Thursday, June 9, 2011

Luscious Lips! Ooh La La!

Sorry it has been so long since I have graced your screen with my words, life has been a bit crazy for some time now. For starters we have another little bit on the way, due February 3, 2012! A bit of a surprise to us and others considering my husband "got snipped" early this year! We are excited though as clearly God willed this little bundle into being!
So what pearl of wisdom can I leave you with today? Just a touch of fear and a resolution to one tiny part of it.
Lip gloss and chap stick!
Little girls beg for it so they can feel a little more grown up. At first I allowed chap stick and avoided giving Chloe lip gloss at all cost. Eventually, however, she attained it, one way or another. An entire container of it. So the other day when I saw her applying it, I asked her to bring it to me so I could read the ingredients.
First let me say that the FDA does NOT have control over cosmetics, those companies can put almost any chemical, toxin, and even known carcinogens into makeup, shampoo, mascara, and baby lotion (that goes for diapers, wipes, washes, shampoos, creams, you name it). Some of the most popular brands are the worst of the worst. (You can check out brands you use here http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/ and see how they rank). It is scary, it is sad, and it sucks that these companies advertise to our emotions and pretend that their products are "gentle" and that they help us care for our children. They don't, most (there may be a few good ones), they care about green-but it is not the earth.
So, what is in this little tube of lip gloss, that is marketed towards little girls? Mineral oil, Hydrogenated polyisobutene, ethylhexyl palmitate, silica, BHT, Propylparaben, and fragrance. So I checked them out (already knowing that mineral oil is not good for you, parabens are linked to cancers, and BHT is bad) many of the ingredients have not been tested-let alone for use on kids!
So we made our own! And you can too, the hardest part was washing out the roller tubes full of chemicals-which gave me a migraine just from breathing in around them, how safe can they be?
Once you wash them out-or think you have, roll up a napkin, squeeze it in and twist. Then fill half way with water, add a drop of dish soap, shake then rinse thoroughly. Now you only need 2 ingredients
olive oil or coconut oil
pure extract (peppermint, vanilla, or almond work great)
Fill the tube about 3/4 of the way and add 2 drops of extract. replace the roller ball and lid, then shake well. Your done! You did it, you made a safe, moisturizing lip gloss that is safe for your children to lick off their lips! It works better than chap stick at moisturizing and will assist in healing dry, cracked, burned lips. Did I mention that olive oil is also used by many women to prevent aging? Your lips will love you for it! We also did one tube using 1 drop of pure lavender oil-do not put more than 2 drops max. Then you have an age defying aromatherapy lip gloss! Enjoy!