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 First things first....Oils are FANTASTIC. Period. Full Stop. And there are MAAAAANNNNNY of them to choose from...so many choice so few body parts!
Here are 3 questions that will help you decide what oil is the RIGHT fit for you. 1. What do I want for my skin? (hydration, soothing irritation, regeneration. etc.) 2. Can I get what I want from one oil or do I need a combination of oils? 3. How do I use the oil(s) to get the best results? 3 Tips for using oils on the face/hair/body. A. For hydrating effect of facial oils using them on slightly damp skin to help lock in moisture. B. For hair, heavy oils can be used as an oil treatment for several hours before shampoo. C. For body, essential oils are lovely for many therapeutic reasons however they should be diluted to 0.5% (in most cases) using your favorite carrier oil where they will not be washed off.  Self care is more than doing things to look after yourself. It is also frequently not doing thing TO yourself. Sounds circular? Not really. Think of things that you may do that instead of giving your mental or spiritual self care actually do it harm. Think introverts getting to much "people-ing" (its a word now lol!). This is harmful to that person in the same way that isolation would be harmful to an extrovert. There are other things we may do such as over work, emotional overloading, sensory overloading and and and....
Sometimes fatigue catches up with you and you give yourself additional stress because you have this seven part self care routine for getting ready in the morning or before sleep. Sometimes you have to make the decision between is it better for MY WELLBEING to do two parts so that I can get the rest I need and NOT castigate myself for being a slacker! The last bit is uber important. To geek or not to geek? Well, duh! Trigger Warning: Science coming up! I will follow KISS rules *wink*.
So what is a botanical active and what type of education do you need to understand it? A botanical active is any substance coming from a plant that has a stimulant or depressive effect on living organisms. Whew... science done...ish! I hear you yelling into the void... The most common botanical actives are Sugar and Caffeine. OMG! Those are the big bads that everyone has been told to avoid! Neither of these these compound are inherently bad. Both are fantastic when used therapeutically. Think when your gran gave you that syrup sweet cuppa when you had a bit of an upset. Why? Sugar can be quickly converted by our bodies to help combat the effects of shock. AND wait for it caffeine isn't just for cramming students or crazy project deadlines. Caffeine is also pretty effective when used for pain treatment. How about caffeine on the skin? Yes, in a few applications it is used by major cosmetic houses for eye creams and more. Why, because it is a diuretic (it takes water out of a system - sort of). So while botanical actives are like the plant version of exercise there are other botanical compounds that are the plant version of sleep. Both necessary for a healthy body and both having a very different effect. (https://www.mayoclinichealthsystem.org/hometown-health/speaking-of-health/does-caffeine-treat-or-trigger-headaches#:~:text=Caffeine%20can%20provide%20relief%20for%20a%20headache.&text=Caffeine%20has%20vasoconstrictive%20properties%2C%20meaning,flow%2C%20thereby%20alleviating%20the%20pain.)  So we were talking oil and I was saying....OIL good! Yes and no. First figure out the right oil and then the correct amount to use as well as best way to apply but but.... so much information. Lets break it down and use my favorite; food analogies (again). Why food analogies? I'm the "Chief" Cook and I suck at sports. So some foods are good to eat at breakfast... cos they're good at increasing the blood sugar levels after "fasting" otherwise known as sleeping. Other foods we will eat at lunch/snack time to help stablise blood sugar levels (ask any diabetic). There is a reason we don't eat snacks at breakfast and breakfast at snack time - unless you're a Hobbit and eating second breakfast is your normal lol! So different oils have different components. They cause different responses from the skin more is not always good. Think of botanical actives like salt. A little salt in your food is good too much doesn't make the food better. I would like to give you the option to ask what oils do what...let me know your burning OIL questions in the comments and I will sass up the science! Cheers until next week. Solid Serum - Rosehip Oil, Oat Oil, Argon Oil and CoQ10  I hear the screams in the hills....Noooooo...!
Sometimes you wake up and wonder if you're really awake or if this is just a nightmare or if something fell on your head and that's why the Phil Collins has decided to set up shop in your head for an extended drum solo.
You take a deep breathe and say "I think I can". Why? Because we expect our bodies to operate in a certain way. To the eye it looks hale and whole so why doesn't the darn thing function the way a body is meant to function. Why does it feel like post bender having fallen down and been trampled by a herd of buffalo? I am of course, guessing because I have never actually been trampled by an animal nor do I consume alcohol. We do not shelter ourselves from the internal caustic criticisms that a BODY SHOULD... and therein lies the rub. Chronically ill bodies DON'T. They don't do WHAT they supposed. They don't do HOW they supposed to. They most certainly don't do WHEN they supposed to. They develop weird and disorientating symptoms that are small niggles. But here's the thing if you had a dollar to save everyday that wouldn't be much a dollar after all doesn't stretch far in this day and age. What if that dollar was set aside and every single day another was added. In a year that would be $365 (for the accountants out there - yes...$366 in a leap year!). Now think of those weird niggles, as those dollars, individually they are easy to ignore but unlike the dollars they don't simply add up they attract interest. So its not 5 or 10 or 15 individual weird little niggles it is a gradual erosion of capacity to deal with anymore weird little niggles. We...no I hold the hope (yes - maybe denial, you can certainly call me Cleopatra Queen of Denial) that one day I will find a djinni in a lamp or ring or heck in a broken crock pot! I would wish for a cure because right now me and all my fellow Fibromyalgia warriors get through most days five minutes at a time. Still I am grateful that the pain isn't so great that I can't tell time - been there too. Taking the lead in my healing journey has been a great way to grow my hope that things get better. Velvet Skin has been a big part of that journey because feeling good in my skin means one less weird niggle. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
January 2023
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