Egg Shell Skin Vs. the Monster Zit

This was just too awesome not to share. So, if you google, yahoo or bing egg shell dermabrasion, you get info on how you can take that fragile little skin from between the egg shell and egg to use for a skin treatment. I hope that makes sense. Look it up if you have questions; I think there are even vids on it.

Apparently, that skin draws out toxins and wastes from the egg while the chick is forming. So, when removed and carefully adhered to the skin, it can potentially draw out toxins. Awesome in theory, right? No expensive face treatment needed, right?

Ok, so I tried this. First of all, this does work (I'll say how in a minute). However, if you're looking for an all over the face treatment, don't count on it. It's lots of work getting the fragile skin in big enough pieces, and then you have to use hours of time and lots of eggs to cover your entire face. What a pain!

However, if you get monster zits like me, this is the awesomest thing EVER! A monster zit, for me, is a deeper skin infection than a regular zit. It usually never forms a head or takes about a week to do so. They are often so painful that if anything touches it pain sears through my face. As a teenager I actually had one that split my skin when I accidentally tapped it lightly with a paper plate. The problem is they're so painful that I can't help but try to relieve the pain any way that I can, which is not good for my skin at all.

This is why I love the egg shell skin. When I get a big painful zit, I put on a piece just big enough to cover the zit (rinse really well!) and just around it. I let it sit 10 min. I often do 2 or 3 sets of these because the zits are so bad. After I'm done I rinse and moisturize. Afterward, the pain is gone, the zit is smaller, and it disappears within about 2 days.

Just had to share, because if anyone else deals with this incredibly annoying, hideous, painful searing type of infection, you are probably like me: you want to do anything you can without killing your face. Oh, and for areas of recurrent infection, I've tried putting a layer of honey over the infected area for 20 min every night for 3 days or so. Honey is antibacterial and it seems to help. Good luck!

A Summery Autumn in Winter

No, I'm not bragging about the warm weather down here. Over Christmas break, I decided to do something I've been meaning to do for ages but just haven't gotten around to: figuring out my season. As in, the "season" of my skin's color tone. I first started to appreciate seasons and skin tone after my second daughter, a redhead, was born. My first daughter looks great in pink (much to my chagrin, since I'm not a "pink" person), but everything that looked great on my first looks pretty bad on my second. So, I talked to some older friends about it and was reintroduced to the idea of the seasons.

Now, over the years I've learned various tidbits about skin tone from various women's events. I've heard about skin undertones (everyone is pink, purple, green or yellow if I remember right). I've heard about hair and eyes determining your season (which is not accurate as far as I'm concerned). One site I read at one point said that even within all skin colors there are the different seasons. Maybe that ties into the skin undertone thing; I don't know. All I did know is that I was having trouble finding out how to actually determine my skin tone, and then, more importantly, what colors to wear in clothing, make-up, etc. once I have figured it out.

Enter one of my new favorite websites: http://www.beauty-and-the-bath.com/Season-Color-Analysis.html .

It has a drop down color palette for ever season, and on the side are links for all the seasons to determine more. It's worthwhile to read through for every season, because they put in different tips for different seasons that should actually be in all of them.

For example, under the link for summer skin tones is the best do-it-yourself method for determining skin tone. You take a piece of fabric (you can use fabric, existing clothing, a towel, whatever as long as it will cover the top of your torso). Drape the fabric over your shoulders. Stand in front of a mirror. Close your eyes. Open them. Do you notice the fabric or your face? It took me a while to really get it down. I noticed that even if I stood there for a while, if I had the wrong color on, my eyes were naturally drawn to the color. And the right colors, I just saw my face and barely noticed the color. Thinking about it, wearing the wrong color draws people to look at your body. If women wore the right color, I wonder if men would notice their faces more than their bodies. Just a thought.

Second critical piece of info for me: autumns can cross a bit into the other seasons. You see, I discovered I'm an autumn with some summer tendencies (hence the title of the post). I can pull off some summer colors, mostly in the blues, but sticking with mostly autumn colors look waaaaaaay better on me. I also changed the color of my blush and lip gloss (I love burt's bees camel shimmer gloss), and I think it looks lots better.

Anyway, it's been a fun discovery for me. Now I just get to revamp my wardrobe, 'cause I pretty much have mostly the wrong colors.

On another note, I just found my new favorite make-up tip: filling in your eyebrows a shade or two darker than your hair (unless your hair is already dark; then just fill them in, I guess). Not only does it define your eyebrows, it makes your hair look like you've had it highlighted without ever dying your hair!

Extending the Life of Your Hairstyle

I promised my friend Rebekah I'd write about this many moons ago. Last January I was perusing some of my fav blogs when I found this article called "Going poo-free" (as in no shampoo ever again). I also let a friend/hairstylist cut my hair.* She told me she washed her hair once or twice a week. I talked about it with another friend who's mom washes her hair once a week (I think), and uses a specific product for her scalp. Here are the tips I heard for going more than one day without washing your hair:

1. If your scalp starts to get oily, lightly sprinkle/rub some baby powder or corn starch in. It absorbs the oil and deters future oil.

2. Spritz roots with hair spray before going to bed; it'll dry up the oil, but your hair won't be stiff in the morning.

3. Rat just the roots. Gives hair lift, so there's less contact with scalp oils, and it doesn't look matted down.

4. Nioxin used once a week to help with the scalp.

5. If you have your hair colored or highlighted, you shouldn't wash as often anyway; coloring dries out the hair.


So, my story. Starting in January, I began by going every other day without washing my hair. After about two weeks my hair was starting to get used to it. Then I went to every three days. Then, twice a week. And last, I made a big jump to once a week. (I waited a month before making any changes.) For now, once a week is my limit. If I try to go farther than that my scalp itches and I just don't like it. Not that I've seriously tried. I like once a week. Every Saturday morning, I pamper myself a little. I do a face mask; I exfoliate my skin and heels; I wash and spend time styling my hair. I take that one morning where I spend 45 min. or so on me. For a mom, that's a lot.

My routine is this (pics are under the day of the week I took them on):

Sat - Wash and style hair. If I don't style it on wash day, it looks kind of bad the rest of the week.

Sun - Just wake up, put my hair up to shower, and go. No styling necessary, and it's my best hair day.


Mon. - use baby powder at the roots and rat roots. I can wear it down, up, half-up, whatever.

Tues.- Maybe use baby powder, but usually not. I usually start wearing my hair at least halfway up.



Wed.- pony tail or pig tails or back in a hair clip


Thurs - Definitely a pony tail and headband. Almost every week.

Fri - Pony tail, french braid, tight bun, or dork knots. Kind of sucks for my hair to feel it's icky if I'm on a date, but I still prefer Sat as my wash day.

Here are my big pros for this: I spend less time in the shower and save money and water; I feel better about my hair because, overall, it looks much better than when I tried to style it every single day (even my ponytails look better); I use less shampoo. Cons: Sometimes I have an itchy scalp on the last day; my hair doesn't always look nice Wed-Fri, so if I go out on those nights, it's not quite as fun... but hair still looks ok.

Note that I don't use tips 2, 4, or 5. So, there's plenty more you can do, I just don't. Happy hair styling!


*Please note: I have cut my hair since high school with three exceptions by two friends I watched VERY closely before I let them touch my hair. After many many bad experiences, I figured that if I was going to be angry at anyone for my bad haircut, it would be me. And before I let those two ladies cut my hair, I made absolutely sure I'd seen enough that they couldn't disappoint me. So, it took me a long time before I actually heard any of this advice.