Natural Skincare Routine

McCoy isn't the most snuggly baby in the world, but every now and then he presses his face against me and wants to stay there for a little while. And then I totally melt. :) 

Every time he does it, I feel so thankful that my skincare routine is pretty darn safe. I'd be so nervous if he was pulling away covered in scents or chemicals. Below is my current routine!

Night time:

TO WASH

I've shared Batty's Bath probably 10 times on here, buuuut I can't help myself. Her products are amazing. I found them a few years ago because she was recommended on EWG's Skin Deep. One order and I was sold for life!

Morning and night, I use her face wash. I've tried most of them and you can't go wrong. I definitely recommend taking her skin care quiz before selecting your products.

If I feel like I need to exfoliate, I used Goldfaden MD Doctor's Scrub. I recognize this is an expensive item, but I've had it for a full year and am not even halfway through. A little bit goes a very long way. Also, everything Goldfaden makes is gold. Aptly named!

TO MOISTURIZE

Nightly, I use Batty's Raw Radiance moisturizer for my face.

If I'm feeling really motivated, I'll follow it up with Goldfaden's Bright Eyes. Again, one year later and I'm not even halfway through the bottle. A dot does a lot. Like glue in elementary school.

On my lips, I use Primally Pure Grapefruit lip balm. 

---

Day time:

TO MOISTURIZE

I use Batty's Raw Radiance (see above) mixed with a teeeeeny tiny bit of Drunk Elephant D-Bronzi serum. I am obsessed with this serum. I feel like it makes my skin lightly glowy and has really positive effects on how it looks - even after I've washed my face. 

FOR SUN PROTECTION

I use SuperGoop Unseen Sunscreen. Full disclosure: It has a 3 on the EWG rating instead of a 1 or 2, which I try to avoid. But the product is just so incredible! It works like nothing I've experienced before. 

I follow both moisturizers with mascara and I'm ready to go for the day!

Favorite Natural Products from The Grove

On Monday I mentioned that I recently started shopping at The Grove. I received a comment asking for my favorite products and since I'm struggling with pulling together thoughtful content (which I also confessed Monday!), I thought I'd go for it. Here are a few of my favs:

(Side note: I am not a receiving money from The Grove for this post. I wish! :) But the link above is a referral link, which means I receive $10 if you sign up and you receive a free Mrs. Meyer's soap set.) 

Also, if you want to sign up but don't want monthly orders, this is how you turn off auto-ship and order as-needed. 

1. I love the Discover section, which lists best sellers and new products.
    
2. I like this spray bottle. I make my own cleaning spray with essential oils and vinegar, which requires using a glass bottle due to potency of the oils. Having a cute bottle makes cleaning more fun :) For the spray, I use 1/2 c. vinegar, 1 c. water and 15(ish) drops of both Onguard and lemon essential oils. 
    
3. I love these cleaning wipes. Sometimes I want to be able to dispose of a wipe after use (looking at you raw chicken). These wipes are the best! I love the minty smell.
    
4. Mrs. Meyer's soap is my jam. I love the seasonal scents. I was so sad to see the summer line go! 
    
5. Hello toothpaste. Real talk: I love this toothpaste. But I can't deny that the price difference between this and Crest is pretty major. I don't use it all the time, but really love it when I splurge. 
    
6. Seventh Generation Dish Powder. The chemicals released by the dishwasher are some of the worst in your home (learn more here). Seventh Generation's dish soap has significantly fewer harmful chemicals than leading brands. For reference, the Environment Working Group gives Cascade an F and Seventh Generation an A. 
    
7. Anything Aunt Fannie's. If you don't mind the smell of vinegar :) She always gets all As from the EWG, too! I haven't used it yet, but I'm about to try her wood floor wash. Stay tuned! Before this I was using the Bona spray. While I love our Bona Mop, I was so sad to learn how many chemicals were in it. I can't imagine McCoy crawling on them now! 

In my next order, I'm trying Molly's Suds laundry powder. Happy Wednesday :) 

The Best Affordable Dry Shampoo

Last month I confessed I only wash my hair once a week. A handful of people reached out with questions and, what I heard people say most clearly is: I could never do that. My hair gets so greasy.

First of all, let me tell you that one year ago, I was washing my hair daily. Daily! I felt like it was greasy by the end of day two. But, a friend encouraged me to try to spread out my washes and, after a little research, I learned that the more you wash your hair, the more oil it produces. You don't want to wash it as much? Don't wash it as much. 

It took some effort, but, slowly, I trained my hair to be washed less and less. I started with an every other day schedule and progressively increased the duration between washes. Let me tell you: I had some BAD hair days last winter as I worked toward my goal. Real. Bad. I thought I was going to get reprimanded at work a few times (not joking!).

Here we are, one year later, and my hair is significantly thicker and healthier. I shower daily, but am saving so much time avoiding constant washing and styling. 

This is after a week of no washing. No filter or edits on the photo :) 

Everyone's hair is different and the single wash/week might not work for you, but, I can almost guarantee that, if you're washing daily or every other day, you could stand to wash less. I found Almost Exactly blog to be a really good resource for learning tricks to reduce washing and moving to a more natural routine.  

After spending the last year testing all sorts of dry shampoos, I thought I'd share a few of my favorites. I wish (wish, wish!) I could afford to use an EWG-approved kind each day, but, at this time, it's not in the budget. I go through them too quickly. 

Dry Shampoo Ranking:

Best all-around: L'Oreal Extraordinary Clay Dry Shampoo 

I discovered this at Kroger and allowed myself to believe it was maybe a little bit more eco-friendly since it had clay in the title. Probably a lie, but it made me feel better :) 

Pros: It absorbs oil well, but does not leave residue. It added volume to my hair without weighing it down. It smells amazing, too.
Cons: The bottle is a little smaller than some of the others, but worth paying a dollar more for what it does.

Most effective: Not Your Mothers Shampoo Dry Clean Freak

Pros: This dry shampoo left my hair feeling and looking the cleanest. It did not leave any residue and didn't weigh my hair down.
Cons: It is unscented and I prefer a light smell (nothing too overpowering, though). 

Best smelling: R+Co Death Valley Dry Shampoo

OK OK. This one isn't affordable. I bought it when I was in a pre-wedding haze and I felt like I needed everything, ever to make myself look and feel beautiful. But I thought I'd include it since it has been fully vetted. 

Pros: By farrrrr the best smelling dry shampoo I've used (I think it rivals Moroccanoil Dry Shampoo!) 
Cons: The price. And, I didn't think it was as effective as drug store brands at reducing oils. 

Runner up for all-around best: Herbal Essences Naked Dry Shampoo

Again, the name here implies some level of healthiness, which is just the kind of marketing tactic that gets me. 

Pros: No residue left behind, nice scent and definitely effective at reducing oils.
Cons: It didn't thicken my hair like the Extraordinary Clay did. But, it didn't leave residue or anything, so I'd buy it again.

Best non-dry shampoo option: Aveda Pure Abundance Hair Potion

OK don't freak out at the price of this one. It's a little bottle but it lasts for-ev-er. I have barely dented it since my friend Sara gave it to me in March. 

Pros: It seriously thinkens my hair and creates a matte texture that makes it look clean. 
Cons: Well, it's not actually a dry shampoo. So I don't know that it necessarily absorbs oil; it seems more like it covers it. 

Worth mentioning: Suave Professionals Dry Shampoo, Keratin Infusion

Pros: A total bargain and definitely effective. Nice scent, no residue left behind. I'd buy it again, but it wasn't my favorite all around.
Cons: I read online that it weighs some people's locks down, so if you don't have coarse hair, it could be an issue. 

The most residue left behind: TRESemmé Fresh Start Dry Shampoo

Pros: Nice scent, effective at making hair look clean. Very affordable.
Cons: This shampoo left a lot of residue behind for me. I don't know why, because other people seem to love it. It was not for me. 

Most overrated: Batiste Dry Shampoo - Fresh

Pros: Effective at cleaning, did not leave residue
Cons: I was so, so excited to try Batiste Dry Shampoo. It has gotten rave reviews and was an Amazon #1 new release in February. The smell was way too overpowering for me. I couldn't even finish the bottle. Chris isn't sensitive to smells and even he was overwhelmed by it. 

And now, a few I'd LOVE to try:

Qet botanicals: They have crazy-good EWG ratings! I would love to try their Lavender Powder Dry Shampoo.

Moroccanoil Dry Shampoo: I've used a friend's once and loved the smell. Definitely want to try it!

TSA approved

My chocolate brown and hot pink luggage is all packed up and I'm ready to roll to Atlanta. Almost as a tribute to my travel plans, I just learned about this new site, 3floz.com. They offer a crazy-variety of travel size products.

Not only are the products perfect for baggage-fee-free traveling, but also for those who can't quite commit to one product. They're also perfect for me because I tend to get a little bored. 3floz. will always leave me wanting more...

I'm glad to see someone is capitalizing off of this period of tough airline travel.