Wahsega Valley Farm

Desert Essence Green Apple & Ginger Thickening & Volumizing Shampoo and Conditioner

I recently started using a new shampoo and conditioner that I love. This is unusual for me; most new hair products disappoint and I don't want to use them after the first two or three attempts, shoving the outcast bottles into dark places to gather dust until years later when, with renewed hope, I give them another chance. And for some reason, after using certain shampoos and conditioners I am truly impressed with and use on a regular basis, they morph into their opposite selves and don't do what they originally did for my hair. Aubrey Organics Honeysuckle Rose is a good example. It used to make my hair so smooth and shiny and easy to comb, but now for some reason, it makes my hair stiff and tangly. So, I put it in the rejection zone to pull out at some future date when maybe it'll work again. I am still loving Whole Foods 365 Lavender Blend combo, but I really like to rotate at least two different sets of shampoos and conditioners, preferably three.

So, as I was shopping at Natural Foods Warehouse near me, I decided to check out the hair care section. I'd heard of the brand Desert Essence before, but they'd changed their packaging and it jumped out at me. I read a label and liked the fact that the Green Apple & Ginger Thickening Shampoo and Conditioner is organic and that the company doesn't test on animals. There were several types of shampoos and conditioners to choose from, but since I'd been going through a heavy shedding period lately, leaving my hair feeling thin, I opted for the apple/ginger thickening combo... while keeping my fingers crossed.

I really really like it! I've used it at least six times now. It lathers a lot (without any sodium laurel/laureth sulfates), smells light and slightly fruity and leaves my hair clean without that horrid "squeaky" clean feel I dislike so much. My hair is easy to comb out, is super shiny and easy to comb all day once dry as well. It's an awesome shampoo/conditioner combo for my fine hair. And maybe, just maybe it feels a tish thicker too!

And look!

• 100% Vegan
• Wheat and gluten free
• NO Parabens
• NO Sodium Laurel/Laureth Sulfates
• NO Phthalates
• NO Artificial Fragrances or Colors
• NO Silicones
• NO EDTA
• NO Glycols
• NO Petroleum based ingredients
• Cruelty free
• Biodegradable

Shampoo Ingredients:
Aqueous Infusion of Certified Organic Extracts: Pyrus Malus (Apple) Fruit (1), Urtica Dioica (Nettle) (1), Zingiber Officinale (Ginger) Root (1) and Macrocystis (Kelp) Pyrifera (1), Cocoamidopropyl Betaine**, Sodium Coco-Sulfate**, Decyl Glucoside*, Polyquaternium-7**, Ginger Spice, Panthenol, Certified Organic Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Seed Oil (2), Proprietary Blend of Natural Essential Oils, Citric Acid, Sodium Chloride, Phenoxyethanol, Potassium Gluconate, Potassium Sorbate.1 Certified by QCS 2 Certified by QAI * Sugar Derived ** Coconut Derived

Conditioner Ingredients:
Aqueous Infusion of Certified Organic Extracts: Pyrus Malus (Apple) Fruit (1), Zingiber Officinale (Ginger) Root (1), Olea Europaea (Olive) Fruit (1) and Silybum Marianum (Milk Thistle) (1), Certified Organic Sunflower Oil (2), Certified Organic Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea Butter) Oil (2), Emulsifying Wax*, Panthenol, Tocopherol, Prunus Amygdalus (Almond) Protein, Polyquaternium-7**, Proprietary Blend of Natural Essential Oils, Potassium Sorbate, Phenoxyethanol, Potassium Gluconate.1 Certified by QCS 2 Certified by QAI * Vegetable Derived ** Coconut Derived

Price range: around $9.00 each 

After trying the Green Apple & Ginger Thickening & Volumizing Shampoo and Conditioner, I now want to give the Italian Red Grape with Antioxidant UV Filters combo (for color treated hair) a go as well.

When I grabbed the hair products, I decided to give Desert Essence's Coconut Hand and Body Lotion a try as well, since I am out of my body butters and won't have time to make any for awhile. Well, I must say! The smell (if you like coconut and I know some of my readers don't like coconut!) is beautiful and it feels luxurious on my skin. I just might not make body butter this year and use this instead! And there are others whose scents I want to check out as well... almond, lavender and vanilla chai.

I think I need to check out Desert Essence a bit more; so far I am quite impressed.

My herbs are here - my herbs are here!

Look and see!

I got the herbs for my herbal class and tomorrow will start some hands-on work with them. I am enamored. Ha-ha. I've always loved what herbs offer in the way of tasty teas and bath and body preparations, but until this past month really didn't give a hoot about their medicinal properties. Suddenly I am awash with intrigue and like a sponge trying to absorb everything - and there is a lot to absorb.

Doors are always opening...

I also received the carrier oils for my face cream and a few other things, and some new and very exciting essential oils that I love the smell of and who possess interesting properties. I can't wait to try them out - in creams and butters - and perfume. And maybe my next batch of soap too - which I think might be a citrus one - for summer y'know!

There is too much to do to write more; I've got some arrangin' to do - and need to find some big glass jars for the lighter ones who have a lot of bulk.

Whole Foods soaps

I received my complimentary soaps today! Suki, from Whole Foods, read my review on their Lavender shampoo and conditioner and contacted me to see if I'd like to try some of their new organic soaps. I said... yes! They are huge bars, weighing in at 8 ounces (227 g)! And they smell heavenly. She sent me four of the organic soaps: pomelo (smells like orange), lavender, linden (citrus) and grapefruit mint. She also sent two of their conventional soaps scented with fragrance oils that are also 8 ounces - one shea butter and the other a milk soap. And two of the glycerine soaps that Mike loves to shave with, in lavender and olive aloe. And two lip balms! It felt like my birthday two months early. Here is a picture of all the wonderful soaps and lip balms.

I know I make my own soaps, but these are wonderful and are a nice change from mine. I like to try new things and smell new smells.

Thanks, Suki, for being so generous!

Hair souffle

Here is a picture of the hair "souffle" I whipped up today. It has the texture of medium whipped cream and feels ever-so-lovely. I cant wait to try it on my hair. I didn't think I was making all that much, but after whipping it puffed up to six 4-ounce jars. It's made with some of my favorite butters and carrier oils, along with four essential oils. I'm planning to use it for pre-wash conditioning on my ends particularly - and will see how my hair likes it. Here is its frothy beautifulness... it's very soft and melts easily.

A coincidence?

I've been working on the labeling for my little product line and was browsing on Etsy today just looking at how others label their wares. I came upon a picture of a bath tea that is remarkably similar to the one I posted here on December 7th. It's even laid out almost identically and has a shea butter melt in the middle just like mine and a teabag to the side! Is this mere coincidence? Or, should I start keeping my ideas to myself? Here is the picture I just found.

And here is mine that I posted last last month.

What do you think? Coincidence?

When I saw it, I got a sick feeling in my stomach. I can see people taking ideas and changing them to make them theirs, but this just looks too similar - and gives me a bad feeling.

Pictures of products

Here is a picture of the products I made for Christmas this year wrapped in the labels I created for them. I have so many ideas for new things I want to make and ways to perfect what I already make, but have to squeeze it in when I have the time. Here is a group shot.

And a close-up of the body butter, cleansing grains and nourishing cream.

Making the labels is just as much fun as making the products; it's just a different kind of fun. And, I still have to create the label "look" I want for all the products. That's the hardest part because I like them all to look a bit different.

Which reminds me... I need to test out my new stick blender, so need to make some more soap and cream soon. Did I mention that I love the nourishing cream? It's the best I've ever used and I ain't too shy to say so. So there. 

Bath tea and new soap labels

No time to write much as I have way too many things to get to, but here are a couple of pictures - a shot of the bath tea I made yesterday and the new soap labels I'm working on.

The thing that looks like a chunk of butter in the unpackaged "tea" is a fizzy bath melt. The tea is also in its "teabag" to the left ready to toss into the tub. I really like these.

And, here are the labels for my newest soaps. I'm still fiddling with them, but so far so good. If you look closely you can see a new "model" in the blue label. She works for free. Heh. Click to enlarge, of course.

Okay, there is much to be done... I must get to it! 

Can't sit still

Yesterday after work I went to JoAnne's to get some cheesecloth because I always seem to need it but never have it, some netting type fabric for tying up the bath bombs I made that have flower petals in them because floating flotsam and jetsam that stick all over you in the tub really isn't that enjoyable, and some ribbon for tying the fabric around the bombs. Some of the bombs have cracks in them and I am not happy about that that one bit. Well, I am a beginner in the bomb business and haven't perfected my recipe or technique yet. And I have all kinds of ideas for new and different ones. They still fizz well and once they hit the water the oils are released into the tub, the dead sea salts melt and the scent fills the bathroom. I really like them. Mike does too and said his skin felt "great" after taking a bath with one. He's not really a bath person, but we were doing a test run of the bombs and... into the tub he went.

And, while at JoAnne's I decided to get some yarn to make a snood similar to the one Leia posted about here. She kindly sent me different views of it to see what it looked like. It's basically just a loose tube that can be worn around the neck or up over the head. I really like the unstructured look of it. There were so many yarns I wanted to buy that I had to really control myself. One project at a time is the way I need to go. Heavens, I am already spread thin and now I'm going to make a snood too!

Through a suggestion from my friend Caroline, I am thinking about totally revamping my bath and body labels. I won't have time to do it for gifts this year, but she gave me some new ideas to think about. It will be a fun project creating a new look - and might require new jars and bottles as well.

People will buy anything

I feel as though I've not been here in ages, but it's only been two days. Getting back into the work groove wasn't too difficult, but I sure miss being at home. Ah... patience.

My preservative is arriving today - along with a few carrier oils and other things I ordered from Mountain Rose Herbs. I can finally make my version of this skin cream and not be afraid to share it with others. It's my most favorite skin cream and not very expensive or even hard to make. And I particularly love it this time of the year with all the dry heat. I was looking at some magazine lately... ah yes, a People magazine - and it showed some actress's "favorite" things. One of them was Creme de la Mer. I've always rolled my eyes when people - usually celebrities - rave about that creme because I've heard it is very pricey. I just had to find out now that I'm making my own cream - and it is $230.00 for two ounces! Do you know how much two ounces is? Not that much! I decided to do some research to find out what magical ingredients are included in the creme - and discovered that there is nothing magical at all. Big surprise. But it contains 44 ingredients! 44! I am in the process of analyzing what each is and am about two thirds of the way down the list - and am not impressed. Not one bit. Guess what the second ingredient is? Mineral oil. All I know is that they sure must have a mighty fine marketing department. I'll stick to my creme - and will be adding a few things to mine that Creme de la Mer doesn't have in there bloated concoction.

I have a lot of gift-making to finish up this weekend and will be super busy. These few weeks before Christmas fly by so quickly that I need to stay focused!Then I can just slide right into the holidays stress-free. Yep.

Production has begun!

I got a late start since my son dropped by earlier in the day for a visit, but I've started crankin' on the B&B gifts I'm making this year. Today is one of two days of bath bomb production. Practice makes perfect and I'm getting better at it. It's kind of frustrating; you can't make too many at once because the mix dries out quickly and then won't stick together. There are four batches in this picture - twenty bombs total. I'm going to double the mix tomorrow to see how it goes because it moves quite slowly making just five bombs at a time. The big specks in the one large group are rose petals. I'll put those in mesh bags like the ones with the lavender buds so the tub isn't filled with them sticking to everything.

The blue bombs are scented with ylang ylang, lavender and patchouli EOs, the light yellow ones are scented with bergamot and grapefruit EOs and the rose bombs are scented with a sandalwood rose fragrance oil. I need to make a few unscented ones too.

I'm a bit ambivalent about the seam lines as I usually like hand-made things to look handmade, thus don't mind them. But they bother Mike, the perfectionist. I know where he's coming from because I have a bit of the perfectionist in me too. On his Harley there are metal seams that he dislikes and he's spent almost two full Saturdays with a painfully loud, shrill file grinding them away. It's a horrible sound that echos throughout the neighborhood - and most likely causes the neighbors to curse his name. But he is willing to sit there grinding for hours just to get a smooth finish. There is a difference though - the bath bomb will melt quickly in the tub and disappear whereas his Harley will be a thing of beauty to show off for a long time.

Oh - I forgot to report back that when I tested a bomb from my first batch, it fizzed like crazy in the tub and the bathroom smelled like roses when it released the scent. It was wonderful. I think they will be a staple around here.

Anyway, today was bath bomb day and tomorrow will be more bath bombs and a bunch of shea body butter in two different scents - one with fragrance oils, one with essential oils and one unscented. And, I have quite a few labels to design since most of my new containers are different sizes. Lotsa fun! No more soap making though... I have four batches that are curing and will be ready for Christmas.

Off to do some research on more B&B ingredients...