Got hair goals? Trying washing your hair less often. Watch my full video for more!
Advertisements
Tag Archives: hair
Seaweed Bath Company Review
This is a review of the Seaweed Bath Company’s body cream, shampoo and conditioner.
Seaweed Bath Company
Overall Rating: 
About Seaweed Bath Company:
“The Seaweed Bath Co., LLC is dedicated to fighting dry, flaking and scaling skin naturally with our combination of specific species of seaweed with high-quality, all-natural ingredients that help manage severely irritated skin. Since launching in October 2010, The Seaweed Bath Co. has brought happiness to thousands of loyal customers.
The Seaweed Bath Co. is the vision of Adam Grossman, a long-time psoriasis sufferer, who created his seaweed-based cosmetic products to take control of his own irritated skin without the use of prescribed medications or harsh chemicals. Seeking to improve the lives of other sufferers, Adam founded The Seaweed Bath Co. to share his remarkable all-natural seaweed bath products with the world.
In the continuing development of The Seaweed Bath Co.’s innovative product line, we spend countless hours listening to the needs and concerns of our valued customers who are in search of natural ways to treat and soothe their irritated, scaling, flaking and red skin.
The Seaweed Bath Co. sustainably hand-harvests wild bladderwrack seaweed off the coasts of Maine and Nova Scotia. We combine our bladderwrack with the highest quality natural ingredients from around the world. These ingredients are both known to be moisturizing and pH-balancing. In fact, many of the ingredients used in our seaweed-based products have been used for centuries by Asian, African and European cultures to improve the skin’s health and well-being.
Our mission at The Seaweed Bath Co. is to improve the quality of life for severely irritated skin sufferers by offering a constantly-expanding line of high-quality, affordable, all-natural cosmetic products that have soothing, pH-balancing and moisturizing properties. Additionally, The Seaweed Bath Co. provides opportunities for psoriasis and eczema sufferers to discuss and share information about skin conditions, all-natural products and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. We invite you, your family and your friends to join our psoriasis and eczema blog as we lead conversations on a variety of topics, including natural alternatives for the management of psoriasis and eczema.”
___________________________
Balancing Argan Shampoo
About:
“Our combination of bladderwrack seaweed with soothing argan oil and essential nutrients naturally cleanses and clarifies your hair and scalp while maintaining healthy moisture and shine. Vegan. Made in the USA. Never tested on animals.
Ingredients:
Eucalyptus & Peppermint Scent: Aqua (water) with Fucus Vesiculosus (bladderwrack seaweed) Extract, Aloe Barbadensis (Aloe), Sodium Laurylglucosides Hydroxypropylsulfonate (corn & vegetable derived), Decyl Glucoside, Sodium Cocoyl Glutamate, Vegetable Glycerin, Argania Spinosa (Argan) Oil, Hydroxyethylcellulose (plant derived), Ricinus Communis (Castor) Seed Oil, Babasuamidopropyl Betaine, Panthenol (Pro-Vitamin B5), Citric Acid, Tocopherol (Natural Vitamin E), Polyglyceryl-10 Laurate, Eucalyptus Globulus (Eucalyptus) Essential Oil, Sodium Benzoate (natural version), Potassium Sorbate, Dimethicone, Gluconic Acid (plant derived), Mentha piperita (Peppermint) Essential Oil.”
Balancing Argan Conditioner
About:
“Our combination of bladderwrack seaweed with soothing argan oil and essential nutrients naturally cleanses and clarifies your hair and scalp while maintaining healthy moisture and shine. Vegan. Made in the USA. Never tested on animals.
Ingredients:
Eucalyptus & Peppermint Scent: Aqua (Water) with Fucus Vesiculosus (Bladderwrack Seaweed) Extract, Aloe Barbadensis (Aloe) Leaf Juice, Cetearyl Alcohol, Glyceryl Stearate, Stearylkonium Chloride, Argania Spinosa (Argan) Oil, Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Seed Oil, Cocos Nucifera (Coconut) Oil, Persea Gratissima (Avocado) Oil, Panthenol (Pro-Vitamin B5), Hydrolyzed Barley Protein (gluten-free), Hydrolyzed Soy Protein, Olea Europaea (Olive) Oil, Vegetable Glycerin, Citric Acid, Gluconic Acid (plant derived), Tocopherol (Natural Vitamin E), Sodium Benzoate (natural version), Potassium Sorbate, Eucalyptus Globulus (Eucalyptus) Essential Oil, Mentha Piperita (Peppermint) Essential Oil.”
Eucalyptus & Peppermint Body Cream
About:
“Our Wildly Natural Seaweed Body Cream combines the nourishing properties of seaweed with a variety of natural ingredients, including Shea Butter, Kukui Oil and Argan Oil, to soften and moisturize dry skin.
Ingredients:
Eucalyptus & Peppermint Scent: Aqua (Water) with Fucus Vesiculosus (Bladderwrack Seaweed) Extract, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Carthamus Tinctorius (Safflower) Seed Oil, Vegetable Glycerin, Stearic Acid, Butyrospermum Parkii (Unrefined Shea) Butter, Argania Spinosa (Argan) Oil, Aleurites Moluccana (Kukui) Oil, MSM (Methyl Sulfonyl Methane), Stearyl Alcohol, Hyaluronic Acid, Glyceryl Stearate, Theobroma Cacao (Cocoa) Seed Butter, Polysorbate-80, Tocopherol (Natural Vitamin E), Phenethyl Alcohol, Eucalyptus Globulus (Eucalyptus) Essential Oil, Panthenol, Xanthan Gum, Allantoin, Aloe Barbadensis (Aloe) Leaf Juice, Mentha Piperita (Peppermint) Essential Oil.”
___________________________
My Thoughts:
I’ve been able to review and experience the Seaweed Bath Company before, and it’s neat for my journey through the world of natural products to circle back around to this brand again. They’re a company that is pretty conscientious about their ingredients (above average) and their products perform very well.
In my dreams, my very own product line would be chock full of peppermint–in every single product. So needless to say, I love the refreshing effect of this shampoo + conditioner combo. The shampoo is perfectly clarifying while still leaving a nice shine throughout my hair. Performance-wise, the conditioner is pretty darn perfect. It’s creamy and rich & a little goes a long way, even in my tangly, often sweaty hair.
This body cream consists of the same eucalyptus + peppermint scents that the hair products do, and I just love it. It wakes up your senses to rub this cream all over your body. It absorbs into the skin well, provides a good amount of moisture and leaves skin smelling clean and minty.
If I could improve anything with these products, I would clean up the ingredient list just a bit. The ingredients are pretty good, but they are not all organic and some of them are clearly added for texture, consistency & shelf stability. My experience with hair products is that it is VERY hard to find the perfect marriage of performance and top-notch ingredients. The Seaweed Bath company does a good job of creating some above average products whose ingredients are plant derived and cleaner than most hair products you’ll find.
This brand is very accessible; I’ve seen them at Sprout’s Farmers Market, Whole Foods, Natural Grocers and other smaller health food retailers. You can also find them online on numerous healthy product meccas like Iherb.com, Vitacost.com and even Amazon.com.
Use my iHerb code SDG314 to get a discount on your order!
Balanced Guru Farm-A-Ceuticals Review
This is a review of the Balanced Guru organic skincare Farm-A-Ceuticals line.
Balanced Guru Organic Body Care Farm-A-Ceuticals
Overall Rating: 
It feels really good when I get the opportunity to meet the faces behind the beautiful products I try. At Expo West this year, I met two of the beautiful people behind Balanced Guru and let me tell you, the kindness and genuine enthusiasm that I perceived from working with them before (via e-mail & social media) was ever-present when I met them in person. You can tell that they are adamant and passionate about putting the very best ingredients into their products.
I’ve tried one of their products and reviewed it in the past, their scalp detox treatment; you can read that review here.
______________________________
My Thoughts:
Their body care line is so sublime, it really only requires a few words to accurately capture the gist of their brand. Here are the important things I’d like to point out about Balanced Guru:
- Their ingredient lists are organic, top to bottom. No kidding. No messing around.
- The products perform incredibly well because of that fact. Nature is healing.
- You won’t find many other lines that are THIS clean & THIS pure.
Balanced Guru is one of the few body care brands that gets carte blanche from me. They could hand me any product, and as long as I know they’ve created it, I trust it. That’s because they have garnered such a great reputation with me for only using the best ingredients. They provided me with a handful of goodies at Expo to try (scrub, energy mists, hair oil) and I was amped. I’m excited to try anything that they make beautifully with their ingredient-conscious minds.
The energy mists I see as an uplifting, energizing alternative to junky perfumes (most perfumes don’t even list the ingredients on them–how scary is that?). I love closing my eyes and spraying it over my face and upper body before a workout. They lift my mood and help me stay fresh-smelling amidst the sweaty grind.
With all the grime that builds up on my skin after a week’s worth of challenging workouts, I really enjoy my time exfoliating because it leaves my skin feeling so fresh and rejuvenated. I try to limit my exfoliating to once a week because I do believe you can do it too much–there’s something to be said about leaving your skin alone sometimes. That said, when I do exfoliate, it’s so nice to be able to reach for a gritty scrub like this one that’s chock full of organic goodness like sugar, coffee and spearmint.
I have a semi-oily scalp but the ends of my hair tend to dry out with frequent shampoos. That’s where a pure hair oil comes in. All it takes is a tiny amount rubbed in between my hands and then through the ends of your tresses to give your hair a quenched look.
I urge you to check out their range of products–they make SO many excellent organic products and their purity is really impressive. Balanced Guru’s line also makes for great gifts!
The Gnarly Whale Beach Waves Hair Spray
The Gnarly Whale
Overall Rating: 
About:
“Get gorgeous wavy hair without even setting your foot in the ocean. Easily add extra volume and subtle waves to your hair with just a few sprays. Our Beach Waves spray is completely vegan and made from scratch.
USE: Best used on wet hair, but can be used on dry hair as well. Spray on, dry as usual (or even let air dry!) and rock those waves. Great way to get an extra boost to hair that hasn’t been washed for a day or two, also!
SCENT: Peppermint
FRAGRANCE TYPE: Essential Oil
INGREDIENTS: Our beach waves products include water, mediterranean sea salt, aloe vera gel, coconut oil, grapefruit seed extract, and essential oils and/or fragrance.
We don’t consider any of our products or scents to be organic, but some of our scents are natural – any of the ones with essential oils. (This includes Cedarwood, Citrus Sensation, Doublemint, Eucalyptus, Lavender, Lemon, Lemongrass, Lime, Orange, Peppermint, Pink Grapefruit, Spearmint, Tangerine, and Tea Tree.)
All of our products are 100% vegan and cruelty free. Final product testing was done on humans.”
________________________________
My Thoughts:
If you’ve read any of my prior skin care, hair care & nutrition reviews, then you’re familiar with the fact that I strive for 100% organic (the name of my blog even suggests it!) 🙂
That said, there is a spectrum. On one end of the spectrum lies the junky, chemical-pumped, hazardous products that are so loaded with harmful ingredients that it’s amazing they are allowed to be sold. On the other end of the spectrum is purity: no bull honkey, completely organic wonderment. The Gnarly Whale peppermint beach waves spray falls somewhere in that spectrum, closer to the pure end.
I do like seeing a simple ingredient list in which I can read and recognize all of the ingredients. That’s the case with this spray. However, none of them are organic. The whole reason that organic ingredients are important is because they lessen the toxic burden on the body. So, some people might view this ingredient list and see nothing wrong with it. I see it with a more honed in vision and am wishing for more quality here. I know what non-organic can mean and I don’t want that. I want to use the best products on my hair and skin.
All of that said, this beach spray performs well (which I’m sure is all that some people care about). It provides the hair a bit of volume and texture. The way I see it, it helps you do something with somewhat dirty hair. Peppermint is one of my favorite essential oil scents, and I really enjoy this smell in my hair. I see this product as a pretty good starter for someone looking to start making beauty swaps: throwing out their old junky products and beginning to use products that are closer to nature.
Nature’s Fusions Essential Oils Review: Rosemary, Peppermint, Thyme, Ginger
Nature’s Fusions Essential Oils
This is a review of Nature’ Fusions essential oils.
Overall Rating: 
About Nature’s Fusions:
“The Highest Quality in the World, Guaranteed.
We have worked for years with the best international suppliers, chemists, and laboratories around the world to get the highest quality certified therapeutic grade essential oils in the world. All of our oils are certified to be 100% pure and free of pesticides or other chemical residues. They have undergone rigorous testing to insure they meet or exceed all international standards on Purity and Safety. All of our oils have been cross tested using mass spectrometry, and gas chromatography to ensure both extract purity and composition potency of each batch. Would you like to see the data charts from the tests? Just ask! We understand that these graphs and charts may be difficult to read or understand and would be happy to discuss the scientific details with you if you’re so inclined.
Ultimately, unless you can read somewhat complicated data charts, are familiar with current medical research, and can determine the impact of hundreds of individual components in essential oils, knowing which oils are not only ‘pure’ but also good enough to be ‘therapeutic’ is a question of trust.
Here at Nature’s Fusions, we value your trust more than anything else – we have put in the time, effort and money to bring you the best essential oils in the world, just as you would expect a doctor would do with a prescribed medication – and this is shown by our 100% satisfaction guarantee and our commitment to honesty in communication. Essential oils are awesome for the uses in which they work. But there are plenty of times they don’t – and while there are plenty of articles that claim essential oils will cure every malady known to man, here we try to cut through the misinformation and pseudo-science that surrounds the essential oil field. For that reason, we are an ‘open book’ – ask us anything and we’ll be happy to answer.
So give it a try. Try us out, and we guarantee that you will be impressed – not only with the quality and utility of our products, but with our prices, our honesty, and our dedication to you as a person.
If you are currently using an essential company that tries to hide information or won’t divulge their secrets and ‘proprietary’ items, then I wouldn’t trust them. This is your health – what is there to hide? Would you trust a doctor that wouldn’t tell you what was in the medicine he/she prescribed?”
I’ve reviewed a few of Nature’s Fusions’ oils before and had a fantastic experience with them. You can read that review here.
__________________________________________
My Thoughts:
Essential oils are an major health booster in my everyday routine. I use them in a multitude of ways and I always get excited to try them differently as I learn more about them. I was eager to incorporate these four into my daily routine in these ways:
Rosemary: added to my shampoo to stimulate hair follicles– it acts as a catalyst for hair growth, added to my green drinks to alleviate headaches
Peppermint: in homemade toothpaste, for acne spot treatments, added to tea.
Thyme: taken orally (in water) for menstrual cramp relief
Ginger: taken orally (in water) for stomach discomfort, or after I’ve eaten some not-so-healthy food–as it rebalances my stomach’s pH.
The most useful essential oil in my house is definitely the peppermint. I use it every day (you can read my homemade recipe here) to brush my teeth, treat a sudden acne breakout and to sooth an irritated stomach and reduce inflammation in my body. Besides the benefits, the best part is that it leaves your breath smelling fresh and minty.
Using thyme for menstrual cramps seemed to work okay–but not completely alleviate my cramps. However, I have always had very intense menstrual cramps. Perhaps, I need to start taking the thyme a few days in advance before my time of the month comes to combat the inflammation and cramping.
I don’t have any issues with thinning hair on my head, but do like adding a drop of this essential oil to my night eye cream to help stimulate more brow growth. Along with tweezing less, it seems as though my brows have filled out a bit more. I also believe you can get the hair boosting benefits of this oil by ingesting it–which is why I sometimes add it to my blended, homemade green drinks.
I seldom have issues with a sour stomach, since I eat lots of plants every day–but it happens on occasion. To prevent and treat stomach and digestion issues, I like taking this ginger essential oil in water–and it works well. Also, it’s completely organic & natural (much better than the junk-filled stomach medication you will find at the drug store).
In regards to quality, Nature’s Fusions is amongst the very best. This brand also creates many different essential oil blends that are geared towards certain things like motion sickness or muscle aches. I look to them for many of my essential oil needs.