(Now is the time that all my tree-hugger greenie friends are going to scoff at me, look the other way, or possibly throw rocks at me.) Well, i still feel that way (sort of). I'm still the biggest skeptic you will meet for several reasons, but the more i allow myself to "try" new things, research the cause and effect of certain ingredients, and look at my children and wonder what i'm exposing them to, the more open minded i am becoming.
The change to cloth diapering.. EASY. The chemicals in disposables and the effects long term that research is showing they have is disgusting and astonishing, it also saved us an insane amount of money. Switching to Method hand soap.. i just liked the simplicity of it, and how the bottles looked, and how the refill for it came in a bog unscrewable bag. I didn't find out till later that it was "Green." Our Organic food selection is kind of hit and miss. I dont go out looking for only organic stuff, but if the two options are presented next to one another and the price is not so bad, i'll try to get the obviously healthier option. I do buy those little organic baby food packets with the screw on tops that you can basically DRINK the food out of. I buy these for my 2 yr old as he barely eats anything. He will literally take 2 bites of every meal. But he downs these packets because he thinks they are fun. *garden greens and pear? *Macaroni, white beans and butternut squash? *sweet potato, apple, beats and vanilla risotto? Yes please! His Pediatrician says to just let him go hungry and he will eat when he feels he needs to, but after 4 days of him eating less then his baby sis eats in one sitting, my mommy heart said, no way. If i have to let him drink his food out of packets to get nutrition into his 22 pound 28 month old body, i will stoop to that level. I also love my Rockin Green laundry detergent that i mostly just used for our dipes. I'd use it for all our clothes if we'd ever run out of the detergent we bought at the case lot sale 2 years ago :/
Now sure, i have scoured my kitchen and bathrooms with baking soda and vinegar (laundry too), and polished all my faucets with a lemon wedge.. I've clean stains with hydrogen peroxide, and i do from time use coconut oil for many various things. But (sorry greenies) to me, nothing beats KNOWING that the germs are gone. I love the smell of chemicals. i love bleach, pine sol, lysol.. i love knowing my house is so clean that my baby can eat a cheerio off my bathroom floor (before her brothers destroy it in two minutes) and not get some funky virus. I have tried "green" cleaners, and i think they smell goofy and pale in comparison in getting the cleaning job done, at least the ones i have tried.
All of this brings me to Carrots. Oh. My. Word. As i browsed the self care section with a best friend of mine on a mission to save her dry and brittle (she claims) hair, i stumbled across a few things i really wanted, but didnt really need... and then, wait.. AND THEN (insert music from dumb and dumber when Lloyd sees Merry for the first time "love is in the air, flowers everywhere.." and imagine two big doors blowing open and the man of my dreams walking in) I saw it. Perfectly cylindrical bottles with various fruits and vegetables on the labels. By the make-up. ???? But the bottles were fitting in nicely with my OCD and i do like produce, so i went for the closer look. I was reading all about carrots and melons and cucumbers and blueberries and tomatoes.. After smelling them to make sure they did not smell like tomatoes and carrots I was intrigued..thoroughly. BUT THEY SAID USDA ORGANIC. suddenly i didn't want them. Not if they would treat my hair and body the way the cleaner took care of my toilet. BUT i knew this store's policy on returning used and opened products, and if they didn't work phenomenally, they'd go right back on this shelf. My only true fear after reading the entirety on the label was that it would turn my hair orange, afterall, it was made with carrots. Without allowing myself the pep talk to convince myself to return it to its home, i rushed far far away from that section with 4 new products in my cart :) I wanted to shower right there, and then, the suspense of a garden shower was a little too much excitement to handle.
THE SHOWER~ The first product i used was my new Facial cleanser, Yes to Blueberries. [This milk-based gentle facial cleanser will make you say YES to a fresh face. A gentle start to your skincare regimen, this cleanser is formulated with apple, rich in powerful anti-oxidants and natural alpha-hydroxy acids to help refresh and brighten skin; and lemon peel, a naturally derived cleanser to help sweep away dirt and grime and brighten the skin. Follow with a layer of Intensive Skin Repair Serum and your skin will thank you! Blueberries
Rich in Anti-oxidants such as Vitamin C and Anthocyanins to help fight the formation of free radicals that can damage the skin's microstructure.Apple
Rich in powerful Polyphenol Anti-Oxidants and natural Alpha Hydroxy Acids, which help to refresh and brighten skin's surface.
Lemon Peel
Naturally derived cleanser to help sweep away dirt and grime while smoothing and brightening skin's surface.
Coconut Oil
All-natural moisturizer to leave skin feeling soft and smooth after cleansing.
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Rich in anti-oxidants such as Vitamin C and Anthocyanins to help fight the formation of free radicals that can damage the skin's microstructure.
Clinically proven to promote skin repair in 7 days by hydrating age damaged skin and helping boost natural collagen.
Clinically proven to restore and smooth skin and reduce fine lines in 28 days; firms and rehydrates the delicate skin around the eye to help reduce the appearance of fine lines and crow's feet.]
First i sniffed it. Eyebrow raise. slight smile. still thinking it is going to play a trick on me.. Right? If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is?? I put about a dime size amount on my fingers and began to massage.. No foaming.. no bubbles. No soapy feel. None. In fact i re-checked the label mid scrub to make sure i didn't accidentally buy the lotion. I would so do that, use a lotion in the shower (dork) Fab, i got a dud. Wait... something incredible is happening to my face. It feels... hmm, not tingly, but similar... awake. YES, it feels awake, i had forgotten what that feels like. After rinsing my face felt magically smooth and moist (shush your mouth, i know it's moist, i'm in a shower..but read between my lines) it felt "lotion moist"... oiled but not a greasy oiled.. a CLEAN oiled. i really cant describe it (if you couldn't tell). By the way, day 4 of not using face lotion anymore.. and i have the driest skin on the planet on parts of my face.
Next up, shampooooooo. Yes to Carrots. [We know you'll be singing in the shower with Yes To Carrots Nourishing Shampoo. It cleanses, nourishes and moisturizes your hair and scalp with Dead Sea Minerals, revitalizing and protecting it and leaving you with luminous, luscious locks. Go ahead, grab the shampoo bottle and use it for your microphone, this is definitely something to sing about!*
Organic Carrots are brimming with Beta-Carotene, an essential vitamin that keeps your lovely locks happy, healthy, and hydrated.
Dead Sea minerals sourced from the world's most ancient spa, naturally exfoliate, detoxify and rejuvenate. These minerals lock in the vitamins and minerals from the delicious fruits and vegetables.
Also includes: Carrot Juice, Carrot Seed Oil, Chamomilla Recutita Flower Oil, Olive Oil, Sweet Almond Oil, Jojoba Seed Oil, Pumpkin Extract, Melon Extract, Wheat Germ Oil, Orange Fruit Extract, Honey Extract.]
I didn't use a whole lot of shampoo. I suppose in retrospect, i was trying to challenge its amazingness based on my results with the Yes to Blueberries face wash. It won the challenge.
Let me just lay a base by saying that my hair was in serious distress. I had butchered it a few months back with some homemade shampoo concoction that stripped it of all things shiney and colorful and beautiful (I'm taking a personal moment....okay, I'm okay) And then shortly after that my handsome husband desired It shorter and darker. So it was first murdered by yours truly, and then maimed at the salon with toners and color and glosses, and bleach (from the first crazy women who touched it before i had it redone on their dime).. It was sad sad hair. It was all i could do every shower to coax moisture into it with coconut oil and cholesterol and then heat treat it with a blow dryer followed by hot rollers or a straightener.. That was my routine i got cornered into. There was little hope.
I used probably a quarter size dollup and went right to my roots.. within literally 5 seconds, i had so much foam on top of my head that i felt like marge simpson. It was amazing. Well, it was more fun at this point. None of my other shampoo's (expensive salon ones or otherwise) ever did that. i had to get quite the massage going with a larger quantity of shampoo to achieve this effect! Rinsing it out was pretty uneventful. It felt like hair :)
Next I used Yes to Carrots conditioner. Ingredients are very similar to the shampoo, so i wont list them. The bottle told me to start at the roots. I never do this because my hair gets greasy so quickly after my shower if i do, so i'll usually just condition my ends. However, the "yes to's" haven't led me astray so far, and i decided to do it by the book. I lathered it all up from roots to tip and continued to read the label... It told me to take a moment to ponder life. I did. I pondered my kids. I pondered my long shower and cole downstairs alone with three kids. I pondered that i should probably hurry and wash my body while this conditioner hung out in my hair so i could get fabulous in double time.
On to Yes to Carrots hydrating shower gel- [We know you love your luxuriously long showers - so do we! What better way to let the feeling of a hot, relaxing shower linger than to carry it with you in your skin! Yes To Carrots Carrot Hydrating Shower Gel gently cleanses, nourishes and rivitalizes your skin, leaving you feeling clean, fresh, moisturized throughout the day. So clean and with so much hydration, it's like you've never even left the shower! You'll feel amazingly refreshed, revived, and radiating a natural, healthy glow!*
Organic Carrots are brimming with Beta-Carotene, a natural antioxidant that protects skin from damaging free radicals. Melons are rich in Beta-Carotene and also Vitamin A and Vitamin C, which naturally exfoliates and hydrate to leave your skin feeling soft and refreshed. Also includes: Matricaria Flower Oil, Olive Fruit Oil, Sweet Almond Oil, Jojoba Seed Oil, Pumpkin Fruit Extract, Orange Extract, Honey Extract.]
Oh my goodness. I've used this stuff both just with my bare hands, and on a sponge. It is like nothing i have ever showered with before. My skin after was so unbelievably soft. I told Cole i had never felt so clean from a shower. That was weird to say, because that is the sole purpose of showers... to clean you. But its true.
Rinsing out the conditioner it felt a lot like how you hair would feel after a deep conditioning treatment. I have yet to blow dry it since using these products, so i cant tell you about that. But i can tell you that never in my life have i been able to go to bed with wet hair and not re wet and heat treat it in the morning. I would wake up looking like a cross between Kurt Cobain and a Hanson brother, no kidding. But the first night i showered with this stuff, i went to bed with wet hair. It was not my intention, i just ran out of time, and then energy to do anything about it. I was sad knowing that i waisted a good shower on "testing" out a product to get limp flimsy result which would be my fault. Much to my surprise, i awoke with shiney brilliance upon my head.. Lose soft curls and lots of body. I loved my hair so much in fact, that i didn't even brush it, and i wore it down all day long... running my hands through it (and moving my head to feel it swoosh when no one was around..well, no big people). That was a thursday night, that shower.. I didn't wash my hair again until saturday night, but not because it needed it, it look honestly just as fabulous at friday morning.. but because i just cant go that long working out and not washing my hair. its gross. no matter how much you bathe the rest of your body...your head sweats too.
I truly and deeply an enamored by this product and i will sing it praises loudly. I'm usually a product bailer... i cant handle the commitment. When it starts to "do me wrong" it is quickly replaced.. But i think that even i, have met my match. We were made for one another. In fact i think it was made for everyone. They even have an entire sensitive skin line, and acne line, and hair products that protect colored hair as well. I think everyone needs to go check it out here, and give it a try. If you hate it, return it. Their website says they sell it nearly everywhere. I'm excited to try their babyline.
