The Doktor Witch Is In

Over the years I have gotten used to the daily e-mails from folks all over the world asking advice and 'prescriptions' for their skin. I get photos of skin conditions, descriptions of sensitivities and pleas for help from all corners of the globe. I ALWAYS take time out to personally answer each and every one of these e-mails.
 If I am being placed in such a position of trust on very sensitive topics, then they least I can do is be present and as helpful as possible. Over time my role seems to have grown organically from just a cosmetic chemist and CEO for my line into what I jokingly refer to as "Doktor Witch". Most people who know me or spend more than 5 minutes on my website or in my retail store, very quickly realize that I follow the witch path.
 Because of my increased role in things both internal and external I am taking steps to get my fully licensed Homeopathy division in place. Right now I can legally make and prescribe things for friends and family but not the general public. This is something that will be changing this year once I get all my little legal certification and insurance ducks in order.
 For now, my public role is that of licensed cosmetic chemist dealing with external issues only. Mr. Posh Brats comes into the shop with me on Saturdays to help with the heavy traffic flow of customers. I tend to stay down in my "soap cave" getting things made and restocked and making appearances when I am needed.
 
This is what I refer to as my "soap cave". This is in the cellar of my retail shop in Macclesfield on the cobblestones of Church Street. One fabulous thing about my soap cave is that the archway you see there is actually a blocked tunnel that leads to the church at the top of the hill, the old village gaol and the castle. This was all blocked up at least a hundred years ago but it makes for some interesting noises and spirit activity at times.

 I digress here back to the main topic at hand..... the gradual morphing of my role into one of a caregiver of sorts. Word in the village very quickly spread about our skin care products and handmade soaps more than anything else in the store. Because our prices are low in comparison to most High Street brands, people were skeptical. They plunked down their £ and "took a chance".
 What we found is that most Saturdays we have people coming through the door asking for me. I come upstairs and spend as long as I need to with each person making sure we get the perfect Rx prescription for their skin needs.
 Mr. Posh Brats will often call me upstairs to give advice or go into deeper discussion on a product for those customers that have a deeper need of the science behind the product. So, just as I have online for years....I am now doing this service in person. It is my sincere belief that this personal service and caring has been what helped build the PB brand with zero outside advertising. As far as I am concerned, the Doktor Witch will ALWAYS be in....
 

Why Your Skin Does NOT Need Fancy Designer Chemicals......KISS It!

Now I bet you just said to yourself...."Kiss what, Brittany?"

Kiss my elbow?

Kiss my ear?

Kiss my tookus?

Nah, nothing like that. By "KISS" I meant only....

" Keep It Simple, Silly!"

Skincare, Folks.....

Keep It Simple!

My lovely editor at Hat Trick Magazine asked me to write about some of these fancy designer chemicals she's so fond of. Yes, she loves the natural stuff too but no matter what I tell her...she goes back to trendy designer skincare full of 'acids'.

Guess what?? It's all bullhonkey.....

Seriously, if you feel the need to waste your money on this stuff, just save the effort of hauling your wrinkled carcass to the nearest designer cosmetics counter and send me your money instead.

I'm about to tell you something....

Those fancy acids do nothing for you but add to your problems in the long run. They actually make your skin even MORE sensitive! You can get the same and safer NATURAL results from crushing some fresh strawberries and grapefruit pulp and applying that to your face every other week....seriously!

Let me get REAL with you here.

Your skin is your body's largest organ, and virtually the only organ that you can watch. 

Personally I don't think I'd have too much entertainment out of watching something like my adorable pancreas...just sayin'.

Annoying and troublesome skin conditions like rashes, pimples, eczema, and illnesses like chicken pox or measles are attempts by the skin to clean itself out.  This is Nature's way in health: the body will try, must try, to clean itself of toxins, foreign chemicals and poisons. Nature eliminates wastes. You may not like it; it may not look romantic; it might even itch. However, the toxins must be expelled.  Since the skin is your largest organ, it will by nature want to do a lot of cleaning out. The more it does so, the more you needed it to.

 Simple, proper diet eliminates so many complaints. Whole foods, raw or lightly-cooked vegetables, grains and fruits, lean meats & fish and no chemically-doctored food will go a very long way to improving your skin in a short time. My personal beauty secret is to drink at least 2 litres of water per day with the juice of fresh lemons squeezed into it.

Unfortunately, many folks are inclined to and even encouraged to put creams, salves, ointments and other fancy designer-cum-medicated "remedies" on their skin to try and doctor those awful sin conditions. 

The dermatologist won't tell you any differently either because HE's getting kickbacks from the drug companies to prescribe this stuff to you. He WANTS you to age so he can keep selling you more and more services.

All he's doing is making short-term 'improvements' to your appearance by delaying what the body is trying to do...DETOX!

Let's "clear up" this skin medication question right here. First of all, there is no such thing as "worn-out skin."  Fortunately for us, skin is a magical and wonderful self-repairing, and virtually indestructible living thing.

Nature repairs and mends skin beautifully. When you cut yourself, you might disinfect the wound with iodine or some other preparation. But does the iodine re-knit the skin, make the new cells, or weave new tissue? No, Nature does. 

When a surgeon stitches up an incision or a wound she brings the skin together and holds it in place with sutures.  

But if Nature didn't re-unite the cells, what good would the stitches do?

Vitamin C and E seem to be most important for proper healing and maintenance of your skin.  Vitamin C is well-known to be essential to holding the cells together and encouraging their normal growth.  Show me a person with chronic skin problems and two times out of three I'll bet their diet is deficient in E or C.  

Your skin is a living, breathing, body-cleaning organ.  If you clog it up, you're in trouble.

 In the James Bond story Goldfinger people were painted gold. 

Remember that they died?

 Your skin MUST be free from pore-clogging crud!!

 That's why these designer UN-natural creams, ointments and salves are not doing any more than removing the symptoms of skin excretion and detoxing. 

In slowing down or blocking this excretion they are clogging the pores and of themselves adding to what has to be cleaned out. Why make the skin have to now excrete these added toxins on top of the old ones? It's like shaking the dirt out of your rugs... in the middle of the living room.

 

 If you don't use any of the countless patent skin treatments for beauty or disease, your skin will be that much better. Treating symptoms is just trying to fool Nature. Coating over the body's cleansing efforts does not make you or your skin well.  

 Keeping drugs, artificial colors, preservatives, alcohols, artificial fragrances, and those foot-long chemical names off your skin can only help it.

 If Nature had wanted us to use lots of synthetics on our body, she would probably have put Triethanolamine, Carbomer-934, Methylparaben, Propylparaben, Dimethicone, Sodium Myristate, Stearyl Alcohol, FD&C Red #4, Yellow #3 and other "beauty necessities" within easy reach for foraging and not had them coming out of labs infested with tumor-ridden lab animals.

Not a pretty picture is it? Guess what...you should see it in person.

No, Folks....your B-girl has not lost her mind.....She....I.....am SICK to death...to my eye teeth of being asked, told, cajoled and sweet-talked into supporting chemicals that I DO NOT and WOULD NOT use on my own face...never mind in my own products. It's not going to happen!

You have it from the horse's mouth.....

Take care of yourself INTERNALLY first......if you're going to use products on your skin....

Keep them simple

Keep them natural

and in turn you will....

Keep your beauty! 

It may lose me endorsements, writing jobs, or freebies from companies wanting me to review their products but guess what....

I will at least know I told you lovely folks the TRUTH!

Much Love,

Brittany

 

 Take my word for it or not, folks....43 years old TODAY and keeping it simple and real.

 

Star Spangled Sunburn Remedies

There is nothing fun about sunburn and most of us have had our share of them through the years. I remember when I was a teenager most of us looked forward to our first sunburn of the year as we could establish our 'tan base' for the summer.

In the 70's and 80's natural suntans were a very serious pursuit of most teenagers and 20-somethings. We'd mix a bottle of iodine in a bottle of baby oil and slather ourselves liberally, only to roast like the Sunday chicken in the hot Mississippi sun.

Luckily, most of us have left that particular pursuit behind us, choosing instead to go for a nice wash of color from some bronzing cream or a spray tan. Those that haven't are looking like your Granny's old leather handbag about now.

With the 4th of July celebrations, many of you will be spending lots of time outside indulging in picnics, barbecues, water sports, and family reunions. With this fun may come the very UN-fun sunburn.

Here are a few natural remedies that will help you get through the agony of overindulgence in the sun.

One common remedy for sunburn is yogurt. Smear yogurt on your skin as soon as it turns pink to help cool the skin, reestablish pH balance and promote faster healing. It is best to use plain unsweetened full-fat yogurt that contains few additives. Let it sit on your skin until it warms up and then rinse it off with tepid water. Apply as often as needed. Better still, use a paste made of barley, turmeric and yogurt in equal proportions. Apply it over the affected areas for sunburn relief and healing.

Another common item that can be used for sunburns is tea. Make a large pot of very strong tea, use a towel to soak up all the tea and then apply to the sunburn area. Alternately, use a large number of teabags and make a bathtub full of tea; soak in the bath when the temperature is tepid to barely warm. The tannins in tea help draw out the burn and heal the skin. You can also apply cold, used tea bags to sun-burned eyelids to relieve pain and swelling.

One superior good remedy for sunburn is to combine Aloe Vera, vitamin E oil, and cucumbers. Liquefy cucumbers in a blender and mix with Aloe Vera gel, and Vitamin E oil.

 

 

 

Finally, an age old remedy for sunburns mentioned in ancient texts is potato peels - and it appears to have science on its side. 

Doctors have found that in case of minor burns, potato peel bandages work better than conventional dressing. Potato peels provide moisture and they also have anti-bacterial properties that help in healing.

Whichever remedy you decide to use, please remember that using the proper amount of sunscreen and applying it often is the BEST remedy of all!!

Have a wonderful summer holiday and enjoy all that fabulous weather!

Much Love,

Brittany xx

As always, you know I love to give you easy fun recipes you can make at home. This month is no exception, I give you this wonderful homemade sunburn relief spray.

 

 

Lavender Aloe Cooling Sunburn Spray

2  fl oz Aloe Vera Juice

2 fl oz Distilled Water

9 drops of lavender oil
2 drops of peppermint oil
1 drop of spearmint oil

Directions:

Mix all, and spritz lightly over sunburned skin.

Aloe-lluja!

Pure Aloe Vera Gel is something we use a LOT of here at Posh Brats HQ. We used to buy it by the 20 kilo weight.....used to. Very recently I discovered something that had me seeing red.

Like many of you, I used to buy Aloe Vera gel and totally expected it to be clear in colour or some pretty shade of blue or green. You know the kind, the stuff you buy in the drugstore in big economy bottles or tubes.

When I started using it in my products in place of plain water I was really pleased with myself. I thought I was seriously doing everything I possibly could to make sure my natural bath and beauty products were the BEST they could be.

As I mentioned, I was buying this stuff by the 20 kilo per container weight and it's EXPENSIVE!! This is what the "Pure" Aloe Vera gel I was buying looked like and let's just say the amount I was buying would leave me very little change out of £1000 every month.

I was told by my raw materials supplier of this that it was clear because it was "ultra pure" and organic with added Vitamin E to naturally preserve it. Okay, that made sense to me and this is a HUGE International supplier with branches in several countries so who was I to doubt?

As we in business are obliged to do from time to time, it came time for me to review my budget  when doing my accounts for the year to submit to my accountants. I sat there staring at the spreadsheet of figures for my raw materials and the number for my Aloe Vera "habit" was just painful.

I said to myself, I simply MUST find a way to bring this cost down without compromising quality. I had a word with a Swedish fellow Cosmetic Chemist friend of mine and asked him if he knew of another source or way to use this magical ingredient without raising my prices.

He said to me, "Don't you make your own?"
 Huh? Sure, I have an Aloe Vera plant on my windowsill at home and we use it for home purposes but it's not enough to supply me with endless kilos of raw gel.

He explained to me that making my own was not unlike making a simple emulsion...something we chemist do all the time. He gave me the formula for the gel and told me a reputable source to get my organic freeze-dried aloe from.

I was almost embarrassed that I wasn't aware of this really. I mean, he thought I was completely insane to be BUYING the gel and when I told him how much I'd spent this past fiscal year on Aloe Vera he laughed at me. I had spent literally 30x's MORE than I needed to at WHOLESALE cost.

I made my first batch of Aloe Gel according to his formula and THIS is what it looked like, you can see it sitting there in my mixer.

Now, you can imagine looking at this earthy green sludge that I immediately thought I did something wrong. I contacted my friend and he checked it all out for me and said, "No, this is exactly what it's supposed to look like. Furthermore, that is a beautiful batch!"

Wow, so THIS is the pure stuff?
He explained to me that within the cosmetics industry in order for Aloe Vera Gel to be labeled as "Pure" it needed only to contain 1% pure Aloe Vera. Furthermore, it is then further diluted with fillers to make it clear so it can then be recoloured to the stuff you see in your local drugstores.

Now imagine my fury when come to find out when I researched this 'pure' gel I had been using for years...it was pure alright...but it was a concentration of 1% aloe and the rest was.....water, a tiny amount of Vitamin E and glycerine!!!

Compared to the 10% concentration of my own mix which is what is needed to make 100%  Pure Aloe Vera Gel when reconstituting from pure freeze-dried form.

Suffice it to say....this was me (from my throne but minus my crown since it was Casual Friday)

I am proud to say that my operating budget has been greatly slashed, no prices had to be raised and our products are EVEN BETTER. I have 100% control over my Aloe Vera and for this control freak, that suits me just fine!!

Love and Light,

Brittany xx

As an added bonus, here is a recipe you can make at home by harvesting your own Aloe Vera plant or just use some pure Aloe (the kind from the health food store that is liquid).

 

Aloe Honey Body Scrub

• 2 C fine ground Sea Salt*
• 1 C Aloe Vera
• 2 Tablespoons pure raw Honey (Use an organic brand or Manuka honey)
• 2 Tablespoons Brown sugar
• 1 C Olive Oil

Mix together all the above ingredients. Apply mixture to damp skin. Gently massage, giving special attention to rough areas. Rinse well with warm water.
*Sea salt removes dry, flaky, dead skin. Do NOT use table salt, it is NOT the same thing!