Cavewoman Beauty Methods - Who's In?!

[LumpyLatimer]

RIGHT!

As mentioned elsewhere, I am ditching chemicals and bottles and packaging for natural, herbal and Ayurvedic stuff, and wondered if anyone wanted to join me, so we can basically end up look like this

Bit of background - this all kicked off when I used some henna. Turns out that dying your hair red is the least of its properties - it has turned my depressingly straight bleached frazzle into thick tumbling locks

I am going to continue wth hair experimenting by using some Indian/ayurvedic stuff - shikakai, cassia, amla oil etc. Just waiting for my parcels to arrive. I can post loads of links/info if anyone is interested.

Also doing the OCM and amazed by my skin. Not used castor oil yet as my ebay seller is stupidly slow, but exerimenting with various other oils.

Not yet got round to thinking about deodorants and shower gels

I wondered if anyone else is in. So far I really just feel like I'm screaming SCREW YOU! at Unilever and turning into a really really hot witch with amazing hair.

Disclaimer: you don't actually have to wear velvet dresses and crap sandals to do this stuff. It's good for the planet and good for your bank account, both of which are pretty compelling reasons to give it a shot....

So...anyone joining me?

For beautiful eyes, look for the beauty in others; for beautiful lips, speak only words of kindness; and for poise, walk with the knowledge that you are never alone - Audrey Hepburn

Cheesy but wonderful (IMHO) and all natural too.

well I'm of Indian extraction and can confirm coconut and amla oil are fab for the hair. I use Vatika hair oil (mix of coconut, amla, neem, henna and lemon) regularly (you can find it in the ethnic aisle in big supermarkets or Asian grocers).

Neem oil is like tea tree and also used to treat problem skin and nits!

Turmeric is a fab antiseptic/antibacterial ingredient too. my mum used to mix it up with gram (chickpea) flour and milk, apply to my face, leave to dry then scrub off with hot flannel. gives you the smoothest skin and supposed to brighten and even out skin tone (though you have to go easy with the turmeric or it can turn you yellow and you stink like a pakora while it's on!)

Turmeric is also given mixed in honey or in milk as a cough cure.

will go and think of some more!

Mum went through a stage of brewing up neem tea and drinking it - tasted foul!

yes it stinks Vallium, so normally blended with other 'aromatics'! (is actually an ingredient in Nitty Gritty Anti Nit Spray as I spotted the other day)

oh, I remember my cousin from India waxing her legs with a home made concoction - she used jaggery (kind of raw palm sugar sold in lumps from Indian shops) melted and heated with lemon juice. think she just boiled it then let it cool then smeared it on her legs, applied a cotton strip and yanked... I was 13 and in awe of her . Disclaimer: obviously one would have to test how hot the caramel was before applying to legs (wince)

no need to go cavewoman/raffia sandals to ditch the nasty chemicals, I write about beauty products and only use those that don't contain cr*p, there are loads of nice brands out there as well as fab make up!

whole foods is one of the best places, otherwise naturisimo online

Can Henna be used on anyones hair. I currently have a head of bleached blonde straw like hair. I have been leaving coconut oil on overnight which works quite well.

Switch, I used henna (Lush Caca Rouge) on my hair, and it had some blonde highlights. Not all of it was in awful condition, but quite a bit of it was pretty shocking.

The thing to do is a decent strand test. I did this by retrieving loads of hair from various hairbushes, because I am grim like that . Because highlighted/bleached hair is porous and damaged it tends to take the colour more than elsewhere, and of course is a lighter base, so you need to check that you're not going to end up with a head like a Belisha beacon. You might want to mix Lush's caca rouge with caca marron, which has some indigo in it (that will darken the dye and should prevent bleached blondes turning into tomato heads). But - test, test test - henna is EVERY permanent!

do you want to actually have red hair, or do you want a treatment that will thicken and nourish your hair??? If the latter than I'd recommend cassia oblovata (see link upthread). It will do all the good things that henna does, but without the reddening effect.

Moo I'd smell like a pakora, you say???

Haha, yes, whatever floats your DH's boat! And, I guess whatever excess mask you have you could add spices, mix in finely sliced onion, fry and voila onion bhaji

Lumpy I don't want red hair, just thick, lushious swishy hair! I did read that link upthread but there was a bit too much science in it for me.

Just realised that was just one page... will read the rest...

I'm doing OCM and have just done the brazillian keratin thing.

It takes me about 5 mins to get ready in the morning due to not having to use foundation and my hair is brush and go. It used to take me 90 mins to get hair and face done and I still didn't look as good.

I love MN.

Too much science

It's worth another read. It sounds like it'd be a good thing for you to try. If your hair is very pale it can bring out some honeyed tones (sort of darker golder blonde) but I think the main thing is it SHOULD thicken and nourish. I haven't tried mine yet - still waiting for Mr Postman to bring me my witchy goodies....

Katie amazing what you learn innit?! I am just waiting and hoping for my skin to reach that stage but it's so awful I can't bring myself to really believe it could happen....

henna on real people hair

I love the women with the orange hair in the sunshine. I'm so not brave enough to do that though!

What a great load of pics! The sunshiny one is pretty much the colour I have. I LOVE it. I still quail slightly when I realise just how permanent it is, but still: I feel it's awfully me, red hair, somehow...

Is the cavewoman beauty method "getting eaten by a sabre toothed tiger before you get old enough to be wrinkly"?

How does the gelatine for under eyes work?

And can you get that Rainwash stuff (for reducing hard water buildup in hair before using cassia) anywhere in the UK?

Elephants

No but I've just bought some charcoal to sketch some fetching mammoths on the living room walls.

Not sure about the Rainwash stuff - there is a US site called Mehandi.com that stocks it, but Henna Boy doesn't seem to....

A sabre toothed tiger would be the perfect solution, haven't manged to find one round here yet though!

I can't remember exactly how the gelatine works, but it somehow lightens the dark circles over time. There's a noticeable but not massive difference after the first application and used regularly it makes a massive difference. It isn't bleaching the skin in any way. Something to do with collagen iirc.

Gelatine comes from boiled bones (nice ). TBH I did find the idea of using it a but yukky but considering it's in a huge array of foods it's rather silly.

I could send you all some lovely soft scottish water. we have plenty. Nope no drought up here!

For removing the mineral build up in hard water areas. Probably should have added that, rather than just boasting that it rains here all the time.

You could get a roaring trade going. A bit like that website that sells jars of fresh air from Wales

My only issue is delivery is probably going to be expensive. But its definitely a multi functional product, you can wash the hard water minerals out of your hair with it, you could drink it or even use it to reconstitute your pot noodle!

Or I could offer holidays to come up and wash those nasty minerals out in my shower. You could even stay in my spare room and my children could smear you with homemade lovelies.

Bloody genius!

See? That's a whole B&B /spa treatment business proposal RIGHT THERE. Off to the bank for a start-up loan, go on with yer

I would actually buy water from Skye its made my hair like silk. I tried rinsing with dilute vinegar but that doesn`t really work. So any ideas gratefully recieved.

BTW I have a water softner and a Culligan shower filter to no avail.

I have a bottle of rosewater brought back from India by SIL, haven't opened it yet (it's been a year!) as I'm not sure what to do with it. Does it need diluting or can it be used neat as a toner?

Lush have a shampoo specifically for hard water areas; I'm going to try that.