This is a video from inside my Eat God's Way cooking program. Since I get so many requests for what products I recommend and use, I'm putting it here as a gift for you! See below for links/notes on what I recommended.
Any questions or if you're looking for any of the recipes I mentioned (soap, tooth powder, salve, etc.), email me help@traditionalcookingschool.com or text me at 1-317-434-1180.
The notes and links mentioned... (click to expand each section)
This is the routine I've been following for 2-1/2 years now. Prior to that, I was using "clean" anti-aging products. I stopped using those because of the ingredients that stopped or slowed down liver detox. What has happened since then? I believe the underlying healing (my liver reducing stored toxins) has been wonderful, not just for my hormonal and energy issues, but for my skin as well. I have age spots (liver spots... toxins stored in the skin) that have gotten lighter in the past 2-1/2 years without using any anti-aging ingredients. My skin has a glow back that it had lost, and I don't look so tired. My skin is also not so dry or oily (I have combination skin). In my opinion, addressing underlying toxicities and deficiencies is the most important way to combat aging, and the second most thing you can do is simply address hydration. This skin care routine does that. I hope you get as good results from it as I have.
If you need to remove makeup, start by massaging refined jojoba oil all over your face, then follow with charcoal soap to wash it all away, or a warm/hot, wet washcloth to wipe your face clean (gently). If makeup residue still remains, massage more oil into the dirty areas and repeat with soap or wet washcloth to remove the rest.
For regular cleansing (after removing makeup), use charcoal soap and/or oil cleansing method (see below) or just repeated rinses with clean water.
Charcoal soap might be drying when overused, so find the right frequency for your skin type. I am able to use it once or twice per day, as long as I follow up with steps 2 and 3.
If you have acne or pores that need deeper cleaning, you may want to use charcoal soap as your cleanser twice a day and also to finish your cleanse step with an alcohol-free witch hazel toner. Put a bit on a cotton ball or pad and wipe all over your affected skin. For acne treatment (spot or all-over), check out how to use zinc.
Humectants attract water (from within the skin or in the air), so including them in your skin care helps to hydrate and temporarily plump the skin. I apply a thin layer of either aloe vera gel or a homemade hyaluronic acid serum all over my face and neck (and other dry areas of my body) after cleansing, both morning and evening.
Homemade Hyaluronic Acid Serum — In a little jelly jar, combine 1/2 teaspoon of hyaluronic acid powder with 2 ounces (1/4 cup) of water. Cover and swirl contents of jar to initiate the powder dissolving. Leave undisturbed overnight, and the powder will absorb the rest of the water. Transfer to another container for dispensing, preferably one with a pump or dropper so you are only touching what comes out and can keep the remainder sterile. I use the glass cosmetic push pump bottle (60mL) from Infinity Jars. Keeps 1 month, if you aren't touching the contents. (If you want to be able to touch the contents in the jar, you'd have to add a preservative such as Germall Plus or Optiphen.)
Seal and lock in hydration with a thin layer of white refined jojoba oil. Don't get on eyelashes if you wear eye makeup or mascara.
In addition to cleansing our bodies with the charcoal soap (mentioned above), we moisturize with jojoba oil, mentioned above, as well as the 3-Ingredient Dry Skin Salve I've shared with you before. The salve is especially good when you have advanced dryness. In the winter, I will often coat my feet with it, put on socks, go to bed, and wake up with softer feet in the morning.
If you want to purchase the dry skin salve instead of make it yourself, here's a link for that, too.
We are constantly sloughing off dead skin cells and they cling to our skin and don't look or feel good! And if you're using magnesium lotion, you've probably noticed areas of your skin that are even drier than usual. Exfoliation (removal of dry, dead skin) helps with this! I used to use skin care formulations with exfoliating ingredients, but I've now found a cheaper, healthier, and simpler way! Instead of buying extra skin care care products, which may have ingredients I want to avoid and cost extra, now I use a natural loofah sponge or raw silk noil fabric (has a rough nub to it), which work with soap or even just water to buff my skin.
Unbleached, Natural Loofah Sponge — Loofahs come in all shapes and sizes. You want a natural loofah (not plastic), preferably unbleached. This plant dries into a naturally rough material that you can scrub all over your body, even your face, all very gently, to smooth and soften. I like the loofahs that are just 4" pieces cut off the dried loofah plant. While others may have grippers, handles, or special shapes, I think they are more susceptible to building up bacteria when drying. These basic loofah sponges are easy to grip, and have big holes and dry quickly. I wring out well after use and bring out of the shower to dry in a part of the bathroom that has more air flow. Use until worn out. Your skin will feel great!
Raw Silk Noil Fabric — Buy a yard of this fabric and cut into 15" squares. Finish the edges if you'd like. Keep a few for yourself and give the rest as gifts!
Pumice Foot Scrubber — Our feet are definitely problem areas for dry skin and callouses! I find that doing my nightly magnesium chloride foot bath really helps keep my feet soft. It's strange because magnesium chloride lotion and spray dry out my skin more, but the foot bath does not. I still follow up every week or so with a pumice foot scrubber like this.
Dry Brushing — Also, don't forget that if you do dry brushing to improve detox and lymphatic flow, that is accomplishing exfoliation, too!
I've moved away from makeup that promises "skin care benefits" because that usually means they're including ingredients that interfere or slow down liver detox or are high Vitamin A.
Makeup (except mascara) — The makeup I've landed on recently (Seint) is just non-toxic makeup. (Ignore their skin care products, which is a different story.) It's all cream-based, which is great for aging skin. Additionally, I love their palette system. All the makeup — whether foundation, highlighter, contour, bronzer, cheek, lip, or eyeshadow — comes in little tins that fit into a magnetic palette. So except for any brushes or your mascara, all your makeup fits in one compact. They have different size palettes depending on how much makeup you want. Oh, and finally, the makeup is super potent; a little goes a long way!
Mascara — Seint doesn't carry mascara, so I get this one from Poofy Organics. It has some essential oils in it, but as they don't go on your skin, I'm not concerned. And it's amazing if you have sensitive eyes (which I do); this doesn't irritate at all. Poofy also has a charcoal soap bar if you don't make your own.
Hair care is tough. Hair types are all over the board and climate (whether dry or humid) is a big factor. So I'm going to share a few companies with you and why I like them. However, finding the right hair care is a lot of trial and error. The ones I've chosen are generally clean (but still may have some compromises).
Miribel Naturals — Miribel Naturals (use code WARDEE to get 10% off) is a great option. However, they do use essential oils that we should probably avoid (if following low Vitamin A). However, because you're either rinsing out the products or not putting on the scalp, I find it an ok compromise if the products work for you. The shampoo doesn't work for most people, as it's not cleansing enough, but the other products are well worth trying out! The Silky Smooth Flaxseed Gel is my absolute favorite gel in all the world, and I love that it doesn't contain gelatin (if you use a gelatin-containing product as your final styler, you can have humidity or dry-weather related frizz).
Ecoslay — Another great option if you're looking for natural hair care products is Ecoslay. I feel that they are lacking a deep cleansing shampoo, but I absolutely adore the Banana Cream Deep Conditioner and I use it as my daily conditioner. It's deep, which I need because of our dry climate and having so many grey hairs these days, but also doesn't weigh my hair down. Many people love the Orange Marmalade Flaxseed and Aloe Curl Definer (gel), which I have tried and works well to add volume to my hair as long as I combine it with the Miribel Naturals Flaxseed Gel (otherwise it's too drying).
Attitude Fragrance-Free Volume & Shine Shampoo and Conditioner — These are a great option if your hair is fine or thin (but not super dry). My friend Megan recommended these to me, and I got them to try them out because I felt I needed to have a recommendation for a shampoo that cleans well for those of us with fine or thin hair. It fits the bill and I use it a lot! Attitude has a lot of shampoos and conditioners; these are the fragrance-free:
Curl Keeper — (not mentioned in video) Curl Keeper is not the cleanest, in that they use fragrance. Otherwise, they're not too bad. And it happens to work the best for me currently. I use the Silk Shampoo and Silk Conditioner (with the gels mentioned below) and it has the best protein (silk) and best moisturizing without weighing my hair down. The “Silk” pair are their deepest moisturizing which normally I would not go for, but since I live in Idaho and now I’m getting dryer grey hairs, apparently I need it. LOL! I also like their Energizing Shampoo which is a clarifying shampoo. Not quite as powerful as the chelating shampoo I mention below, but great for every day removal of build-up.
Hairprint Chelating Shampoo — This is both a chelating and clarifying shampoo. Everyone needs to use a clarifying shampoo regularly to remove build-up from oils and products, and to use a chelating shampoo if you have hard water (mineral scale builds up on your hair, too). If you notice your hair is just not looking as good as it used to, if products aren't working anymore, if your hair feels dry or gunky no matter what you do, then you need to use a clarifying shampoo (or chelating). I recommend this one from Hairprint. Don't be alarmed when you find it's very watery. Just be careful pouring it out and transferring to your hair so as not to waste it. If your hair is very fine and limp, you might like this shampoo for every day.
Camille Rose Curl Maker Gel — This is my second favorite gel (behind the Miribel Naturals Flaxseed Gel). In fact, I use them both together for the best results. The only downside to the Miribel flaxseed gel is that it doesn't help with volume; in fact, it's so slippery smooth that my hair ends up with less volume. The Camille Rose gel adds volume, but not as much shine and definition. So when I add a layer of the Camille Rose gel under Miribel's gel, I get the absolute best results!
Innersense Organic "I Create Finish" Hair Spray — I don't use hairspray too much, just now and then. Because my hair is fine, there's a fine line between increasing or holding volume and gunking up my hair. The hairspray I like best is this one from Innersense.
For more info on hair care, visit https://wardee.com/
Want to smell good, too? You'll love Lavanila. It doesn't give me headaches and I love the smell. My favorite scents are Vanilla Coconut, Pure Vanilla, and Vanilla Sugarcane.
Whitening Charcoal Tooth Powder — I have this recipe for you in the Low Vitamin A Cooking eCourse. This powder works well, even whitening your teeth day by day and is way less expensive than buying the one I modeled it after (https://traditionalcookingschool.com/primal). We love it so much! Just remember: don't swallow!
Bamboo Toothbrush with Charcoal Bristles — From Primal Organic, we really love these toothbrushes. The bristles are infused (somehow!) with charcoal for an extra clean. They also have an electric toothbrush with charcoal bristles in the brush head.
Charcoal Swish — To absorb acids, toxins, or mercury released from fillings, consider doing a charcoal swish after each meal. Combine 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of hardwood-derived charcoal powder in a cup with a small amount of water. Stir or swirl to get all the charcoal wet and mixed in. Take a drink (but don't swallow). Swish for as long as you can. Then you can swallow, if you wish — unless too much charcoal makes you constipated. Don't rush to rinse your mouth. The charcoal sitting in your mouth will continue to absorb toxins. Just let your saliva make your mouth clean over time.
Deodorant is a very personal thing! I know lots of you reading and/or listening have your own favorite natural deodorant. So keep using it. The one that works the best for me is the White Coconut Stick Up from Primal Organic. However, it is white and can show easily on clothing if transferred over. So I put my top on first before applying it. I do have staining over time in the arm pits of my clothing. Most of it comes clean in the wash, but a little remains that builds up over time.
Non-toxic nail polish companies have adopted the "5-free", "7-free", "8-free", etc. lingo to describe that their polishes are "free" of a certain number of toxins. The biggest problem I've had with regular nail polish is it causes a histamine overload reaction, probably from toxic ingredients like DBP (a plasticizer), formaldehyde, and/or toluene. I don't paint my nails often, but when I do, I have two favorites that don't bother me. I haven't tried all the "clean" options out there (there are dozens these days), so if you have one you like, keep using it!
Dazzle Dry — This is a clean version of the typical "paint-on" nail polish that we all grew up using. If you want your manicure to last 3 weeks, make sure to get the whole set that involves prepping and top coating your nails. I have to redo the tips and bases of my nails at about 7-10 days, but other than that, if using all the steps, it really does last 3 weeks! And even longer on my toes because toe nails grow slower and don't do as much "work" as our hands do (LOL).
Polish Pops — These are fun, easy, and convenient! They are nail polish strips that you stick on your nails, then finish off. If you choose the regular polish strips, you'll get best results with their base coat and finishing with their top coat. If you choose the gel strips (which last longer and are thicker), you set these with a special UV lamp.
Piggy Paint Low Odor, Acetone-Free Polish Remover — Although I don't think you can find a 100% toxin-free polish remover, this one from Piggy Paint seems to be the best out there, claiming to be low odor and acetone-free.
In case your non-toxic living translates over into your shoes, as mine does, I figured I would share my favorite minimal shoes. Years ago, when I noticed my feet were getting weak and hurting and my bunions getting worse, I went to minimal footwear and habits. I thought making this kind of change might increase the strength of my feet to ease the ache and potentially reverse the bunion and falling arch, and it did.
I hardly ever wear shoes. I only wear them when I go out and when I go for walks. Instead of arch supports, I inserted very thin insoles with no arch support that instead have little poky things (for lack of a better word) to stimulate my feet when I walk.
But I don't like to go barefoot, either (it gets cold and I don't like dirty feet). So I also switched to toe socks or toeless socks. Here are some links for you... Please know, not everyone can go minimal. Your feet issues may be too severe to ever switch or to switch quickly.
I also want to share briefly about the incredible healing power of intentionally included stress- and pain-relieving exercises in your daily routine. For about 6 months now, I have been doing somatic exercises daily. "Somatic" means "of, relating to, or affecting the body" and "of or relating to the portion of the vertebrate nervous system that regulates voluntary movement".
What I have discovered is that we carry stress in our bodies that can cause pain and dysfunction. The stress can be physical (like a car accident, chronic overuse, or bad habits over time) or mental (both good and bad stressors, chronic or sudden). We end up with unbalanced muscles and tightness, and we don't have voluntary or involuntary control over these muscles to the extent we should — to fully relax them and relieve the pulling, tightness, and/or pain this causes. Gentle "somatic" exercises help us relieve the stress (mental and physical) and reset our muscles to loose and balanced instead of chronically tight (even slightly) and imbalanced.
I do a set of somatic exercises each morning upon waking, and sometimes before bed. They take me about 10 to 15 minutes, and they feel so good. If I don't do them, I feel worse during the day and night, especially in my neck, shoulders, and arms, as well as hips. I went through a full year of neck therapy awhile back, and that helped my neck issues about 80%, and now I'm finding that somatics is helping the rest. I am nearly there!
I have tried two somatics programs and this is the one I like best.
If you'd like to read a book about somatics, to learn more about the ideas behind it first, I recommend these two. Neither author or teacher is a Christian, so you will have to ignore any mentions of evolution.
We've changed our approach to handling EMFs, too. We used to block and/or reduce, but now we also try to "harmonize" the EMFs with our body. Because we can't get away from EMFs; they're here to stay. EMF Solutions makes and sells "chips" that help our bodies handle the EMFs. Instead of EMFs putting our cells into chaos and disorder, the chips help our bodies stay in peace even with EMFs present. You can visit the EMF Solutions website for more information.
We have EMF Solutions device chips on everything that emits wifi/bluetooth (phones, computers, tablets, routers) or is a fan. We have their Better ZZZs bags for our beds. We have the whole house harmonizer on our smart meter.
You should ease into it, which we did, perhaps with the Home Bundle, then adding more as time goes by. Because installing even just a few items can cause detox reactions for sensitive individuals. I did feel worse initially and we went slowly so I could adjust.
From the testimonial I gave Dr. Smith (who originally recommended the products to me): "I had to ease into it over 3 months because it gave me strong detox reactions. The last detox reaction (after installing the biggest piece of equipment... the last item) was hearing modem-like sounds in my head. To me it seemed like pent-up (copper?) energy was finally discharging. It was pretty strong for a few days and got less and less for a few weeks until it went away. But even while adjusting, I started to sleep better as well as feel better during the day (more energy, more ability to work). No more electronic sounds in my head! I would have thought this was weird if it hadn't happened to me."
I share all these recipes in our Eat God's Way cooking program. For more information, email me at help@traditionalcookingschool.com or text me at 1-317-434-1180.
Thank you! You have a great knowledge of the products you suggest and seem knowledgeable about hair care and facial remedies for my skin.
Wardee is AMAZING!! I really enjoyed spending some time with her and appreciated how thorough she was with my needs.
Hey Wardee, my hair looks amazing 😊 thank you so much! This is after a 10 hour busy day with no extra product! I'm super impressed!
Hi, I'm Wardee!
If you, like me, have struggled with your hair or skin looking older faster than you'd like, then I hope I can encourage you that it is possible to look and feel attractive and healthy again... without toxic chemicals.
My story is... when I hit my 40s, I started to feel old and frumpy. My face hurt because it felt both tight, dry, wrinkly and flaky. And my hair was awful. It was dry, frizzy, tangly, and flat, and had lost the curl definition, shine, and bounce I'd had when I was younger.
I was soooo frustrated because it was important to me to look good and healthy, especially for my husband. I tried all sorts of " natural" products and homemade remedies but nothing seemed to work… plus they gave me headaches or rashes.
But, I decided to keep trying different non-toxic products, including some homemade. When I finally found the ones that worked for me... within a month, my skin looked brighter and younger and my hair was shiny and bouncy with defined curls... and not frizzy.
It's been several years now... and I feel like I've found out how to turn back my clock a bit. Plus I feel beautiful for my husband.
I've been online for quite awhile (you may have seen me through Traditional Cooking School and Eat God's Way videos) and many people have noticed that my hair and skin has gotten better as I've gotten older. I appreciate the compliments... it's very sweet and makes me feel good. :)
And with these compliments, I also get a lot of requests to share what products and techniques I'm using.
If you or anyone you know might be wondering, too, I would love to share more with you!
Keep in mind, this is an adventure and we're always learning... so I hope you're willing to experiment, too. I wouldn't have gotten to the point I am if I hadn't done a ton of experimenting with products and techniques. Even though I know we all want a quick fix, it's worth it to put some time and effort into the journey!
So... if you or anyone you know might want to know more about the products I'm using and loving, watch the video above and then follow the links to order. :)
God bless you!
—Wardee