So remember how I was going to give myself one day to wallow and eat comfort foods after Isaac leaves?
He’s been gone for over 24 hours now and I still haven’t gotten around to the comfort food. Or much food at all.
I just feel like throwing up.
And no, I am not pregnant. It’s just that there’s this part of me that wants to sit down and cry for the next six months, and restraining it is making me sick.
So to distract myself I thought I’d update you on the state of my pores.
Because quite honestly? I could probably spend the next six months in fascinated examination of them.
I’ve continued to use the same blend of oil to cleanse my face. I think I skipped one or two days when I was just too lazy to wash my face at all before bed.
But my cheeks look great anyway. At first I noticed that all the pimples there had shrunk some. Then I noticed that the general redness that affected my lower cheeks was gone, just leaving a few isolated and quickly healing pimples. I haven’t gotten any new pimples, except for a couple very small whiteheads, which upon (careful, repeated) examination seem to be pores that were clogged and are cleaning themselves out.
The pores around my nose are all smaller and cleaner. Immediately after cleansing my face, I look like I have practically no pores at all, but that effect does fade.
Honestly, if my face continues to improve the same way it has this last week, in another week or so the only blemishes left on my face will be the one cystic one that is healing, but slower.
I will probably adjust my oil ratio to see if I can cut out using moisturizer completely. I’ll update you more soon. And if anyone else tries this, let me know how it works!
Also, here’s a picture of Isaac and I the morning he left. Ignore my hair, as my stylist cut it a couple inches shorter than I wanted and I still haven’t figured out how to style it without it looking like a helmet.
*I apologize to anyone who clicked here thinking they were about to read a deeply insightful political post about military deployments and the cost of oil. I am way too interested in the state of my pores to spend much time blogging about the state of the union.
Many many months ago I read about the oil cleansing method for faces. I think Megan posted about it.
The idea appealed to the crunchy side of me, and I decided to try it.
And then the side of me that believes that the more expensive a product is, the better it will work interfered.
*Christy waves hi to her shallow side*
See, I’ve been using Proactiv with great results since shortly after Chloe was born and I decided not to go back on the pill.
Ever again.
My skin suffered for lack of the pill and Proactiv was a miracle salve.
Until I moved to Mississippi. I don’t know if it’s the humidity here, or if it’s just that I turned 30 and my hormones are going wonky, but suddenly my pores were the size of craters, I had blackheads, and my lower cheeks and jawline had constant acne. It was the worst breakout I’d had since I was about 20, and it wasn’t going away.
I started trying more and more expensive products with little success. The best I found was using a combination of Proactiv and Philosophy products, but the cost in dollars was high. Not to mention the possible health costs, as all of those products are filled with either harsh chemicals, parabens, or both.
So finally I tried the oil cleansing method starting yesterday. I started with a simple (cheap!) mix of one tablespoon castor oil mixed with three tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, a ratio that seemed recommended for my oily skin.
Day 1- I poured just a little out and massaged it into my face. I actually massaged my face, paying particular attention to spots with blackheads and breakouts, and to my temples and jaw, which were pretty tense. It was very relaxing.
Until I realized there was a little hard thing I was rubbing around. I fished it off my skin and upon examination, a pesky blackhead near my nose had come out whole and hard.
It was morbidly fascinating.
I rinsed the oil off in the shower and wondered if I’d end up with an extra oily face, but by the time I had dried off and put my make up on, my skin was actually a little dry and itchy, so I’ll have to figure out the best way to moisturize.
I also realized I had too much make-up on. It was the same amount I’ve worn everyday lately, but my skin was so amazingly smooth that I just didn’t need as much makeup. The acne on my cheeks, both the surface stuff and the one cystic one on my cheek, had all shrunk some. It was really amazing. My complexion glowed.
Day 2- I’m only going to try the OCM at night, so I used a gentle cleanser in the morning (Philosophy’s Purity Made Simple. I love it, but I need to find something with no parabens when this bottle is gone.). My complexion wasn’t quite as glowy and smooth in the morning, but the acne still seems to be healing quickly, and my pores are less crater-like.
A few minutes ago I again massaged a small amount of oil into my face. Again, I had one pore that released a hard clog. Ick. I used a warm washcloth and water to rinse the oil off, and the glow is back! And on my nose I have about a third the amount of pores as I used to, and only a few blackheads. I did need to use moisturizer afterwards, so I need to do a little research to figure out if I need to adjust my oil ratio or if that’s normal.
I’ll be back in a few days to update ya’ll. I’m sure you’ll be on the edge of your seats, wondering about the state of my pores!
What’s your beauty routine?
Remember back in January when I posted about my inner snob? And I showed you how many bath bottles I have around the house? And I promised to do a big shampoo test to see how Lush’s shampoo bars compare to bottled shampoo and conditioner?
Well, here it is!
Finally.
So, I’m comparing Redken’s All Soft shampoo and conditioner (my most recent favorite, although I tend to change my shampoo brand every time I run out. I’m fickle like that.) with Lush’s Godiva and Ultimate Shine Bars.
What is a shampoo bar? Think small bar of soap. Only cuter, if it’s from Lush.
That’s Godiva on the left, and Ultimate Shine on the right. I think they’re a little bigger than those round hotel soaps.
To use them, you wet your hair and then just swipe the bar from the crown of your head to the tips three times. Although, I found on my hair that I only had to swipe the Ultimate Shine twice but the Godiva four times to get a good lather.
And ya’ll. Those little bars? Are going to last me for-evah. They don’t get used up nearly as quickly as a bar of regular soap. They will definitely last longer than an average bottle of shampoo.
The results:
All Soft- It makes your hair freakishly soft. And smooth. And sucks the life right out of it. I have no volume or body whatsoever when I use it, and it tends to build up. If your only requirement is softness, then this is for you.
Godiva- It smells amazing. It was a little strong when new, but I love opening the shower door because the scent just wafts out and makes me happy. It lingers in my hair, too, but only if I stick my nose in my hair and take a whiff.
Which I do when I use Godiva.
Regularly
It works better than cheap drugstore brands on my hair, but to get a really nice look and feel I need a smoothing balm with it. It leaves a lot of flyaways, and my hair isn’t quite as soft as I’d like it to be, but then I’m comparing it to All Soft, and not other shampoos that work well. It doesn’t build up.
Overall, it’s a very good shampoo.
Ultimate Shine- It smells slightly medicinal, but only if you sniff the bar. It doesn’t linger in your hair. It doesn’t build up. I expected not to like it, but it is amazing! It makes my hair almost as soft as the All Soft, but still leaves it with tons of body and volume, and makes it look amazingly healthy and shiny. Hands down my favorite. I could use it with no other products, smoothing balm or a spritz of hairspray and it would be great. And remember, the Lush Shampoo Bars are natural, some are organic and vegan, and they come minimally packaged.
Ok, there’s a ton of html in this post, so I’m going to post it and make sure that everything looks right, if I have to edit it, sorry if you get multiple copies in your feedreaders!
My parents don’t eat seafood of any type. So the first time I ever any was my freshman year of college. So I wasn’t really prepared one day in my sophomore year when I went to lunch with a large group of people and crawfish were the menu.
I tried really hard to enjoy it. My friends all teased me as I tried to figure out how in the world to eat something that looked back at me. I peeled and tried a few of them, but the fact that I was holding their entire body in my hand, and that they were looking at me through their beady little eyes made me kind of queasy.
It was their legs that really got me. I just couldn’t eat something with all those dangly little legs.
I finally had to go to the restroom to wash the smell off my hands. I just couldn’t take it anymore. I went back to my table.
And there was a crawfish hanging from my water glass.
A friend across the room yelled, “Quick, Christy! Catch it! It’s trying to escape back into the water!”
And that was when I cried.
So I’m sure you’ll understand when I told you that I ate bread on Saturday night. Because we were at a dinner for Isaac’s work (a Hail and Farewell, for you military types).
And they had a crawfish boil.
100 pounds of crawfish boil.
And a relish tray.
And some bread.
And through I tried, I just couldn’t eat enough kalamata olives to take the edge off my hunger, so I also had two slices of gluten-filled french bread.
We have been successful on the no artificial dyes or HFCS, though!
How are Angela, Seven, Jen, Michelle, Jackie, and Heidi doing?
So since Monday I have been completely gluten free. Which also means wheat free, but not carb free. Also, artificial color and high fructose corn syrup free. Oh, and I threw in sugar free.
Just for kicks.
But I had one of those mommy moments at lunch today. I use the “healthy” noodles that are higher in protein and whole grains, and today I made a mac n cheese casserole for the kids.
And grabbed myself half a bowlful to go with my chicken salad I was having. Since it was made with healthy noodles and all.
Totally forgetting that healthy does not translate to gluten free.
And for the first time in four days, I feel full.
And not that nice, satisfied lack of hunger kind of full.
No, I’m talking the bloated, I can feel my stomach sticking out kind of full. Up until now I was actually feeling slimmer throughout my ribcage and stomach, but now I feel like I just have all this overflow hanging out over the top of my jeans.
And it’s not a pleasant feeling.
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