have at least 50% castor oil in the mixture.

You do not have to wash your hair every time you apply the castor oil, you can simply apply a small amount to the scalp and wait until your wash day, since I am following the curly girl routine, I plan on co-washing my hair at least 3x a week but if you will like to stick to 1x a week then it’s up to you. It doesn’t matter if you use shampoo or conditioner for your wash, as long as you moisturise with a good conditioner after you shampoo.

Challenge start date: 12/02/2015
Challenge end date: 12/05/2015

My regimen:
Day 1
1. Put hair in 4 sections then Clarify my hair with either baking soda and water mixture (2tbs baking soda to 2 cups of warm water) for 2-7 minutes or Apple cider vinegar mixed with water (1:1) for 30-60 minutes then rinse out
2. Apply kinky curly knot today in the 4 sections and finger detangle before steaming or deep conditioning over night
3. Apply bentonite clay mixed with water and leave for 10-15 minutes before rinsing
4. Apply kinky curly knot today (watered down or on sopping wet hair)
5. Apply kinky curly curling custard to define my curls

Day 2 and 3
1. Rinse hair with water then put hair in 4 sections
2. Apply kinky curly knot today
3. Squeeze out excess conditioner (for low porosity hair)
4. Apply kinky curly curling custard to define my curls (wet hair if hair begins to dry before this step)

At night: Apply castor oil to scalp every other day and all over hair before day 1 wash

Update: 18/02/15
I’ve noticed that my hair has not been responding well when product has been applied and products are starting to sit on my hair much more than before (when I was doing the maximum hydration method). At first I just thought that I will do the full MHM method once a week and cowash in between but my hair is definitely looking more dry and losing alot of moisture. Therefore I have decided to go back to square 1 and do the 7 day maximum hydration method full regimen. I’m hoping I’ll be able to gain moisture again in my strands and after the 7 days I will hopefully be able to do it less often – at first every 1-3 days and in time every 3-5 days (when I have reached max hydration on all strands of hair). The max hydration method is the day 1 routine above and I will be doing this as this is what helped my hair receive much more moisture than I used to get before knowing about it. This time I’m hoping to be more consistent with it before adapting the routine to make it a little less time consuming which is the whole reason why I stopped doing it often enough. Additionally I have noticed that my hair does not like coconut oil and glycerin as it causes my hair to appear dry. An update will be made after 3 months to show my progress

My hair journey 2015

Hair

I have been natural now for 8 good years! Wow. I must say, it has been a very long journey! I have been on a growth journey ever since and the longest my hair ever got to natural was collar bone length (and that was just at the back!) I noticed that although I had some length to put my hair in to a hair band and other styles, I didn’t like how my hair looked out.  Additionally I couldn’t quite get the moisture right, my ends will always break in the shower and I will always notice that by day 2 my hair felt dry and matted. It was very difficult to style my hair on day 2 and I will just resort to a protective hair style for the rest of the week until I would wash my hair again.

An attachment

I felt very attached to my hair, I felt that all I wanted was length, my first goal was arm pit length, then bra strap length to eventually waist length being my ultimate goal,  but I noticed I will constantly get set backs. My hair will always break at the ends and I felt that this was due to split ends so I decided to trim my ends quite frequently, this still did not combat the breakage. I then decided that maybe I needed to go to a professional to trim my ends instead, as I may not have been getting all the split ends. In the hairdressers they will vigorously blow my hair dry then straighten it before cutting. It had a good shape but this still did not combat the dryness. I still wanted to hold on to my length and felt that I should ignore the dryness as this was probably the nature of my hair. I will watch a lot of videos and be inspired by different people’s hair journey and told my self to keep at it and soon I will reach my hair goals. However, I constantly noticed others on youtube having way longer hair than mine in such a shorter space of time (by 4 years, their hair will be waist length!) I was obsessed. But my hair was still the way it was, maybe retaining 1 or 2 inches then appearing to stop retaining any at all.

It all changed

After having my daughter in early 2014, my priorities started changing, I wasn’t so obsessed with watching youtube videos and admiring other natural girls’ hair as I was occupied with looking after a baby. One day I decided to drastically dye my hair for a change and noticed a breakage patch in the middle of my hair (this was ongoing but got worse with the bleached hair). I decided that once and for all I am ready to cut my hair off and start again! I couldn’t wait to start again that I pleaded with the hair dresser to cut my hair on the day of my hair consultation, (bearing in mind this was the first ever time we were meeting) she told me my hair was severely damaged and she didn’t want to just cut it all off for the problem to continue and told me that she will consult with another professional before I come back the next day. I took pictures of my length once and for all before getting it all cut to a short tapered hair style. I was happy with the results and felt relieved till a certain point…

Lacking patience…again…

So I did the big chop in June 2014 and about a few months later I decided I wanted to grow my hair out again. I was able to read my hair much better now as it was shorter and it was in good(ish) shape. I decided that I wanted to get my hair trimmed professionally every 3 months for maintenance but every time I went to the hairdressers, they required for my hair to be stretched out before trimming, so heat was used quite vigorously. The last time I got my hair trimmed, I noticed that after I washed my hair (from the blow out) I had some heat damage, I wasn’t too happy with this at all, considering I had a fresh start and all! Anyway, I didn’t feel that it was right that I kept on trying to get my hair to submit to what I wanted it to do – twist outs, blow outs etc. I was desperate to get my hair to grow much longer than it has ever  been before and I figured that the methods I was using to try and grow it out wasn’t working.

Back to square 1

I decided to continue my research in to finding what will work for me. I ended up finally reading The curly girl handbook by Lorraine Massy as I was always hearing about this method but didn’t think I had the type of hair to do it, I decided to start the method using Tressemme naturals. I wasn’t immediately satisfied as I noticed that every time I will come out of the shower, leaving in the conditioner, like the book suggested, my hair was left with a lot of product residue. After applying the gel on top of the residue, I will be left with white wet hair for the whole day! I was still on the pursuit to find a routine with minimal manipulation that worked well for me. I then came across a book called Curly like me: How to grow your hair healthy, long and strong by Tery LaFlesh. This book was a good read, however again, I noticed the same residue problem as the principals were very similar to the curly girl method but leaving the hair with conditioner only, instead of the added gel step. Among other small tweaks. Anyway I continued my research, reading more online and watching videos, then I came across the maximum hydration method.

Progress

I read about the maximum hydration method on www.maxhydrationmethod.com and decided to give it a go, as what was being said seemed to be addressed at me. My hair was dry, dull, lifeless and whenever I will try the wash and go with leaving the conditioner in, my hair was left with a whole load of residue on it for the whole day. The information explained that this happened due to the hair having low porosity and not being able to absorb much, if any, product. It made a lot of sense! I began to realise why my hair was left dull, products were simply sitting on my hair and overtime this was causing build up. The product was not being absorbed at all! The regimen, which was originally thought of by Aketafitgirl on youtube (who was also following the curly girl method) consisted of clarifying the hair before every wash with either apple cider vinegar or baking soda, following up with a deep condition, then a mud wash before moisturising then sealing with a gel for more definition. This worked for me straight away, I immediately noticed a difference in my hair. My hair was responding to the product and was much more moisturised, as a result, my hair began to curl from the ends and slowly was moving up towards the roots. I did the regimen for 8 days straight and my hair couldn’t be happier. I felt that my hair was already retaining more length. Also a lot of the progress was attributed to the products that I was now using, I ditched the tressemme naturals as this contained certain ingredients that didn’t like to absorb in to my hair, and decided to purchase a batch of Kinky curly knot today conditioner and Kinky curly curling custard. These were my new staple products and I could use the conditioner for both the deep conditioning as well as the leave in.

The downside

Although the maximum hydration method was so good for my hair, it took a lot of time to complete all of the steps. I would usually start the first part of the process the night before, before finishing the process in the morning. This was not something I could keep up with for too long as I have a daughter, who still needs my attention a lot of the time. Therefore I decided to moderate the regimen to suit me. I found that after completing all of the steps one day, the next day all I needed to do was simply allow the water from the shower to hit my hair, shake my hair and go. My hair looked as good as it looked on day 1, if not even better! On the third day, I will do the same thing I did on the second day but my hair will definitely be a little more dry since most of the product was washing away. I will start the whole process again on day 4.

Moving on

As it got colder outside, my hair will take a little longer to dry and I wasn’t very comfortable with leaving my hair with water droplets on the ends, as I wasn’t sure what havoc I could cause with the harsh wind. Therefore, I began using a t-shirt to help absorb some of the moisture, as a result I will have less product in my hair and my second day hair wouldn’t look quite as good as it did before. I also noticed that because I was missing some steps, due to time e.g. going straight in to a co wash and adding the gel and missing out the clarifying step etc. my hair wasn’t absorbing the moisture at the styling step as it did before and I was left with some residue that will remain and get flaky by the end of the day, this actually happened even when I was following all the steps but more so when not. I think the way to combat this happening is really watering down the conditioner I will be leaving in before adding the gel step.

Where I am now

So I am now aware of what works for my hair, that is clarifying my hair of any build up from my last styling product, then deep conditioning before styling. However as before, I still feel that it takes a while to do, especially if I am doing it every day or every other day (which is what has worked out the best in terms of moisture). Therefore I am still doing some trial and error and working out what will be the best for me. I definitely will like to follow all the steps once a week, but in terms of maintaining my hair in between is what I am still working on. Last night I simply put on a silk scarf and fluffed my hair in the morning before spraying just a little bit of water on to it. My hair looks good and still has good moisture (this also may be attributed to the fact that I added extra virgin olive oil in between the conditioner step and gel step while styling my hair on day 1). I have decided to do the same thing tonight and see how my hair will turn out tomorrow. If my hair still has moisture, I will simply re-wet it with a little water spritz, if it looks dull or feels dry I will add a little oil over the water, trying not to disturb the curl pattern. Judging from this, I will know how long I can go between washes. By day 4 I will probably start the whole process again but instead of doing the clarifying step with ACV or baking soda (as this can be a bit more effort), I may either use a co wash or just use the conditioner that I will leave in then apply an oil then the gel. If this turns out okay, this will be my new routine! I am hoping that it does turn out okay, as it means that I will be saving time from constantly doing all the steps almost every day and also I will avoid having to walk outside my house with a soaking wet head in the cold weather everyday, it will just be twice a week instead (I may experiment with using my diffuser again, at least for the winter, but we will see I guess).

My next steps:

I have realised that whenever I want to grow out my hair, I look to youtube for inspiration but sometimes that inspiration can turn into straight obsession and I may begin to try and copy what is working for someone else. This does set me back a lot and takes my attention away from what it is I am doing that may actually be working for me. Therefore I am hoping that I can dramatically reduce the amount of hair videos I am watching, at least for now until I am well into my own routine and no one can tell me to change it 🙂

Also I will be taking hair pictures from today and try to do it routinely (maybe once every 3 months) to see how much my hair is progressing.

Every 6 months to a year I will like to do a length check video and post it onto my youtube channel

Current length:

Front: 6.5″

Middle: 5″

Left side: 3.5″

Right side: 4.2″

Back left side: 3″

Back right side: 3.5″

Next update will be April 2015!

Flaxseed gel

Hair

Can someone please tell me why I am only using flaxseed gel now?!?
All I can say is WOW!
I am so over the moon right now I can’t sleep lol. I have just given my hair a dose of flaxseed gel and I am in LOVE!  For the last 2 weeks I have been experimenting with my hair in its natural state (wash and gos), as in straight from washing it (with conditioner) and no manipulation through twisting, braiding etc. And I have been trying to find the best products to use to:
1. Define my curls
2. Not leave me with a whole load of white residue (which takes hours to dissappear due to my hairs low porosity)
and 3. Leave my hair feeling hard and crunchy.
Before 10 minutes ago i had not been successful as I tried the conditioner only method which is leaving the same conditioner I put in my hair to co wash with, in my hair as my styler.  This just left me with white hair (residue from the conditioner) which took the best part of the day to dry to about 90% and even then the residue became flaky,  was still visible and had a slight crunch. This method did nothing for my hair and it was left looking dry by the end of the day.
I had also tried using eco styler gel on top of the conditioner but this time I squeezed out most of the conditioner, leaving less residue and applied the gel on top. Again my hair was left with flakes and even more crunch by the end of the day, also my hair dried even slower! My hair was about 80% dry by the end of the day and bear in mind, my hair is short as it is growing out from a tapered cut.
The last method I tried is using ‘paul mitchell the conditioner’ (which I have read works well with eco styler gel to avoid flakes and is very conditioning) and on top of that I used eco styler gel to define my curls further.  Now firstly, the conditioner by Paul mitchell is very moisturising and does leave the hair feeling well conditioned, but unfortunately the gel leaves a very hard and crunchy cast on top which does not leave my hair touchable at all! But never the less, this method did seem to look the best and gave my hair nice shine. I still wanted something more though,  I wanted the whole package, nice defined curls, well moisturised, shiny and soft to the touch so I kept on researching.
I have come across flaxseed gel in the past but never gave it much thought, however now I found myself in a desperate situation.  So I decided to give it a try. All it took was for me to mix 1/4 cup linseeds (flaxseeds) to 2 cups of water and stir on a medium heat until the water began to boil and become thick.  I then strained it through some stockings into a container and voila I have myself a home made gel. I did add a few drops of essential oils (peppermint,  rosemary and T tree) just for added benefits and to extend the shelf life, as unfortunately it only lasts for about 2 weeks in the fridge (hopefully an extra week with the added oils).
So the fun began,  I tested several areas of my hair with my new 100% natural gel. Firstly I wet my hair to get rid of the existing product,  I then added the flaxseed gel and was and am still AMAZED! My hair instantly felt soft, moisturised and looks defined and shiny!  What more can I ask for? It’s everything I want for my hair. I am so happy I actually made this as it has not only saved me money, as I was planning to go out and try to find the right products to use to give me what I wanted, instead of settling for less, but this is 100% natural, I know what is in it, I can reuse the same flaxseeds I first boiled again for my next batch and it took all of 5 minutes to make! Wow I am sooooo happy. Please please please give it a try if you haven’t already! It can be used as a replacement product to those drying gels that only put a hard crunchy cast over your once moisturised hair!  You can also use it for a twist out, braid out or for edge control.
Please like and share! Xx

Maintaining a healthy lifestyle

blogs, Fitness, Food, Health, , , , , , , ,


Healthy-FoodsIt is so hard for many of us to keep up with living a healthy lifestyle. Eating healthy, drinking water to stay hydrated and keeping fit may seem like tasks or another thing to add to your already busy lifestyle! I go through these stages a lot! I begin to be rebellious at stages because of it and I feel as though I don’t want to get up and pour that glass of water as it’s just another thing to do or I don’t want to jump in my car and drive all the way to the gym and spend an hour and a half of my busy day to workout. It gets hard! It becomes another pressure of life and I feel as though it’s just another thing to add on my to do list. But why? Why does it have to be that way. I stop and think, is it because the society that we live in today has made it seem more like pressure? I know I sit their counting the amount of glasses I’m drinking and the amount of times I go to the gym during the week and even the amount of fruits and vegetables I am supposed to be eating in a day and I just can’t keep up with the Governments standards!

So obviously if you are not getting your “5 a day” or managing to drink your “8 glasses of water” or going to the gym at least “3 times a week”, anyone will begin to feel inadequate and give up! As I am writing this, it is actually occurring to me that this is the case! I am not able to keep up with all of the recommendations so sometimes, I just give up. Maybe this is what is happening to the rest of the nation who are Obese or overweight or undernourished – they can’t keep up with society’s pressure, so they give up!

5 a day 1 5aday 5adaylogo Pouring water into glassIt’s also so funny how easy it is to fall back on the junk. It’s almost like reverse psychology, coming to think of it. Persuasion to eat healthy by giving unrealistic targets and when you can’t meet those targets, you give up and fall back on the junk. Hmmm, i never thought of it this way until now.

Healthy foods are more expensive than unhealthy foods, less easy to get a hold of when you are out and about and do not get up to half the amount of advertisement unhealthy foods get. On the other hand, unhealthy foods are advertised everywhere, even in the aeroplane – what types of healthy foods can you buy from the plane?  (if it is not cooked of course), much easier to access when you are on the go, there are so many offers available in supermarkets – buy one get one free, £1 off etc. You’d think the government wants people to fall sick and die early, maybe because the world is too overpopulated…who knows? Anyway that is a different topic.

kfc mcds offers

 

I do know for sure though that I will like to be as healthy as can be so that I am more youthful for longer, my organs function to their full ability, my body looks good, my skin looks good, my hair looks good, I have enough energy in my day to deal with my daily tasks, I am able to be more positive in what can be a very stressful life (once you reach a certain age) and the list goes on. So in order to reach my goal, I am going to TRY to stop using the information the government gives as my guidelines i.e. drink 8 glasses of water a day etc. and I am going to do the best that I can to set my own ideals. There is sooo much pressure with family, friends and adverts etc. which tell you how to live your life. Just remember it is YOUR life. People may frown upon the things you do, people may wonder why you are doing things a certain way, people may talk about you negatively and try to make you feel really bad about yourself. And yes, sometimes they succeed. But try to remember, they are not taking the same path as you in life, they are not with you 24/7, they don’t know or understand some of your thought processes and that is OK! They don’t need to, they are not meant to. As they have their life and you have yours. Live your life the way YOU see fit! Not by the ideals of others! There are times people will actively go out of their way to stop you from achieving a goal that you set for yourself personally, and before you know it, your goal is far beyond reach. You have managed to stop yourself from being happy to please someone else! Your life is worth way more than that! Please yourself. Do things to make YOU happy. If you want to give your body a cleanse and only drink juices for a week then DO IT! don’t let your friend of family member tell you it’s wrong, it’s up to you. If you want to try and cut out meat for health reasons then DO IT! don’t let even your partner tell you “your changing” because at the end of the day, it’s YOUR LIFE and God gave us the freedom to live it, the way that we see fit.

Now hopefully after reading this, you can stop worrying about doing things the way others have told you to and you begin to do things in a way because YOU WANT TO. You want to feel good, you want to look good, you want to have that extra energy, you want to be proud of yourself for reaching the goals that you have set. Hopefully I can do this too, it’s a working progress for everyone in this day and age. Even for those you may see on the internet that look like they have got their lives together, they still have to face the pressures of life and constantly remind themselves why they are on their journey. If not, they wouldn’t be blogging or making videos! So lets try and help ourselves and do the things that we would like to do, without feeling that extra pressure.

I hope I helped xx

How to cure bad skin – Homemade Body smoothie

body, Health

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This homemade body smoothie is made at home by me with the highest quality, all natural ingredients.  I started using it after I had my baby earlier this year. My body was filled with eczema and it was so sore, it bled! I didn’t know what to do, i tried everything but nothing worked. I then decided to do my research and found out some information about curing eczema with homemade remedies and decided to make my own concoction. After several weeks I began seeing noticeable results.
Remember, if you have eczema, it’s not just what you put on your skin, but also what you put in your body!  Therefore it is very important to eat clean (fruits, veg, wholegrains, nuts and seeds) as much as possible.  However, what you put on your skin makes a very big difference. Alot of store brought products contain very harsh ingredients which very dry skin does not benefit from, it may sit on the skin and not be absorbed,  which just makes the dry skin cycle continue. It also can contain ingredients, which may make dry skin or irritated skin conditions such as eczema, actually worse!
With this homemade concoction it transformed my skin from this…

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To this…

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(Don’t mind the whole in my sock! 😯😁)

As you can see, there is a very big transformation from the first 2 pictures to the last 2 pictures! I will never go back to store brought body moisturisers for my body again!

If you would like for me to send you one or many, leave a message or email me petra@naturalinspiration.co.uk. It costs just £7.50 for one tub and a little goes a long way so it will last a while.

Take care of yourself inside and out!

Natural inspiration x