Spa Party

A while back I had a Girls' Night In Spa Party. The idea was to use all natural ingredients to pamper ourselves for an evening. When I say all natural, I mean ALL natural - and affordable. Think oatmeal, honey, chocolate, baking soda, epsom salt, sugar, sea salt, and yogurt.

Despite the unexpected snowstorm, there were only 7 of us, but it was perfect. I gathered some recipes from the net, whipped up the goodies, and treated the ladies to a night of facials and manicures. We ate finger food, sipped wine and infused water, laughed, and indulged. Fun times! I promised I would send them links to the recipes so here goes...

Our facial routine was as follows:

1. Cleaned face with a natural cleanser, soap, or cleansing towel (we used the latter).

2. Exfoliated with either Oatmeal Exfoliating Scrub (this was used for sensitive skin) or Sugar & Spice Scrub. Once this was done, the ladies used a Brown Sugar Lip Scrub.

3. To my surprise, everyone tried the Moisturizing Chocolate Face Mask and looooved it. They applied some cucumber slices for the eyes and relaxed for 15 minutes.

4. I had them finish with an Egg White Mask (applied EggBeaters to the face & let it tighten) to even skin tone and reduce pores.

After manicures, I sent each of the ladies off with their very own bag of bath salts and a few ideas for homemade gifts.

Maddie Ruud has some awesome Facial Masks Recipes and Body Scrub and Salt Glow Recipes.

RecipeZaar has some great finds like:

Natural Lemon Astringent and Pore Reducer
Quick Facial Rejuvenator
Simple Sugar Scrub
Brown Sugar Exfoliating Bath Scrub
Lemon (Or Lime) Sugar (Or Salt) Scrub
Gingerbread Body Scrub
Sugar & Spice Milk Bath
Martha Stewart's Foot Soak
Extra Soothing & Aromatic Bath Salts with Milk


More scrub recipes can be found here, foot soak recipes can be found here, and facials can be found here.

Hope this helps you with your next Spa Party or evening of self-indulgence. As usual, drop me a line in the comments if you have some questions or care to share your fave all natural skincare recipe.

Herbal Infusions

Here's a vid of some of the herbal infusions I've done thus far. The ACV and Oil infusion are my faves. Now that I'm back in the city I'll see what other goodies I can acquire for my infusions. Will update with more soon.

Loose Herbs

Here's a video showing my stash of loose herbs thus far. I'm so happy to be back in Brooklyn where I'm sure to find a cornucopia of herbs in my little Caribbean neighborhood. *Big Ups to all the (East) Flatbush nappies!*

Banana Hair Smoothie

Repost from Random Thoughts on 11/10/08

Last weekend I took out my cornrows and treated my tresses to a banana smoothie. I mixed yogurt, mashed banana, honey, coconut oil, olive oil, castor oil, vegetable glycerin, and a little dab of Qhemet Biologics Amla & Olive Heavy Cream (AOHC). Had I not put in the AOHC, it would have been edible. I'd heard about the wonderful benefits provided by bananas and even yogurt, so I decided to try my hand at a recipe. I used nonfat plain yogurt because I needed to finish the container I had on hand. Next time I will use the kind with lots of fat in it. I had a few snags along the way and my bathroom was quite messy, but it all worked out. My hair smelled absolutely yummy and felt very fortified when I was done.

This smoothie can be done as a pre-poo (before shampoo) treatment or be used on freshly washed hair.

Here's my modified recipe:

1 cup of Natural plain yogurt
1/2 cup of Natural plain yogurt
3 tbs Honey
1 medium Banana*
2 tbs Vegetable Glycerin
2 tbs Castor Oil
2 tbs Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 tbs Extra Virgin Coconut Oil (EVCO)

*You can substitute all natural banana baby food since it is already pureed.

Blend banana and 1/2 cup of yogurt in blender of food processor until pureed. You do NOT want any banana chunks to be present as they will be very difficult to get out of your hair. Ask me how I know. Add remaining ingredients and blend.

Optional Step: Transfer smoothie contents into a microwave safe bowl. Heat in microwave in 30 second intervals until desired warmth. Warming it will ensure that the EVCO does not solidify during application. This also makes your smoothie into a hot oil treatment.

Apply smoothie to your hair in sections. Wrap head with a plastic cap (a plastic bag works just fine and it's FREE). You can sit under the dryer or you can wrap your head in a warm towel (put it in the dryer or wet it a bit and put it in the microwave for 2 minutes). Keep smoothie on for 45 minutes to an hour. You can use this time to clean up the mess you made. Rinse hair and style as usual.