I was out in my beautiful flower garden last night and the horse flies were buzzing around my head like CRAZY!  I wasn't planning on being out for very long so I didn't put on my Citronella and Lemongrass Spray (usually that works well for all bugs).  I got so annoyed by those loud buzzing buggers that I wanted to research what essential oils work best to repel them.  Plus they bite and it hurts!  The top essential oils that I found to repel flies = Lemongrass, Citronella, Eucalyptus, Lavender, and Peppermint.  I also wanted to share the Essential Oil List above  to help you stay bug-free this summer.  

​What's your favorite essential oil to annoy the bugs?

You can make beautiful handmade soaps without any artificial ingredients!  Natural colors like Sea Clay, Cocoa Powder, Turmeric, Nettles, and Beet Root can be used to color soap and some of them are excellent for skin, too.  I usually pick an essential oil to scent my soap first and then think about which colors I imagine when smelling that scent.  For Orange obviously I think of different shades orange and white, Patchouli makes me think of earth tones and Lavender brings to mind feminine purples and pinks.  Really use your imagination to select herbs and healthy ingredients for soap colors.  If you are selling your soap, you must follow the FDA guidelines for coloring soap, but if it's just for you, use anything you want!  A general rule of thumb ~ if you can eat it, you can likely put it in soap :)

No time to DIY your own soap right now?  We make a line of soaps using all essential oils, naturals colors, and only organic oils and butters called In the Wild.  Take a peak and see if any of them sound good to you.  

Making healthy choices is hard enough these days with all the flashy advertisements and everyone wanting the latest thing for wrinkles.  Shopping for bathroom necessities should not be so difficult!  Here's an easy list of 3 things to start checking labels to make sure you are not doing harm to your health and your sweet family's health  :)

1. FORMALDEHYDE
Yep, that liquid from science class with the brain floating in it.  Companies put it in everything as a preservative.  Nail Polish, Lotions, Soaps, etc. and the tricky thing is they hide it as a form of UREA.  The UREA releases FORMALDEHYDE and our skin soaks it up.  You want to avoid this one as it is CARCINOGENIC yet there are no restrictions in the USA on using this ingredient in cosmetics.  Let's just keep the Cancer Industry raking in millions because it's not required to tell consumers on product packaging that this beauty will likely cause cancer.  Yes, I'm upset and you should be, too.

2. ALUMINUM
Sorry guys, this is the thing in Antiperspirant that STOPS you from sweating and it causes tumors, cancer, alzheimers, and more dirty health problems.  (Check your kitchen for Aluminum in Baking Powder , too.  There are Aluminum-Free brands.) Back to deodorant, No, you don't have to SMELL but sweating is your body's natural way of getting toxins OUT.  When you plug up your pores with Aluminum, your body accumulates the aluminum and all your body toxins and wreaks havoc on your whole system. [Try a Natural Deodorant, (after all the aluminum toxins come out of your body) you actually sweat less and the ingredients absorb wetness and essential oils naturally eat up bacteria so you smell fresh and clean.]   

3. PARABENS
These suckers are found under many names that mainly end in paraben : Methylparaben, Ethylparaben, Propylparaben, etc. Used as a preservative in everything from face cream to shampoo.  Problem with these is they cause hormone disruption.  (Have enough trouble with hormone balance already?!) It's a real problem for all of us: stunting growth in kids, altering male reproductive hormones, and messing up women's estrogen levels.  Parabens are easily absorbed by our skin and encourage breast cancer cell growth, too.

There are MANY other ingredients that should be avoided that we will get to in future blogs but I wanted to give a start to those of you just learning about chemicals to avoid.  I hope this helps you make healthy choices for you and your family.

Please share this blog with those you care about so they can make informed choices, too.  
I'd love to hear your comments below.  What other ingredients to you AVOID like the PLAGUE?  And Why?  

​Sending Love, Michele