a diy facial cleanser that actually works

i have tried a lot of facial cleansers in my day. everything from aveeno to neutrogena and most recently to trader joe's. nothing seemed to be the perfect fit for my skin. between washes, my face would get oily, but then after i would wash it, my skin would feel tight and in certain areas, become super dry and flaky. and even though i am nearing 30 (wow that is weird to say), i still break out every now and again (thanks hormones!). so i started digging around for other solutions and settled on trying a make-your-own which consisted of extra virgin olive oil and castor oil both of which i already had on hand! i would be lying if i said that i wasn't a little nervous about washing my face with 2 oils but it is actually really good for your skin. rubbing it on your face removes the dirty oil and replaces it with good oil. i have been using it for over a week now and my skin has never looked better. it is so much softer, the color is more vibrant and healthy-looking and my break-out prone areas are clearing up!




here are the ratios for skin types:

normal skin= one-to-one ratio of castor oil and EVOO.
acne-prone or oily skin= three parts castor oil to one part EVOO (this is what i go by)
drier skin= one part castor oil to three parts EVOO

the nice thing about these ratios is they can be adjusted if one isn't working well or could work better.

all you do is rub a quartered-sized amount of the oil mixture onto your dry skin, massage for about a minute, then take a hot washcloth and cover your face so you are essentially steaming out your pours. let that sit until it is room temperature, rinse the washcloth and wipe the oil off.

do this once a day and you're on your way to healthier, softer skin! (wow i sound like a t.v. ad...but it's true!)

impromptu moments

one thing that jeremiah and i try to be good at as parents is instilling life into our daughter. this means to be crazy and silly for her even if people are around. to not worry about messes and getting dirty or even eating some dirt. to constantly laugh and play and read the same book 15 times if that is what she wants to do. i cannot say that i am perfect at this all the time, but i really do try to be.

that said, today we had one of those great, unplanned moments in our backyard. while the three of us were playing out there, i decided to try and soak our grass...it has been such a warm winter that our grass has sort of taken a beating the last few weeks..clémence was curious about the hose in the grass and so we took her tights off and just let her go for it. she had so much fun stomping her feet and playing with the water!



this one above is my new favorite pic. it's so perfect.



all dry and ready for a story with daddy.