Shampoos/Conditioners

I want to share with you an amazing discovery which was shocking and totally surprising for me.

Let me start with my shampoo/conditioners experience first. For the past many years I was buying expansive hair products at beauty supply stores. I tried many different brands, sulfate free, paraben free etc. Unfortunately, none of them did anything to my hair; in fact my hairs looked dry and dull the second day. 

So I finally decided to give a try to horse’s shampoo Mane ‘n Tail (deep moisturizing), which I read so many reviews about, and I fell in love with it. It has been 4^th day already and my hairs still feel strong, clean, shiny and alive, love it! The price was great ($4 for bottle) and you can get it almost at any drug store or order it online.

FYI:  Products are based on protein, which is vital for hair shaft. It contains hydrolyzed wheat protein.

 However, it’s not sulfate free. It contains sodium laureth sulfate

Super easy face scrub for acne prone skin

Baking soda is known as good exfoliate and antibacterial agent, it will help to cleans your skin and prevent from acne formation.

Recipe:

Take approximately ½ - 1 Tbl spoon of baking soda and dissolve it in small amount of warm water till a thick paste formed. Gently wash and massage your face, rinse with warm water. 

Valentine’s Day treatment (body, hair, face)

Today is February 14^th, international day of love. I got home earlier to prepare myself, from head to toe, for the romantic dinner with my husband tonight  ;)

I start with the body treatment. I made an anticellulite, moisturizing mask/wrap for the body.

Body wrap recipe:

Dry mustard  – 1 Tbl spoon (improves blood circulation) dissolved in 1 tea spoon of warm water

Apple cider vinegar – 2 Tbl spoons  (improves skin tone)

Honey – 2Tbl (makes skin smooth and silky)

Vitamin E (liquid) – 4 drops (moisturizes skin)

Mix all ingredients together, apply to problem areas, drape yourself with  plastic food wrap and  and leave for 40-60 minutes. It’s recommended to exercise at the same time to increase treatment effect.

For the hair I made another growth stimulating hair mask for the roots, based on mustard and avocado mask for the ends.

Mustard mask recipe for the roots:

Dry mustard – 1.5 Tbl spoon (improves blood circulation) dissolved in 1.5 tea spoon of warm water

Aloe Vera gel – 2.5 Tbl spoons (protects skin, nourishes hair and gives cooling effect)

Vitamin E (liquid) – 2 drops

Mix all ingredients together, apply on the roots, leave for 15-60 minutes, depending how sensitive your skin is. Also, I would recommend testing this mask prior; apply small amount onto hand and wait few minutes, if no drastic changes happens you may proceed with application.

Avocado mask recipe for the hair ends and face:

1 ripe avocado (Avocado is enriched with minerals and vitamins, it also hydrates hair and skin)

Tea tree essential oil – 4 drops (good for problem skin and for dry, frizzy hair)

Mix together and apply on your hair and face. Face mask leave for 15-20 min, wash off with warm water. Hair mask leave for 15-60 minutes, wash off same at the same time as mustard mask. Proceed with regular hair wash routine.

For dry skin: banana mask with vitamin E

Banana’s pulp is known to moisturize and make skin softer. 

Vitamin E is just an amazing vitamin, which has so many benefits for the skin. It clears skin, prevents formation of wrinkles, moisturizes skin and makes skin elastic.

Recipe:

Mashed bananas pulp – ¼ banana

Pure vitamin E (liquid) – 4 drops

Mix all together, apply mask on your face and leave it for 15-20 minutes. Wash off gently with warm water.

Cognac hair mask

I just rinsed off scalp stimulating hair mask after keeping it for 30 minutes under shower cap and warm towel. Results were unexpected: 1). My hair got tangled a little, so I had to brush from bottom to top very carefully 2). Surprisingly, after my hair dried I had a lot of volume

Recipe:

1 egg

Cognac – 1 table spoon

Lemon juice (fresh) – 1 table spoon

If your hair is dry I recommend adding ½ tea spoon of olive oil

Whisk all ingredients together and apply on your scalp and roots only, leave mask for 30 minutes, rinse well and wash your hair as usual.

Remember after scalp stimulating hair masks hair loss will decrease in a month or two if you consistently doing it (2-3 times a week).

Hair...

I have always dreamed about gorgeous thick and shiny hair, the ones that  most of the Middle Eastern women have. However, I have fine and flat hair which are in need a lot of attention. When I was in my teen age years I used to bleach my hair to platinum blonde (my natural color is dark brown) and did a lot of damage to it. After dying my hair back to natural color it took me over 2 years to gain healthy looking hair back and I am still working on getting better and better results. Beauty is a piece of work; you have to be consistent in order to obtain results.

Recently I noticed a lot of hair left in my brush after each brushings (up to 150 hairs a day, that considered normal), which made me think it’s a time to review my dietary intake and do masks to stimulate scalp's blood circulation.

Hair loss happens due to many factors; most common one is insufficient minerals and vitamins intake. Also, it is important to massage scalp with your fingers or brush to increase circulation, it will bring more blood to the hair bulbs and will help hairs to become stronger and will make them grow faster. There are few ingredients which are known to stimulate hair growth: lemon juice, castor oil, cognac, mustard, red pepper, onion juice and egg yolk.

I am going to experiment with those ingredients and will share my results and masks recipes with you ;)

Egg yolk and apple cider vinegar mask

Today, I made simple & effective face mask to improve skin tone and visually make your skin look younger.

Recipe:

1 Egg yolk

Apple cider vinegar (5-6%) - ½ tea spoon

Honey – 1 tea spoon

If your skin is very dry I recommend adding ¼ tea spoon of moisturizing cream or sour cream.

Combine all ingredients together in the bowl and whisk it. I prefer to apply mask by using cotton ball. Leave mask for 15-20 min, until it becomes dry and wash it out with warm water.

My skin looks so much better, right the way!

About Me, full version

   Hello, my name is Yana. I was born and raised in Russia. While growing up, during the summer time my family spent a lot of time at our summer house in the village. I will never forget this place with its beautiful forests, wide green fields, shiny river and this feeling of freedom, which is so hard to replicate now. I remember my friends and I used to go to the fields to play and collect different types of herbs for different purposes: broadleaf plantains for cuts, St. John's wort for stomach ache, leaves and flowers of oregano for congestion relief etc…. That’s where my passion for natural, organic products comes from.

  At the age of 19 I moved to Los Angeles, California, where I met my future husband and reside there since then. I love California with all those beauty it has to offer: ocean and palm trees, mountains and snow, diversity of different cultures. However, the known fact is that air in California is not the best quality and can affect skin in different ways. It is important to take care of skin since earlier age, moisturize it and nourish, as well as it is important to include more fruits and vegetables and less sweets and salts into your diet. Skin needs minerals and vitamins from inside and out. During many years I was making homemade masks for face and hair and experimenting with different natural products. I love the results and want to share my secrets with you. 

1st photo is the view from my summer house, back in Russia

2nd photo is my husband and I, our engagement session at Mojave desert. May 2011  

Ice cubes with Mint

This simple and great recipe will help you to wake up in the morning as well as it will refresh and tone your skin. Even more, ice cubes are known to improve facial blood circulation and even out skin tone.  

Recipe:

Hand full of mint leaves finely chopped or blended

Filtered water 

Remember: make sure not to hold ice cube on one spot for a long time, keep moving ice cube in circular motions or rubbing for not more than few minutes to avoid skin freeze.