Avocado oil benefits

Avocado Oil is particularly great for natural hair. It is loaded with nutrients, amino acids, essential fatty acids, as well as vitamins A, B, D, and E. Avocado Oil is excellent for moisturizing, deep conditioning, improving hair strength, and boosting shine.

Avocado oil benefits for your hair
• It is also known to have natural sunscreen properties that can protect the hair and scalp from the damage caused by the harmful UVA and UVB rays of the sun.
• Relieves dandruff. It works better when blended with other oils like jojoba oil or olive oil which are also very good for hair care.

Avocado oil benefits for your skin
• Anti- aging: avocado oil increases the production of collagen, and prevents aging of the skin
• This oil is good for natural skin care, as it greatly penetrates the skin, and helps to keep the skin well-moisturized

Avocado oil benefits for your baby
• Relieves nappy rash
• Relieves cradle cap
• Great as a massage g oil when massaging their infants.

Grapeseed oil benefits

Grapeseed oil is rich with vital nutrients like protein, minerals, and vitamins such as Vitamin C, Vitamin E, and other antioxidants, and has many beneficial properties for the hair and scalp.

Grapeseed oil benefits for your hair
• Conditioner
• Helps reduce hair breakage and great at treating dry brittle hair.
• Good moisturiser,
• Relieves dandruff
• Promotes hair growth

Grapeseed oil benefits for your skin
• Massage oil
• Moisturiser for sensitive skin

Grapeseed oil benefits for your baby
• Good moisturiser for baby’s sensitive skin
• Relieves cradle cap
• Massage therapists also recommend parents use grape seed oil when massaging their infants.

Jojoba Oil benefits

Jojoba Oil is an extract of the Jojoba plant. Its molecular structure is similar to sebum (the scalp's natural oil), therefore is readily accepted by the scalp and does not disturb the skin’s natural balance. Jojoba is considered a moisturising oil since its molecules are small enough to penetrate the hair shaft

Jojoba Oil benefits for your hair
• Excellent  moisturiser for hair and scalp
• Conditioning
• Prevents dandruff
• Promotes hair growth

Jojoba Oil benefits for your skin
• Excellent skin moisturiser
• Eases the symptoms of skin conditions like psoriasis, dermatitis & eczema.
• Massage oil

Jojoba Oil benefits for your baby
• Good moisturiser for baby’s sensitive skin
• Relieves cradle cap
• Moisturiser for your little one’s hair
• Great massage oil to use when massaging their infants.

The start of an amazing journey

San Francisco - Lombard Street (Crooked Street)

A son: the one thing I always wanted to give my husband. When I was pregnant with our first child I was convinced I was having a boy, I had all the symptoms, according to the old wives tales (For example, I am a chocolate a day kind of girl, but all I wanted was salty and hot spicy food). I was so convinced that during the Cesarean (yes I am “too posh to push”) when the surgeon said "It's a girl!", my response was "are you sure??". I am sure you are thinking I should probably keep that to myself, unfortunately my daughter will eventually know about this because it was caught on camera. I can’t deny ever saying it. Why the obsession with a son you ask? Well for starters, I’d always thought that if I gave my African husband a son he would love me for life. I know - dumb right? We all know that the counts for nothing.

You have to forgive me; I had been contemplating this idea for a long time, since I was very young. The main reason for my preference of the boy child was hair.

Yes you read that right hair (vhudzi). Anyone who knows me will know that I could not care-less for my hair. I was happy and am still happy to spot a bald hairstyle, it’s simple. I grow my hair and chop it when I get bored. So the idea of having to deal with a baby girl's hair was a little bit off putting, surely with a baby boy the haircuts would not be a stress? As luck might have it, my husband and I have been blessed with two beautiful girls. Ndana's hair is a big challenge, very kinky (thanks to mum) and sparse (thanks to paternal genes), Atida's hair looks much better but she is still young so it's too early to call it.

And so began the journey of discovering #naturesownsolutions, a journey as straight as San Francisco's Lombard Street.

As a mum, I want only the best for my kids, therefore organic hair products were a no-brainer. I trolled the hair shops and hair salons for "natural" organic hair products for black babies with no luck. There are so many different brands to choose from it was mind boggling. I finally found what I was looking for, I loved the products but it costing me dearly. The products were a delight, they smelt good and after a few treatments, the hair was more manageable. Being the penny pincher that I am, I was not willing to spend that much money on hair products. I had to make a plan because the mainstream products marketed for Black African children were not an option. Having done a lot of research on hair care, looking at the various lists of ingredients, I realised these products were full of "bad ingredients". According to various sources, mineral oils / petroleum, parabens, sulphates, fragrance, propylene glycol and others are no good for our kinky hair. It was back to the drawing board for me and more internet research! This time the results were more reassuring, the internet is full of natural hair bloggers advocating for the use of nature's own products to grow and maintain kinky hair. So, armed with virgin coconut oil, unrefined jojoba oil, extra virgin olive oil (yes the one from my kitchen) and unrefined Shea butter, I have the daily care of my girls' hair under control. Every weekend I am in my kitchen cooking up a storm, no not to eat but to feed the hair. Alternating between protein and moisturising treatments, the weekends are never dull. The weekends in our household are now reminiscent of my childhood weekends when Sundays were dedicated to hair plaiting to make sure everyone’s hair was nice and neat for school. I have come from knowing nothing about hair to making my own treatments and plaiting (kuraka mabhanzi) the girls' hair all on my own. We don’t have it all figured out yet but we are getting there, part of the fun is finding out what works well for one’s hair and in my case, three people's hair, yes I said three, because I too have been inspired to grow my hair naturally.

As for the son that I so longed for, I live in hope. Maybe if we are blessed with a son I can enjoy the same level of excitement that my husband is greeted with every day when he comes home from work; apparently mum's arrival from work is a non-event. I need to teach these girls that mum's the word.

  

Weekend of pampering - the body

I really need a body scrub, back to the kitchen it is then. This weekend lets start with sugar

Sugar and jojoba oil body scrub

Jojoba oil is an excellent moisturiser

The ingredients  (I got all my ingredients from Bare Naturels Cosmetics, exception the sugar of course which was in my kitchen)

100ml jojoba oil

500g  sugar

5-10 drops of lavender oil

Mix ingredients together.

Direction for use

Rub on skin, massage, relax in a warm bath and rinse. I figure this will be a good one for the relaxing evening bath. Lavender will have me sleeping like a baby.

Comments after first use

Skin felt really silky after a nice soak. Loved it.

The body butter

In my recipe I have used Shea butter, a great moisturiser and added coconut oil in addition to the avocado oil. Coconut oil has many benefits but the reason its in my face cream is because it contains anti-oxidants that help prevent wrinkles. The rosemary will make my cream smell nice.

Ingredients (I got all my ingredients from Bare Naturels Cosmetics)

3 tablespoons Shea butter

1 tablespoon coconut oil

I tablespoon avocado oil

2 tablespoon Glycerin

2-3 drops of rosemary essential oil

Whip everything together until a nice texture is formed.

Directions for use

I plan on using the cream twice a day as I would any other body butter

Comments after first use

Loved the texture and provided the moisture my dry skin needs.

Weekend of pampering - the face

So now that the facial skincare products that I loved have run out, I have decided to make my own. When I was deciding on a skincare brand back then, I remember reading that at my age (I shall not say what the age is) an avocado based face cream is best. Avocado is an excellent moisturiser and contains sterolins which help the skin produce collagen. I am using avocado oil where I possibly can (So no collagen fillers for me hopefully.).

The face cream

In my recipe I have used Shea butter, a great moisturiser and added coconut oil in addition to the avocado oil. Coconut oil has many benefits but the reason its in my face cream is because it contains anti-oxidants that help prevent wrinkles. The lavender will make my cream smell nice.

Ingredients (I got all my ingredients from Bare Naturels Cosmetics)

3 tablespoons Shea butter

1 tablespoon coconut oil

I tablespoon avocado oil

2-3 drops of lavender essential oil

Whip everything together until a nice texture is formed. This formula made approximately 115g of cream.

Directions for use

I plan on using the cream twice a day as I would any other cream

Comments after first use.

Loved the texture, I had used the face serum so it was a little hard to judge if it had the right amount of oil.

The face serum

My serum has jojoba oil because its an excellent moisturiser and also helps reduce wrinkles.

Ingredients (I got all my ingredients from Bare Naturels Cosmetics.)

50ml Jojoba oil

50ml avocado oil

5 -10 drops of lavender essential oil

Mixed the oils together, shake vigorously.

Directions for use

I plan on using the serum at night before applying the cream

Comments after first use.

Loved it a lot. It reminded me of a serum I used to pay £48 for (I shall not name the brand.). I am so very excited about this one, I cant wait to see the long term results.

The face wash

Not too sure about the wash, oatmeal has excellent cleansing properties apparently

Ingredients (Can find these at you local supermarket)

1/2 peeled Cucumber

2 tablespoons Oatmeal

2 tablespoons Plain unflavoured Yogurt, with active cultures

Whip everything together until a nice texture is formed.

Directions for use

I plan on using the cleanser twice daily wish me luck

Comments after first use.

This was a lovely surprise. I had used the face scrub below so I wasn't sure how the cleanser was going work. It passed the test, all the sticky honey and sugar was gone after cleansing.

The face scrub

Ingredients (Can find these at you local supermarket)

1 tablespoon honey

1/2 tablespoons sugar

Mixed the 2 well

Directions for use

I plan on using the scrub twice a week.

Comments after first use.

It was rather sticky but it wasn't rough on the skin, I really expected it to be rough.

Banana and honey foot treatment

So being the optimist that I am, I am already looking forward to summer. But my feet are no where ready for sandals, cracked feet are an eye-sore. After search the World Wide Web I was back in my kitchen cooking up a remedy.

Foot before treatment

The recipe

Ingredients
2 whole ripe banana
4 tablespoon Honey
2 tablespoon jojoba oil
Coconut oil (for massaging feet after treatment)

Preparation
1. Chop the banana and place in a mixing bowl
2. Add the honey, jojoba oil
3. Blend until the mixture is smooth

How to use
1. Soak feet in warm water for 20 minutes
2. Scrub feet thoroughly
3. Massage the banana mixture onto the feet and leave on for about 30 minutes
4. Wash feet with warm water and dry
5. Massage feet with coconut oil concentrating on the cracked areas. Wear socks overnight.

NOTE: I intend to use as often as necessary until you see results, I will update on progress.

Welcome to the Bare Naturels Cosmetics Community

Welcome to our blog. This is where the Bare Naturels Cosmetics team and bloggers write about their daily lives, experiences, and thoughts on the latest hair and skin care trends, as well as their beauty tips. Here you will also find some recipes for homemade beauty treatments for those who want some pampering the naturel way. Join us on this journey and you will discover a whole new world of nature's own hair and skin care solutions.

Welcome to our online community!