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Creamy Honey Castile Body Wash

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If you've never experienced Dr. Bronner's Castile Soaps, I highly recommend giving it a try! You can use any type of castile soap for this body wash recipe, but I am a fan of Dr. Bronner's. They are fair trade, a B Corp, fair wage certified, and so much more! The formula is highly concentrated, so your bottle goes a long way: dilution is the solution! My favorite scents are lavender and almond, but I came across a jasmine sandalwood travel-sized bottle once that was so divine...bring it back please Bronner's? I started making my own body wash because I was tired of synthetic fragrances. My go-to had been tropical coconut scented soaps, but I wanted to try something new. It's been fun to experiment and customize a personal scent! Here's the base recipe: 3/4 cup Castile Soap 1/2 cup Carrier Oil 1/2 cup Honey ***optional: 15-20 drops essential oil My method is to add the first three ingredients to a bullet style blender to really emulsify everyth
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Two Tips

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I've been brainstorming lots of things to write about and prepped some posts, but struggled with carrying these out. I just rushed to take a quick picture, but this post will be less visual for now. Today's tip: break in a t-shirt and gently dry your hair. I'm looking at curly heads in particular! There are various methods to break in t-shirts, from (wash and wear)repeat to salt water baths, but if you couldn't already tell...I'm a multitasker! This isn't an overnight process, but in the meantime it's a great way to dry your hair and not spend extra $$$ on a hair turban.  The method: open your t-shirt from the bottom and wrap up your head post-shower. Even better: use your t-shirt to gently squeeze water from your hair. Don't rub! Go easy on your hair, and rubbing will lead to frizz.  The t-shirt will get worked in as you use it, getting a lot more wear and use than sitting in your wardrobe all stiff and uncomfortable. You'll notice it get
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Toxin Reduced Deodorant Review

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Since I'm staying home, it's a great time to do a little product testing! Especially if that product is deodorant. I'd hate to be mid-shift lifting my arm to pull a tap handle and find out my deodorant isn't doing it's job! Here is the line up... (I did not feature the popular Native brand here because, although I've tried it, I personally wouldn't recommend it. The formula was too harsh for my skin.) **I will link all the brands to their websites if anyone wants to deep-dive into ingredients and brand info!  First up: Lavanila : "the healthy deodorant" This is one of my favorite brands, tried and true! I find it at TJ Maxx, so it's easy on the wallet too! Full price is $12-$14, but I've found it from $6-$8. My favorite scent so far is Coconut Vanilla. Lately I've only been able to find Vanilla Blackberry, but they all smell nice. There are a variety of smells (I would love to try the elements collection!), but they all
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Two-fer Tuesday Tip

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Hey y'all! This'll be a quick tip this week, but I'd like to keep doing these twofers. This one uses a near-empty honey jar. Honey is something I use pretty much every day, so much that I have a couple of posts lined up involving honey! Local honey is best, so nowadays I buy Asheville Honey Company raw honey. Once you have used most of the honey and you are at the point of scraping the sides, make yourself some tea. Once your tea has cooled a bit, pour it into the jar. Use caution, because glass can crack if the liquid is too hot! Close the jar and give it a good shake. You'll use all of the honey, have a sweet delicious tea you can drink hot or ice it up, and then your jar will be ready to rinse out and reuse!  via GIPHY Good to the last drop! Thank you bees!
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Triple threat Braid!

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Today's hairstyle was actually the original inspiration for my faux hawk braid . It started as just an upside-down dutch braid into a ponytail, and then the ponytail became a braid, and I figured out how to add another one in and BAM! Three braids, one style! I'll walk you through it in the video: I can't wait til the honeysuckle bloom and the fireflies come back and my porch will reach it's peak magic. Until then...
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Faux-hawk Braid Style

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Maybe it's from growing up in the 90's watching Hook and idolizing Rufio, but I love a bold hairstyle! I never thought I could pull off a faux-hawk, but one day I just did it and walked out the door owning it!  I explain in the video that this style uses a dutch braid, aka an inside-out braid. This means you create a french braid, but instead of weaving your hair on top of the middle strand, you pull it under. And for some reason, for me this is easier to do upside-down. I have been using this technique for a while now taking the braid up the back, stopping, and gathering my hair into a ponytail. Instead of stopping here, I just kept going until I had braided all of my hair. You then fold the tail under and pin it into the braid.  If your braid looks a little weak and not too full, you can gently pull the braid and fluff it a bit. This is called "pancaking". And there ya go! Happy braiding!
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Twofer Tuesday Tip

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With all of this time being home, I'm surprised that my house isn't sparkling clean by now... via GIPHY Did anyone else assume staying at home would lead to a thorough Spring cleaning? I've definitely done a lot of tidying, but since I'm staying in place I am constantly creating new messes.  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Fortunately, I have some tips on making the most of day-to-day tasks! Let's kick it off with.... Coffee! Because it gives us the kick we need to be productive! It's a good idea to occasionally clean your coffee maker for many reasons: for starters, the machine can be a breeding ground for mold and other nasties; then there are probably stray grounds and mineral build-up affecting flavor and how well your machine is working. So let's take care of it! First: give the whole thing a nice wipe-down on the outside! Wipe down the burner, make it all shine! Second: Get some White Vinegar. You can also buy cleaner that's made especially for your
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