Many of my family and friends love my glycerin soap with the lovely smell of bergamot and sweet orange that wakes you up with its fresh and sweet fragrance and leaves your skin moisturized. But one of the questions I continue to get is what is that dew on the soap? One of the many things you learn as you work with glycerin soaps is that it is a humectant / hygroscopic, which means it absorbs and attracts ambient water. For example, if you left a cup of glycerin out in a humid room, it would actually absorb water from the air until it was about 20% water. In soap,… Read More
Continue ReadingMy Morning Coffee
Many of us love coffee in the morning and how it wakes us up out of slumber and starts the day. Whether rushing off to our jobs in person or online, to the beach or to the mountains, or just getting up and needing our brain to function with the rest of our body – coffee is wonderful! In fact hot fresh coffee has a wonderful rich aroma that can transport us to that perfect place where you just settle in and see what the new day has in store for us. Ahh, the little things of life. Well, one morning I found myself sitting in the yard with my… Read More
Continue ReadingDwarf Ylang Ylang Tree
Well I love going to growers and gardens to find plants and trees to bring home. My find in early 2020 was a Dwarf Ylang Ylang Tree that grows to approximate 8-10 feet tall and is approximately 7 feet tall now (August 2022), but back when I purchased it, it was 4 feet. Ylang Ylang is a unique and very sought-after essential oils that high end perfumeries use for perfumes such as Chanel #5. The dwarf ylang ylang tree flower has a spicy fragrance to it, almost has a smooth peppery scent. Once the flowers are ready to be picked, I pinch them off and dry them to be infused… Read More
Continue ReadingMedicinal Garden
A medicinal garden is really a must have. Many are so connected with our pharmaceutical drugs that we are willing to take pills that could give us 3-7 other diseases to cover up what is really ailing us. Are we out of our minds? Now am I totally against pharmaceutical drugs, no – but very limited and only if there isn’t a way around it naturally. Most of our illnesses are caused by our dietary fast food consumption, lack of exercise and pesticides and drugs that are in our food sources. Well, part of taking back my life was beginning to grow various herbs for my soaps and lotions, but… Read More
Continue ReadingGardening & Learning About Plants
One of the best things I have done was to work in the soil, get my hands dirty and watch my plants grow! Though there has been obstacles and the biggest one is that we live in a rain forest at our 2000 feet elevation, which we call the squeeze zone and yes it is quite wet. I am sure that sounds strange from someone who lives in Hawaii and you think of ocean, sun and fun; but those of us that live in the higher elevations often pray for sun and blue skies. In 2018 we received a total of 51.53 inches of rain in a 5 day period… Read More
Continue ReadingWhat’s in Store Bought Commercial Soaps?
What’s in store bought soaps? ~ Would you be Surprised? Very Possibly! ~ As we go along in life you may start figuring out what we have been conditioned to buy and use, that looks good, smells good — may not necessarily be good! Like shampoos, these wonderful and normally inexpensive bars that we have on our shopping list and choose because it smells good or is the brand that has the best of the best products – SHOULD NOT BE TAKEN HOME TO CLEAN OFF THE DAYS GRIME. You are probably thinking, oh come on – it’s just soap! Well not really. It is just detergent and a lot… Read More
Continue ReadingMaking Fragrances
Making perfumes is an exquisite endeavor, though most do not know that it is not a simple task in finding just the right blend for a fragrance and it is definite labor of love. The art of making perfume dates back as far as 3500 B.C. and was very important to the Egyptians and then later to the Greeks and Romans. What is known is that the first use of fragrances and oils for personal hygiene was used after bathing and rubbed into the skin while still moist. There are three types of fragrances: 1) classical, 2) single note and 3) linear fragrances. The classical is a mixture of ingredients… Read More
Continue ReadingGut Health & Our Immune System: Fermenting Black Turmeric, Turmeric & Ginger
In these days of constantly being bombarded about getting ill, many have decided to figure out ways to boost their immune system! Now don’t get me wrong, it would be great if someone comes out with a shot that actually is a lifesaver, but so far all the flu shots that millions line up for each year seems to me, to be a placebo. They tell us these shots build up our immune system with antibodies – well yes, and so will walking around and living, since our bodies were created to fight off these bugs. Personally, I do not take these shots each year because the manufactures are always… Read More
Continue ReadingMake Your Own Rosemary Salt Scrub
Many people ask me, which is best for their skin, a sugar scrub or a salt scrub to exfoliate? The answer depends on your skin type. For those who have sensitive skin the best would be a sugar scrub, due to the sugar granules are round, versus the course shape of a granule of sea salt. Salt scrubs are designed to exfoliate your skin better, removing the outermost layer of dead skin cells that shed every 30 days or so, leaving your skin softer and smoother. In regions that have high humidity and heat like Hawaii, this is a product that I use from my neck down – gently. Personally,… Read More
Continue ReadingHarmful Shampoo Ingredients
When it comes to shampoos either you are a connoisseur of shampoo brands, or you pick what you can afford at the moment. The reality is there is not much difference in most shampoos. Most of us love the delightful fragrance and that silky feel, that is offered up in those bottles of luxury we pour over our unsuspecting heads. Little do we know what is in those bottles and we may not really care until we research the ingredients. As mentioned in other post, harsh ingredients are everywhere and we need to start educating ourselves on what we are using. Here is a list of ingredients to look out… Read More
Continue ReadingThe Nature of Skin
The body is a complex set of organs with the skin being the largest of all of them. It is very important to consider what the skin functions are and figure out what would be the best for the health of our skin. We all know that the skin is a sensory organ that allows us to know when it is too hot, too cold or something is causing irritation such as a bite, rash, an infection or injuries. Not only is it sensitive, but it is a barrier that helps prevent water loss, protects from harmful ultraviolet radiation from the sun, prevents entry of microorganisms, foreign material, helps cushions,… Read More
Continue ReadingLife on Mauna Loa
Okay life on Mauna Loa (long mountain) Volcano is definitely a nice lifestyle to live. If you like a slower life with the sounds of birds when you wake up, flowers, lots of green, green plants, geckos, around 82 degrees in the day, normally cool at night and lots of stars when the cloud cover recedes – you may like living here. Now there are many people who think they would love to live on the islands of Hawaii, but people come and go at a very fast pace here. For me Hawaii is a Paradise, though most people do not take into consideration that there are only so many… Read More
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