You are looking at posts that were written in the month of November in the year 2007.
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This came up in a conversation w/ a friend of mine. My hubby and I went away for Thanksgiving this year. Long story, but we packed up, including the cat, and spent a few days in Port Aransas. Sort of mini-vacation, or more likely an escape from all responsibility!
My friend remarked in an email: “I was surprised, and glad, that you can go away and stay in a different site outside of your own home. I didn’t’ know if that was possible? I was hoping that one day you two could come up here and I could do whatever possible to make it a good environment for you.”
And here was my response:
My number one concern is places that use “air fresheners”. The worst are the plug-ins b/c they continuously pump chemicals into the air. Next are candles b/c they put chemicals in the air whenever they burn. And last is “air freshener” sprays. Cleaners can be a problem too.
We’re hoping that the weather will cooperate and we’ll be able to open the windows and air out our place. We were able to do that in CA and it did help.
Next big problem is the bed linens. If they’ve been dry cleaned, or washed in smelly detergent or fabric softener, they’ll have to go. In CA, we asked them to remove the comforter from our room. We wound up borrowing a blanket and pillows. But there was still a lot of fragrant linens. This trip, since we’re going by car, we are actually packing all of our own linens - sheets, mattress pad, pillows, blankets. At that rate we’ll be covered.
If you want to make your home more friendly to the fragrance-impaired, the best thing you could do is to get rid of smelly detergents & fabric softeners. All makes a Free and Clear detergent which is what I use. If you have to have dryer sheets, buy the unscented kind. I don’t even use those anymore. But you should know that the odors will remain in fabrics for many, many washings.
As it turned out, we needed to remove only the comforter from the bed. We took a comforter and blanket of our own. Needed them both too since the weather decided to be cold. We also used our own pillows, just because we like them.
It always makes me feel good to know I have friends and family that are concerned and interested enough to want to work with me on this. If only all the people in my life could understand.
Hmm, Do you think if I went to the Garden Center i would come back w/ pictures of animals?
My Time: 4:53
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Because of my allergies and chemical sensitivity, I have totally given up on makeup. I wear lipstick and that is all.
This was a gradual process. I used to wear foundation, powder, blush, eyeshadow, mascara, the whole thing. The problems started with foundation. First, I never found it comfortable. It felt like my skin couldn’t breathe. The same as the feeling I get when I wear polyester. As my allergies got worse, most of them caused me to itch, and created red splotches. That was if I could find fragrance free makeup. Mascara was next, then eyeshadow. There’s nothing worse than when your eyes are itching. Eventually, I decided not to buy anymore more makeup, period. Lipstick is all I buy. It’s amazing how much faster I can get dressed now!
And it really fits in with my over all nature. I’ve always gone for natural in most things - If I wore makeup, I went for a more natural look, I rarely do much to my hair, I love natural fabrics, etc.
More than once in recent years, I’ve had people say to me “You have such a nice complexion. You’re lucky, you don’t need makeup.” And I’ve wondered, “Which came first? Do I not need makeup b/c I have a nice complexion? Or do I have a nice complexion b/c I don’t wear makeup?” I’ve thought about this quite a bit and I suspect that the cosmetics industry may have women believing that they need makeup when they really don’t.
My cleansing routine is very simple. I was my face while in the shower. I use the same soap that I use for the rest of my body - Kiss My Face Olive Oil Soap. That’s all. No special cleansers. No astringents. No special creams. Maybe a little moisturizer during the winter.
I had someone tell me this past week about my nice complexion. I mentioned that my allergies sort of forced the no makeup thing. She proceeded to tell me that she had allergies too. And that she had real problems with her eyes. She even admitted that her makeup was probably part of the problem. But she was too vain to give it up. (Her words, not mine.)
The cosmetic industry really has a hook in women, doesn’t it? They play on our vanity. And the fact that we all have to look young. Which means no wrinkles, no gray hair, etc. So they sell us more and more creams and lotions and makeup. They convince us we need to dye our hair to cover our gray. They even convince some of us to have Botox injections.
All for what? Who are we fooling anyway? It’s pretty easy to tell most of the time that a person (even a man) has dyed their hair. For one thing, people don’t always keep it up as often as they should. Plus, the colors never look natural and often look harsh.
So many Americans spend far too much effort trying to change how they look. Too much time, energy and money goes into trying to look younger. Yet you can’t really fight your age, and you look less natural when you try. But the biggest thing to me is that we believe all the hype from the cosmetics industry. So we wind up with a not-so-nice complexion that is probably caused by all the stuff we put on our face to begin with.
If you dare, try going without all that makeup for a while. Take some time off from it. It will probably take a while for your skin to recover. But you just might find that you have a nice complexion too!
If you’re someone who still likes to wear fragrance, something you could do to help those with fragrance issues is to consider wearing less fragrance during cold weather. Our houses and buildings are more closed up with cold weather so fragrances will be more concentrated. Try to go a little lighter.
Also true for holidays. Perhaps you like to wear fragrance for holidays and special occasions? Consider not doing it though. It will be a help to a lot of other people.
This seems simple, and perhaps most of you have heard this. But it bears telling. We’ve found that a quick way to rid something of fragrance - such as clothing or pillows - is to give it fresh air and sunshine. The sunshine probably does the most good to get rid of the odors. Of course, this assumes there’s not any air pollution. Generally, a few hours in the sun will take care of many fragrance odors.
Finally back to the puzzles!
My Time: 4:16
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