tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-63747861983282945562024-03-09T06:54:26.625-08:00Bear's Beauty BlogInformation on products, tips + tricks, and updates about my life and the shop in general. Bear's Beauty Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01094818751869228826noreply@blogger.comBlogger114125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6374786198328294556.post-11871751382609523272023-10-24T18:59:00.002-07:002023-10-24T18:59:38.516-07:00 Post From Bears Beauty & Skincare Blog (Please follow the new page to stay up to date.)<p><br /></p><p>https://bearsbeautyskincare.blogspot.com/2023/10/why-hormone-friendly-and-coconut-free.html</p><h3 class="post-title entry-title" itemprop="name">
Why Hormone Friendly and Coconut-Free Matters with Skincare & The Body Burden
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<p> We have all heard that our skin is our largest organ at this point,
but have you ever considered something called your body burden </p><p>I love this excerpt from Science Direct and the book linked below. (Zero Affiliation) <br /></p><p id="B978012385481000006X-p0230"><i><span><span><span class="topic-highlight">"Body burden</span>
is the term for the concentration (or amount) of chemical in the body
at any given time, and the biological half-life of a chemical is the
time required to reduce the concentration of the chemical in the body by
one-half, in the absence of further intake. Many pesticides are water
soluble and easily excreted, or are readily metabolized to more
water-soluble compounds that are easily excreted. Lipophilic pesticides,
such as the </span><a class="topic-link" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/pharmacology-toxicology-and-pharmaceutical-science/organochlorine-derivative" title="Learn more about organochlorines from ScienceDirect's AI-generated Topic Pages">organochlorines</a>,
however, are stored in fat and are not easily removed from the body,
and most people around the world carry a low body burden of <a class="topic-link" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/pharmacology-toxicology-and-pharmaceutical-science/organochlorine-pesticide" title="Learn more about organochlorine pesticides from ScienceDirect's AI-generated Topic Pages">organochlorine pesticides</a> (</span><span>Burgaz et al., 1994; Durham, 1969; Zatz, 1972</span>).
Repeated exposure to a chemical may result in cumulative storage and an
increased body burden. If the interval between exposures is long
relative to the biological half-life of the chemical, all or most of it
will be removed from the body prior to subsequent exposure, and it is
unlikely that the chemical will accumulate. If the interval between
exposures is short relative to the biological half-life, however, there
will be a residual body burden from the first exposure when the second
exposure occurs, and so on, such that the chemical accumulates in the
body."</i></p><p id="B978012385481000006X-p0230"><i> - <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/medicine-and-dentistry/body-burden" target="_blank">https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/medicine-and-dentistry/body-burden </a></i><br /></p><p> </p><p><i>"The body burden of a toxic substance is said to be the amount of the
substance in the human body and represents the difference between
cumulative absorption and excretion of the substance. Measuring body
burdens provides a precise individual measurement of exposure to a
toxin. Such measurements are useful in epidemiologic risk assessments
and provide a means of relating exposure to absorption. The principles
underlying measuring body burdens were discussed. When absorbed, toxins
are usually distributed across several physiologically distinct
compartments. The compartments are defined by the dynamic behavior of
the toxin contained within them and do not necessarily correspond to
specific anatomical sites. Lead (7439921) and polybrominated-biphenyl
(59536651) exposures were discussed as examples of body burden
measurements. Limitations of body burden measurements were described.
Body burden measurements generally are not very useful in providing
information on short term changes in exposure. The body burden does not
respond rapidly to fluctuations in exposure except in the case of very
rapidly excreted toxins. An understanding of the toxicokinetics of
absorbed materials is necessary in order to use body burden measurements
in the most effective manner. Ethical aspects of body burden
measurements were discussed. Because measuring body burdens may tend to
label individuals as being at increased risk of disease, body burden
measurements should be coupled with environmental exposure measurements.
Measuring body burdens of individuals in the absence of environmental
exposure measurements is considered unethical"</i></p><p><i> - <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/nioshtic-2/00173360.html " target="_blank">https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/nioshtic-2/00173360.html </a></i></p><p><i> </i></p><p>If
you are still with me, you have a good idea of what the body burden is
(the accumulation of chemicals and pesticides in the body, specifically
fat, and how long that takes to clear the system is directly impacted by
exposure, having a cumulative effect.) As a side note, all of these are
really great links and references to share when someone asks about why
its worth paying extra for Organic, USDA Organic, Organically Grown, or
to grow your own food and medicine. </p><p>You are also probably
wondering what this has to do with skincare, this is a recent study done
by the EWG, Environmental Working Group, and it speaks to one of my
main concerns. </p><p><i>In a study spearheaded by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) in
collaboration with Commonweal, researchers at two major laboratories
found an average of 200 industrial chemicals and pollutants in umbilical
cord blood from 10 babies born in August and September of 2004 in U.S.
hospitals. Tests revealed a total of 287 chemicals in the group. The
umbilical cord blood of these 10 children, collected by Red Cross after
the cord was cut, harbored pesticides, consumer product ingredients, and
wastes from burning coal, gasoline, and garbage.</i></p><p><i>- <a href="https://www.ewg.org/research/body-burden-pollution-newborns" target="_blank">https://www.ewg.org/research/body-burden-pollution-newborns </a></i></p><p> I
know, a lot of quotes from outside sources, but I like empirical
evidence. I love old wisdom, like how spit and tobacco pulls out a bee
stinger, but I also like medical studies. So, why am I as a skincare
formulator and herbalist concerned about chemicals in a baby's umbilical
cord? Why do I think you should be as well? I think the most logical
place to start is to ask the question of why a newborn baby has 287
chemicals in their system at birth? If the body burden refers to the
accumulation over time and this is our starting point, what is happening
to our bodies as a result?</p><p>This means that the mothers have this
exposure while pregnant or that their existing toxin load is so high
that it inherently transfers through the blood to baby. If you then add a
petroleum derived baby oil and talc based baby powder with artificial
fragrance and corn allergens that are so GMO now they don't need
pesticide; you have a recipe for disaster. Sick babies, sick kids, sick
teens, and more sick adults. If you further combine this body burden
from birth with things like parabens, hormone disruptors, and artificial
fragrances...it becomes very very clear why everything you put on or in
your body matters. </p><p>When my Grandpa passed away in 2007 from
Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma, I started looking into the chemicals in our food,
skincare, and general environment I was scared of what my future would
look like. I started cutting out things like fragrance and beauty
products. I worked in a commercial salon and quickly noticed that my
migraines happened there, when I was exposed to all the products; more
alarming, I noticed the other women I worked with ALL had similar
issues. I eventually quit that job for the sake of my health and within a
month my migraines were centered exclusively around my moon cycle, and
no longer a daily occurrence. This so drastically changed my quality of
life that I kept digging and started making my own homemade skincare.</p><p>Not
only did my headaches all but disappear, but my acne and even my body
acne had started to improve. I wanted to understand the ingredients in
my products so I hopped online and started digging. I researched the
chemistry and the connection between barrier function and overall
health, At the same time I realized my acne prone and sensitive skin was
not going to tolerate coconut ingredients, unfortunate since 99% of
natural products have coconut or coconut based emulsifiers (E-Wax,
Ceteryl Alcohol). I started making my own recipes coconut and palm free
and the rest was history. </p><p>As I learned more about formulation and
got into the skincare manufacturing side of things, I understood more
about what products the market really needed. A natural deodorant was
one of my first formulas. Your lymphatic system is integral in
detoxifying your system. Typical commercial deodorant uses aluminum or
alum salts to stop you from sweating, keeping all the things your body
is trying to detoxify via your sweat trapped in your armpits. This makes
it difficult for your body to reduce the body burden via that pathway.
It also further adds to it with chemicals and fragrances on your skin
being absorbed. </p><p> Our deodorant has been our cornerstone product,
quite by accident. I was really into makeup and was initially much more
interested in a makeup line, but I soon saw need in the sensitive skin
realm for something different. <br /></p><p>Coconut has a tendency to
clog pores, basically rated an 80% likelihood of clogging your pores (4
of 5 on the comedogenic scale.) This goes for most coconut derived
ingredients as well, especially emulsifying wax. I searched for products
that were free from coconut and it's derivatives to no avail. It was
almost impossible to find products that met my quality standards, that
weren't $40 for a stick of deodorant, and that wouldn't break me out.
Even now, ten years after we started, its almost impossible to find a
coconut free natural deodorant. I make one and it is great.</p><p>I
think a lot of formulators have the best of intentions and use really
great ingredients, but miss the mark when it comes to naturally
occurring hormone disruptors in things like essential oils and even
naturally fragrances. I use only essential oils, butters, and oils that
have a good track record of not causing further hormone disruption. </p><p>What
this means for you is that you can trust that my products won't worsen
skin barrier concerns like eczema and psoriasis, won't clog pores or
break you out, and won't cause lasting damage to your body or add to
your body burden. If you are over 30 and still struggling with acne,
this means you can soothe your breakouts and balance your skin without
stripping it and causing dehydration. I actually make an AHA + BHA
butter that is EPIC for mature acne and body breakouts.</p><p>We are in the process of planning a spring rebrand and release of some updated photos, labels, and products! </p><p>I will be doing a personal update blog soon, Thank you for all of you who follow us!</p>Jerra<p></p>Bear's Beauty Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01094818751869228826noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6374786198328294556.post-22096574525458354862023-10-04T17:36:00.001-07:002023-10-04T17:36:14.158-07:00We MovedCome see us at
BearsBeautySkincare.blogspot.comBear's Beauty Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01094818751869228826noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6374786198328294556.post-23145354846879928732023-04-04T21:27:00.001-07:002023-04-04T21:27:53.275-07:00Clean Slate<p> Over the last few months I have found resolution in several areas of my life, personal as well as professional. The two things are pretty closely linked, Bear's is my only source of income at present. Through all the craziness of the last few years, Bear's stayed the course and survived even when I was inconsistent or struggling. During the last year while I was concerned about my health, Bear's kept chugging away in the background. Since 2013 Bear's has been there helping me fund my dreams, even when the sales were slow, it was enough to keep me afloat with my family's help. </p><p>Now, as I come into a space of not needing to be in survival mode, not waiting for answers, and not being worried about moving my workspace; I am met with the terrifying and exciting prospect of a clean slate. </p><p>All my truths have been told, the chips have fallen, and the cookie has crumbled. I love the scene in Runaway Bride with Julia Roberts where she is trying eggs cooked all different ways in order to find which one she likes. Always in the past she went with whatever eggs her partner chose. In that same way, Etsy has been determining what I can and cannot sell for several years. The confusion between hemp and CBD made me dependent on Etsy (as one of the few places I was able to get approval to sell hemp skincare) and their rules and changes took the shop from successful to barely alive. The moment a product would start selling well, it would get deactivated for a violation it wasn't violating and my whole shop would get shadow banned. This cycle happens every few weeks, making it impossible to grow on Etsy. </p><p>I didn't want to ruin another shop with inconsistency so I wanted to wait until I was able to get settled in Colorado before I started anything new. January of this year I confirmed my health was ok and it was something benign in my lung, not cancer. Then there were some family and personal things that needed to be dealt with. In a weird way, once I started ticking things off the list, it became easier. They say when it becomes more uncomfortable to stay the same than to change, you change. </p><p>Some of my plans were codependent and based on other people, but not in a mutual way. With my new-found clarity, those plans changed. As I started think about what I wanted to do moving forward, I really want to have creative freedom. I want to make what I want to make and tell you about the benefits without worrying about if I will lost my livelihood because I said hemp or brightening. I miss selling my Vitamin C Mask and the Magnesium Muscle Rub. I miss being able to speak openly without Etsy customer service going through every message. </p><p>Bear's Beauty and the base products will stay on Etsy, as is, for the time being. The Misbehaving line for acne, the cleanser, and the deodorant are some of my best sellers and will remain there. Magnesium Butter, anything without hemp, and anything that can be made better is coming with me over to Jerra's Apothecary. This concept will be all the wonderful things I want to sell, however I am able to offer it to you. I will try to keep popular items stocked, but will be under no obligation to do so. Creativity is the name of the game. I may even offer some of my art and jewelry. I want a place to offer my herbal tinctures and more therapeutic preparations. I am so beyond excited. </p><p>Loner's Apothecary is still in the works long term, but CBD is on the back burner. I do offer custom formulas and have access to the range of cannabanoids (CBN for sleep, CBG and CBD) please email me with any questions, BearsBeauty@yahoo.com </p><p>As I move forward, I feel excited to start creating and to keep building. Bear's Beauty and Jerra's Apothecary will play off of one another. If there are products that you miss, let me know, I will revamp them and bring them back.</p><p>I am excited for the next few months and while I know it will be a lot of work, I am stoked to be finding my purpose. <br /></p><p><br /></p>Bear's Beauty Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01094818751869228826noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6374786198328294556.post-27415612567428422482023-03-12T21:21:00.001-07:002023-03-12T21:21:09.850-07:00The Rest Of The Story : The Last Year Of My Life <p> <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">It is finally time to share the
next part of my story. The last post is here, you can totally go read it. It talks
about moving from Indiana to Arizona to the Navajo Reservation with my family
during the plague of 2020. I detail my journey with long haul and my
auto-immune issues. I took my first solo trip cross country to visit friends in
Atlanta and decide if I should move back there. I left off at the top of a
mountain in Colorado, starting to deconstruct some pretty toxic family
patterning and programming; learning to be less judgmental of myself and
others.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">In 2021, Mom was doing K*vid response
on the reservation; I worked from home and kept an eye on my brother who has
epilepsy; making sure he took his medicine and had a person on hand for help or
questions. I had been really struggling to maintain my business with the postal
and internet services available on the reservation. I was dependent on Mom for
most things, even rides to get groceries. It was frustrating for me as an adult
and she and I spent a lot of time clashing. Naturally, two grown women are not
intended to live in a small space like that for long periods of time. We were
in a small house with a lot of dogs for over a year. The situation wasn’t ideal
for anyone, but everyone was making sacrifices for one another. Now, I can look
back and see how that pressure cooker brought us closer together and helped us
work through a lot. I was really at a point in early March of 2021 where I
wanted to move back to Atlanta. I was frustrated with my family and wanted to
get away from them and back with my friends. My trip to Atlanta brought me a
lot of insight and a lot to consider about my life as a whole. I realized that
I needed my family right now and that they needed me. I realized the value of
our relationships and willingness to show up, always. I decided to stick with
my Mom and brother and work with them to find a way to move that was best for
everyone and put me back on my feet. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">My family and I had some tough
discussions and worked a lot of things out over the next few months. We finally
started putting an actionable plan in place to move and mostly decided on Cortez,
Colorado.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I needed some supplies for
Bear’s that I couldn’t get by mail fast enough to fill an order. We found
Cortez by chance. It happened to have a few health food stores that stocked
what I needed. The first time we arrived and passed a buffalo herd that
reminded us of growing up in Buffalo, Indiana; we felt like this place was magic.
With my immune system and Long Haul, we tried to minimize exposure as much as
possible. Cortez became a second home, and quickly a top contender on the
“where to move in the Southwest” list. Mom would be driving to the job on the
rez no matter where we moved, so we tried to keep it within a three hour drive.
It was important that she be able to get home quickly if need be, and that we
be close to a good hospital for my brother. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">We started trying to find places to
move. We had a deadline to be out of the house we were in and were looking
specifically in Colorado. The next few months we looked for houses as we packed
and moved stuff to storage in Cortez. There were a few houses but nothing that
we loved or that had enough space. Finally in August Mom convinced me to come
with her to see a house on the edge of town with six acres and a bunch of
buildings on the property. I knew as soon as we got there that it was the place
for us. The address was even my lucky numbers since high school. The place was
a bit run down, the previous owner had some health stuff and the property
needed a lot of upkeep. It was a hay field and the owner used to own a few
hundred acres of hay, selling it off a little at a time. The sale of the house
just worked out, we had just enough to get it and afford it. We bought the
house in September of 2021 and moved in October 2021. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">I stayed on the rez a little after
Mom and Jake went to work on the house. They worked on the floors and the fences
while I stayed with the dogs on the rez for a week or two alone. Finally,
November of 2021 the caravan of dogs made its way from Chinle, AZ to Cortez,
CO; Gunther, Hildie, Bear, Freya, Chloe, and Lilly Potter (a pup I found
covered in ticks at the post office before we left, lucky girl) and then Ghost,
Bella, Little Bit, and Luna as well as Zelda, Albert, Polly, and Ruxpin the
cats, with Beatrice the Chinchilla bringing up the rear of the zoo. It was
quite the two and a half hour drive, but we made it. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">The plan initially was to get a
tiny house for me and I would set the dogs up with a space in the workshop (30ft
x 40ft) that would be mine. The building itself is corrugated steel on a
concrete slab. The tiny house we ended up getting for me was 12ft x 24ft made
out of wood but unfinished. There was an insulated option for $1k more but it
would have taken a few months longer. At the time, there was no way for me to
stay in the main house. All the rooms weren’t finished and Josie was already
staying in the guest room. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">My stuff was moved into the house’s
garage and we started work insulating my house. Even with insulation it was
chilly, but we ended up paying for the whole tiny house rather than making
payments, like we had planned. This ate up all the money we planned to use on
the interior. There is a law in Colorado that you can’t live in a tiny house
you are making payments on. So, Mom paid for the house with the idea that I
would pay her back over time and the house would be mine long term. Very early
on the dogs (mine) were freaked out being in the big metal building, and they
weren’t wrong. It was also cold, so I ended up bringing the six dogs into my
tiny house. The house was split, mind you, it is unfinished and just has
partial insulation and plywood floors at this point. My tiny house was about a
few hundred yards down the driveway on the other side of my workshop from the
main house. The pups are crate trained and even though I made a fenced in area for
them out the back door, they were too intrigued by the cows and coyotes and
kept knocking over the fence. I eventually start letting them out to potty and
keeping them inside to keep them safe. This is a time period I like to refer to
as the dark period. I was cold, my dogs were unhappy and spent a ton of time
getting acclimated to each other and the space, they woke me up all night and I
couldn’t get more than an hour of sleep at a time, there was no power or water,
the electric kept blowing, and I had to hike to use the bathroom at the house. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">I was so sure that getting off the
reservation would solve all my problems, but this had brought a whole new set. I
had a ton of long haul and residual symptoms. I was getting sick every month,
almost like clockwork. I was sure the black mold we were being exposed to in
the house in Chinle was part of the problem and hoped that leaving the dust and
mold would help. As fate would have it, part of this property is mad dusty,
like it’s on a bed of bentonite clay. Guess where I set my house, not knowing?
LMAO, yup, that pile of dust. So I was in this tiny house with no power,
working out of Mom’s den to make my skincare, spending my night cold and having
a lot of the same issues I was having in Chinle. I was falling apart at the
seams and starting to question my choice to stay with the family. It would be
ten thousand times easier to give up the dogs, move to Atlanta, and just worry
about myself and my business. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">Mom was working on the reservation,
driving the three hours on her weekends, still living on the reservation while
Jake and Josie and I managed here. Josie didn’t really want to move out here,
but when Mom sold the house in Indiana in October, they didn’t have anywhere
else to go. They traveled some, but they also ended up moving here. Mom got
them a tiny house as well, smaller than mine, as they were unsure on their
long-term goal and really just needed a spot to sleep and play music. Their
house wasn’t ready yet, so they were staying in the guest room. Eventually Mom
suggested I sleep in the house and see if that didn’t help with my sleep and my
breathing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I tell you that I felt
like a different person after a week of staying in the house, it was crazy. I
had no idea how much the dust and dogs fur were affecting me. I had been
surrounded by both for years and finally being away from them at night was a
huge positive change. Because the reservation has little power and even less
running water, the infection rates for Covid were insane. I kept getting sick,
it didn’t matter what I did, and it was the way of things the entire time we
were on the reservation. I didn’t have insurance and did have an allergy to the
shot, so I was in a weird space. I talk about the remedy that helped me stay
the course, but there are a ton of options for treatment now. I started to
think this was just how my life was going to be, so when I started being able
to breathe without shortness of breath and wasn’t tired all day, I was stoked. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">A friend told me about Ivr and I
tried a round of that using the Flccc Alliance Protocols online. It was the
final thing that cleared it from my system. I now take this when I know I have
been exposed or when I have symptoms. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">I was finally feeling better after
being sick off and on since 2020. It was March of 2022 and I had a cold the
month before but recovered at normal speed and had no lingering symptoms, I
considered myself back to “normal.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This lasted exactly a week before I was in the
ER with chest pains. I mentioned some symptoms to Mom that she as a nurse
recognized as symptoms of a heart attack. I was sure she was overreacting until
I told the intake nurse what was going on and she didn’t even write anything
down before calling a code for them to come get me. I have never had anything
so serious they didn’t do my intake. That night the doctor didn’t see any signs
of heart attack, but did find something concerning on the x-ray of my chest.
There was a nodule in my lung. Because of my history of smoking, there was the
risk it was cancer. His face dropped when I told him I used to smoke and he was
adamant that I get it looked at ASAP. ASAP for me was like August because that
is how long it took me to get insurance and get to Urgent Care. I spent March
to August just changing everything about the way I was treating myself that
might be harmful. I stopped smoking anything, zero combustion, not even weed in
Colorado. I ate only Organic and Vegan; cut out all cheese except Feta (love)
and only drank spring water.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">I stopped stressing about
everything and tried to enjoy every day. It was easy because Colorado in the
spring is epic. We went swimming in mountain rivers, collected our own spring
water as a family, hiked in pine trees, broke down in the mountains getting
firewood and had to be transported by the sheriff who I am pretty sure has
PTSD, tried to catch a bobcat, went to movies, ate good food, hit the farmers
market up like an obscene amount of times, and just hung out as a family. Mom
quit her job and got one in town so she could focus on the house and family. Josie’s
house came and they as well as their partner worked on it and got it livable
quickly, I moved my sleeping stuff into the guest room and got a puppy <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>as well as K*vid the Omicron I believe. So
finally in October I get in to see my doctor who gets me to the pulmonologist
in Durango. She does blood work to check everything and nothing looks off. The
Urgent Care Doc confirmed the thing in my lung hadn’t changed since the ER.
This had been good news, and then the blood work made me feel even better. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">The final step in determining what
was up with my lungs was to get to the pulmonologist in Durango, an hour and a
half away. He is apparently the only pulmonologist for quite some ways because
even though I started the process in September, once I had a general
practitioner, it was December of 2022 before I was able to get an appointment.
So for a few months I was just in a holding pattern. I was going through my day
to day actions, trying not to worry about my lungs, and making positive
lifestyle changes. To be totally honest, I was terrified that I had cancer and
was dying. I smoked for ten years and while I quit in 2019, it seemed like my
past was coming back to haunt me. I decided to just enjoy my time. I went out
more with my family, spent more time with the pups, and let myself rest. I was
on the verge of depression, but kept myself as positive as possible. I
maintained business as best I could, despite new hurdles in the new space. I
just survived. I couldn’t plant for the future or think about dating, I wasn’t
going to Sweet November somebody. So December rolls around and a few days
before Christmas Mom and I went to Durango to see the doc. The appointment got
moved twice, but finally I would know what was up. I had Mom come with for
emotional support. She was under strict direction to not interfere or offer
opinions to the doc since she has been a nurse for so long. I just needed his
unbiased opinion. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">We went over to Goodwill to see if
there was anything for the house or ourselves that we needed. I found an epic
sweater and some Clarks that I ended up scooping up. They were such a good deal
I deemed them lucky and my sweater, distinguished. I wore both into the doc
like a blankie. The doc was incredibly kind. He eventually ended up
nonchalantly telling me that the thing in my lung was no big deal, definitely
not cancer. Histoplasmosis is a fungus found in the woods in the South and
Midwest. I had an infection in the past and my body encapsulated it in calcium.
It wasn’t going to grow and wasn’t cancer. It was such a fast and easy visit,
but changed my life. He complimented my shoes on the way out. After ten months
of worrying and praying, I was good. I sobbed in the car. I didn’t realize how
scared I had been or how detached I had become. I had just felt so tricked,
to find this beautiful life and then be sick with something that would kill me?
I also had to acknowledge that I had seen an order in life, an overarching plan
that wasn’t my own, through this process. I had been so ungrateful and upset
about things that were just not that big of a deal in the grand scheme of
things. Those ten months helped me understand some things about life that have
eluded me for 35 years. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">My family was there 100%. My Mom
and my siblings just gave me support, whenever possible. I had some weird stuff
with Mom before all this and with Gram, but life is too short to hang on to
past mistakes. We are all doing the best we can with the information that we
have. I learned I have a messed up version of what the people who love me want.
I totally planned on leaving if I was sick. Once I got close to passing, I
would leave and go somewhere beautiful like Italy to pass. I didn’t want to go
visit anyone, thinking it would be easier if I died without them seeing me sick
or sad. When I expressed this to Mom, she was like, “Yeah, No. That’s trauma
speaking. If you had the option to hang out with Pat again, knowing you would
lose him, would you want to?” – Of course. Time in not valuable because there
is an endless amount, but because it is finite. The delicate balance of living
in the moment and embracing Memento Mori is one I am still working to find. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">This helped me embrace what I love,
what I want to do with the time I have here and what I don’t want to waste more
energy on. I had learned so much over the last few years and there was so much
that I could share. Just my time on the reservation alone was a book-worth time
(ask Ma Dukes who is writing said book as we speak.) I learned about using
herbs and medical studies and educating myself, I found trusted sources, and I
tried all kinds of things on myself and the family. So much of this could be
valuable to others. My family went from me wanting to get away from them as
fast as possible to us having the best Christmas I can remember. The shifts
that happened happened because I started to move from a place of love. Not codependent
love, but the real stuff where you show up whole and ready to help, not wanting
and needing aid. I learned a lot from ten months that otherwise would have been
spent isolated in my house and shop if I had my hermity way. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">Christmas passed with the family
and we just hung out at the house. Mom started applying for other jobs, setting
a five year plan to retire and be a farmer. When I tell you that this makes me
happier than I have been in a long time, I mean it. Mom has been a nurse my
whole life, always taking care of everyone, myself included. She worked her ass
off during K*vid and kept working on the rez even after we moved, despite the
several hour drive to the house and her having to pay rent there and a
mortgage. She finally took a job in town just to have them mess up her checks
and she ended up making half what she should. Things at the house were tight,
Etsy was messing with my sales because I sell hemp and they are easily
confused, and when she found a new position (one offered to her) it ended up
being filled internally by a tribe member (ideal.) So when she got the
supervisor job offer at a hospital close to the house, that would allow her to
have a regular schedule and paycheck, we were beyond happy. It felt like we
could exhale. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">Jake, my brother with epilepsy, has
access to better care here in Colorado and now has an electronic medicine
dispenser with an alarm and a fall button. Not only is he able to have more
freedom, safely, but I have more autonomy to travel and go places with him or
without him. Mom will be close and I no longer have to ask him twice a day if
he has taken his meds. It allowed a shift in our relationship from caretaker
and authority figure to friends and siblings. The change in our interactions
alone over the last month since those have been implemented is epic.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">The future looks like a sustainable
regenerative farm with solar and wind power and an animal sanctuary with bees,
cows, dogs, pigs, and anyone else who needs a home. It looks like growing herbs
for Bear’s Beauty and delving more into Loner’s Apothecary (CBD + herbs) while
I learn hermetic arts and old-school spagyric medicine from Alchemists in the
southwest. I want to get spring water from the mountains and swim in the river
while drinking Masala Chai from the local grocery store. I I want to make
skincare and herbal medicine for the body, mind, soul, and spirit without the
limits of Etsy or Amazon. I want to sell at farmers markets and festivals until
its cold and then spend the winter visiting the people I love. I want I life I
love and I want the people I love to have the same thing. I might even have
some babies, like actual ones, not adopt more dogs <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">There is a process in trauma
healing known as delayed progression. It basically refers to the drastic growth
and personal development that can occur when a person who experienced trauma
recovers. I am learning things now that I know some people learned in their
teens or twenties and watching my Mother in her fifties develop skills that I
see teens learning. It helped me understand how trauma can stunt your growth in
one specific area, for some people their entire life. Healing and the stigma attached
to being a mess or struggling is way more complicated than we give credit. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">I got the virus again in January of
this year. It was three weeks in and I had been fighting what I thought was a
sinus infection. I hadn’t had the virus in months and it didn’t even occur to
me because it was just a runny nose and headache for weeks. Then by the third
week it hadn’t let go and the headache was brutal so I got a round of
antibiotics. The last day of the antibiotics I still had a headache so I
started the herbal version of a virus protocol. Whatever variant this was has
been a little butt head. Everyone, even Jake who never gets sick, Mom, Josie
and even the puppies got this round with runny noses that eventually turned to
sore throats and coughs. It took a few weeks for everyone to kick it and I was
still struggling with a cough into this month. I eventually ended up with a
bout of shingles when the viral load got too high. I took some Turmeric and
Boswellia along with Black Seed Oil and Ivr (I had a does left.) Finally I
started to get better this week. The shingles are fading, my breathing is
normal, and I think I isolated how I am getting exposed. I also finally figured
out that I need to just keep certain things on hand moving forward. Ivr being
the main one. Message me with questions on this, please. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">Here we are, March 12, 2023. This
journey started for me in March of 2020 when I chose not to take a flight to
see my Grandma because I was worried about C-19 and then we lost Patrick (my
brother from another mother) a few days later on what would have been Gran’s
birthday if I had gone to visit her.) I have been so sick I couldn’t get out of
bed, scared I would stop breathing in my sleep. I have been isolated for months
on end with no friends but those online. I have been through countless bouts
with the virus and through it all, continued to get my body healthier, showing
dedication to my well being and health that I never knew I possessed. I stayed
sober for the last seven years, decidedly some of the most challenging in my
life. I never abandoned my commitments or the ones I love. I didn’t give up on
myself or anyone else, but learned to let go of toxic traits and people. I have
been single for going on four years now, taking time to get my head right and
focus on my health. If you asked me four years ago where I saw myself in the
future, it wasn’t here. I never could have seen this for myself. I never could
have seen the peace that exists in my soul, the joy in seeing my family happy
and healed, or the excitement at a future unknown. I know its not cool to be
single or alone, but maybe it should be. Maybe if more of us took time to
process our shit, we wouldn’t show up in pieces. I am not claiming perfection,
but I wish someone had told me at 25 that I could just be single and get to
know myself. I wish someone had told me that your problems are there waiting when
you sober up and they all stay until you recognize and solve them, integrate
and accept. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">Spring is coming, it rained and
hailed today, so its just on the verge. I have learned a few tricks for
mediating the mud and have plans to build some culverts and things to move the
water away from my house. My house is finally level after almost a year and a
half of having it here but not being able to use it. I have learned that the
way the clay and water are here, you need to work with it. My doors that have
been unable to shut and had to be taped are now usable! I have a wood stove,
because we now know electric heaters aren’t enough for how cold it gets here. I
have plans to start building out the workshop next and seedlings to start my
garden for extractions and medicine. I am moving into my space as soon as the
weather allows and the floors are in and have a five year plan (four now) that
ends with me having my own property and the business staying here in the shop. I
started an animal sanctuary and can offset some of the costs of caring for
animals that need it and eventually get help and build out their area. We are
getting goats and pigs this year. Mom is dating and Jake and Josie are both
doing well. Life is good and I am so beyond grateful for this as well as the journey,
stoked to see what’s next!</p>
<p></p>Bear's Beauty Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01094818751869228826noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6374786198328294556.post-26769484013608667162023-02-27T17:21:00.003-08:002023-02-27T17:21:40.173-08:00Quick Check In + Lessons from World War Z<p> It has been a long time since I posted here. My life has been simultaneously incredibly busy and incredibly slow. I am drafting a longer post about the last year or so, but wanted to check in with you guys quickly today. </p><p>I had an epiphany the other day about my Etsy shop and my current situation, I am fighting against the current, as it were. If you have ever been swimming in a body of water with a current, like a river, you understand the futile nature of such actions. </p><p>I have been selling hemp seed oil based skincare on Etsy since 2013. Hemp Seed Oil is cold pressed from industrial hemp seeds, they contain no THC or CBD or any of the other active cannabanoids. Industrial hemp was used until very recently for fiber and oil for everything from paper to bio fuel. During the industrial revolution companies pushing wood-based and petroleum-based products began demonizing hemp in order to further their own agendas. Hemp disrupts not only these, but a few medical and drug industries as well. For this reason, it remains on the shadowy side of the law. Even Hemp Seed Oil, literally just a fatty oil like Sunflower or Olive, continues to face scrutiny. </p><p>Hemp Seed Oil has an ideal ratio of Omega Fatty Acids 3 - 6 - 9 as well as an obscene percentage of Linoleic Acid (a fatty acid that helps break down and thin thicker oils and nourishes human skin like no other.) Back in 2013 before CBD was a thing I was a pothead with terrible skin, a big heart, and a desire to find a way to use my love of cosmetology to help and not harm. I stumbled onto hemp seed oil as one of the few high linoleic oils available, Flax and Chia are also similar lipid profiles. I fell in love with hemp seed oil because it impacted my skin like no other oil ever had. It helped with my acne, my eczema, and my psoriasis. It was like a miracle. </p><p>For this reason, I have been a die-hard advocate of industrial hemp for the last ten years. To my detriment, if I am being honest. The powers that be...pharma, petroleum, paper, wood, and I am sure several others are not a fan of hemp and have made it almost impossible to sell my hemp oil skincare without being lumped in with CBD or THC. Because my skincare is in a weird gray area, places that don't allow CBD struggled to understand if I was allowed (I am, hemp seed oil is not the same as CBD or THC...it's actually not the same as anything else having to to with the Cannabis Sativa plant. Cannabis Sativa Seed Oil from industrial hemp seeds has been legal in the US always, as none of its constituants are regulated. But, try explaining that to the people at Shopify. Everyone but Etsy banned me or needed me to find a third party payment processor (to take online payments) that specialized in pornography and tobacco. As you can imagine, my skincare didn't fit there either. </p><p>So, for the last ten years I have struggled to keep my Etsy shop open. Each week items get flagged or my shop gets flagged for contraband. Rather than similar shops who started around the same time and make very similar items who have 40k followers on socials, I am sitting pretty at 4k, because I am not allowed to advertise on IG or Google with hemp-based items, so I get shadow banned, Not exactly banned, but they don't show people your items. </p><p>Today I was in IG and they showed me an add for a product that I had a chance to manufacture back in 2020. The product is doing really well and their socials are popular. I had to ask myself if it was worth dying on the hemp hill? Can I do this another ten years?</p><p>Excuse my language, but FUCK NO! I am TIRED of fighting a battle againts everyone and all the big industruies just to have potential customers be the ones to suffer. I know most natural deodorants stop working after three months...why do you think Unileiver and Clorox are buying natural brands? I think they have reasons for what they do, and I am going to start countering with equivalent intensity. </p><p>I cannot die on the hemp hill. I can keep advocating, start my own CBD and Hemp brand off Etsy, but I cannot keep fighting to keep my business afloat, not when there are so many other layers to what I do. I started this brand because I wanted people to be able to buy everything they needed for their skin and know they could trust it to be safe, clean, and as well-researched as possible, I don't use hormone disruptors because they contribute to PCOS and infertility and no body butter should cost you babies. There is a bigger mission here than JUST hemp. </p><p>The first part of my plan is to remove the word hemp from my advertising. It will still be in the products and in the ingredients, but will be removed my my titles and google search tags. This initail change is to try to circumvent some of the issues I have been having for the last several years. As we learned in World War Z, sometime the best thing you can do is find a way to blend in and hide from those seeking you. Seems dramatic, but someone taking food out of my mouth each week is pretty dramatic. I was doing about $2000 a month in 2020 and since catching Etsy's attention during the pandemic, I did $69 in sales over the last week. It has continued to decline week after week. </p><p>I love creating new products. For the last almost three years I have had to put a hold on creation for fear of the new item causing issues with Etsy and getting my shop closed. It was my only source of income and my only way to support myself. Now that my health is in order and I am established here in Colorado, I have the Farmer's Market I can count on as a second income stream. The realization I had today was that I can use everything I have learned and start a new shop with a different name and without the hemp focus off Etsy. *Mind Blown*</p><p>Hemp Seed Oil is great, but so is Chia Seed Oil, Fractionated Coconut Oil and all the other seed and berry oils. There are so many beautiful plants out there that can offer benfits to our skin, there is no reason to limit it. </p><p>I will continue selling on Etsy but will be moving listing info to here and linking other products in my personal shop that won't be available on Etsy. </p><p>Loner's Apothecary is our sister brand, she will be where I stretch my formulating wings. 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</xml><![endif]--><span style="color: #0e101a;">I
attempted to start telling parts of this story back in December of 2020. After
I posted it, I had several people reach out and let me know they were worried
about me. This made me feel I had done a very poor job of conveying the events.
I have taken several months and two trips across the country to discern the
narrative I want to share. I have worked and then waited for just the right
time to finish this work, when my heart and head were in alignment with the
message to be shared. The most important thing about this particular portion of
my life is that this series of events helped me see just how connected
everything in this world truly is and the balance that is the Universe. </span>
</p><p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;">I am
going to be as honest as possible here, no information will be held back for
the sake of ego or appearances. I am also going to share my battle with
Long-haul Covid19 and Reactivated Epstein Barr Virus. I am not making any
medical claims, but sharing my personal experience for entertainment and
educational purposes only. This is lengthy, but I want to give you the
full-circle story. </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;">The
story begins back in July of 2019. This was before the virus was in the US and
before there was any kind of global pandemic. I was very much having my own
microcosm meltdown pre-Rona. I had been working on the business alone for
several years after trying (and failing) a few times to hire help in the rural
area of Indiana where I lived. I started my business on Etsy, but it has been a
fight from day one to keep my items from getting taken down for illicit
material, just to send them my full ingredients and clear up that it is hemp
seed oil. Etsy also wanted to distance themselves from CBD early on and
targeted my hemp items via the algorithm. </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;">The
business (Bear’s Beauty Skincare) was born in Atlanta in 2013 but I moved back
to Indiana with my family after a home invasion in Georgia. The home invasion
itself was a case of confused identity. They believed I was Walter White making
something illicit when they saw me through my window making deodorant. It got
me out of Georgia and into Indiana back in 2015. I have learned that the
universe gives you signs, gentle nudges, and then does the whole bird out of
the nest shoving bit. </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;">I was
forever frustrated with the lack of internet in Indiana and the rural location
(15 minutes to a grocery store and 30 to anything else.) I was pretty unhappy.
I was struggling to get my shop in order after the move. I was always running
behind. I had 280 or so items that I was hand-making, decanting into
containers, printing labels for, shipping, and washing all the dishes for the
next day. This translated to me working seven days a week about 365 days a year
and having no social life. It was by choice but became taxing emotionally and
physically. I was struggling with anxiety from the home invasion and isolated
myself in Indiana in my little studio. I remember my best friend came to visit
and I was driving, they were like “You have anxiety since when?” It was not
something that I had always struggled with. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I threw myself into Bear’s Beauty, but it
slowly stopped being creative and started becoming a “job.” It started to
become something I had to do and not something that brought me the immense joy
that it once had. It wasn’t the home invasion, so much as I became
disillusioned. </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;">I
always wanted the business to take off and become sustainable for the family. I
wanted my brothers, Mother, and friends to all never have to worry about money
because the business was so successful it provided jobs for all of us. I
dreamed of a giant farm where everyone could be a part of some part of the
process they enjoyed. I wanted people to have their own little plots of land,
but to have a commune of sorts, but a capitalist one where we worked towards
profits. I was years in and struggling to pay my rent. I know now, I was
working hard and not smart. I also understand that it is not my place to choose
what my other family members or friends do with their lives. My job is to build
it, invite them, and not worry about who comes to the table. </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;">One day
in July of 2019 I was in a particularly grumpy mood when my dogs were having a
whiney day. Gunther is older and has a form of lymphoma. I started getting into
alternative therapy, as far as herbalism, a lot more when he got sick. I had
been sick for years when a naturopath in Georgia finally found my chronic Mono
(Reactivated Epstein Barr Virus) in college. It was life changing for me. She
didn’t treat me like I was making it up or numb the symptoms, but helped me
find the cause. This was my introduction to how incredibly effective
alternative medicine and herbs as well as diet could be. I watched my Grandpa
have chemo and had a very clear picture of what that looked like. I found a lot
of Gunther’s treatment via DuckDuckGo (search engine like Google, but more
polite and less censorship.) I have links if you are interested (Cancer Smart
Bomb), but he was on a daily herbal protocol to slow cancer and it was working. He has
been on the protocol since December 2018. In all honesty, it’s June 2021 as I
am finishing this, if it wasn’t for that dog I probably wouldn’t be here today.
It was one of his herbs that helped me breathe when I had the virus in 2020. At
the time, I was just grateful he was stable. </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;">The
dogs lived in a separate house (a tiny house that was unfinished on the
property.) It allowed me to cuddle them and keep them cool/warm without having
fur in the production studio. This particular day I was in a grumpy mood. It
could have been too many things on my to-do list, a negative review, I was
still vaping Nicotine, and in general I was putting myself under a lot of unnecessary
stress and pressure. I was having almost daily chest pains. I was feeding my
dogs. I was moving too fast because I was in a bad mood. Think of the prince in
Beauty and the Beast; I was just very unaware of my privilege and spent a lot
of time being irritated by little things. </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;">I bent
down quickly to grab a bowl and as I did smashed my right temple into the
corner of the old wooden dresser. This seemed like just another silly move on
my part. I cursed and went inside to lie down. It hurt and I was having trouble
with my vision.. I had a headache and felt like I was going to throw up. My Mom
is a nurse and we live on the same property as I care-take for my adult brother
with epilepsy while she works. This really just entails checking in on him as
he becomes more self-sufficient each day. I took a nap. It was a week or so
later before I realized I had given myself a concussion. </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;">I know
what concussions look like from the outside. I have seen my brother’s brain
re-boot like an old-school computer after he has a seizure or hits his head. I
have seen him try to speak and struggle to use his legs more times than I can
count post-seizure. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Some
symptoms of a concussion or long-term side effects can include; increased
anxiety, memory, and cognitive issues, confusion, insomnia, headaches,
paranoia, and a host of other lovely things.</i> As I started informing myself,
I started to understand why I had been struggling with certain things. I had
some brain damage that went untreated and there was still some inflammation and
nerve damage in that area.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;">I am a
hypochondriac; call it the side effect of a mother who is a nurse and my analytical
brain. I lost my Grandfather to unexplained cancer in 2007. He was a literal
pillar of health, never smoking or drinking to excess and exercising into his
last months. He did, however, work as a groundskeeper where he weeded and
fertilized the course as well as doing the same almost religiously at his two
homes. His Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and the following battle was the catalyst
that eventually started Bear’s Beauty. It was also the start of me being afraid
of every ache and pain, queen of the wiki diagnosis. </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;">When I
hit my head in July, I was not positive I had a concussion, but I was very
aware that it was possible. By a few days after hitting my head, I was
struggling with horrible headaches, fatigue, and anxiety with mood swings. I
couldn’t focus on my work and was struggling to get orders filled at my usual
speed. Before hitting my head I woke up at seven am and hit the ground running
until around 9-10 pm. I took small breaks, but for the most part, worked
through the day. The few days after hitting my head, I was just not able to
focus for any length of time. I finally brought it up to my Mom a few days
before my birthday. I sounded so stressed and my speech was so forced, I think
she and I both thought I just needed a break.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;">It was
a little over a week since I hit my head and Mom took me shopping for my
birthday. We went to my favorite crystal shop. During the visit, someone at the
shop commented on a stone. It was benign, a proprietor explaining the quality
of their product, but I was instantly thrown into a panic attack. Yup, a
thirty-three-year-old woman and I started crying in a shop with my Mom because
the woman said “That <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">is</i> real
Shungite.” For whatever reason the head injury was the final straw for my
stress and anxiety, I felt like I was losing my mind. I was always able to hold
it together. I had the occasional emotional moment, but overall I was not
usually so moody. I had been talking about taking a week off for at least a year;
this was to be the start of the death of my old life and preparing me to
survive in 2020. At the time, it just felt like my life was falling apart. I
felt betrayed by my body. I thought maybe I could spend the days in North
Dakota updating my shop, that I could post better pictures or somehow entice
more buyers, that it must be my “fault” there was a glass ceiling. </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;">My best
friend had a place in North Dakota and I took a train from Indiana to North
Dakota to visit him for my birthday. This alone was a very strange move for me.
Looking back, I know now that I had a concussion this whole time and that’s why
things were so weird on the train. But, at the time, I could not understand why
I felt so strange. I was stoked to take some time off and head more towards the
west.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;">As a
child, my Mom took a job on the Navajo reservation for 2-3 years. I spent my
5-7th grade years in the southwest living in a place most people never see.
Tsaile, Arizona is at the heart of the Navajo Reservation. I was the minority
and got some very unique perspectives on racial tension and acceptance. When we
moved back to Indiana and my private Catholic school, I was most definitely the
weird kid. The time on the reservation during my formative years made me look
at things differently. That is a story for another day as well, but its plot
exposition and had to go somewhere ;)</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;">I spent
most of the trip to North Dakota sleeping, watching Stranger Things, and
attempting to learn chess. Funny enough my inability to learn chess, focus on
work I brought, and inability to remember plot points and character names were
my clues something was amiss with my brain. I am slightly on the Autism
spectrum, I am just hyper-aware of certain things, and while I didn’t know what
was up, I knew I felt strange. I explain this because head injuries are serious
and you should always have them checked right after they happen, especially if
you lose consciousness, get nauseated, or feel at all off. I am very lucky that
there was not a bleed or some kind of serious damage that went untreated. Do
not do what I did. If you hit your head, go get checked out. </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;">I was
so nervous about including this information, but it is a huge part of my life
and I am not hiding it for the sake of sounding weird. During my trip to North
Dakota I was introduced to practical alchemy. All my life I had a natural
propensity for seeking, chemistry, and philosophy. There have been multiple
occasions when I have intuitively done or had just the right medicine for a
situation without actual knowledge of the subject. Something about Kymia Arts
and the way the subject was presented just spoke to me. I knew there was
something real there. It was about taking things (plants, animals, and
minerals) and splitting them into their elements, purifying them, and
recombining them into medicine that is elevated. I had been looking for this
for as long as I knew about herbs. It always seemed wrong to just discard the
plant material after making a tincture or infusion. In alchemy, you burn the
plant to ash and add the mineral-rich ash back to the final solution, making a
sort of “fuller spectrum tincture.” This same process can be done using
different methods to all things, mineral, metal, animal, and people. I say
people in more of a spiritual way, but there is both a physical and spiritual
element to all healing (in my opinion) and in alchemy. I started researching
alchemy all during the time I was recovering and into 2020.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;">I
thought I knew about head injuries, but it’s different when you are the brain
getting jogged. I didn’t have insurance, so I found a clinic with sliding scale
fees and finally went in to get evaluated in September. I want to mention,
these guys were so kind. I believe it is the Saint Thomas Moore clinic in
Mooresville, Indiana. I felt very worried about going somewhere with no
insurance, and they were great. They made me feel comfortable and like I was just
another patient. They scheduled me for a ton of tests and scans to make sure
broken bones healed ok and things like that. There was zero judgment and it was
humbling. It also made me want to create an environment like that wherever I
am. I was just able to talk openly and get all my needs met without any guilt
or shame. </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;">There
was, of course, the time between the scheduling of the tests and the actual
taking of and then results. I kind of muddled through the end of July, August,
September, and it was October by the time I was getting some results from the
doc.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;">I had
always been able to depend on my intellect, so much so that the reduced
capacity and foggy brain I was experiencing post-concussion were particularly
humbling. I had also always felt a little weird about still living with my Mom,
albeit in a separate living space and as a means to an end, but still. There is
this idea in America that independence is strength, that being alone is the
epitome of self-sufficient. The thing is, if I was alone, I cannot say I would
have gotten help. I was just not self-aware enough to recognize that I needed
more time to heal. </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;">It’s
October 2019 and I am waiting to hear from my doctor about the tests. This
particular night was Halloween or the night before, I cannot remember the
specifics, but it was a Halloween event at this place called Conner Prairie in
Indiana. It is a reenactment village where you learn about settlers, making
butter, pioneer living, and things of that nature. They do all kinds of little
fairs and festivals. They also have a haunted hayride with the headless
horseman (they literally play the Disney movie in the dark as part of the
event), which is what I was there for. It is still weirdly terrifying, even in
my thirties, knowing the guy has his head tucked in a jacket and is not a
headless ghoul from beyond the grave. Or is he? I stick with might be demonic,
just to keep my guard up. </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;">It was
Mom, my two brothers, and I. I had to be all but dragged out, as I tend to be a
homebody, but was trying to branch out. While in line for something, I had a
slight disagreement with my middle sibling. They called me out on something I
did that made my youngest brother feel belittled. I did not like being called
out, especially in line where there were strangers so close. This was
pre-virus, so people were only 2-3 feet away and could hear the conversation. I
felt trapped and called out, so I stomped off. I proceeded to spend the next
two or so hours walking around alone, avoiding my family, like a brat. I was
half upset I had made my brother feel that way and half upset it had been done
to me. That left very little room for logic.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;">At the
very end of the night, we had our scheduled haunted hayride slot. I finally met
back up with the other three in line. Because I had been worried I would miss
them (my phone was dead) I had been waiting to use the restroom. When we hopped
in line, I saw a cut-through that looked like it led to the bathrooms. I went
barreling down the path and found myself seeing stars on the ground with my
foot in a roped-off hole. It is also at this time a small child in line yelled,
“Hey lady, why did you go that way??!!!” At the top of his lungs, so everyone
in line looked at me. From my vantage point on the ground, I could see it was a
roped-off hole, not a path. I rushed to the bathroom nursing my ego and my
ankle. The rest of my night was humbling. I had to perch between my brothers
and be held up, wait in line for thirty minutes in said arrangement while
creepy characters as part of the attraction skulked around in costume, and then
throughout the hayride, I had to guard my ankle against scared children and my
urge to jump like a child. As I waited in the parking lot, sitting on a little
patch of wet grass wetting my bottom, with my youngest brother, I realized how
incredibly lucky I was to be with them when this happened. Instead of being at
the park or alone on the property where no one could hear me,<i> </i>I
was literally with the people who love me most.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;">This
was to be the start of a severe pumping of the breaks. I believe my products
were down to 200 or so at this point and I bumped it down, altering some scent
and size offerings until I could better keep up. The next day, after twisting
my ankle, I made my way into the clinic to get all my test results. I ended up
having a boot from a previous sprain and already had it on when I got to the
clinic. I didn’t get it looked at and she assumed I had because of how it was
immobilized. The doctor did tell me to come back when the swelling went down.
All my tests were good! I had damage from at least two skull injuries, but
neither cracked the bone. I had a ton of other tests and they were all clear. I
had a new lease on life. When you have a chronic illness it gets tough to tell
if this is just how your body is or if something is wrong or normal. All of
this testing would turn out to be a blessing later on when I no longer lived
where I had access to the clinic.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;">December
is the busiest month of the year with Christmas and Halloween is the start of the
upswing in sales. By November, I had it down to 180 items. Some of these things
had several scents and sizes, so it was still 200+ (technically.) I spent
November and December between crutches and the boot, scooting around in rolling
chairs, and uing the scooters at grocery stores and Hobby Lobby especially was
fun. Just like cruising through QVC in person. I entered 2020 feeling excited
about finally being at a point I could get a place of my own. I was dabbling in
alchemy studies, but kept finding a lot of the books creepy. One of which I
actually left on the front porch rather than bring into my space. I was also
doing some little experiments. I understand now that to assume to practice
something you have never studied is very dangerous. Things like breaking down
minerals with acids and metals should be studied for years before trying the
experiment yourself.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;">There
were rumors of the virus, but it was early, and other than stopping vaping, I
wasn’t concerned. I had been humbled by my injuries and I realized how blessed
I was in many ways. I was grateful for my family and especially my Mom. She had
been so supportive for so long of the business. The business too, despite the
inconsistent nature of the last few years, had flourished and grown, affording me
a spot in Vogue and manufacturing for an amazing client from California, who
became a dear friend.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;">I had
an entire blog up about March 2020. I chose to take it down because I found I
no longer resonated with the post. January into March went smoothly, with sales
steadily increasing from my usual 100-150 orders per month to around 500!</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;">My
brother Patrick from Atlanta died on Saint Patrick’s Day 2020 in a motorcycle
accident. He left behind his two sons, my god babies who are both under ten
years of age. He is my brother from another mother, not blood, but beyond that,
he is my brother. I knew the virus was becoming an issue in the US and am into
zombie movies enough to know that a virus can spread quickly. I also knew that
with my suppressed immune system, I was in the at-risk category. I was an
emotional wreck. Pat was a light, just a good person with a kind heart. His
girl called me and asked me to come to be with her and the babies. I was going
to hop in the car that night but I was in no state to drive from Indiana to
Atlanta. My Mom and brother offered to come with and she drove.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;">I had
been using an herb common in Chinese medicine, rediscovered in the 1970s in an
old manuscript to treat my dog’s cancer. In 2015 the Nobel Prize was awarded
for Artemisinin, the herb I was using, for its impact on global disease
(Malaria specifically). I only just found this link while researching for this
post. I was aware Artemisinin and Ivermectin had similar properties, I was not
aware that they were both awarded around the same time. Worth a </span><a href="https://idpjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40249-015-0091-8" target="_blank"><span style="color: #4a6ee0;">read</span></a><span style="color: #0e101a;">. </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><i><span style="color: #0e101a;">“This
year's Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, awarded for the discovery of
artemisinin and ivermectin, was divided between Youyou Tu "for her
discoveries concerning a novel therapy against malaria" and William C.
Campbell together with Satoshi Ōmura "for their discoveries concerning a
novel therapy against roundworm infections" – IDPJournal</span></i></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;">Before
leaving for the funeral, we planned to isolate the whole trip and when we
returned. Just in case, I brought a whole laundry basket of my supplements. I
had so much success using herbal therapy for myself and my pup, that it just
seemed smart to start researching the incoming virus. It turned out there was
some research that showed Artemisinin (the herb I was using for my pup’s cancer
protocol and also used to treat Malaria since 2015) could be useful against the
virus. </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;">Patrick’s
Mom and Grandma were both showing some weird cold symptoms and so I made up a
protocol for all three of us. Thankfully, there is a TON of info on toxicity
and dosage for Artemisinin. Artemisinin comes from Artemisia Annua (known as
Sweet Annie in the Midwest.) It is the only plant that makes the compound. With
all this info in hand, I took the immune protocol and isolated as much as
possible during the trip. We made it back to Indiana right before they started
locking things down and stuff started to get a little crazy in April.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;">Once we
got back to Indiana, we all isolated for two weeks. I spent the first week
resting and catching up on some stuff around the house. Towards the start of
the third week, we ran out of dog food and a few other things and had to make a
run into town to get some supplies. A few days after this trip, Mom and I both
started to have a runny nose, itchy eyes, and soon after I lost my sense of
taste and smell, and we were both pretty sure we had the virus. This was very
early on and testing was spotty. She was required to get a test for work and
even though it showed negative, her temperature and other symptoms persuaded
her employer to require her to stay home another two weeks.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;">These
were the most terrifying few weeks of my life. Having just lost Patrick, I was
keenly aware of the fragility of life and the scariness of a virus that was
killing people all over the world without any kind of treatment or cure. Dr.
Cameron Kyle Sidel in New York was one of the first doctors I saw who mentioned
that it was an issue with the blood carrying oxygen, not the lungs. He
explained that while working in his unit he noticed that the patients were
being given oxygen but the body was not taking it in. As my symptoms progressed
I started coming up with a more refined herbal protocol; balancing the effects
and side effects of each herb in a more effective way. I am not a medical
professional and this is just what worked for me. Mom and I both had pretty
mild symptoms initially and for the first two weeks. We were taking the
protocol and resting, just drinking lots of spring water with Immortal Minerals
from Kymia Arts and eating good Organic food. We spent the time talking about
how we wanted to be living and my mom brought up wanting to look at possibly
moving back out to the Navajo reservation, in Arizona.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;">She
applied for the job, knowing it would take months to hear back from them, as
that was her experience in the past. Around this same time, Mom started to show
improvement and was heading back to work. I was slowly improving, but my
suppressed immune system and the weird nature of this virus made it slow. It
was hard to know how to come at it. For example, there was debate about
Elderberry and if it was good or would cause a “cytokine storm.” I just avoided
it. I eventually honed a protocol and had minimal shortness of breath. The
fatigue was pretty brutal and my Mom ended up helping me fill orders before she
went back to work and while she was feeling better. She decided to stop taking
the protocol a little less than two weeks into being sick. </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;">The
next morning I went over to her side of the house to check on her. I found her
sitting in a chair, very confused and disoriented, blue-lipped and breathing
quickly with blue nail beds. When I tell you I was freaking out, this woman
never gets sick and had no prior symptoms other than fatigue and a temperature.
There was some part of me that thought we were being dramatic with all the
medicine and isolation. Nope. </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;">I used
a combination of canned climber’s oxygen, DMSO (Sulfur of Pine from Kymia
Arts), and Artemisinin as quickly as possible. DMSO can pass through the blood
brain barrier and helps deliver medicine through the skin. There is a great
book / PDF online “Healing with DMSO.” The hospital was not an option because
of the distance. They say necessity breeds invention. Within minutes her color
started to improve. She was back on the protocol and continued to take it for
several months. This was when she and I both had the validation of experiencing
that the protocol was keeping the virus at bay. This is when she started
sharing it with her friends and our family. I continued taking it and she
returned to work. All was going well; even the shop was doing almost five times
the usual sales. I was finally feeling better and getting back to work. Then, the
next not so epic situation came to pass. </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;">The
farmers across the street sprayed weed killer all over their fields. I already
knew I had asthmas and allergies directly related to glyphosate, what I did not
know then but know now, is that sensitivity made me pre-disposed to have more
issues post-virus. I don’t quite know how to explain the next two weeks, but I
got sick. I went from improving to very quickly declining. I started having
almost constant shortness of breath, chest pain, low oxygen, confusion, and
nausea. I couldn’t taste or smell and only wanted to eat pickles. I went to
urgent care three times and was kept for the day at one point because my
heartbeat was irregular. It was like I was being poisoned. I watch a lot of
true crime and genuinely, that is what I kept thinking. The protocol would keep
some symptoms at bay, but something was wrong. My system couldn’t keep up. Mom
was at a loss of what to do. I had racked up thousands of dollars in medical
bills and was not able to make my skincare. She helped with what she could but
then the hospital canceled my heart appointment. I was looking at the paperwork
from that last visit last night. I have a lot of trouble acknowledging that I
am sick, even then, it didn’t click that my heart was in trouble. It literally
says “Urgent Irregular Heartbeat.” This was May 7<sup>th</sup>. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My doctor had scheduled me with a specialist,
but they closed because of the virus. </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;">I was
having weird episodes on a daily basis where I was getting into the shower
fully dressed to breathe in the steam and then out into a frigid house where I
had the AC cranked because I could only breathe cold air that was dry. I have
no idea how to explain it other than a heart episode. It happened more times
than I can remember. I never lost consciousness, but I was out of it. I know
now this is a symptom of low oxygen. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;">Then
the universe and my family saved me again. I was bedridden. It is so surreal
now, but I just couldn’t function. People died from Rona. People with
pre-existing conditions, heart and lung damage, and reduced immune systems were
heavy on that list. My body couldn’t handle the added stressor and it was at a
point where I was also having shingles outbreaks from the viral load, and
unable to keep food down. One day Mom came home from work to check on me and
found me in bed, nothing in my house had moved. She told me that she got a job
offer on the reservation but that we would need to move within the week. I had
no desire to move. The thing is, I also was not in possession of my full mental
faculties. I finally conceded defeat. I would go with her to the reservation
and continue helping care-take for my youngest brother. I couldn’t support
myself with skincare in this condition. I know now that Indiana was part of the
problem for me. Moving was the only way to let my system recover.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;">My Mom
and brothers packed everything I own and my two dogs in a truck and we drove
across the US. I am already a carsick individual and the truck was doing a
weird wobbly thing the whole drive. I was so miserable. I asked to be left
multiple places along the way. By the time we got to Arizona I was exhausted
and slightly sick but happy to be away from all the chemicals in Indy. I did
already feel a little better but wasn’t sure the move was going to be the best
for me in the long run.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;">This
was the very start of the virus. The position my Mom took on the Navajo
Reservation was meant to be temporary. We just passed the one year anniversary
in May. This virus and the impact it had on the world has been far-reaching and
changed all our lives. The Navajo Reservation in particular has been hit hard,
losing a larger percentage of their population than the average loss of life. This
also made it very clear to me how lucky I was to have access to the herbal
therapy and to be able to move away so quickly. I was blessed to be alive. It’s
been a little messy, there have been all kinds of conflicts trying to squeeze
my whole business and life into the same space as other people, but we are
doing it.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;">You may
remember me mentioning that I had my largest sales month in the history of my
business right before leaving Indiana. The move took only days, but getting
unpacked and set up for manufacturing took almost three weeks. The first two
weeks or so I unpacked slowly while also letting myself rest and quarantining.
Learning to give myself time to rest has been an over-reaching theme out here. Where
we moved is much higher elevation than Indiana, so there is already less oxygen
in the air and with the virus my lungs lost capacity. The whole place just
forces you to slow down. I had no idea it would take longer to get supplies on
the reservation and no idea how difficult it would be to balance sharing the
space with my family, and I for sure didn’t know there would be no internet. I
moved from a pretty large two-bedroom studio with a bathroom of my own and a
dedicated manufacturing space as well as a tiny house for my pups. The house we
all moved into was almost the same size but now also was shared with Mom and my
brother as well as all the stuff people need to live, dogs and cats in the
garage, and a chinchilla in a hall closet.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;">They
were so understaffed and had so many cases at the hospital that they needed Mom
to start working the day she arrived before she even had a house. It was a
reality check for me. Even as ill as I felt, I was on the upswing, just getting
into drier air had helped my breathing. I had a feeling this virus was going to
hit people a lot harder than expected, especially after my very personal
experience. It had been kicking my butt for almost a month. I had no idea about
the long haul or that I would continue to battle the virus for several months. In
the same way my body held onto Mono, it encapsulated and continues to shed
virus cells. I’m not contagious, but it’s like having Lupus or something along
those lines. One can live with it and manage their symptoms with treatment,
except there wasn’t much for this very new virus. I was adjusting my herbal
protocol accordingly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As I started to
get into the swing of filling orders, I started to have issues with my store on
Etsy. </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;">I was
using my phone to tether the internet to my computer to answer messages. I
still am, a year later. June 2020 and I had 500 (five times my usual) orders. I
was working through them, making products as I was able and as I got supplies.
The house we were moved into was built in the ’70s and has been chilling the
dessert for the last fifty years, so it had some…quirks. Like, when you flushed
the toilet, it would sometimes come out of the bathtub and sink. Ewww. This
went on for weeks and I got to know the very nice maintenance men who had to
help with my plumbing. This was hilariously humbling as I have bathroom anxiety
and can’t go in public. Well, the Universe said that was silly. It turns out,
everybody poops and no one was judging me for the house not cooperating. </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;">We had
no washing machine or dryer and they were sold out in the two closest towns
(within three hours drive.) I was washing my laundry in a bathtub, hanging them
out to dry in the dusty hot heat, and I was in no way upset about it. I know
that from the outside looking in, it just looks like I had a virus for a little
over a month and moved cross country. The thing is, I see now, especially as I
have become more aware; how many things had to align for me to not die. </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;">Most
people who had pre-existing conditions or who were sick early on had nothing.
The doctor gave me freaking steroids when I was sick with the virus. The
steroids made me think I was dying and gave me terrible anxiety. That was it.
There was no approved therapy or anti-viral. I had Artemisinin and started to
feel guilty, survivor’s guilt. People were dying around the world. It was only
because of my privilege and access to alternative therapy and the internet that
kept me from having a very different outcome. I shared the information with
everyone, even people I don’t talk to anymore. I didn’t want anyone to go
through what I had without at least the herbs. </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;">I
started to feel like I needed to find a way to tell more people about the
series of events, hence this blog. I wanted to tell the whole story so that
someone going through the darkest part of their story would see that there was
hope…there is more going on here than we know. I literally stumbled, guided by
love, onto several things that changed my life for the better. I didn’t know
then what would come out of this, but I knew that I had been given a new lease
on life. We finally managed to get a washing machine; it was like two or three
months in. We hooked it up while celebrating. We run the first load of wash.
Maaaan if that washing machine didn’t back up and flood the kitchen with water
that was god only knows how old from the pipes. It smelled so bad. A week or so
later and after several visits from maintenance, we ran the first load of
laundry that we didn’t have to swim with. Those were the softest, fluffiest,
sweetest smelling towels I have ever used in my life. I have never been so
grateful for a washing machine and dryer in my life. I had never had to
consider what it would be like. I decided I wanted to approach everything that
way, just find the silver lining and let it go. The maintenance guy actually
got approval to get a special in-line fiber-optic camera to look into the pipes
as a direct result of our situation.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;">It took
me longer than usual to ship my orders. What had initially been a huge boost to
my business almost killed it. I wasn’t able to fill the orders quickly or
answer messages so the shop was suspended by Etsy while I caught up. This
completely removed my only source of income. I was in such an awkward space. I
had spent the money on supplies to fill the orders and had a no refund policy
for my shop, but with the shop closed I had no way to replenish supplies or
cover costs. With minimal internet, I wasn’t able to answer messages, so
customers got upset. There was a torrent of negative reviews…I was devastated.
I felt like everything I had worked for was dying. The shop was closed for
almost a month, costing me thousands in sales and causing many of my long-time
customers to leave or send angry messages. It was heartbreaking for me. I felt
like I was letting everyone down and that my body was not cooperating. I was
working as much as I could but having a lot of trouble with fatigue. I now know
about long haul, I had no clue then. I now take Artemisinin as part of a
protocol and it keeps the symptoms at a minimum. It was like July / August of
2020 by now.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;">I was
starting to get the hang of working from the desert and decided to make it a
point to be better about taking time off. I was having a ton of supply delays.
I caught up on all my work and planned to visit Atlanta. I decided to fly and
was as careful as possible. The trip did not go as planned. I planned to drive
from Arizona to Denver to get on the plane. I planned the route along a
National Forest, thinking this would be flat and easy to drive. It was in fact
a mountain drive and it was very dark. I was terrified and honestly traumatized
by the time I made it to the top and then sped back down the other side of Wolf
Pass. My brother Patrick who passed away used to drive a bike, weirdly just as
I was about to pull over on a steep road, a bike pulled in front of me and I
was able to follow it to safety. I arrived with just enough time to park my
car, but got lost and had to park in a really expensive lot. I did get to see
the godbabies but had a ton of issues with travel and the hotel and getting
another rstrain of the virus. I had to switch hotels three times, there was a
roach on my pillow, and I had no car, so I was constantly in an Uber. I had
trouble with my immune system when I arrived home; pretty sure all the exposure
to people at the airport was less than ideal. They are saying now you can get
re-infected in as little as a month after recovery, especially with alternate
strains. I am almost positive this is what happened, but I could also have been
having a flare up. A long haul flare up for me involves chest pains, pain in my
ribs and lymphatic system, increased allergy symptoms, shortness of breath, and
anemia. All of this comes with fatigue and it’s the kind of thing you just have
to ride out. I am hopeful one day I can eradicate it from my system.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;">I spent
the rest of September and October 2020 just working and trying to find ways to
get the business back up to capacity. I felt like I was constantly fighting
with delays, weather, and issues unique to the reservation. I couldn’t
understand why I couldn’t manage to get things moving faster. Etsy had also
deactivated all of my listings that had anything to do with inflammation,
hyper-pigmentation, age spots, my cayenne salve, my helichrysum salve, my
Vitamin C serums and anything the algorithm found nefarious. These were usually
my best sellers. Every few weeks I was having little bouts of being sick and I
would need extra rest. Finally, in December I was starting to see some upswing
in sales and was hopeful things would be back to normal soon. The virus was
ravaging the reservation and my Mom’s “temporary” position had ended up getting
extended several times and then she was hired full time in September. This was
the start of the next steps, now we knew that we needed to sell the house in
Indiana and start looking for a place out in the Southwest. The four-Corner
area is where four states meet, and looking at homes in Arizona, New Mexico,
Colorado, and Utah at the same time is pretty typical. We drive two and a half
hours and through I believe three states to get groceries, so it’s just a
little different out here. </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;">In
December my Mom’s brother, Uncle Dave passed away suddenly of natural causes
back in Indiana. She was already be headed up there to do some work on the
house there so that we can put it on the market. Losing Uncle Dave was a huge
blow. Uncle Dave had lived with us off and on since I was a baby. He was the
family member, other than my Mom and brothers that I was closest with. We had
minimal contact since the move to the reservation, but there were always plans
to spend more time in the future. Days after finding out, Mom and my brother
headed to Indiana and I stayed here in Arizona to watch the animals. There was
not going to be a funeral right away due to several circumstances. I fell into
a bout of depression and mourning. It seemed so strange to be alone, even more
so that my family was going to have to deal with the loss without me. I knew I
was doing the smart thing, as I couldn’t really be as helpful at packing as my
seven foot tall brother, and that I needed to be here to take care of the
animals. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;">I knew
in my mind that it was best I was at the house, but I was so sad about Uncle
Dave. He was my buddy. We used to hang out in Georgia and he was there through
so much of my life. The idea that I wouldn’t be able to go mourn with the
family or attend the funeral later in the year was painful. In a strange way,
it was kind of how Uncle Dave would have liked it. He and I both had social
anxiety and he was forever coming to hang out with me at family events or
parties, rather than be in the “crowd.” He always had a special relationship
with my pups and even they seemed to know something was up. I didn’t get much
done while Mom and my brother were gone. I was really struggling. This loss
just felt heavy and changed the whole family dynamic, leaving my Gran worried
about who would take care of her now. Uncle Dave was supposed to go stay with
her if she needed. My Grandma is over eighty and lives in Florida and in
December between the virus, Christmas upcoming, and the virus we just couldn’t
have a funeral and get her there safely. Weirdly, it was the second person I
lost in a year that I was not able to have a funeral for. It made it difficult
to mourn and move on in a healthy way. </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;">I was
really struggling to get back to work. It had been days since Mom and Jake left
for Indiana and I hadn’t done any work. I had seen some puppies on my trip to
the post office. When I loved on the reservation as a child orphan dogs were a
problem. There were puppies everywhere. This was not the case now. Gunther (my
pup with lymphoma) had been stable for the last few years, but the move was
hard on him. Living in a place where he is not able to move around as much and
the stress of the loud noises has been hard on him. I adjust the protocol as I
can, but there may come a time that we lose him. At the time, I was almost
afraid that he was going to die too. It sounds a little crazy now, but I think
I was just really struggling with all the change. My business was up in the
air, I had to sell my car in Indiana, my tiny house, and I wasn’t sure where I
was going to end up. My little two floofs were the only thing I had that was
stable-ish. I decided I would just ask about a puppy when I dropped off the
mail. It wasn’t that I wanted a puppy, exactly. Gunther is a year or two older
than Hildi and they are inseparable. My plan was to get a puppy so that it
would be the three of them and if something happened where Gunny had to go to
the hospital or something she wouldn’t be alone. When I got to the gas station,
I asked the woman behind the counter if she knew about the puppies outside and
if they were for adoption. She told me that the lady didn’t want them and
couldn’t keep them. I suppose you all see where this is going, there were three
puppies. Weirdly, two of them looked like dogs me and Jake had that had passed
away and the third had one brown eye and one blue eye. They were tiny, dirty, a
little skinny, and I was instantly in love. In my head, I pictured giving Mom and
Jake each a puppy, but instead I was unknowingly building my pack. </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;">I don’t
have kids and my dogs are as close as I have, for now. They eat basically
Organic and Gluten-Free, live inside, and Gunther takes more vitamins than I
do. These three little puppies were about to be a handful. Cut to the next
several months of waking up throughout the night, poop all over the bathroom
floor, lots and lots of training pads, me questioning my sanity multiple times,
and someone trying to steal them out of the front yard so they had to be
inside. They took all of my time. It ended up making more sense for the three
of them to stay together, so rather than each puppy going to one of us; Bear,
Freya, and Chloe were now three of my five dogs. </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;">It’s
funny; it was never my intention to have any dogs, especially not large ones. I
always loved little Yorkies, but I fell in love with Gunther when I first saw
him. In a way, animals helped me understand myself and my relationships with
people better. Even raising the puppies, I was very aware of how stressful it
would be to be a parent; the pressure to keep them safe, happy, and fed would
be a full time job. Thankfully, these guys grow up way faster and are less
expensive and far more forgiving than a child. I have always wanted to have
children, but felt like I missed out not having babies when I was younger. The
thing is, some of the lessons I am learning now, I wouldn’t have learned if I
had children, or I would have learned along with them. I would much rather have
or adopt a baby later in life and feel more stable and emotionally stable as a
person, than to rush it. I know that my dogs aren’t children, but I try to look
for the lesson in things. They are just dogs and it’s stressful, it helped me
understand my own parents and even grandparents in a different light. </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;">The
puppies pulled my out of my depression, they forced me to find ways to start
making more money and figuring out a way forward. I was really struggling with
seeing that I needed to move, but it was easy to see that they did. During the
pandemic, there were puppy shortages all over the world. I know this now having
done some research since my own incidents. Twice people pulled up to our fence,
into our yard and were calling the puppies over to them, when I came out they
sped away. So…instead of being able to leave my three new pups outside to play,
as was the plan, we now had three inside puppies who needed to be let out every
few hours. I am a firm believer that life tries to teach us lessons with all
situations, and not negative lessons. Sometimes it’s something really
beautiful, like seeing how much growth you have had as a person and how
differently you are handling a situation. For me, having the puppies in this
small house and having to learn to not be so stressed out by every noise and
mess has been life changing for me. I used to have trouble focusing here
because of the noise outside, just regular neighborhood noises that I wasn’t
used to. I was constantly on alert, every time our dogs barked, going to check.
It was exhausting and stressful. As many of you who are parents know, you get
to a point on month two of no sleep where things just start to matter less. You
are more concerned with getting things done without anyone licking a light
socket than you are if the shelf got dusted or if the dog is barking at the UPS
guy. Learning to manage my anxiety, to start finding ways to grow the business
from here, and learning to find joy again has been an interesting process,
catalyzed by three rez dogs, one who is half coyote. I had to get to know
myself, to really ask why I was doing the things that I was and what I wanted
to do with my life. Having long haul Covid and learning to go with the flow of
what my body needed, not feeling guilty or shaming myself for needing rest, was
a whole new world. </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;">I
finally felt ready to venture out into the world again. I wanted to take back
the reins and not be so scared. I caught my orders up and in March of 2021
packed up my car to drive from Arizona to Georgia for the anniversary of Pat’s
passing and to see my friends and family. I had been managing my viral load
with the protocol and had a negative test, so I was confident that I was safe
as long as I minimized my contact. I was driving because I never had before. I
had driven from Florida to Indiana, but never cross-country like this. I was
planning on sleeping in the back of the HHR and a hotel only if I really needed
it. I had plans to stay at my best friend’s and then my sister’s house. I
didn’t have a set plan, but I was following my intuition. I knew I needed to
take that trip, so off I went. The drive there was more eventful than planned;
I managed to get stuck in Texas during a huge snow storm. It was so bad there
was no gas almost the entire next day. When I finally got back on the road,
there were cars off each side and multiple semis. I had pulled off to get gas
just in time, if they had gas, or if I had stayed on the road, I would have
been off the side. I started to see that if I just went with my gut instinct
and didn’t dissect it or over think it, there was a really beautiful flow to my
life. I just needed to keep following that. </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;">I took
the trip to Georgia slower after the storm. I made it a point to get there, but
I wasn’t driving as fast. I honestly changed the way I drive after that storm.
I wondered how many times I had rushed ahead into trouble I could have avoided.
I spend a lot of time moving fast. Nothing on this trip went according to plan.
I loved my friend’s place. It was on the top floor and looked out over huge trees.
Despite being an apartment building, I felt comfortable. It was funny because I
thought what I disliked about Chinle was how populated it was. I was in Atlanta
and felt more peace than at my own house. The tightness in my chest dissipated
and I started to feel like myself again. My friend was amazing, they stayed in
town extra days to give me the space I needed to figure myself out. This person
has forever been an almost grounding energy for me, and I am hopeful one day I
can reciprocate. They opened their home to me and made sure I had what I needed
to eat and be comfortable. It was incredibly kind, and it was the second time
they had offered me a safe space. I unloaded my packed car into their front
room, my weird witchy stuff, alchemy books, candles, and a lot of rocks. They
didn’t bat an eye and despite it being their brand new apartment, they let me
take up way too much space. </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;">The god
babies were sick with a non Rona issue when I arrived, so I couldn’t see them
for the start of the visit. I ended up going up to Athens to visit an old
roommate, despite the fact that my gut told me not to. Very long story short,
this person ended up having changed very much since I knew them last. They were
into things I was very much not into. I ended up having to leave quickly and
very much felt I was in danger. They grabbed my face and screamed at me, they
didn’t hit me or threaten me. But, the minute he put his hands on me and raised
his voice, I was in the middle of a panic attack. I was hours away from anyone I
knew, I had been drinking and was not ok to drive. This was the night, as a 33
year old woman, I understood that age doesn’t matter when you feel like you are
in a vulnerable situation. The town of Athens warped from a cute college town
to nefarious in an instant. I gave myself some time to compose myself and then
drove back home. Not before calling my friend, sobbing. My friend, yet again
was incredibly kind, saying nothing as they unlocked the door and I all but
dove into the bathroom to cry. I felt stupid. After all these years, after all
of my experiences, I put myself in a situation with someone who put their hands
on me. I put myself in an unsafe situation, and I exposed myself to danger. I
am not saying my roommate is a bad person, but knowing who someone is was vital
lesson. There was a time I would have blamed myself, but this time, I
understood that I should have asked more questions before drinking in a new
place, and that I should always have a place of my own to end the night. I
literally had a panic attack because someone yelled at me. I decided then and
there that I was never going to put myself in a situation that doesn’t feel
right again. </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;">The
next day, I realized I had been going about this all wrong. I was looking for
something, trying to go out and find the reason I felt so drawn to take this
trip. I decided to just ask for guidance. I asked to be shown the highest path,
to be shown what I needed for growth. It sucked. Basically I had multiple
conversations with my best friend, uncle, and sister about things I was doing
to sabotage my own life. I had to face that I was coming from a really negative
headspace and that was tinging every word out of my mouth. Someone told me that
the last several times they had seen me, I was dumping all my negative stuff on
them. It was tough to hear. It also was the thing I needed to hear the most. I
had lost my joy for life somewhere along the last few years. </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;">I
wanted to say they were wrong, but I knew they weren’t. Everything had been so
heavy. Losing Pat, the pandemic, being sick, almost losing Mom, my heart,
moving, and struggling with the business was all I had focused on. I had spent
every day since arriving on the reservation trying to get back to where I was
before this all started. I was trying to un-become who I had been growing into.
The last night with my friend was uncomfortable. I had never not run away after
an unpleasant conversation. My usual coping mechanism was to start a fight, get
myself kicked out, and then never talk to said person again. See two paragraphs
ago. The thing is, when I called this friend sobbing and clearly tipsy, asking
for an Uber an hour and a half away, they just said “What’s the address.” At my
literal lowest and worst, they showed up. Seeing that I have people in my life
who love me in spite of my many flaws was worth all the hurdles to get there. </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;">The
next part of my trip I spent alone in a tiny house I rented. I wasn’t quite
ready to show up for the babies. Those boys deserved for their aunty to show up
happy and whole. I spent a few days just thinking and reading. I hung out and
did my makeup for no reason. I asked to be shown my next steps. I realized that
rather than trying to move my tiny house from Indiana to Colorado, I could sell
it and buy an RV or trailer instead…becoming mobile with a home base. This was
the start of me figuring out what I wanted. The time I spent with the boys and
my sisters was really special. Alicia and her sister made me feel like family
instantly. I was able to just enjoy my time with the boys and them. I felt like
I had a clarity that I had not had in a really long time. </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;">While I
wasn’t sure what was going to happen when I got back, I knew things were
changing, finally. The drive back to the Southwest was also eventful. I hit a
piece of steel on the road in the middle of New Mexico. It was a ladder for the
side of an oil tanker. Thankfully I hit it going fast enough that I pushed it
off the road rather than being stopped by it. It killed my headlight and I
realized this fact right as it was getting dark in the Colorado Mountains. I
ended up parking in Pagosa Springs right before dark. It was still pretty cold
in the mountains and I planned on turning my car on throughout the night for
heat. I had done so all during my road trip. I woke up at 12 am and had to use
the restroom. I went to start the car and found it was dead. I was in a dead
car in the mountains where everything was closed. I bundled up and went to find
a porta-potty I had seen up the road. As I walked along the deserted streets in
the middle of the night, freezing my butt off, I started laughing. I wasn’t
stressed or even upset. I was finally at a point where I was just going with
the flow, whatever that looked like. I was done resisting or fighting or being
upset about the way things were going. I looked at my phone, still no signal. I
happened to be in a town in Colorado where I had no signal, so I couldn’t call
AAA or even my Mom to let her know I was ok. I just had to trust that I would
figure it out in the morning. I made my way back to my car, lit a candle I had
and left a window cracked in the front. I bundled up and used the candle to
keep warm. It got so cold there was ice on the windows, but I was warm in my
little air pocket. I had the epiphany that life was going to keep coming.
Things were going to keep happening that were un-planned, people would change
their minds, humans would eventually pass on the next stage, and I have zero
control over any of it. </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;">I woke
up early and trekked to the little gas station that was finally opening. I
arrived a little more frozen than I intended, unable to get my words out over
my shivers at first. I am not a person who likes or handles cold well. I am
also not a person who believes in doing anything prior to coffee in the morning,
so I was very happy when she let me use the phone and gave me hot coffee. I was
a little embarrassed at how I must look, in my Grandpa’s old winter coat,
pajama pants, and hair all a mess. The woman was kind and didn’t even bat an
eyelash, just pointing me towards the woodstove to warm up. The guy who came
and jumped my car was also kind, giggling about my candle idea and
complimenting my ingenuity. I messaged my family and let my Mom know I was ok.
The drive up to Wolf pass was almost magical at sunrise. The colors in the
mountains and the views were amazing and something I had missed when I drove
this way months earlier, terrified in the dark. Now, it was magical. Funny what
a little light can do.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I got out at the top of Wolf Pass, feeling
strangely proud that the Wolf side of my family is where much of my programmed
anxiety came from. My Great Great Grandma Genevieve Wolf was a woman I never
knew, but she raised my grandma when her Mom left. My Grandma’s father was an
alcoholic and Genevieve made no qualms about sharing her opinions with my young
Gran. The two of them would go sit at the mall while my Great Great Grandma
would point out to my Grandma all the girls who were dressed like hussies, the
ones wearing clothes like a “street walker,” the men who were scruffy and
unkept…and the list goes on. She instilled a sense of judgment and shame in my
Grandma. She taught her that people were always judging you, and so you must
always appear to have it all together. She became the voice inside my grandma’s
head and eventually my own. </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;">For the
last 100 years this is how the women in my family approached the world,
unknowing that this was a perception of reality. When my Mom and Uncle were
young, they were taught the same things. They were taught that nice families
don’t have problems, and they certainly don’t share those problems with the
world. I knew that I was breaking generational patterns of giving our power
away, of making ourselves less than, and apologizing for who we are. This time,
I had reached Wolf Pass in the light, sparkling snow sat atop the sign and as I
dug my feet into the slush at the base, I grinned. I yelled and I danced like a
crazy person at the top of that mountain. I had fucking done it. I had driven
cross country, paid for it myself, took care of myself, my animals back home
were fine, my brother was fine, and I finally knew what I wanted to do next. I
finally had a handle on my anxiety and I knew it wouldn’t control me or impact
my health as much moving forward. </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0e101a;">I got
back in the car, lit my legal-in-Colorado-celebratory-joint and started heading
down the mountain and back to the reservation. </span></p>
Bear's Beauty Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01094818751869228826noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6374786198328294556.post-64918474049887621402021-05-12T07:39:00.002-07:002021-05-12T07:39:46.307-07:00Why starch is used in Natural Deodorant | Ingredient Profiles | Arrowroot Starch + Tapioca Starch <p>I have been reading a lot about natural deodorant lately. While I have been making and selling our Original formula since 2013, the market is just now starting to take notice of aluminum-free deodorant. </p><p>There are hundreds of recipes and formulas you can buy, but you need to understand the reason for ingredients.</p><p>No matter if you are making your own or just looking to buy, understanding the ingredients will help you make the right choice for yourself and your family. <br />
<br />
The ingredient at hand is starch. We use Organic Arrowroot and Tapioca starches in Bear's Beauty Natural Deodorant. That being said, the structure of all starches is similar. Sourcing matters when it comes to things like pesticide use and contamination, but from a formulation standpoint there is not a big difference between corn starch and potato or arrowroot. </p><p>Starch in a natural deodorant recipe acts as an absorbent, drawing moisture to it. It does not reduce odor, fight bacteria, or any host of other claims made by companies who don't understand their formula. no shade, but I find education beyond important. </p><p>Starch gives the deodorant a silky finish and smooth application on your skin without being too oily, if you are using an oil base. <br /></p>Bear's Beauty Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01094818751869228826noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6374786198328294556.post-11887363426324477092020-06-29T10:30:00.069-07:002022-01-23T04:22:49.013-08:00The Last Few Months | Losing My Brother | Coronavirus 2020 <p><br /></p><p> EDIT : 1/23/2022 (I have removed and re-posted this several times. It feels vulnerable and like it is too much information. This is one of the most difficult time periods in my adult life and I have decided that sharing is the only thing I can do with this experience. My story is everyone's story.) Original Post late June 29, 2020.<br /></p><p> </p><p>We (me and Bear's Beauty)
made it through Christmas of 2019. I had just recovered from being sick for a
month (still not sure what with at this point, but they are now saying
there is no immunity to the Coronavirus, so could have been round one),
and other than some supply issue due to the Coronavirus, things were
looking good. I had all my orders due out up until the 19th of March
completed or on their way to being done in time for me to leave on the
15th of March to finally go visit my Grandma in Florida.<br />
<br />
March
15th 2020 I was supposed to go visit my Grandma for her birthday in Florida.
I had orders all caught up and production time set at three weeks to
give me a week off. Then, they started announcing lock-downs and travel
advisories. My gran is an 82 year old with COPD. I also have an
inherently suppressed immune system due to my own chronic mono. Those
factors combined and I cancelled my trip on the 14th. I was also
supposed to go see my god-babies and my aunt in Florida. This cancelled
trip also meant I wouldn't get to see them. I was beyond disappointed,
but I really felt like it was the right move. I felt in my gut I wasn't
supposed to go to Florida. I didn't want to get anyone sick and I was
pretty sure I was just recovering from something. <br />
<br />Then, on
March 17th in the evening, as I was getting ready to do dishes, my phone
rang with an Atlanta number (where I grew up, but I live in Indiana
now.) I didn't answer and soon got a text. It was my friend Jonathan. He
told me to call him ASAP. He told me that Patrick passed away in a
traffic accident on the way home. My heart broke. Patrick is my brother.
He was 25 and has two babies (Niko 6 and Nathan 4.) They are my
god-babies, the boys I was going to see in Florida.</p><p><br />
When
the time came for me to leave Atlanta. Patrick was there. When I came
back for visits and when I came back to lay another friend to rest,
Patrick was there. When I had a falling out with one of the other guys,
he made sure it didn't last, because he knew how lucky we were to all
have each other. I was always "Sis", because even though we were all pretty
close in age, those boys were my little brothers. It was just my role, I
was forever trying to shape and impart bits of wisdom or my mistakes. Patrick was a
light, always showing up and telling you he loved you. You never
wondered with Pat. <br />
<br />
When I moved to Indiana a few
years ago, I left everyone I knew. Patrick was one of the few people I
still got to see. He was a truck driver, so whenever he was close to
Indy, he would come see me. The last time I saw him was December 2019.
We talked about his kids and how much he loved and missed them. The last
time I saw him, he was grinning and giggling about something silly he
did. He had lit a firework in my office and thought it was hilarious.<br />
<br />
Patrick
asked me to be Godmother to his two babies. At the time, I didn't grasp
the gravity or the honor of the situation. Even Alicia, the boy's Mom,
was behind the idea. I was honored and accepted, with hopes I could be
more involved with the boys once I had more time. <br />
<br />
The
boy's mother is young, and now a single parent to two boys, one of whom
is on the autism spectrum. She wrote and said she needed me, and she is
not one to ask. So, I spent the night crying and then I spoke with my
Mom. I have a suppressed immune system, traveling is very dangerous,
even when there isn't a pandemic. So, she decided to come with me. She
worked hazmat as well as being a nurse for the last 40+ years. So, she
would drive and get gas in order to reduce my exposure. We brought
actual medical grade masks, gloves, and everclear. Even before the
virus, I sprayed everything with alcohol, getting sick is just not an
option for me.</p><p><br />
This was as
essential as travel gets. So, we did so while basically still socially
distancing and isolating once we got there. I interacted with the least
number of people possible, but was already on an anti-viral protocol and
immune boosters. <br />
<br />
I also quarantined once I returned
home and did no manufacturing during the time I could possibly be
contagious or a silent carrier.<br />
<br />
So, here's where things got complicated, and why my shop was closed. <br />
<br />
In
early April, after two weeks in self-isolation as a precaution after
traveling, my Mom and I went to the farm store to get supplies for our
literal zoo of a household. While at the store, we both started to get
itchy eyes, like we walked through sticky dust almost. I am ever the
hypochondriac and assumed it was my over-active imagination, but sprayed
my face with sanitizer anyways in a semi-joking manner. It had been at least five days since either of us
had a cough or fever and neither of us had struggled with shortness of
breath, just extreme fatigue. As we left the farm store, I noticed my
eyes getting itchy around the outer corners. <br />
<br />
Three
days later the headache started. Since before Patrick passed away, I had
been operating under the hope that I had already had the virus earlier
in the year and had immunity. This of course, was a hope, and so I was
still being careful and taking immune boosters, like I always do for
things like flu season. Because I have chronic mono, a cold knocks me on
my butt for at least five days. Even when we went to the farm store, we
were wearing masks and I had glasses on, although there is some early
research showing this virus can re-infect different mucous membranes.
This means that the act of putting the mask on and exhaling with the
breath going into my eyes, could have caused me to re-infect myself.<br />
<br />
My Mother is a nurse and works at a facility where she is in contact
with patients all day. While I remember this specific incident as a
possible inoculation or infection point, she does want me to be clear
that we could also have contracted it from her facility where several
people tested positive around the same time. During our two weeks in
isolation, we felt OK. The week we got back from Atlanta, we both had
some low temperatures and slight cough and fatigue. But, because we were
taking the herbs, we both felt pretty good. Mom did get a test and it
came back negative, but her doctor said there were a ton (1 in 3) of
false negatives and that with her symptoms she should stay home. <br />
<br />
I
started to get increasingly sicker with more and more symptoms. The
shortness of breath and fatigue were made worse by the way the
anti-viral works with your red blood cells, almost making you borderline
anemic as well. As long as we took the herbs every three to four hours,
symptoms were minimal. I had some shortness of breath, but with my
asthma and anxiety over the virus, it was to be expected. I spent the
week resting as did Mom. At the end of this third week, needless to
say, both Mom and I were getting stir crazy. Not being able to work for
that long was beyond stressful. By the end of this third week, we were
both feeling better. There had been some fever stuff, but most of it
resolved with the herbs. At the end of this 21 days mom returned to
work and so did I. </p><p>The virus causes low oxygen and this alone makes it
tough to remember some things, just because my brain was really really
foggy. Around this time, as I was recovering it was spraying season in
Indiana. The farmers around me started spraying weed killer by the
hundreds of gallons in the fields surrounding my house and well water.<br />
<br />
Around
this same time, about a month from when Pat passed, so April 17th-ish,
Mom stopped taking the anti-viral protocol I had her on. <i>(1/22/2022 Edit : I am not selling anything, happy to share the protocol I used for severe symptoms. Artemisinin 1000-3000mg per 4 hours with Iron eight hours after last dose, DMSO to push, Colostrum for immune system, CBD and Turmeric for inflammation, digestive enzymes for inflammation. More incoming with updated post, but message me if needed.)</i> We live about
20 minutes from the nearest ER and it takes an ambulance 15-30 minutes
to find our house in the country. Because my brother is epileptic, I
have always kept myself pretty well-versed in first aid and emergency
treatments. I knew that I could use DMSO to push another medication
through the system if I really needed to. Mom had stopped taking the Artemisinin the night before. Usually, like for the last several weeks of quarentine, she would come over to my side fo the house early in the morning and we would visit most of the day. Even once she started back to work she should have been up and around the house. She was not. I found my mom at the top of
the stairs with her lips slightly blue, nail beds pale, and she was very
confused. Sitting in her chair, breathing supplemental emergency oxygen
we had, she was still not improving. So, I gave her a dose of the
anti-viral (Artemisinin) along with several tsp of DMSO. Within minutes
her color was better and she was getting oxygen again. This is when we
learned the most dangerous part of this virus. You could go from fine to
not breathing in a matter of minutes with no obvious trigger, almost
like critical mass had been reached and so you started showing symptoms
again. This was also when Mom became an advocate for Artemisinin and started telling our friends and family about the possible aid. It was not perfect, but cut down on severity from our own experience, and without a vaccine, it was something. <br />
<br />
Mom started taking the herbs again and
continued into early June. Adding a smaller dosage into her weekly
regime moving forward for maintenance. Mom went back to work, but soon
realized the fatigue from the virus was still a concern. She wasn't able
to walk around and be on her feet all day, like she was just weeks
before. She ended up taking a third week off. </p><p>Somewhere in here I
started to get really sick. I had started to get chills and nausea along
with extreme fatigue and fever. I started having what I can only
describe as "fits" where I would get freezing cold and unable to breathe
and go into the shower fully clothed, wrapped in a towel and just sit
close to the water to try to breathe and not throw up. The nausea was
pervasive. By the last day in Indiana I couldn't keep anything down and
had been taking anti-nausea medicine like tic-tacs. I watch a lot of
True Crime. If it was on any of those, you would have thought I was
being poisoned. This was different than the kind of sick i was with just
the Coronavirus. Maybe I had it still, or the end of it, but I hadn't
had ANY of these symptoms before they sprayed glyphosate in the fields
around my house. That week I was in urgent care twice, during a pandemic
when my germophobic self didn't want to leave my house. I was supposed to have a cardiac appointment as my heart was erratic during one of my visits. They kept me for hours at the hospital before I was stable enough to leave. <br />
<br />
I
couldn't breathe if I left my front door. The mask seemed to help with
the pollen and the spray, but my lungs were not yet recovered from the
virus. After the second urgent care visit, I was at a crossroads.
Something had to give. I couldn't wake up and feel this way every day,
and if it was the spraying causing it, it wasn't going to stop anytime
soon. So, my Mom made the only move she could, she applied for a job on
the Navajo reservation, a process that usually takes several months. <br /></p><p>Almost overnight she was recruited. This was the same time that I was at
the point where I was not working and spending all day in bed. She
basically made the executive decision that we needed to get me away from
Indiana and the chemicals in our air and water, to at least see if that
was a contributing factor to my declining health. I had gone from
working 18 hour days on my feet to not being able to make food without
getting worn our. This all happened in a matter of two weeks and I was
pretty scared. As someone who always has a solution, nothing I was
trying seemed to be working and I was not getting better. My Mother and
brothers packed the studio while I slept. They wrapped all my tiny glass
bottles individually and took such care to make sure things got
transported safely. Mom took the temporary position on the Navajo
reservation and we had about 72 hours to pack and get there for her work
to start Monday.<br />
<br />
I honestly don't remember much of the
last week. I remember not wanting to go and feeling rushed. I don't like
change and moving my entire life cross country on the hope that it will
improve my health is the epitome of a change I dislike. Fortunately
for those around me, I was too lethargic and tired to protest too much. I
am beyond grateful for my family and for them stepping in to get me
somewhere safe even when I wasn't ready.<br />
<br />
It took two
days to drive from Indiana to Arizona. As we crossed the Oklahoma
border, out of farm country, I started to feel better. I was relieved,
but still exhausted and by the time we arrived in Arizona, there was no
time to rest. We had to unpack and set up the household. It took a
little over a week to set up the Bear's Beauty temp space. Being sick
and the move caused some order delays, but even before the move, there
were some immense supply delays. Part of the reason I was OK with moving
was the immense supply delays. Things were already taking months to
arrive. I could forward many of the items I ordered a month prior
without much production delay.<br />
<br />
Then, without throwing
Etsy under the bus, there were some issues with my Etsy shop and they
put my store on vacation. The fault was mine, I had fallen behind on
messages and had several orders that were supposed to ship from Indiana
that were now shipping from Arizona. I hadn't been able to message the
hundreds of customers about what was going on and unlike if this was my
own page, I have no access to any kind of mailing list. So, while I only
have my phone internet out here, it has been difficult to message each
of the 500 customers affected. There are those customers who message me
multiple times, creating a back up in the inbox, pushing other messages
further down. I tried an auto message, but found that confused or upset
customers more. So, for a little over a month I had no shop and no
source of income. I was still making orders that had been placed before I
got sick and still waiting on supplies ordered months earlier. While I
have been working through messages, I focused on making product.<br />
<br />
When
we got here two months ago, we were hopeful that we could get
traditional wired internet. It has been two months and they are still
closed due to the intensity of the outbreak here on the reservation.
Within a week or so of us being here, just into me sending out the 500
orders that I had (five times what I usually have in a month) the post
office where I live stopped taking packages for almost a month. They
were struck by lightning during the same storm that started all the
fires in Arizona. So, I was now driving one to two hours to the post
office, one way. It has been a challenge to get ingredients, labels, and
containers. I have been working every day since we arrived in Arizona
to send out packages and answer messages. The funniest part of the huge surge in business, is that it came at the worst possible time. I had been working since 2013 to blow up my skincare line, and now when I was without internet and away from supplies...it was popular...of course LOL. <br />
<br />
The thing
is, if this situation taught me anything, it is that you have to take
care of yourself, your health, and your family. No matter what I do,
someone is going to be upset and I cannot live and die by my Etsy
reviews. I handmade this skincare for you guys, and while I am working
on scaling the batch sizes, the products are a labor of love. As someone
who is so very sensitive to chemicals and who has seen so many changes
as the burden on my body has been reduced, I feel even stronger now
about making Organic and transparent skincare. While I may have had some
orders that went out later than planned, they went out. I managed to
get my entire business up and running in a new state withing a few days
and processed five times the usual orders in a house with crap plumbing
and no internet that is smaller than my studio and housing three adults.
I managed. It has not been perfect, but I have learned a ton of lessons
and ways to improve the way I do business and bring my products to you.
I have managed to adapt in a world where I was not sure I would have
income a few weeks ago. <br />
<br />
<br />
The
boys are down a parent and I take my position as godmother very
seriously. Patrick took them to the aquarium, the park, just out and
about. He wanted them to see the world and have every chance to be
themselves. He is no longer in a position to do so and their Mother as
well as his family are amazing people I cannot wait to support. So, I am
moving some of my operations to Georgia, more than likely the CBD
products specifically. I want to be able to be in Georgia as well as
establish a business closer to where the boys live. I am someone who
shows up.<br />
<br />
I am also someone who sees that the way I am
doing things is not working. Bear's has grown beyond my capacity to keep
up. It is time to find a way, hire some help, and grow to meet the
demand. I want to share my creations with the world and I want you guys
to have a great experience. As of now, we have a permanent position on
the reservation. We are looking for a house as we speak. We are also
prepping the Indiana house for sale. This has been a whirlwind of
change, but has proven to be much needed. After losing Patrick, moving,
and then the shop drama... you guys have been there. Emailing, dm'ing,
and messaging me words of kindness and hope. As I work through the
messages and some of them say things like "I bought your sob story." or
"You lied." I come to the messages of love and gratitude. You guys get
it, get that while I didn't handle things perfectly, I am handling
them...that this is face wash we are talking about. That my life is
allowed to happen as well as skincare. I hate that customers have been
upset, that product went out late, or messages have been missed. But, I
cannot go back. I can only keep moving forward and trying to correct the
mistakes made.<br />
<br />
Since July of 2019 when I got my
concussion to now, my life has totally changed. Things I thought i would
always be able to count on have changed without warning. I have lost
people I love, my own health, and my financial stability. But, I have
learned to adapt, to change, to move past my anxiety and fear. I started
a whole new life in a place that I love and I feel healthy in. I have
my family and the chance to show up for my godsons. I have my little
Etsy shop, one star reviews and all. Next time, I will do better,
building on the lessons learned. I have taken time to heal, to process,
and to rebuild before coming back.<br />
<br />
2020 has been a
year of trials. The stories of struggle and tragedy I have heard from
others makes my ordeal pale in comparison. The Navajo people alone have
suffered with almost a third of the population infected. With many not
having running water due to Federal laws preventing them from digging
wells on the land, the issues with disease control abound. I am hopeful
that with time, I can find ways to help. For now, I am making skincare,
answering messages, and building towards the next step. <br /></p>Bear's Beauty Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01094818751869228826noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6374786198328294556.post-81451582991836757962019-11-12T10:32:00.002-08:002021-06-27T12:36:37.350-07:00Magnesium TopicalsMagnesium and Organic Hemp Seed Oil are a natural match! Magnesium plays a part in a host of vital body processes, yet most people are deficient. Our topical magnesium products offer you a way to add magnesium into your daily routine!<br />
<br />
In our Etsy shop we only sell Organic Hemp Seed Oil-based products. These are free from THC + CBD, perfect for those interested in the benefits of Hemp, but concerned about the issues surrounding some of the extracts.<br />
<br />
Organic Hemp Seed Oil is comparable to Olive Oil, coconut oil, or sunflower oil. It is a pressed seed oil, considered a "carrier oil" The ideal Omega Fatty Acid profile is what makes it so perfect for all skin types. Offering nourishment as well as being non-comedogenic.<br />
<br />
Magnesium has helped me with everything from sleeplessness to anxiety, and combining it with hemp was a natural step.<br />
<br />
Many brands dissolve magnesium flakes in water to make their lotion, we use brine straight from the sea bed and mix it without emulsifiers using our unique tempering process. The result, is an emulsifier-free, non-comedogenic, preservative-free compounded magnesium butter. <br />
<br />Bear's Beauty Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01094818751869228826noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6374786198328294556.post-87804060315406602992019-09-16T06:09:00.000-07:002019-09-16T06:09:24.330-07:00More Information About Oil Cleansing 1. QUICK OIL CLEANSING - Great for those who don't wear makeup or for morning cleansing. Massage a dime size pool of oil between palms to warm.<br /><br />Massage into dry face and neck in circular motions for 2-5 minutes. Remove with dry or damp microfiber cloth. No need to follow with anything else.<br /><br />2. DEEP OIL CLEANSING - This is one of my favorite ways to use cleansing oil. Pump a dime to quarter size pool of oil into hands. Massage into dry face and neck. massage using gentle pressure in circular motions, focusing on congested areas. Massage for 5-10 minutes. I typically do this while watching TV. Let the oil sit on your skin for a few minutes. Remove oil with dry or damp cloth. You can choose to follow with a mask to help remove clogged pores that have been softened with the cleansing oil. OR follow with toner + serum + moisturizer of your choice. I typically do a deep cleanse 2-3 times per week.<br /><br />3. DOUBLE OIL CLEANSING - Follow #1 to break down makeup, massaging oil into closed eyes last. Remove with dry cloth and then repeat. Follow #2. You can also use the OCM first, remove with a cloth, and then follow with a foaming face wash or scrub.<br /><br />4. MOISTURIZER - Apply to damp skin in or out of shower or anytime you need moisture.<br /><br />5. OIL MASK | You can leave this on for thirty minutes or longer as a deeply nourishing mask or mix with some clay and apply.<br />
<br />
<br />
USEFUL LINKS<br />
<br />
Integrating the OCM into your routine.<br /><br />http://bearsbeauty.blogspot.com/2016/06/integrating-ocm-into-your-routine.html<br /><br /><br />Can I use my sonic face brush?<br /><br />http://bearsbeauty.blogspot.com/2016/06/oil-cleansing-20-oil-cleansing-with.html<br /><br /><br />Troubleshooting the OCM + Dealing with Tiny Bumps + Texture<br /><br />http://bearsbeauty.blogspot.com/2017/05/troubleshooting-ocm-texture-tiny-bumps.htmlBear's Beauty Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01094818751869228826noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6374786198328294556.post-73888368855997807542019-09-03T20:17:00.000-07:002020-02-05T22:47:37.161-08:00Essential Oil Safety | Common Allergens | Possible InteractionsEssential oils are concentrated volatile and aromatic plant compounds. They are collected by pressing fresh plant material or distillation. While essential oils can be extremely beneficial for a host of skin concerns and common ailments, they should be used with caution. Just because something is natural, does not mean that is is "safe." Poison Ivy is natural as is mace.<br />
<br />
Very careful consideration has been taken when formulating each product in our line. Below is some information about some essential oils we either use or explicitly avoid. I will talk about why, as well as offer some info for dilution ratios and oils to avoid when making your own DIY creations.<br />
<br />
<br />
COMMON ALLERGENS<br />
<br />
Coconut (Tree Nut) - Fractionated Coconut Oil will not clog pores like Virgin Coconut Oil, but can still cause allergy issues in those with tree nut allergies.<br />
<br />
Shea Butter (Tree Nut) - Very very unlikely to clog pores, but can still cause allergy issues in those with tree nut allergies. If you struggle with closed comedones (whiteheads) avoid more solid oils like Shea, Mango, Cocoa Butter, and Cupuacu Butter.<br />
<br />
Argan Oil (Tree Nut) - This is another oil that must be used sparingly if you have acne-prone skin.<br />
<br />
Mango Butter (Tree Nut) - Mango is related to Cashew.<br />
<br />
Witch Hazel - some people develop allergies to this herb, while I have not had this happen, I do understand that this is possible, so it is on the list. If you are having an unknown allergy issue and cannot isolate the cause, maybe it is the Witch Hazel. Some witch hazel can be drying and may cause issues over time by damaging the lipid layer. I do use Witch Hazel in my line, but I also offer several other options. Rose Hydrosol is a great option for those nervous about Witch Hazel.<br />
<br />
<span class="ILfuVd"><span class="e24Kjd">SALICYLATES</span></span><span class="ILfuVd"><span class="e24Kjd"> - If you have ever heard of salicyilic acid, you are familiar with salicylates. These compounds are naturally occuring, much like how Aspirin can be naturally-derived from willow bark. These compounds can be beneficial for pain and inflammation as well as acne, but should be avoided if you have blood pressure issues, pregnancy, or liver issues. Sweet Birch contains salicylates and should be used sparingly. I use this essential oil in very select places and list it clearly. <b><br /></b></span></span><br />
<br />
<br />
ESSENTIAL OILS THAT ARE <span style="color: red;">NOT</span> SAFE DURING PREGNANCY OR WHILE NURSING<br />
<br />
Probably also smart to avoid these if you are trying to get pregnant. I am not a doctor, and I am not diagnosing, treating, or attempting to cure. This information is provided for information purposes only, always consult a physician about medical issues.<br />
<br />
This is IN NO WAY a comprehensive list, but I will add to it as often as I get new info. <br />
<br />
Aniseed <i>(Pimpinella Anisum)</i> <br />
Sweet Birch <i>(Betula Lenta)</i><br />
Basil <i>(Ocimum Basilicum)</i><br />
Camphor (<i>Cinnamonium Camphora)</i><br />
Hyssop<br />
Mugwort <i>(Artemesia Vulgaris)</i><br />
Parsely Seed or Leaf<br />
Penny Royal <i>(Mentha Pulgium) </i><br />
Sage (Salvia Officinalis)<br />
Tansy (Tanacetum Vulgare)<br />
Tarragon<br />
Thuja<br />
Wintergreen<br />
Wormwood<br />
<br />
Rosemary Essential Oil, especially in medicinal quantities, is considered dangerous during pregnancy, especially during the first trimester. The "Rosemary Extract" used in our products is used at between .25% - 1% and is the Co2 extract. This antioxidant helps keep the oils fresh without the fridge. If you are pregnant, nursing, or have allergies to Rosemary; you can custom order items without. <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
ESSENTIAL OILS THAT ARE <span style="color: red;">NOT</span> SUN SAFE | AVOID USE FOR 12 HOURS BEFORE SUN<br />
<br />
Some essential oils are Photo-sensitizing, or make your skin more prone to burning in the sun. Most of these essential oils are pressed citrus fruits. If you use any of these in your skincare, you NEED to be wearing SPF.<br />
<br />
Grapefruit (low risk, especially when using Pink Grapefruit)<br />
Angelica Root<br />
Bergamot<br />
Cumin<br />
Expressed Lemon, Lime, Bitter Orange<br />
Rue<br />
<br />
CITRUS ESSENTIAL OILS THAT <span style="color: lime;">ARE</span> SUN SAFE<br />
<br />
Beraptene-Free Bergamot<br />
Distilled Lemon, Lime<br />
Sweet Orange<br />
Mandarin<br />
Tangerine<br />
Expressed Tangerine<br />
Yuzu<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
USING RETIN-A? Avoid mixing essential oils and retinol, especially oils like Cajeput, Cumin, and other essential oils commonly used for acne.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
ESSENTIAL OILS THAT MAY CAUSE IRRITATION IN SENSITIVE INDIVIDUALS<br />
<br />
Bay<br />
Cinnamon Bark / Leaf<br />
Clove Bud<br />
Citronella<br />
Lemongrass<br />
Lemon Verbena<br />
Oregano<br />
Tagetes<br />
Thyme <i>(Thymus Vulgaris) </i><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
ESSENTIAL OILS THAT MAY CAUSE SENSITIZATION<br />
<br />
Cassia<br />
Cinnamon Bark<br />
Peru Balsam<br />
Verbena Absolute<br />
Tea Absolute<br />
Oxidized Citrus Essential Oils <br />
<br />
<br />
A NOTE FROM BEAR (OUR FORMULATOR) ON ESSENTIAL OILS WE AVOID<br />
<br />
When it comes to essential oils, it seems like everyone and their Auntie has some connection to an MLM or has an "essential oil person." The problem with many of these companies becomes the lack of customer education. For example, Sweet Birch is very high is naturally occurring salyicates, like those found in aspirin. These thin the blood and are processed through the liver. If you have liver damage, too much Sweet Birch can cause health issues very similar to too much aspirin.<br />
<br />
Many Citrus Oils smell great, but can make your skin more prone to burning and even cause oxidative stress when combined with UV light or when they are oxidized.<br />
<br />
Lavender, Chamomile, and Yarrow can cause irritation in many people, but it happens slowly, making it hard to identify. Lavender + Tea Tree are also being looked at as endocrine disruptors.<br />
<br />
I spent 25 years of my life with migraines so bad that they finally prescribed me pain medication when none of the traditional "medicine" worked. I took my health into my own hands and started eliminating things from my diet and life. Artificial fragrances turned out to be what was causing my migraines. I had been daily showering myself in body sprays, expensive perfume, and a host of scented products. I was surrounded by air fresheners, car fresheners, and cologne. It has been almost seven years since I first discovered my migraines were caused by artificial fragrance. Now, I can literally inhale any essential oil and not get a migraine. Some of them stink or smell string, but no essential oil has ever given me a migraine.<br />
<br />
I say that, only to say; while I take every precaution to try to ensure you have a positive experience with natural skincare, life happens. So please do your allergy patch test, be patient, and if you are allergic to an ingredient, don't use it and message me about alternatives. There are always options, so we can find something that works for you!<br />
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<br />Bear's Beauty Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01094818751869228826noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6374786198328294556.post-66584957765095449972019-08-21T17:02:00.002-07:002023-07-08T08:53:29.176-07:00Bear's Beauty Deodorant Essential Oil Blends | The GuideWelcome!<br />
<br />
Not only do we offer a host of
natural deodorant in several strengths and formulations, but we have a
ton of scent options. Choosing a natural deodorant can be FUN! First, you choose your base (Coconut + Sunflower + Hemp + Charcoal or Clear Mango Butter + Sunflower + Hemp.) Then, choose your strength (Sensitive Baking Soda Free, Original, or Max Strength.) Last, choose your scent from a range of essential oils and plant-based scents! Three steps, perfect deodorant!<br />
<br />
Using natural deodorant shouldn't mean that you
smell like a Christmas tree or your aunt who went to Woodstock (unless
you want to.) So, while I offer both of those options (Balsam + Pine and
Patchouli, respectively) I also offer clean scents like Lavender, Bergamot + Lime, and Rose + Vanilla.<br />
<br />
Below
I talk about each blend, who it might be most ideal for, and some of
the benefits of the essential oils themselves. If you have trouble with
choosing scents over the internet, keep in mind these are true scents,
so our grapefruit comes right from the peel...it smells just like the
grapefruit at your grocery store. The same for Vanilla, Lemon, Lavender,
and Rose. Because we use the true botanicals, you smell what nature
created.<br />
<br />
Essential Oils are used at what is considered "safe" dilution levels. That said, everyone is different, so always patch test new product before full application. I am, allergic to sweet potatoes, and recently they are using purple sweet potato in many foods and cosmetics. Natural does not mean safe for everyone. I use caution in my choices of essential oils. I find a healthy respect of the natural ingredients needed to work with them, but I have done all the work, so all you need to do is patch test as a double check.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Naked</b> | Unscented (No Essential Oils) - Ideal for the most sensitive skin, those sensitive to fragrance, essential oils, or concerned about clashing with perfume.<br />
<br />
<b>AMBER + VANILLA | Custom Orders Only (6 Stick Minimum) </b><br />
<br />
<b>AMBER + VANILLA + PATCHOULI | </b><b>Custom Orders Only (6 Stick Minimum) </b> <br />
<br />
<b>BALSAM + PINE | </b>Crisp + True to nature.<b> | Custom Orders Only (6 Stick Minimum) </b><br />
<br />
<b>BERGAMOT + LIME</b>
| Unisex, Clean, Fresh, Zesty | Bergamot from Italy smells like a
slightly less sweet version of lime. Balanced with Persian Lime peel
this blend is citrus with almost a spiciness. - Perfect for everyone,
ideal for men, teens, and those who love Lime!<br />
<br />
<b>OG BUBBLE GUM</b> | Eucalyptus + Grapefruit + Spearmint + Ylang Ylang | Sweet and Sassy!
This reminds me of the little barrel-shaped bubble gum I got as a child.
This has the fruity, playful, spirit of bubble gum with notes of mint
to round it out. Ideal for those who like something a little different. - This is a slightly feminine scent, bordering between sweet and cool. Perfect for teens, fans of fruity scents, and those who have fond memories of classic bubble gum. <b>| Custom Orders Only (6 Stick Minimum) </b><br />
<br />
<b>CEDARWOOD + CYPRESS + VETIVER</b>
| Smoky and Rich, this blend is perfect for men. The scent is deep and
smoky with earthy woody notes of Virginian Cedarwood and Sharp Cypress. - Masculine, ideal for men. This gives me lumberjack vibes and is one of my brother's favorites. Vetiver has an almost musky scent while cypress is sharp. Great for those who tend to avoid traditional cologne. <b>| Custom Orders Only (6 Stick Minimum) </b><br />
<br />
<b>CITRUS + VANILLA</b> | Vanilla + Pink Grapefruit + Lemon + Lime + Sweet Orange | Fruit salad in your armpit, in a good way! Warm Vanilla adds a creamy note while citrus fruits blend together into a fruit smoothie of awesomeness. One of my top three favorites. Not so sweet that you can't wear it if you are an adult. Translates as smooth and clean sweetness. - Perfect for all ages and especially ladies who love foodie scents.<br />
<br />
<b>Citrus Punch</b> | Pink Grapefruit + Lemon + Lime + Sweet Orange <b>| Custom Orders Only (6 Stick Minimum) </b><br />
<br />
<b>Citrus Grove</b> | Persian Lime + Bergamot + Lemongrass + Sweet Orange + Neroli + Lemon <b>| Custom Orders Only (6 Stick Minimum) </b><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Citrus Spice</b> | Vanilla + Orange + Lemon + Cardamom +
Cinnamon + Ginger + Clove + Patchouli, Like fall in a deodorant! Spicy,
invigorating!<b>| Custom Orders Only (6 Stick Minimum) </b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Clove + Vanilla</b> | Like clove cigarettes for your armpits,
sweet, smoky, sultry, and a little weird.<b>| Custom Orders Only (6 Stick Minimum) </b><br />
<br />
<b>Eucalyptus - </b>Refreshing!<b>| Custom Orders Only (6 Stick Minimum) </b><br />
<br />
<b>Eucalyptus + Grapefruit </b><b>| Custom Orders Only (6 Stick Minimum) </b> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>WARRIOR </b>– Lemongrass + Lemon + Tea Tree + Thyme +
Patchouli, Unisex.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Spicy blend of
essential oils known for deodorant properties.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This scent is offered in all strengths, it is Unisex and blended to
fight odor and smell fresh! (Always available!)<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>FOREST</b> - Balsam Fir + Rosemary + Lime + Clove + Pine,
Masculine + Clean, perfect for Men! (Always available!)<br />
<br />
<b>Grapefruit - </b>Fresh cut pink grapefruit! <b>| Custom Orders Only (6 Stick Minimum) </b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Grapefruit + Lavender</b> – Pink Grapefruit + French Lavender,
My second favorite, uniquely clean and sweet. Perfect for those who just want
to smell good. <b>| Custom Orders Only (6 Stick Minimum) </b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Lavender + Lemon</b> – Walking through the French countryside
sipping lemonade, in a deodorant. Unisex. <b>| Custom Orders Only (6 Stick Minimum) </b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Lavender + Tea Tree</b> – Classic + Clean, Unisex, Lavender with
just a touch of Tea Tree. <b>| Custom Orders Only (6 Stick Minimum) </b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Lavender + Sage</b> – Sage has been used for ages to purify,
combined with the softness of Lavender, this blend is clean with a cool herbal
edge. Ideal for anyone who likes the idea of wearing a smudge stick.<b>| Custom Orders Only (6 Stick Minimum) </b><br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Lavender + Vanilla</b> – Warm + Sweet + Feminine + Clean<b>| Custom Orders Only (6 Stick Minimum) </b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Lemon + Vanilla </b>– Italian Lemon and Cold-Extracted creamy
vanilla. Very clean and sweet. Lemon Cream + Sweet + Tart + Lemony<b>| Custom Orders Only (6 Stick Minimum) </b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Lemongrass + Lemon</b> - Unisex + fresh + Citrusy<b>| Custom Orders Only (6 Stick Minimum) </b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Manuka + Vanilla + Grapefruit</b> - Feminine. An interesting
scent, sweet, almost honyed scent.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Oakmoss</b> - Oakmoss + Citrus + Violet Leaf + Vetiver +
Lavender + Vanilla,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Masculine + Clean +
Earthy<b>| Custom Orders Only (6 Stick Minimum) </b><br />
<br />
<b>Orange + Vanilla</b> - Sweet + Classic just like the popsicle. <b>| Custom Orders Only (6 Stick Minimum) </b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>PATCHOULI + GRAPEFRUIT | </b>Classic Hippie Chic + Sultry + Sexy + Earthy. <b>| Custom Orders Only (6 Stick Minimum) </b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>YLANG YLANG + VANILLA</b> | Sweet and Floral. Long lasting scent. Very Sexy. <b>| Custom Orders Only (6 Stick Minimum) </b><br />
<br />
<b>VANILLA + MINT | </b> Like creme de menth for your armpits, in the best way. <b>| Custom Orders Only (6 Stick Minimum) </b><br />
<br />
<b>VANILLA | </b>Creamy, sweet, simple. <b>| Custom Orders Only (6 Stick Minimum) </b><br />
<br />
<b>VANILLA + SANDALWOOD | </b>Vanilla is complimented by sweet and spicy Australian Sandalwood.<b>| Custom Orders Only (6 Stick Minimum) </b> <br /><b></b><br />
<br />
<b>VANILLA + COCONUT | </b>Warm toasted coconut topped with sweet vanilla beans in the most sophisticated and natural smelling way possible. Nothing too sicky sweet. <b>| Custom Orders Only (6 Stick Minimum) </b><br /><br /> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>FLORALS (Jasmine | Rose | Neroli) </b><b>| Custom Orders Only (6 Stick Minimum) </b><br />
<br />
<b>Jasmine</b><br />
<br />
<b>Jasmine + Green Mandarin </b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Bergamot + Rose</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Rose + Vanilla</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Rose + Ylang Ylang + Jasmine</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Jasmine + Vanilla</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<![endif]-->Bear's Beauty Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01094818751869228826noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6374786198328294556.post-58174373838378317712019-06-23T16:00:00.001-07:002019-06-23T16:00:39.437-07:00Psoriasis or Eczema?Psoriasis = Itching + Flaking (typically larger plaques) + Redness + Cracking Skin with Redness and or pain. Considered a more "wet" condition, with some possible bleeding. Psoriasis is an immune-related skin concern, and so cannot be "cured" topically. That being said, if you have Psoriasis, you would probably be happy with having it under control and not painful. Bear's Beauty Psoriasis solutions are designed to be used individually or layered together. I used a combination of fruit acids (to soften + encourage cell turnover + slough off dead skin) and Organic Willow Bark to soothe redness and calm in all of the Psoriasis formulations. Essential Oils are carefully blended into a synergistic mix that smells fresh and herbal, but dissipates quickly. If you have sensitivities to Essential Oils, the Body Serum can be made without them, via spacial request.<br />
<br />
Eczema = Dryness + Minor Flaking + Minor Itch + Bumps + Chicken Skin + Not Typically Painful. Eczema tends to be easier to address than Psoriasis. Things like dry patches, scaly looking skin, itching, and bumps are all issues associated with Eczema or similar skin concerns. Bear's Beauty offers two Eczema specific products, a balm with Turmeric + Oat and an Body Serum. Both use moisturizing + anti-bacterial botanical oils and essential oils to quickly protect + sooth + moisturize delicate skin. Bear's Beauty Eczema Turmeric Balm or Body Serum used along with the Misbehaving Body Scrub is my protocol for KP (Chicken Skin / small bumps on the backs of arms.) If you have Eczema, and not Psoriasis, please check out Turmeric + Oat Eczema Soothing Balm or Eczema + KP Body Serum :) If you have sensitivities to Essential Oils, the Body Serum can be made without them, via spacial request.Bear's Beauty Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01094818751869228826noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6374786198328294556.post-53356531628264050442019-02-25T16:54:00.001-08:002019-05-03T05:33:02.986-07:00LET"S TALK ABOUT THE WAVE OF CANNABIS SKINCARE & GREEN WASHINGGREEN WASHING = Using green marketing terms and packaging to suggest a product is natural, going so far as to make claims about being Organic or All Natural. Calling something "Cannabis" or "Khush or Kush" to be catchy, but utilizing minuscule amounts of the ingredient. Calling something natural that still contains artificial fragrances and preservatives. <br />
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It seems like every day a new Cannabis or Hemp beauty product is coming out. Big brands are starting to jump on the Hemp bandwagon, but this makes it tough for customers to discern the efficacy of the ingredient. For example, lets say you buy a Cannabis "infused" facial oil. Lets say, like the three on the market, it is made with a super refined version of Hemp. Its likely the serum or oil is clear and hemp is WAY down on the ingredient deck. Just adding a dash of a super processed oil is not the same thing as using the oil as a base and using a Certified Organic and Cold-Pressed Food-Grade Oil. If you have a bad reaction from this product, you may avoid hemp in the future, thinking it is to blame. This really doesn't give you a good picture of the ingredient. <br />
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Hemp Seed Oil, especially Cold-Pressed + Organic Hemp Seed Oil is incredible for your skin. The combination of Omega Fatty Acids 3 + 6 + 9 is perfect for the skin and more balanced than oils like Chia or Flax. Organic Cold-Pressed Hemp Seed Oil is bright green. When it becomes rancid, creating free-radicals, it darkens and becomes more brown. Hemp Seed Oil, un-refrigerated, even blended for long shelf life, goes rancid within 6 months to one year.<br />
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CBD, while epic, is very un-regulated, and multiple companies have been found to contain undesired pesticides or no CBD / high THC levels. I encourage you to source your products from companies that have been in business for at least three years. ASK FOR DOCUMENTATION. Ask for paperwork on your CBD and even on Organic claims, if a company is legitimate, they should have both. <br />
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If you have sensitive skin and are interested in hemp for acne or breakouts, you want to avoid many common skincare ingredients and stick to non-comedogenic oils like hemp, low-oleic sunflower, Sach Inchi, maracuja, or Shea Butter.<br />
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When you look at an ingredient deck, the order of the ingredients is from most to least. Ingredients at the beginning of the listing are used in higher proportions than those towards the end. If Cannabis Sativa Oil is listed at the end, its likely there is not much of the beneficial ingredient in there. There are raw versions of ingredients like Hemp, Oat, and Fruits readily available on the market. I see no reason to include cheep fillers or petroleum derivatives in skincare.<br />
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So, while these trends are "cute" steer clear if you have sensitive skin. Lip Gloss, Brow Gel, and Hair Products are pretty safe, and likely won't impact your skin, but be aware, Hemp Seed Oil is rich green and amazingly beneficial all on its own, so why mix it with less beneficial stuff??Bear's Beauty Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01094818751869228826noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6374786198328294556.post-87833550755584388212019-02-24T06:39:00.001-08:002019-02-25T13:51:31.294-08:00About the new SIster Company | Loner's ApothecaryHello Beauties!<br />
<br />
Many of you have been messaging me. I wanted to address some of the questions in mass before I start through the messages.<br />
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First, I have been going through a lot of personal and professional change over the last two months.<br />
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With the legalization of Hemp-Derived CBD, I was hopeful that policies for sites and payment processors would change. Unfortunately, that is not the case. Many of my items are flagged and de-activated on a regular basis. This causes confusion for you, and frustration for me.<br />
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One of my most popular products is the Arthritis + Ache Balm, a Cayenne + Menthol balm for pain, inflammation, and aches. It has been deactivated SEVERAL times. I understand why. I get that the hosting sites are dependent on payment processors, who are underwritten by insurance companies, and they consider CBD high-risk. The thing is, this products doesn't contain CBD... and I even removed Hemp Flower Essential Oil (distilled, no THC) from the original to comply with specific policy. The problem is, I don't ever want to sacrifice efficacy.<br />
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For this reason, more Therapeutic products: Migraine Soother, Magnesium for PMS, and a few others will be moved to Loner's Apothecary.<br />
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Loner's Apothecary is the grown up big sister of Bear's. It will allow me the freedom to formulate with or without CBD, and eventually THC when that becomes legal. Loner's will also offer more holistic solutions, like tinctures, herbal powders, teas, and more! All items will have the option for infusion with CBD. Pricing is lower, as I am not paying a third party a percentage. I want to offer solutions that are effective alone and only supplemented by CBD, not formulas that hinge on any one ingredient. <br />
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Over the last month I have fallen behind on messages, having to go into "putting out fires mode."; essentially answering as many messages per day as possible, focusing on ones related to an order first. I am working through messages. If you have messaged me and gotten no response, please know that I am doing my best to catch up.<br />
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You have all been so amazingly kind and patient. I really appreciate the understanding.<br />
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Loner's will initially offer CBD-Free products with the option to add CBD via a separate invoice. This is only temporary, but will allow you to partially pay for your order online and then we can customize the CBD for your needs.<br />
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My goal is to refine the offerings for Bear's Beauty and get some kits, sets, and duos together. I am also working on some teenage acne products, made with minimal ingredients, so they are ideal for everyone.<br />
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I also want to get items on Amazon and to you faster.<br />
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If you have any product ideas, or Bear's products you would like to see with CBD, please message me.<br />
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If you have any concerns or questions, please message me.<br />
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Thank you!!!<br />
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JerraBear's Beauty Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01094818751869228826noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6374786198328294556.post-74384365765821809522019-01-23T19:28:00.001-08:002019-02-28T08:26:39.757-08:00Why I Stopped Using Bar Soap + Body Oil Cleansing + Cleansing with ScrubsFor most of my life, I struggled with acne and breakouts, and not just on my face. My back and shoulders were pretty much always a point of embarrassment for me. As I got into making my own skincare, I learned more about the skin. The protective lipid layer that naturally exists is often damaged or removed by soap. Soap works by attaching to oil and washing it away with the water, the problem with this becomes that the protective layer is made of oil. As soon as this oil is washed away, you body begins to try to replenish it and protect your body. For your face, this often looks like your skin becoming an oil slick an hour or two after you wash your face. For your body, this is often that dry feeling as soon as you towel off, followed by flaking and dry skin.<br />
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I was used to this cycle, throw in a dash of acne and ingrown hairs, and a touch of hormonal acne and PCOS... joy :)<br />
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I started making bar soap. Several hundreds of bars of soap later and hours of digging through forums, and I learned something really important about bar soap. All natural bar soap (oil + lye) is alkaline. All of it. No matter what ingredients you add or what acids you manage to encapsulate in the bar, natural bar soap is alkaline and does strip the acid barrier of your skin. I know there are those of you who use bar soap and love it. That is totally fine, and everyone is different. The pH of your water as well as your own skin can have an effect on the pH of the lather on your skin. This lather typically leaves your skin feeling tight or slightly dry.<br />
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You can "superfat" your soap, adding extra oils that aren't turned into soap. This oil is left on the skin once the lather is rinsed, making the skin feel moisturized. The problem with this becomes you are still stripping your skin and leaving the pH higher than it is meant to be. Many of you have tried a natural deodorant just to have it leave your pits red and bumpy. This is all because of pH. Your skin is meant to be acidic. Water is neutral at a seven and all bar soaps are at least a 9, alkaline. Your skin is closer to a 5-6. This change in pH is also why the method of bar shampoo and ACV doesn't work for me, but that is another blog.<br />
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The more I researched and tested, the more I started to see the problem with soap. Even my dear Castile soap was a harsh pH of 8-9. No matter what I did, I could not lower the pH of the soap without losing the foaming action of the soap. The more tests I did for face and body wash, the more my skin broke out and cracked. I began to get an almost scale-like layer of skin on my legs and face. Oils wouldn't penetrate and no matter what I did, it seemed to be getting worse.<br />
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I finally gave up on soap about two years ago. I boxed all my bars up and tucked them away. I had made true olive only castile soap, mixed butters and oils, and even tested my own hemp liquid soap. They were all too harsh for skin, in my opinion. This is not popular, but it has proven life-changing for me and my sensitive skin.<br />
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I started experimenting with washing my hair and body with just clays and herbs and then scrubs. Scrubs made a noticeable difference. My skin was clearer and softer and my almost constant clogged hair follicles quickly went away. The combination of exfoliating and humectant sugar combined with non-comedogenic and light oils was the key. Its not tricky, expensive, or a secret. It is, however, so simple it is hard t believe with all the products marketed to us today. We are told we need body washes, scrubs, lotion, butters, creams, gels, and treatments. The idea that we can use one product to cleanse + exfoliate + clear + hydrate + moisturize, and that it can be made at home is almost unfathomable,<br />
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The oils MATTER, more than any other part of this. If you want to make a DIY scrub, use Low-Oleic Sunflower, Fractionated Coconut, Hemp, Maracuja, or other zero comedogenic rated oils. This is the key, and why sop many DIY scrubs with coconut or sweet almond don't lend long-term results.<br />
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Over the last year or so, I have started formulating with an apple-based cleanser. This is a semi-natural product, but it is basically a salt made from the juice of apples. It is literally the only foaming cleanser I use on my skin. It doesn't strip and leaves your skin clean without ever feeling tight. I am working on some clean-rinsing scrubs, but I very much like the idea of just oil and sugar scrubs.<br />
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If you struggle with your skin, definitely consider ditching the bar!Bear's Beauty Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01094818751869228826noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6374786198328294556.post-32337773881832103882018-08-15T21:52:00.002-07:002019-02-25T07:30:20.665-08:00ZERO TIME : SKINCARE TIPS FOR YOUR BUSY LIFEDespite the fact that I have been making skincare for close to six years, I still go through stages where I neglect my skincare routine. Typically, it is something like a huge order followed by some big changes. Recently, I finally secured a large purchase order that I have been working towards. For the last three or four weeks in particular, I have been getting up at 7-8 am and then working through the day until about 7 pm or so when I make a post run. Many nights, I get home from the post office and still have several hours worth of work to do. By the time I am done working for the day, the idea of doing a ten minute cleanse is beyond unrealistic.<br />
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I thought I would share some of my tips for taking care of your skin, even when you have ZERO time to do so. <br />
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The most important part of taking care of your skin is removing dead skin and grime from your day before you go to bed. No matter how busy you are, you have 30 seconds to wipe a cotton pad over your face. That is why I recommend <a href="https://www.etsy.com/listing/470867545/micellar-cleansing-water-witch-hazel-one?ga_search_query=micellar&ref=shop_items_search_1" target="_blank">this</a> cleanser for the busiest of people.<br />
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Micellar waters are all the rage right now, but if you take a look at the ingredients lists, most of them are pretty sketch. I am a purist when it comes to formulation, and while I do use a few slightly processed forms of natural ingredients, I do not use chemical preservatives or artificial ingredients. This formulation is one of the very few on the market that is truly formulated for the most sensitive skin as well as those with acne and breakouts. Organic Witch Hazel and Organic Non-Comedogenic Oils come together to form the perfect water-less face wash! You don't even have to turn on your sink. <br />
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Each night, I brush my teeth first and then take off my glasses to wash my face. I use about a pump of Micellar Water on an Organic Cotton Round. I like the pad to be damp, but not dripping. Most days, I don't wear makeup, so I just swipe over my face and then down my neck and over my closed eyes. I repeat a second time with a clean cotton and then typically<br />
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I apply 3 drops each of MISBEHAVING FACE SERUM & DETOX + PURIFY + GLOW. Some nights I apply my BRIGHT SOUL, but if we are being honest (and we always are) many nights I just press the serum into my skin and then put my glasses back on.<br />
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I find, if I keep my Night Cream and Eye Cream by my bed, I am much better about putting them on before I go to bed.<br />
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The other trick, I keep a bottle of Cleansing Oil next to my bed with a clean microfiber in a little basket with my lip balm and night creams. That way, if I am really in a lazy mood, I can do a QUICK oil cleanse right in bed. I put a dropper of oil in my palm, massage over my face for a minute, and then wipe it off with one side of the cloth. I then fold the oil side of the cloth in so it won't stain my wood nightstand, That's it. The beauty is, it is not only quick, but effective.<br />
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Super easy, super fast, and you can do these same tricks in the morning as well!<br />
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<br />Bear's Beauty Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01094818751869228826noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6374786198328294556.post-6068328021162022642018-06-17T12:40:00.000-07:002018-06-17T12:40:00.773-07:00An Open Letter to Bear's Beauty Customers & Friends + SHOP UPDATE My Dearest Friends,<br />
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I want to first thank each and every one of you. It is only thanks to your support that my little shop has grown so exponentially over the last few years. Many things that once seemed like far-off dreams, I now find within my grasp. This shop, and all that has come with it, has been an immense blessing, and it is because of my gratitude for this gift, that I seek to be as worthy of it as possible.<br />
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The shop and products have evolved over the last few years along with me. As I have learned and improved, so have the formulations. Over the last few months, however, there has been a perceptible decline in my ability to keep up. The truth is, for most of my adult life, I have battled with depression and past unresolved trauma. Until February of 2017 I was an active, but functioning alcoholic. It was not until I got sober in 2017 that things in my life really started to change. I had been using alcohol to numb a number of issues, that needed to be resolved. Why am I sharing this with you? Because I want to share anything with you that may help, just one person, feel a little less alone. I also believe in transparency, and I want to level with you about what has been going on and the plans I have for the future.<br />
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In October of 2017 I was faced with the loss of someone close to me. In this wake, I realized that there was so much more that I could be doing with my life, as well as with my brand. I was inspired to begin work on launching BearsBeautyCBD.com (a working title, I am open to name suggestions for the new company.) BearsBeautyCBD.com is the beginning of me expanding my offerings to include many more therapeutic products, and products geared toward pain & anxiety relief. My passion is truly helping people, and not only with issues like acne and wrinkles, but with chronic pain and other issues that can be helped with emerging botanical research.<br />
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For the last six months, I have been evaluating and preparing the shop for a big transition. Integrating new knowledge gained over the last year, I am upgrading all of my formulations with the most ideal and advanced combinations of oils and natural preservation systems. I am also upgrading all of our bottles, many will be Violet Glass, and I am adding in re-fill sizes as well as samples. Violet Glass will not only keep your products fresh longer without preservatives, but also eliminates the need to refrigerate many of the more delicate products like Cold Cream or Hydrosol. <br />
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I will be releasing sets, geared toward specific skin concerns, as well as duos of products that work well together. I will also be adding a "READY SHIP" section, where items are made and ship within 5 days. My plan, is to have several deodorant and toothpaste flavors as standing offerings here. I am updating our logo as well as labels, so they are easier to read and have more of the information you want.<br />
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The last few months have been full of change for me, and the shop. Things have been a hectic, and real life continued to step in. I have learned a lot from this, and I understand better how to prepare for the future. My goal is to get a reliable partner in here to help me take BB to the World, while also providing you with the best possible service and improved turnaround speeds.<br />
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On a personal level, the last six months were integral in getting me to where I needed to be emotionally and spiritually. I am not happy that it caused delays, but I am happy that it will help me to prevent larger ones in the future. It is time for this one-woman business to get some more hands in the kitchen :) <br />
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I am so beyond excited for the next year! Bear's Beauty Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01094818751869228826noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6374786198328294556.post-15781753056776082092018-03-13T18:53:00.000-07:002019-04-28T07:17:09.081-07:00MISBEHAVING SKIN : What it is to Bear's Beauty Chances are, if you are at this post, you have what I call "Misbehaving Skin." The truth is, I have been using this term for so much of my life, it only recently occurred to me that not everyone is familiar with the phrase. <br />
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From the age of about twelve on, I had acne. I didn't just have acne. I had bacne, shoulder-cne, chest-cne ... and I was super pale. So, each and every blemish showed, bright red, long after healing. I had acne, acne scars, and then I had course hair when that became a thing mid-high school. I was blonde, but my body hair grew in like an old Italian man. I had KP, so every dark hair had a little dark spot at the root. I then had hormonal acne, cystic acne, and ingrown hairs to throw in the mix. My Mother, literally the sweetest woman on the planet, didn't want me to think I had "bad" skin. So, we started to say that my skin was "Misbehaving."<br />
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Funny, now that I look back, what a huge impact that phrase had on my self-confidence. Yeah, I had breakouts, but my skin was just misbehaving. It gave me a sense of a light at the end of the tunnel, of the impermanence of the situation, Granted, I didn't know that then, but self-talk is very important.<br />
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The name "Misbehaving" also speaks to the number of skin concerns addressed in this one specific oil blend. As I listed above, my skin didn't have just one issue. As I got older, and was diagnosed with PCOS, hormonal fluctuations became the norm. As did the breakouts that came with them. I had to find a solution that worked all the time, not just when my skin was sort of broken out.<br />
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This blend helps address concerns with excess oil, dryness, acne, scarring, hormonal acne, ingrown hairs, clogged pores, blackheads, picking scars, post-acne scarring, redness, flaking, and has a host of anti-bacterial properties.<br />
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I have integrated this essential oil into facial scrubs, washes, serums, and even a body version.<br />
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I use the Body Scrub + Body Serum to keep my whole body clear, great for booties!<br />
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You can use all the items together or just one, like the serum, in your routine. <br />
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<b>ABOUT THE ESSENTIAL OILS IN THE BLEND</b><br />
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While the blend is proprietary, and was created in early 2013, I can share a bit about some of the more than 18 botanicals in this blend.<br />
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<b>Bergamot (Bergaptene Free) | </b>This non-photosensitizing version of the Italian citrus fruit is recommended for excess oil, clogged pores, and lack-luster skin. <b> </b><br />
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<b>Lavender + Tea Tree | </b>These two classic calming and astringent oils are mentioned together because a recent study shows these two oils together may help reduce excess facial hair in women with PCOS. You already know and love them, this is just one more reason :)<br />
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<b>Clary Sage | </b>One of the less-known essential oils, this amazing botanical is said to have hormone balancing properties, as well as being anti-bacterial and reducing inflammation, having many compounds in common with lavender.<br />
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<b>Niaouli | </b>A cousin to Tea Tree, astringent and anti-bacterial, stronger than Tea Tree but milder on the skin and senses in general.<br />
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<b>Tamanu | </b>This oil is a star alone, but the smell can be a bit much. If you have been on IG, you have seen the black-bottled viral serum that is just this oil. It happens to smell like molasses and plants though, so while it is super anti-inflammatory and regenerating, I love it in a synergistic blend where the scent can be melded with others. <b> </b><br />
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<b>There are oils in this blend to address all aspects of irritated and broken out skin in a gentle way. </b><br />
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<b>Some essential oils you want to avoid, in my opinion, in acne serums especially :</b><br />
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<b>OREGANO | </b>In topical applications like serums that are for all over face, can be irritating, even at low concentrations.<br />
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<b>NEEM | </b>Contraceptive effects<br />
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<b>CHAMOMILE | YARROW</b> - May irritate hay fever allergies, can make it hard to tell if other oils are beneficial in the formulation, so I choose to only use these in specific formulations. <br />
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<b>AVOID Serums or oils based in :</b><br />
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<b>Virgin Coconut</b><br />
<b>Rosehip more than 10%</b><br />
<b>Sunflower (High Oleic)</b><br />
<b>Avacado</b><br />
<b>Hazelnut </b><br />
<b>Beeswax</b><br />
<b>Palm (including in soaps)</b><br />
<b>Cetyl or Ceteryl Alcohol - Ewax - Emulsifying Wax</b><br />
<b>Evening Primrose Oil</b><br />
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<br />Bear's Beauty Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01094818751869228826noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6374786198328294556.post-83863863074185156562017-10-09T14:49:00.000-07:002018-05-18T06:16:40.124-07:00CBD SkincareHello Beauties!!! It has been way too long since I posted. I find my list of blog post ideas getting longer and longer, but my blog has not gotten as much attention.<br />
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The cornerstone of my line is Organic Hemp Seed Oil. Since I started Bear's Beauty, it has always been my intention to bring more attention to the many benefits if all things Hemp + Cannabis + Marijuana. If you have been following @bearsbeautyhemp on Instagram, then you have probably seen a few mentions of CBD products.<br />
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I currently sell most of my items through Etsy. Unfortunately, Etsy policy is very much anti-cannabis. Official policy is that any derivative of Hemp that is not from the sterilized seeds, Hemp Seed Oil with 0% THC and 0% CBD, is not allowed on the marketplace. This means that I cannot sell CBD items on Etsy.<br />
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I want to talk to you about some personal reasons why I feel CBD should be readily available and explored.<br />
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My youngest brother had brain surgery when he was one year old. As a result of that surgery, that saved his life, he suffered physical brain damage to his frontal lobe. Your frontal lobe controls things like decision making, social skills, and reasoning. My brother suffers from epilepsy as a result and has had seizures regularly since the surgery. My brother is now 22 years old. He still lives at home, and will have to the rest of his life. He is almost seven feet tall. He takes maximum doses of three different seizure medications, all of which process through the liver. Each medicine has side effects that make him hungry or sweat too much or not at all. CBD could help address his seizures without all the side effects and liver damage.<br />
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My Grandfather was like my Dad. He helped raise me when my dad left. He was at every play, performance, graduation, and track meet. He was one of the healthiest people that I know. He was diagnosed with Lymphoma and battled it for several years. In the end, I watched chemo and treatments kill him while tumors choked out his organs. The chemo made him not want to eat, burned his throat, made his nauseous, and the pain pills only made it worse. I cannot convey to you how much I fault myself for not knowing more when he was sick. That being said, CBD, Medical Marijuana, and all things Hemp are beneficial to cancer patients. I may not be able to go back in time and ease my Grandpa's suffering, but I can create products that will help people now. I do not offer CBD products yet, but they are coming. I already offer several soothing products, but they will be even better with CBD.<br />
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My roommate struggled with opiate addiction that eventually claimed his life. It, like SO many other addictions, started with pills. Pain pills, specifically. One of his friends, his best friend, got clean after his death using CBD. I believe CBD and eventually Medical will seriously reduce the number of opiate related deaths.<br />
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I struggle with anxiety, migraines, chronic immune issues, and for a time I also struggled with addiction. Most of my life I self-medicated. I am not proud of that, but I feel like honesty is the only way I do any justice to my goal. CBD and Medical helped me get off medication and get into a healthier lifestyle.<br />
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I was not an advocate of anything to do with hemp most of my younger years. It was only when Hemp Seed Oil cleared my skin that I started to look into other applications. The oil alone is a miracle of nature. It just happens to have a balance of Omega Fatty Acids usually reserved for fish oil. The oil is also rich in Linoleic Acid, a fatty acid that helps thin thick sebum.<br />
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At the end of the day, I feel that CBD and Medical Marijuana could do a ton of good.<br />
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While Etsy does not allow CBD, I will soon be offering CBD infused skincare!<br />
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This is just one of the exciting things coming to Bear's Beauty, stay tuned!<br />
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-Bear<br />
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<br />Bear's Beauty Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01094818751869228826noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6374786198328294556.post-29964673445581710362017-08-03T13:21:00.002-07:002019-02-25T07:36:58.596-08:00Detoxing Your Armpits from Commercial Deodorant Tips & Tricks<div dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-06ef9166-a9a4-dee6-1f7d-b729d92e07c1" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Commercial Deodorants & Antiperspirants</span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Before we speak about Natural Deodorant, I want to talk about the current standard. Chances are, most of your life you have used Antiperspirant. Antiperspirant works by blocking pores and sweat glands under your arms. Antiperspirants work by either blocking or shrinking your pores. The issue with this is that your body uses your armpits to shed toxins via sweat. Have you ever used an Antiperspirant for several months or even years just to have it suddenly stop working? Your body is actively fighting commercial antiperspirant. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The Aluminum and Aluminum Salts in commercial Antiperspirant has also been linked to several health risks. I am not a fear monger, and won’t try to scare you, but please research the risks for yourself. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Most commercial products, and even some "Natural" ones are full of chemicals like :<i><b> </b></i>Propylene Glycol, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Tricolsan, Talc and Fragrance. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Deodorant is a very different story. Deodorants, or at the least Bear’s Beauty Natural Deodorants, are made to allow your body to sweat while killing bacteria and scenting the underarm. Natural Deodorant allows your body to begin regulating itself again. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>Natural & Aluminum-Free Deodorant | Green-washing</b> </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">With more and more "natural" deodorants hitting the market, it is becoming tough to decipher what is actually natural, and what is some chemical voodoo. As a formulator, I struggle with the line between natural and chemical. Our preservative, for example, is made using a fermentation process and then filtered. It is natural, and totally necessary, but the process at home would be laborious, so I purchase it from a lab. I understand there is a place for technology and bio-chemistry in skincare, but I also think that if there is a RAW version, you should use that. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Check the ingredient deck, and if they don't disclose their ingredients, ask. There are blends, like my acne blend, that I do not openly post, but I do share if you have allergy concerns. There is no need for any kind of Fragrance in natural deodorant. There are plenty of essential oils that function as a scent. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Some of the most popular brands on the market are owned by large companies, even some that started out family-owned. They tend to let standards slide, so be diligent and check your ingredients. If you can't eat it, it shouldn't be on your armpits. </span></div>
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<b><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Make The Switch</span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Whether you are switching from commercial Antiperspirant / Deodorant or even from other “natural” deodorant, there may be a detox phase. This should not scare you. In reality, you probably have pores that are clogged with chemicals, dead skin, sweat, and built up toxins. When you stop blocking those pores, your body will pick up where it left off. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Detox can involve some excess sweating as well as an increase in smell. This is totally normal. This is just your body shedding toxins. Each of my formulas will combat this with a combination of absorbent starches and essential oils. WORST CASE SCENARIO WHEN USING ONE OF MY FORMULAS, YOU MAY HAVE TO RE-APPLY ONCE A DAY THE FIRST WEEK OR SO. You won't stink. You won't smell like a headshop. You will just smell fresh. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">There may also be some instances of bumps or small lumps in the armpit, especially right after switching. This is far less common, but totally normal. In my experience it has been a very clogged pore that went away on its own, but you can use a gentle scrub and clay mask to help speed up the process. Read more below on how to make the process as easy as possible. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">If you experience a rash, this is NOT an allergy to baking soda. The reality is, you cannot be “allergic” to baking soda. Without going into a ton of detail, your skin is naturally acidic. Baking Soda is Alkaline (the opposite of acidic) and can irritate the skin. The skin has a protective layer called the “Acid Mantle” that protects your body from environmental pollutants and germs. This acid mantle can become damaged. This is a type of contact dermatitis, but is not an allergy. Just because you had a rash with another deodorant, does not mean that you will have a reaction to all baking soda. In reality, most healthy people can tolerate alkalinity with no issue. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">If you do get a rash, be sure you are waiting at least an hour after shaving and try applying a layer of moisturizer before your deodorant for a few days. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">You can also step down to Sensitive, our baking soda free formula. </span></div>
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<b><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Tips & Tricks</span></b></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">First, don’t rush to a conclusion. Give a new formula at least one week, ideally two, before you decide it’s not for you. Your body takes time to adjust, but will do so quickly. </span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Drink lots of water! You should be doing so already, but seriously it makes such a difference in your overall health. Water helps dilute toxins and hydrate tissues as well as keep circulation healthy. </span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Treat your pits special. Gently exfoliate with a natural scrub (Bear’s Beauty offers the Armpit Care Scrub for just this purpose.) Apply a gentle detox mask like Bear’s Beauty Black Detox Mud Mask. I even offer a serum to help soothe and calm angry pits. Taking extra care of your pits for a week or so while your body is detoxing does wonders for speeding up the adjustment. You can also choose any one of the above three or use all three together. You can also try dry brushing and making sure to use a gentle soap. Stay away from anything artificial. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Let yourself sweat. It may seem weird, but the more you exercise and work up a sweat, the more your body is able to clear out clogged pores. Try the hot tub or the steam room at your gym. I find hot yoga is my favorite. </span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Be ready to wash your pits a little more than you are used to. Keeping the area clean and dry does wonders for preventing irritation or rash. If you shave, wait at least an hour before applying deodorant. You can even apply some rich moisturizer or shea butter before for extra protection. When you shave, you damage the surface of your skin, exposing this damaged skin to baking soda will cause irritation. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Apply less product than you think you need. Many times, customers who find they are staining their clothes or having issues with irritation are just applying too much. One or two swipes is all you need for protection. Applying more product will not increase protection. Bear’s Beauty does sell mini sticks that can be easily and discretely applied throughout the day (though you will not need to once your body adjusts.)</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Try using an AHA or BHA toner on clean armpits at night. You may find this even works as a deodorant. </span></div>
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<b><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The Good News</span></b></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Once your week of two of detox is over, you will find that you sweat less than ever before. You will also find that your sweat stinks less. I also try to eat a Vegan diet and avoid dairy, as I find those things really contribute to body odor. You may even find that the skin under your arms gets softer, smoother, and more even toned. Best of all, no more Aluminum!</span></div>
Bear's Beauty Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01094818751869228826noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6374786198328294556.post-56577710140200761122017-05-12T09:26:00.004-07:002019-02-25T07:42:34.077-08:00Troubleshooting the OCM : Texture + Tiny Bumps<div class="MsoNormal">
I have recently had a few customers asking me about what to
do about tiny bumps or texture when using the OCM. When you first start using
the OCM there is an adjustment period, often referred to as “purging.” Purging
is when your skin is starting to detox and cell turnover is being increases. It
is a normal part of the process. However, if you have new deep cystic pimples, redness,
itching, swelling, or any kind of discomfort; stop using at once. If you are experiencing
dryness, texture, clogged pores, or little bumps; read on. <br />
<br />
It is not unheard of that as seasons or hormones change, your skin may also change. Sometimes you need to adjust your cleansing oil to suit your skin. <br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In my experience this tends to happen in women who wear
makeup or sunscreen. It also tends to be very early into oil cleansing,
typically the first two weeks. While many skin issues are linked to diet, and I
encourage you to look into diets for clear skin, we can address some of the
imbalances from the surface. Oil cleansing tends to “reveal” your true skin
type. When your skin is not being stripped by harsh cleansers, it is allowed to
balance. You may have believed yourself to have “oily” skin your entire life,
just to find yourself dry a month into oil cleansing. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The beauty of oil cleansing is the ability to adjust your
oil blend based on what your skin needs. I typically recommend starting with
either #0 or #00. These are both considered “dry” oil blends and help to
quickly thin sebum and begin the detox process. For some, there is no detox,
just an extra bump or two. In my case, I had about a two month detox phase. It
really took pure bull-headed determination to stick with the OCM. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I want to first give you some tips and tricks.<br />
<br />
About 50% of skin issues have to do with Exfoliation or Hydration. Be sure to exfoliate regularly and drink lots of water. Seriously, that is the number one tip. <br />
<br />
<br />
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->1.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Always use a clean cloth. Wash cloth regularly
with Castile Soap. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->2.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Do not use regular cotton terry cloth; always
use gentle microfiber, muslin, or flannel.<br />
***When you first get natural skincare, consider switching laundry soap to something without fragrance. </div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->3.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Do not change your oil blend more than every
four days.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->4.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Do not use foaming cleansers, scrubs, or harsh
toners. This is especially important the first two months.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->5.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Only do the OCM once a day, preferably at night.
Some people can only do the OCM 3-4 times a week. Listen to your skin; look at
the OCM as a deep cleansing routine. On days where you don’t wear makeup or
work out, you can probably skip the OCM and use something like the Plain Jane
Cleansing Grains, Micro Exfoliating Face Scrub, or Super Natural Cleansing Gel.
These are also great options for your AM cleanse.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->6.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Exfoliation is key for clear skin. Depending on
your skin concern, you should be using a physical and /or chemical exfoliator
at least 2-3 times per week. If you are only using the oil cleanser, make sure
you use your damp microfiber on your skin for a little longer after the oil is
removed, moving in gentle circular motions. Bear’s Beauty has a range of
scrubs, peels, and cleansing grains for all skin concerns.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->7.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Change your pillowcase nightly for a week and
try to keep your hair off your face at night. If it helps, it may be one of
your hair products causing you to breakout.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->8.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Try using Witch Hazel 2-3 times throughout the
day to cleanse skin of pollution and debris, as well as refresh. Use toner 3-5
minutes before doing the OCM instead of after, so you don’t strip the natural
protective oils. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One of the things that I love the most about the OCM is the
ability to customize everything about the routine for what best suits your skin
at any given time. One of the most important parts of getting rid of texture
and bumps is the removal process. Double cleansing is one of the best ways to
address congested pores, especially when you are first using the OCM. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
You only want to double cleanse when you are wearing makeup
or sunscreen or when you are struggling with congested pores. Once your skin
starts to clear up, you can do just one round of the OCM and double cleanse
just 1-2 times per week. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>How to Double OIL Cleanse:</b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
*Massage dime-quarter size pool of oil between palms and
then into dry face and neck. Massage, using gentle pressure, but enough
pressure that you can feel the texture of bumps and imperfections under your
finger tips. There should be enough oil that your hands move freely over your
skin and do not tug or pull. Add more oil as you cleanse, if you need it. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
*Wet your microfiber cloth with warm, but not hot water. Hot
water will damage the skin and cause redness, but you want warm enough water to
help soften the oil and remove it. Gently steaming the pores helps dislodge
clogged pores and debris. Wring out excess water and lay the warm cloth over
your face until cool. Gently wipe some of the oil as you remove the cloth.
Wring it out, re-wet, and repeat. (<b>If you have acne or active breakouts, use a dry cloth to remove oil. )</b><br />
<br />
<br />
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
*After second gentle steaming, use damp cloth to gently wipe
away the rest of the oil. Be careful not to tug or pull your skin. Use gently circular
motions to remove the oil. All excess oil should be removed. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
*Once skin is dry, repeat the above process. The
first cleanse helps remove surface pollution, makeup, sunscreen, and dead skin
cells. The second cleanse helps to thin clogged pores, deeply detox, and soothe
skin. After the second cleanse, you do not need to use any other products. If
you choose, you can mist skin with a gentle floral water and then apply a serum
and or face oil.<br />
<br />
<o:p><br /></o:p>
<o:p>*You can also do a second cleanse with an exfoliator or gentle face wash. </o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Once you find you no longer have texture and small bumps,
you can just do one oil cleanse every night and then occasionally a double
cleanse as a deep detox. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Using a clay mask 2-3 times per week is a really great way
to keep pores clear. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As your skin changes, you can adjust your routine as well as
your oil. <o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<o:p></o:p><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
If you have questions, feel free to email me <a href="mailto:BearsBeauty@yahoo.com">BearsBeauty@yahoo.com</a>. <o:p></o:p></div>
<br />Bear's Beauty Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01094818751869228826noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6374786198328294556.post-42446848815976481842016-06-27T21:35:00.000-07:002017-10-01T10:52:31.487-07:00Oil Cleansing 2.0 // Oil Cleansing With Sonic BrushI have been oil cleansing, using the (OCM) for a little over five years now. Over the last five years, I have been able to stop my acne, reduce the size of my pores, and heal my acne scarring. I have pretty much become an expert on the OCM as well as on natural skincare in general. I have a passion for sharing things I learn with everyone.<br />
<br />
I love oil cleansing with a true oil, rather than a petroleum-based oil with artificial emulsifiers. <br />
<br />
Now, after years of oil cleansing, my skin is pretty normal, but still sensitive and acne-prone. I like to switch between formulas, because AGELESS has Maracuja Oil, which helps brighten complexion, but sometimes I sell out. Yes, sometimes my skincare is in such demand that even I have to wait. If you have never tried the OCM, please check <a href="http://bearsbeauty.blogspot.com/2016/03/the-oil-cleansing-method-ocm-washing.html" target="_blank">this </a>out, where I talk all about it and what it is. - - - The short version is; soap is a salt of a fat, on a molecular level, there is one end that likes water and one that likes oil. Traditional, and even handmade soap can strip the protective fat layer from your skin and leave it exposed to bacteria and environmental stressors.<br />
<br />
If your skin feels tight after cleansing, chances are you cleanser is causing the skin issues that you have. Oil cleansing is a method of using the right oil to cleanse your skin. The oil removes makeup, grime from the day, and clogged pores without stripping skin. You then use a cloth or a second cleanse to remove the oil and the grime it has removed. Your skin is left soft and clean.<br />
<br />
A few weeks ago, I stumbled onto a silicone face brush. I thought, I wonder if I could use this for the OCM? That night I tried it, and WHOA! My skin felt so soft and I noticed that even those areas that I always struggle with clogged pores looked way clearer than they ever had. This is the biggest thing for skin since the OCM. Using the silicone brush (preferably sonic, like this <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Silicone-Cleansing-Exfoliator-Simply-Fresh/dp/B01AFRKLVK/ref=sr_1_3_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1466870243&sr=8-3&keywords=facial+cleansing+brush+silicone+brush+head" target="_blank">one</a> or this <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Cleansing-Silicone-Rechargeable-Waterproof-Massager/dp/B01E5I94CC/ref=sr_1_1_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1466870243&sr=8-1&keywords=facial+cleansing+brush+silicone+brush+head" target="_blank">one</a>) helps work the oil deeper into the pores while also exfoliating dead skin.<br />
<br />
I love that the silicone brush is easy to clean, and I typically just use my foaming face wash to wash the brush after use.<br />
<br />
How to do the OCM with a brush:<br />
<br />
Massage a dime to quarter size pool of Cleansing Oil into dry skin. If you are wearing makeup, massage into skin for 1-2 minutes and then remove the makeup-y oil with a dry cloth. You don't have to do this, but if you really want to get deep into your pores, you want to take your makeup off first. Apply more oil and massage for 2-3 minutes.<br />
<br />
Use your silicone brush in gently circular motions all over your face for 3-5 minutes.<br />
<br />
Remove the oil with a dry cloth, or you can use a mild facial cleanser, like the one I offer <a href="https://www.etsy.com/listing/230281247/gentle-foaming-face-wash-combo-oily-acne?ga_search_query=foaming&ref=shop_items_search_5" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
<br />
Tone + Serum + Moisturizer<br />
<br />
I have been doing this every night, and I cannot get over how soft my skin is. Give it a try :)<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Bear's Beauty Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01094818751869228826noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6374786198328294556.post-8314010449193935142016-06-07T21:44:00.000-07:002016-06-07T21:44:33.426-07:00My First Henna Hair Dye Experience and Why I am in LoveI have pretty much been coloring my hair for 20 years. When I was a baby I had the perfect shade of platinum blonde, but as I got older, it faded to a sandy blonde color. While there is nothing wrong with that color, I was never happy with it. Summers in the sun would leave my hair streaked and then winters left me with a band of dark roots. For most of highschool I bleached my hair every month. Once I got into college, I experimented with every color under the sun (including black, which was very unflattering with my pale skin.)<br />
<br />
When I decided that I wanted to be a cosmetologist, it was my love of hair color that really stood out. Nothing made a woman look different faster than a brand new color.<br />
<br />
I loved doing color, but I always hated the smells. They almost always gave me a migraine, which was inconvenient since I worked in a salon.<br />
<br />
Fast forward 5 years, and I am now making my living selling my own natural skin care line. Coloring my hair was the last vestige of my old ways, and I did not readily abandon it. I found creative ways to color or bleach my hair and minimize the exposure to my scalp. I would slather vegan non-petroleum jelly over my scalp and hairline, rinse my hair upside down, and then wash it with natural shampoo.<br />
<br />
In the back of my mind, I knew that I was still exposing myself to a host of toxic crap.<br />
<br />
Henna is not a new thing for me. I have always been fascinated with the body art made from this beautiful plant. I have gotten so many henna tattoos, and even tried a few on myself. I had heard about henna for hair, but was always scared to try it. I read that you couldn't use any other color on your hair after using henna, and that results were unpredictable. Even five years into making natural products, it still scared me.<br />
<br />
Recently I have been doing a ton of research on henna as hair dye, and everything I read seemed to call my name. No chemicals, good for your hair, long-lasting color, and shinier hair. Could it really be true? Could henna be the answer to my hair color woes?<br />
<br />
I already had a jar on the way. I spent hours choosing just the right shade for my hair. I wanted something that would be an auburn without being too orange or bright red. I had just dyed my hair a few weeks earlier with just medium brown, to start to blend the bleach blonde with my sandy roots.<br />
<br />
The jar arrived on a day when I was home working. I had done a lot of reading on how to best use henna and what to use as the liquid. I made some Hibiscus Tea (not going to lie, I just mixed Boiling Distilled Water with powdered Hibiscus Petals that I use in my skincare :) I then washed my hair with Bear's Beauty Apple Amino Acid Shampoo. I needed to wash my hair thanks to a botched attempt at clay washing. It all sounds great until you are flopping what is essentially mud around your shower (more on mud washing later.) So I washed my hair and didn't condition (which really is not abnormal, as I don't really use condirioner as it is.)<br />
<br />
So I mixed together half the jar of henna + enough hibiscus tea to make a paste + apple cider vinegar. What I ended up with was a bowl of green goo that seemed to almost be a jelly consistency. Something no one talks about, it smells. It smells like grass or plants, something very earthy and green. To be honest, it wasn't nearly as bad as the regular hair dye smell that always makes me feel the need to go outside.<br />
<br />
Ok, so I used to work in a salon, but this is not complicated. You basically section your hair off in four sections, apply to hair, and spread it around. I would love to tell you that I carefully sectioned my hair into four sections, but I didn't. I parted my hair down the middle, used a brush to brush on the roots and hairline, and then used the end of the brush to cut a 1/2 inch section and flipped it over to the other side. I then painted more henna on the underside of that section and then the top of the next. I did this on both sides in the front, stopping at my ear. I then kind of did the same thing from the crown of my head down, and then used my gloved hands to spread and massage into the rest of my hair.<br />
<br />
I covered with plastic wrap and went about my day. Other than the slight smell, it was really pretty forgettable. I left the henna on my hair for between 3-4 hours. I had tried to dye my hair red before and had it rinse out within a few days, so I know I left it on longer than I really needed to. So after a few hours I hopped in the shower, flipped my head upside down, and rinsed forever. Seriously, I rinsed my hair for like 10 minutes.<br />
<br />
Once I got most of the chunks of henna out, I used some castile soap, with ACV added to adjust the ph, and lathered out the rest of the plant bits. I then rinsed, and that was it. I was legit scared of what my hair would look like. No conditioner twice in a row, castile soap, and unknown henna action.<br />
<br />
Within an hour my hair was dry and I was super impressed. The color was not as dark as I had hoped, but the texture of my hair was surprisingly smooth. Within two days the color had darkened to a really pretty shade of auburn.<br />
<br />
I have decided that I will do one more round before I go on vacation in July, but I love it. It didn't wreck my hair or scalp. The color is really natural looking, and it isn't full of toxic junk. Love!<br />
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<br />Bear's Beauty Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01094818751869228826noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6374786198328294556.post-10071001020559450542016-06-07T21:23:00.000-07:002017-10-01T10:47:14.301-07:00Integrating the OCM into your Routine + Troubleshooting the OCMWhether you use the OCM already or are just curious about integrating it into your routine, you have come to the right place. The OCM refers to the "Oil Cleansing Method."<br />
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If you are here, chances are you are interested in the OCM, but not sure what it entails. You may also already be using the OCM and looking to solve some issues you seem to be having.<br />
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First, I want to talk about why the OCM is so great for just about all skin types. Cleansing your face with oil may seem strange, until you consider to science of soap.<br />
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Soap starts its life a fat of some sort that is then mixed with lye to produce soap. Lye creates soap by making a molecule that has two ends; one that likes water and one that likes oil. The end that likes oil attaches to the oil on your skin, while the end that likes water rinses it away. While this is an oversimplification of the process, it does explain why soap can strip your skin. Soap does not discern between the oil-based protective layer of your skin (acid mantle) and grime from your day. If your skin feels tight after cleansing, that is water escaping your skin because the protective layer has been stripped. This layer not only keeps out environmental pathogens, but keeps moisture in your skin. When it is stripped, your skin is susceptible to breakouts and infections.<br />
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In the last several years of talking to customers, most people are just doing too much to their skin. Your body is made to work pretty maintenance-free. Clean your skin, exfoliate, drink water, and eat clean food. It is pretty simple. In a perfect world ... This is real life. The OCM is a perfect way to figure out just exactly what your skin needs. I like to think of it as "going back to zero." It allows your skin to balance and for you to see the natural state of your skin. For most people, it is healthy + clear + glowing + happy + thankful skin. <br />
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Many times what we believe is our "Skin Type" is actually a result of what we are doing to our skin. Your body is made to work in harmony. Left alone, the systems work well at keeping skin clear and balanced. I used to associate the tight feeling after washing my face with "clean." I cannot tell you the number of harsh chemical face products I have used in an attempt to "control." my skin.<br />
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Oil cleansing allows your skin to balance while also reducing signs of aging, breakouts, and dryness. I talk about choosing the right oil in the post linked in the intro, so please feel free to go read that when you finish this :)<br />
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No matter what your skin type, the OCM will benefit you greatly. Even if you have "Normal" skin and don't have any particular issues, the OCM is a beautiful way to remove makeup + cleanse + moisturize all in one easy step.<br />
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If you already have a cleanser, scrub, or face wash that you just adore; you can add the OCM into your routine. If you are unhappy with your current products, the OCM can be your entire routine. There is so much room to customize for just what your skin needs at any given time.<br />
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When I talk about what your skin needs, I mean that you should pay attention to how your skin reacts to different things. When I first started the OCM, I was using it every night before bed. A few months in, my skin began to feel a bit dry and got to the point where it seemed like nothing I used sunk in. I started using the OCM every other night, or following it up with a gentle scrub or clay wash when using every night. My natural oil production had balanced out, so I was no longer an oil slick (like before the OCM.) Now, after five years, I oil cleanse twice a day some days and switch up which cleanser I use. <br />
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If the idea of just washing your face with oil does not appeal to you, then you can also choose to use an oil cleanser before your normal face wash. This will help to protect your skin from being stripped, as well as help to deep clean your pores. To do this, you massage the oil into your dry face for 1-5 minutes and then massage your face wash right into the oil on your face. You can also choose to remove the oil with a soft cloth and then follow with your face wash.<br />
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Exfoliation is key for all skin, but when you are using the OCM, you may forget or be confused about when and how you should go about exfoliating. You don't want to use harsh scrubs, and you also don't want to use harsh soap on your face. Bear's Beauty offers several really gentle scrub options. You can also make a super easy DIY scrub with very fine-grain sugar and honey. You want the finest possible sugar so that it will exfoliate gently without tearing or cutting your skin. The best time to use a scrub is either in the morning (when using the OCM at night) or right after oil cleansing. I actually use a gentle scrub every day. <br />
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When you are oil cleansing, you only want to do it once a day, initially. It may be tempting to use it morning and night, but it will not add any benefit when you first start. Using the OCM as your deep cleanse at night allows your skin to breathe while you sleep, and typically all you need is a swipe of toner or splash of water in the morning vs a whole wash. This is especially epic if you are busy.<br />
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Cleansing oil is not just for women, men will love this too. Think about it, one product that does the work of at least 3? Guys, if you have facial hair, all the more reason to try the OCM. For guys, you want to use the Oil Cleanser at night, Massage into dry skin for 3-5 minutes, remove with a dry microfiber cloth. In the morning, just splash with water and go! If you have facial hair, massage a few drops in your beard or stash for soft + smooth skin and hair.<br />
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Many "oil cleansers" on the market are just oil mixed with an emulsifier. While this is sort of a step up from soap, they can still be very irritating to the skin. My range is made using only oils and essential oils, offering you options for all skin types.<br />
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If you find that you get little white bumps, you are using a cleanser that is clogging your pores. This happens most often with Coconut or Olive Oil. (EDIT : This does not apply during the first three months of oil cleansing. There may be a detox period where the oil cleanser is loosening clogged pores and bringing them to the surface. If you have pain, itching, or redness, discontinue use.)<br />
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To add an oil cleanser to your routine, simply use it as a pre-wash.<br />
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You can use an oil cleanser 2-3 times per week as a deep cleanse. Massage into skin and let sit for 10-20 minutes before removing.<br />
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Oil cleansing is NOT scary. Rub some oil in your face, wipe it off with a soft damp cloth, love your skin. <br />
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<br />Bear's Beauty Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01094818751869228826noreply@blogger.com0