Beauty & Body

Gabriel color card

Non-Toxic Nail Polish

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that nail polish is not the healthiest thing to put on your body. After all, nail polish is paint.  It doesn’t wash off.  It (usually) doesn’t chip.  That can’t be healthy, right? It turns out that–as you might imagine–most nail polish contains at least three major…

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Easy Homemade Hand Sanitizer with Essential Oils

Homemade Hand Sanitizer {with essential oils}

Honestly, I’ve never been a big fan of hand sanitizer.  We rarely use it.  For starters, it dries out my hands.  And I was less than thrilled to learn about the ingredients in most mainstream versions.

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Gardener's Hand Scrub

Easy Gardener’s Hand Scrub {great gift idea}

I love to garden.  [Check out This Year’s Garden Experiments.]  Wish I had more time to devote to digging in the dirt and trying to make things grow, but here’s one thing I don’t have to spend extra time on: cleaning up my grubby hands, post-gardening.

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My Favorite Toothpaste (updated)

Have you made this toothsoap yet? We love it here at the Yankee Homestead! So easy to make, and I don’t have to worry about any of the ingredients.  No sulfates, flourides or other sketchy stuff.  Just Dr. Bronner’s soap, coconut oil, hot water, stevia and essential oils.

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large floppy beach hat

My Favorite Sunscreens (and my large, floppy beach hat)

Yesterday, I explained why we don’t use much sunscreen around the Yankee Homestead. When we do need extra protection, this is what we like to use:   When I first learned that regular sunscreens might not be such a great idea, I did all kinds of research to find a sunscreen that was as safe…

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Sunscreen: Does It Work? Is It Safe?

Sunscreen: Does it Work? Is it Safe?

Did you know that regular sunscreens are carcinogenic? That’s right, the very substance we’re encouraged to slather all over ourselves in order to protect our body’s largest organ (the skin), is suspect of, at worst, causing and speeding the development of cancer and, at best, offering little real protection against skin cancer. [A] wide range…

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olive oil, jojoba oil & castor oil

Toxin-Free Eye Makeup Remover

Did you know that most eye makeup removers contain toxic ingredients?  Try looking up your favorite brand on EWG’s awesome Skin Deep cosmetics data base. My favorite ways to remove eye makeup naturally: 1. Oil and cotton ball I use a mixture of olive, castor and jojoba oil, but you can use just about any kind…

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Hard Lotion Bars

DIY Hard Lotion Bars

Are your hands dry and cracked?  Do you struggle with itchy rashes?  Could your feet use some serious softening?  What about your elbows? This hard lotion is amazing!  I’ve been making it for several years now.  We use it mostly on our hands and lips, but you can use it anywhere you’ve got skin. I…

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Goodbye To Toxins (Day 1): Skin Deep, EWG’s online cosmetics data base

Before I begin sharing all my favorite natural products, I wanted to tell you about this helpful resource… Have you heard of Skin Deep? It’s an online cosmetic data base that provides product safety ratings.  I’ve found it enormously helpful in my efforts to overhaul my family’s hygiene, beauty and cleaning products.

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Homemade Toothpaste

Homemade Toothsoap

I am not a huge expert on flouride or dental health, but I do know that sulfates are not healthy.  So why would I put them in my mouth?  Or even worse, in my children’s mouths? It’s such a shame that many personal care products contain sulfates, parabens and other nasty ingredients that can contribute…

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