Final Attempt To Get Long Hair

After my disastrous attempt to grow my hair with apple cider vinegar, and the disgusting attempt with potatoes, I was really hoping that the "third times a charm" saying would apply to my final attempt to grow my hair faster.

Use Onion Water for That Fab Long Hair
You might not think that onions can be used for anything except cooking, but that’s definitely not the case. Boil some onions in water and use the water on your hair — no lie! It’ll make it grow super fast and it’ll give it an awesome sheen that everyone will be jealous of! 

Of course I was not surprised at how vague the instructions are.  Why am I still going to this website?!?!? How much of the onion water should I put on?  How long do I leave it in my hair? Do I put it on wet or dry hair? These are questions that should be addressed when telling someone to pour left over produce water in their hair.


So I did the best I could with the little information I had. I chopped up an onion and boiled it in about 3 cups of water for about 10 minutes.

 Once the water had cooled off, I poured it into a container.  I had a lot of onion water and I was really hoping it would last a while.  I didn't want to boil an onion every time I washed my hair. 

For the next month I used the onion water every time I washed my hair.  I would shampoo and condition like I always do then I would squirt the onion water onto my hair and massage it into my scalp.  I left it on for a few minutes then rinsed it out with warm water.

The Verdict: The first thing i noticed was how soft my hair was. I am a hair twirler by nature and having my hair abnormally soft did not help that habit.  It was really hard to keep my finger away from my hair.   I never did notice a "sheen" to my hair like the website promised but I guess Charlie and Martin were busy. Ba dum bum.

I left the container of onion water in my shower and it lasted anywhere from 7-10 days.  It just depended on how much water I used to boil the onion in and how much I put on my hair.  I kept thinking it might start to mold sitting in my shower, but it never did.  The smell would get a little stronger the longer it sat in the bottle but the smell never stuck to my hair and of course that was a huge relief. I really didn't want to walk around smelling like a pizza place.

But did it work? You betcha!!!!!
Shocked?  So was I. 

Every month, for the last 4 months, I have measured the same three areas on my head.  And every month my hair has grown 3/4 inch.  At the end of the month using onion water my hair had grown 1 inch.  1/4 of an inch isn't a lot of growth, but it's something.

Unfortunately for my hair it's not over,  I have more fun and exciting things to test on my hair. 

Makeup Brush Cleaner

When I bought my first make up brush from a department store the lady at the counter told me to just wash it with mild soap and warm water every few weeks.  I have been doing this ever since and it seemed to work just fine. But of course I can't resist testing a new method when I see one.

It was another one of those pins that gives you all the details on the pin itself and when I clicked on it I was directed to spam. So here is the information from the pin.

Makeup Brush Cleaner
How to properly clean your makeup brushes. A tablespoon of white vinegar in a cup of hot water, and a 20 minute soak, followed by a hot, then cold rinse and pat dry will do it. Disinfects, dissolves grease/makeup, leaves no film, and inexpensive.

I grabbed my brushes that are now kept under lock and key since my two year old insists they are her paint brushes, then grabbed 4 individual glasses so i could see how much makeup came off of each one

Not wanting to miss a chance to see how well this method actually works, I grabbed the brush that gets the most use and washed it with soap and water (my normal routine) until the water ran clear.

I put the brushes in their glasses then went off to enjoy a wonderful game of 'house' with my kids.  This is a game that my son invented a few months ago.  My kids put me to bed then they go to 'meetings' while I 'sleep'.  They are usually in their 'meetings' for about 10 minutes then come back and tell me it's morning time.  10 whole minutes where I get to lay down kid free with zero guilt because in their minds I'm still playing with them.

About 20 min later I came back and the glasses looked exactly the same as the photo above.  So I grabbed each brush and swirled it around and tapped it on the bottom of the glass.  All sorts of disgustingness came out. When no more brown liquid came squirting out of the brushes I rinsed them in hot then cold water and set them out to dry.


The Verdict: This is another amazing DIYer.  I think it's fairly obvious which brushes I use the most.  

What really amazed me is how much makeup came out of the one that I thought was clean from the soap and water scrub I gave it right before. 

My brushes dried just fine and they work great.  It is like they are brand new.

DIY Deodorant.....Yes, Deodorant

I have seen some websites about making your own deodorant, but this was something I never planned on trying.

Walking around with greasy arms and legs from homemade lotion is one thing, but walking around in my own pig pen type funk is something else entirely. 

But then a friend of mine tagged me in a Pin about making your own deodorant and told me I should try it.  I wasn't to excited about it but.....



The pin that my friend tagged me in was one of those that gives you all the details in the pin so there is no need to click on it.  However, I did click on it to see if there were any other details that weren't in the pin description and hello...... it took me to a site that had nothing to do with deodorant.  It was a site about going 'poo free.  As in not using shampoo to wash your hair.

Of course this intrigued me and read the blog learning a lot about keeping your hair clean without shampoo, but that is for a future post.

Since I have no idea where the details about making your own deodorant came from I can't give credit where credit is due, so I will just put on the details from the pin.

Homemade Deodorant
Best deodorant ever!!!! 1/4 c. baking soda, 1/4 c. cornstarch, and 6 T. coconut oil (which you may have to melt first). Mix well, add more coconut oil if you need a more creamy consistency and I put it in a glass bowl on my bathroom counter. It’s unbelievable. You can wear your shirt for days if need be. 

Every homemade deodorant recipe I have read has tea tree oil in it, since I am a huge fan of tea tree oil I decided to throw in a few drops. 

I melted the oil in the microwave then mixed everything together.  The baking soda and cornstarch dissolved very easily.  I then poured it into an old deodorant container and let it cool.

I used it for three weeks and for some crazy reason the entire world decided to ask me what my latest DIY project was during those weeks.  When I told them I was testing a homemade deodorant the typical reaction was this.

I can't blame them. I pretty much had the same reaction when I first read about it. (that is my younger sister, in case you wondered)

The Verdict:
(Disclaimer: I don't sweat much.  Pretty much not at all, I'm the person you see at the gym that is all red faced but completely dry. So keep that in mind while you read my verdict and decide if you want to try it for yourself)
It worked a lot better then I thought it would.  The first week I had a couple of "HOLY SMOKES!!! I STINK!!" moments. But I think I wasn't using enough.  Once I put more on in the mornings it worked great.

One morning I realized that I had completely forgotten about a social event that I had to be at and was suppose to leave the house in 5 minutes.  During my mad dash of clothes, make up, and shoving food at the kids I never reapplied the deodorant.  Of course I remembered this half way there and did a quick pit check.  All was well.  What I had applied the day before kept the body stank at bay for almost 36 hours.

However, I am not fully convinced that this is a great deodorant.  I want to try it in the summer to see how it holds up in the heat.  However, I did put it up against a very intense miracle workout and it seemed to work the same as my store bought deodorant.

The consistency took a few days to get use to.  It would sort of melt onto my skin, but dried fairly quickly.  It also seemed lighter, like some how my armpits didn't have goop slathered all over them. 

Unfortunately, It didnt' last long in the old deodorant container.  It worked for about 5 days and then for some reason I couldn't pull it up anymore.  I got out the rest of the deodorant out of the container and put it in a bowl.  I tried to apply it with my fingers but that was a huge hassle and very messy.  I ended up just putting toilet paper around the bar and applying it that way.  When I make it again in the summer I plan on finding an easier way to apply it.

And there you go, never judge a book by it's cover.  Who knew that I would actually enjoy a homemade version of deodorant and that it would work.  At least I think it does, no one has told me that I smell.  Maybe everyone is just being polite. 

UPDATE: 7/12/13 - I ended up using this deodorant for 3 months.  I love it.  It's very easy to make, I like the way it feels and it works great.  The biggest problem with it though is that it melts easily.  My bathroom tends to get fairly warm in the summer so once the temperatures started to rise in May I wasn't able to use it anymore because it was always halfway melted and the ingredients would separate.  Maybe I need a mini fridge in my bathroom.

Long Hair Part 2

I find it amusing how many people have asked about my hair after they read my post about using apple cider vinegar to make my hair grow faster.

My hair is something that I have always been a bit prideful about.  It's very thick and healthy and no matter what I do to it, it always bounces back.  I can soak it in lemon juice and let the sun fry it to a crisp and within 1 week it looks just as healthy as ever.

One day I may end up looking like Gollum because of my pride and for all the strange things I do to it, but for now it is just fine.

After the disaster with the apple cider vinegar I let my hair take a few weeks off then I started in on a potato mask.

Potato Mask For Hair
Just juice 3 potatoes, add in one egg yolk and some honey and you got yourself an awesome potato hair mask! This will absolutely help make your hair grow faster and it’s natural! 

Once again this website did not give any detailed instructions.  How often do I put it in?  How long do I leave it in? Do I put it on wet or dry hair?  These questions are essential when smearing vegetables in your hair!

After reading about different hair masks I decided to try this mask once a week.  My plan was to put it on dry hair then let it sit for at least 20 min before washing it out.

Since my hair is shorter I decided to juice one large potato instead of three.

I had a little less then two cups and it was enough to cover my hair.

 I leaned over the tub and soaked my hair.  I then wrapped my hair up into a shower cap and had to quickly grab a towel because nasty brown liquid starting running down my face.

 I wish I had grabbed an old towel instead of ruining my nice white bathroom towel. 

The Verdict: *insert gagging noises* This was just plain gross!!!! I only tried it twice because the thought of doing it two more times to finish out the month made me sick.  Even with the shower cap on, brown liquid ran down my neck and face the entire time I had it on.  This pretty much left me immobile because I didn't want to get brown spots on the floor.   I can deal with gross brown liquid, what made me sick was the smell.

As time went on, the smell got more and more disgusting.  It was as though the potato was very quickly rotting.  After 20 min I jumped into the shower as fast as I could and scrubbed my hair, using about 1/2 a bottle of shampoo.  But that smell lingered.  No matter how many times I scrubbed my hair, I smelled like a rotten potato for 4 days.  It was like that old Sienfeld episode where the smelly B.O car sticks to Elains hair.

It also left my hair feeling very strange.  It was like a dirty but clean feeling and I did not like it.

To top it off, I have no idea if it made my hair grow faster.  I didn't think it would because I only did it twice in a month, but I forgot to measure my hair before I got a trim at the end of the month and I'm not about to call the lady and say "hey, how much of my hair did you cut off?  I need to know if my potato mask worked."

So I am now 0-2.  Lets hope my next attempt isn't as disappointing as these last two. 

"Can you bring me my chapstick.... but my lips hurt real bad."

I am a chapstick addict.  I'm not kidding, I hate the feel of chapped dry lips so I am always globing chapstick on.  I have a tube in every room of the house, in all my purses and in the car.  It's pretty pathetic.

I use to get really annoyed at the movie Iron Will because of how chapped his lips got.  He can bring a whistle and all sorts of food but he couldn't find room for a small tube of chapstick?

So now that winter is upon us my chapstick consumption has doubled, but sometimes it still doesn't do the trick.  Sometimes I get gross chapped lips with all sorts of dead skin hanging off that is impossible not to pick at. For a long time I used Satin Lips from Mary Kay and it did a fantastic job of exfoliating my lips, but you know me, I wanted to find a homemade version.

This is a DIY that I have been doing for so long that I don't remember where I first heard about it.

Lip Exfoliant:
Sugar
Honey
Mix the two together until you get the consistency you want.

There is no right or wrong with the amount you use, it just all depends on what you like.  I like to get a lot of sugar so I can really buff my lips and get all the dead skin off. Plus, the more sugar you have, the less sticky it is.

I tend to be really lazy and just do it all in a spoon.  I get a spoon full of sugar (I bet you just thought of Mary Poppins) squirt some honey on it and mix it with my finger.

 Using your fingers, rub the mixture all over your lips until you feel that you have buffed off all the dead skin.  It usually only takes about 10 seconds. 

If there is any of the mixture left over after your failed attempt at not licking it off, use a warm wet wash cloth to get the rest off. Apply your favorite chapstick. 

The verdict: A lip exfoliant that cost almost nothing?  That is my kind of DIY. 

Before: Hello dead skin

After: goodbye dead skin. 

Trying to Get Long Glorious Hair

Most of my life I have had long hair.

I would let it grow to about this length, then get bored with it and cut off about a foot then repeat this process.

I love having long hair because there are many different things I can do with it.  Like put it up in a ponytail so it's out of my face.

A couple of years ago I decided I wanted something new.  Something extremely new.  I wanted to look less like a frumpy pony tail mom and more like a cute stylish mom.

So I went to one of my beautician sisters and told her to chop it and die it

 I took me several days to get use to it but I loved it.  I loved that I looked put together and I LOVED that it was stylish and out of my face. Plus, I always had awesome bed head in the morning.

However as time went on I discovered something..... I’m lazy and not high maintenance.  Even though it took me about 10 min to do my hair, I wouldn't do it.  So I became a hat lady.  This resulted in being an even more frumpy mom then I was before.  At least a pony tail can be somewhat stylish, but a 'Life is Good' hat every day is just sad looking, especially with slacks and a collared shirt. Ok I wasn't that bad. 

I kept the style for a year then decided I wanted my long hair back.

Thus we come to today’s blog post.  I found a website that gives you 30 Natural Remedies to Make Your Hair Grow

Most of them are things that I have heard of before such as not washing your hair as often, using less products and try not to brush it when wet.

But there were a few that I had never heard of and I wanted to try some of them.
I measured my hair to see how long it was, then I measured my roots to see how fast my hair grows in a month. My plan is to try each method for a month, then re-measure my hair to see if it actually grew faster.

I started with the Apple Cider vinegar rinse.  The website says

If you’re looking for really long hair, apple cider is the trick! Basically, you want to mix apple cider vinegar with a bit of water and then use it to rinse your hair after every shampoo. This will stimulate your hair follicles and help it grow much quicker! 

I love that they use the word 'bit'.  What the heck does that mean?

So I decided to get really scientific, and wing it.  While I was in the shower I would pour some of the vinegar in a cup then put some water in it.  I have no idea how much I put in there and it was a different 'bit' every time.

I would wash my hair then attempt to carefully pour the stuff on my head and massage it into my scalp and rub it all over my hair.  I'm not a fan of the smell of vinegar and thankfully the smell didn't stick to my hair. 

The Verdict: EPIC FAIL!!! Let me explain why this was so bad.
The first time I used it, it was great.  My hair felt so clean because the vinegar was a great clarifier.  However, the more I used it the more I realized that the vinegar is apparently politically correct because it didn't discriminate what it was stripping from  my hair.  Not only did it take away the bad stuff but it also stripped away all the good stuff that my hair needs to be thick and healthy. I was left with sad limp straw like hair.

I was debating if I should continue with this rinse and then one day I woke up to see about 30 strands of hair on my pillow. No wonder my hair was feeling so thin, it was falling out.  My hair went from making Fabio jealous, to being jealous of Gollum

I plan on using apple cider vinegar every so often as a clarifier, but not as a regular rinse.  It took about 6 weeks for my hair to feel normal again.

Even though I only made it 10 days with this method, I decided to measure my hair at the end of the month just to see if there was a difference in how fast my hair grew..... there wasn't.

Let’s hope the potato mask I’m getting ready to try doesn't leave me completely bald. 

Wrinkle Free

Lets get one thing straight....

I HATE ironing.  

I hope that was clear enough for you. There is no beating around the bush or sugar coating how I feel about ironing. 

Let me explain why I hate ironing so much.  It's really very simple.... I can't do it.  I have tried for years!

Many people have shown me their fancy sure fire never fail tricks and I still stink at it.  Try as hard as I can, I can't do it. The clothes look sloppy and uneven and it's just plain sad.

So you can understand my enthusiasm when I saw this homemade wrinkle release spray. Heck yea I was going to try it.  I went to the store just to buy the fabric softener so I could try it that day.

• 1/3 cup liquid fabric softener
• 1/3 cup white vinegar
• 1/3 cup water

Mix your three ingredients and pour them into a spray bottle. Then take your wrinkled garment, place it on a hanger, spray it thoroughly (though not soaking), and give it a shake. The wrinkles will be gone in a matter of seconds! It is seriously like magic!!

I mentioned in my bathtub cleaner post, that I get really skeptical when people proclaim that something is the greatest, so when they said "it is seriously like magic" I started to doubt, but I was still hopeful and cheering for a good outcome.

I bought the cheapest fabric softener I could find and mixed everything in a spray bottle (do you have any idea how many spray bottles I have around my house right now? Way to many to count)

I have a skirt that is always wrinkly, it was the perfect victim.  I sprayed it until it was wet then gave it a good shake. 

The Verdict:   The wrinkles were gone!  Completely gone!  I was blown away.  The original person who posted this was right, it was magic!!!!

Then I went and grabbed one of my sons white shirts to see how the spray would do on those microscopic wrinkles that make a shirt look like an old piece of waded up paper. 

Again, blown away.  Of course his shirt didn't have that crisp freshly ironed look, but it was wrinkle free, and that's what's important. 

Unfortunately there is a downside, this isn't a "oh crap I'm suppose to be somewhere in 10 min and all of my clothes are wrinkled" fix.  The fabric softener left a noticeable smell, but it faded in a few days.  Also, you are spraying until the fabric is wet, and it takes time to dry.

However, these two downsides are very fixable; I now keep a bottle in my closet so when I'm hanging up clothes I can take care of the wrinkled ones right then.

I love when I find something this fantastic that makes my life easier. Now all that is left is to give my iron and ironing board their eviction notice. 

Makeup Remover

 The other day someone asked me what my favorite DIY is. As I was telling her about the makeup remover I use, it occurred to me that I had not posted about this stuff.  You would think, that when starting a blog about DIY's I would start with the one that I am the most passionate about, but no, unfortunately I tend to have moments where I am a few cards shy of a full deck. And by moments, I mean all the time.

So lets hurry and get the basics over with so I can tell you why this is my favorite DIY product. 

Makeup Remover
1 C water
1 1/2 TBSP tear free baby shampoo (I use Bert's Bees)
1/8 tsp olive or coconut oil

Mix them all together in a container
Shake before each use

I fill up a 3 oz bottle that lets me squirt the mixture onto a cotton square (I have no idea what the real name is for those things)

I store the rest in a mason jar under my sink.

 The Verdict: FANTASTIC

Ok, now that the basics are out of the way, "let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up."

There are 2 main reasons why I love this stuff;

1) It's cheap.
For a long time I was using Bert's Bees face wash (the disposable cloths.)  I spent $5.97 a month for them.  That really isn't bad, I can handle $5.97 a month.  But lets compare....

To make the DIY makeup, the recipe I posted above, it cost me...

wait for it...

$0.58

You read that right 58 Cents...

AND

That mason jar will last me about 3 1/2 months.

Lets compare those prices another way;
In 1 year I was spending about $72.62 on Bert's Bees
Now I spend about $1.99 a year for the DIY stuff

Do you know how many pints of Ben and Jerry's I could get with that extra $70?

Onto my next point....

2)  IT WORKS!!!!

My makeup comes right off.

 Now, I wish I could say that all the brown in this next photo is base, but it's not. That is all the dirt that came off my face (yummy).  Now before you judge me, just know that I had spent several hours doing yard work that day.

So lets really compare.  One day, after another several hours doing yard work, I used one of my old Bert's Bees face cleaner.  You can see where my finger was really scrubbing to get the dirt off. 

Then I went back over my face with my DIY stuff.  Can you see the brown in the middle? Yeah, this stuff was picking up dirt that my old stuff left behind.  It's like the Dyson of the face cleaning world.

I still do get an occasional zit, so it's not a cure all, but my skin is a lot softer and I now get complements on my complexion. 

So in case you didn't catch my enthusiasm about this...
DIY makeup remover = awesome!

DIY Lotion

I'm not a big lotion person, probably because I live in the mid-west with lots of humidity so I don't need it that often. I do use it enough though that I decided to try a home made version.

I found this recipe
http://asonomagarden.wordpress.com/2011/09/19/how-to-make-an-easy-beeswax-lotion/

1 c. olive oil
1/2 c. coconut oil
1/2 c. beeswax
20 drops essential oil

and decided to go for it.  I found the beeswax at Micheal's for a reasonable price and got to work.

First of all, I made the mistake of buying the beeswax in a bar and not little granules. I spent an insane about of time trying to cut up the thing, then even more time trying to pick up all the blasted little pieces that covered the kitchen due to the Texas chainsaw moment I had when I got frustrated with the thing.

After finally getting all the ingredients together I started the melting process. Then waited, and waited, aaaaaand waited.  FINALLY. It was all done and ready to cool.  It cooled off and instead of having a nice creamy lotion, I had a chunky blob. 

The Verdict: No thank you. This is way to frustrating and time consuming, plus extremely greasy.  Check out the shine on my hand. Whenever I use it I can't touch anything for about 30 min. I would say that it could be used a good overnight cream for deep conditioning for the skin, but it doesn't breath.  I never knew this would be an issue with lotion, but I feel like it clogs my pores and my skin can't breath.  However, I made this lotion about a year ago and it still looks the same so it keeps very well.