Back to the Body Shop

I have been looking for ways to live as chemical free as I possibly can. Sometimes it seems so overwhelmingly impossible -- we are surrounded by chemicals, but I have to try. I have already thrown out all my chemical filled cleaners and am only using vinegar and water to clean.

I have been on the hunt for "healthier" cosmetics and what a task that has been! Reading the ingredients label on cosmetics has dismayed me and brought me close to tears. I started with my moisturizer and with body lotion -- I am using emu oil as a facial moisturizer and organic coconut oil as a body lotion.

Finding a suitable deodorant has eluded me for a while until this week when a light bulb went off, and I decided to check out that a 1980s favorite -- the Body Shop. I bought all my skincare products from the Body Shop when it came to Malaysia in the mid 1980s. All the principles that Anita Roddick stood for appealed to me. The Body Shop didn't come to the US until 2001, and in that time I had turned to other cosmetics and I never went back to my Body Shop roots.

But this week as I was looking for paraben and aluminum free cosmetics, I ran across a Body Shop deodorant, that had mixed reviews but looked promising. I researched lotion, shampoo and conditioner and other products, and armed with my list, John and I headed to the Body Shop on Saturday.

I'm testing the deodorant today, but all the other products are going into my stocking ... so updates will come after Christmas. I had been worried about reviews that said that the deodorant did not last beyond 8 hours. Well, I put it on at 9 am and it is now 9 pm and I've had a normally active day and it is still going strong -- I don't smell bad! I dusted, hemmed two work trousers, hemmed a towel, mended a shirt, ironed my clothes for the week, and cooked dinner, and I can still smell the deodorant and not some sweaty person, so this one is a keeper.

Not everything in the Body Shop is chemical free -- you have to read the ingredients. That disappointed me -- whatever happened to being "natural"? I cannot imagine that Anita Roddick would have used any ingredient that had the possibility of contributing to giving a woman cancer. I am responsible for myself, so I have to take the initiative ... no one is doing it for me.

An Old Friend

I grew up on a tropical island surrounded by coconut trees but I had just forgotten how versatile it is.  We cooked and baked with it, and used it as a moisturizer for our skin and a conditioner for our hair. In my commitment to try to live as chemical free as possible, I have rediscovered the humble coconut. For the last few weeks I have been using Trader Joe's Organic Virgin Coconut Oil as a body lotion and hair conditioner. I'm now experimenting with using it as a facial moisturizer. I wasn't quite sure about this ... I had concerns that it might be too oily and make my skin breakout. But so far it's been doing well.

 

I like Trader Joe's coconut oil because it is cold pressed which means it is in solid form. I scrape off what I need and warm it in my palm and it melts almost instantly. I use it a little bit at a time and work it into my skin. It takes a little while to be absorbed so don't over oil your skin with too much coconut oil. You'll smell like toasted coconut for a bit and then it really does disappear. Hubby who does not like coconut says he can't smell anything.

 

I work the coconut oil into my hair before I shampoo and then I use my normal conditioner. I do not leave the coconut oil in my hair -- it does make it too oily and I have no itention of walking around with oily hair!

 

 

 

I had my three-month check up with the oncologist and we talked about gene testind because of the Askenazi ancestry from my paternal and maternal side. If the insurance company will pay for it, we'll go ahead and do it. Regardless, my daughter will have to be extra careful with the way she lives her life.



The Miracle Oil

 

I had never heard of emu oil until I joined the breast cancer discussion board. Women who were undergoing radiation treatments were recommending it for moisturizing their skin.

I thought, "why not?" and when the doctor cleared it for use, I ordered a bottle from Amazon.com. The area that I used the oil on, even the area of the tumor that received the radiation boost never burnt. It got a deep tan color but it never burned, and the technicians kept saying how well my skin was doing compared to other people's.

The area that did get a little scorched and painful was the area under my armpit. I simply did not realize how high the radiation went and did not start applying emu oil there until a week or two into the treatment. But I kept gritting my teeth and applying emu oil, and miraculously, I never blistered ... the blackened skin just rubbed off, and beautiful new skin emerged!

When I was done with my radiation treatments in October last year, I started massaging the oil into my scalp and on my non-existent eyebrows. My hair came back much quicker and more evenly than I had expected. And it came back fuller than before. I am willing to give emu oil the credit. After all the crap I had to go through ... I'll take the extra hair.

And now that my hair is looking healthy and growing well, I am using the emu oil as a facial moisturizer. Two drops into the palm of your hand is all you need to oil your entire face. I am using coconut oil as a body moisturizer.

I just ordered my second bottle from Amazon.com and it arrived in a very timely manner from the supplier in North Carolina. I don't think that the $23.10 I paid for the bottle is too much considering that it will last me almost a year.

I am sharing this information because all those women shared it with me ... if it helps another person, then it will be worth it.

Too Much of a Good Time

I went out West to Wyoming, Colorado and San Francisco, and while I tried to eat salads and vegetables whenever I could, sometimes when you are on an organized outing, you have to eat what you are served. When I weighed myself in San Francisco I had gained six pounds and I was horrified. There was a part of me that wanted to weep at the unfairness of it all but I was in a beautiful city with lots of ethnic restaurants so I ate dim sum instead.

I've been back home for a week now and I am back to my disciplined eating and I have lost the six pounds I gained. I am glad that I did not lose more than a moment of my precious life worrying about my weight.

I am not going to neglect eating right or differently in my case but this month is going to be about more than just fat ... this is October ... the month to promote breast cancer awareness ... to celebrate the women and men who have survived, to pray for and remember those who did not and to have hope for the future.

Move On ... Nothing to Look At Here ...

I've got time on my hands tonight so I'm just musing ... The problem when you open up a blog to the public is that anyone can stop by. I did it when I was going through chemo to help other women who were going through the same thing ... to let them know that I survived this horror of horrors and so can they. Sometimes that "anyone" can be traffic from undesirable sources.

So for those of you who are hoping for a peep show ... just move on along ... there is nothing to see here ... just a woman who went through hell for a year and a half and lived to tell a tale. Ah ... if only people used some of that energy for positive things ... this world would be a better place.

Lots of Happy News

The absence from posting has been because of lots of good news! We celebrated our daughter's birthday and her engagement all in the same week and yes, I ate cake. Did I suffer greatly from it? Did the scales jump up? No, I did not and no, it did not.

It's been the usual -- lose a pound ... gain half a pound back and so forth, but as long as the numbers stay under where I started from, I've resigned myself to struggling with this. It's going to be a slow hard struggle but if you think I'm giving up, then you obviously don't know me! I shall continue this until I win.

I actually like the mornings when I have to work late ... I can wake up leisurely ... exercised on the elliptical for 20 minutes this morning and then made chocolate chip waffles for breakfast. Sure that was bad ... but that was what the child wanted.

Went back upstairs after breakfast and did another 10 minutes on the elliptical to make up for the waffles. I also swept the house, scrubbed the shower stall, sorted laundry and did a load of darks, cleaned the cat's litterbox, tidied up the guest-room and dining-room, packed for an upcoming trip ... I don't think I sat down for more than 10 minutes. I am not killing myself over those waffles.

Lunch was a cup of leftover fried rice. Dinner was a cup of spinach leaves, literally a few strands of roast chicken from last night's dinner and a drizzle of lite ranch dressing. I had about a cup of fresh pineapple chunks and sliced strawberries with 2 tablespoons of Cool Whip and a pinch of coconut. My evening snack was an Adkins fudge brownie bar.

Tomorrow is a new day!

Long Weekend Struggle

I have not been good this weekend -- not in the overeating department but more missing meals because it seems like I have been baking forever! I started baking cupcakes on Friday and haven't stopped until this evening.

I've been so busy baking that I have missed breakfasts and lunches. And perhaps that is why I have lost another pound. I will be back on my normal eating routine tomorrow.