REVIEW: Chagrin Valley Soap and Salve

I am OBSESSED with soap. As in, I have a stockpile of it in my pantry. As in, there are times there is more soap in my pantry than food. As in, I have a rotation of soaps all lined up in my bathroom so I can enjoy the earthy goodness of many different soaps in any given week. Where did this soap obsession start? With Chagrin Valley Soap and Salve.

So I've always been a little nuts about beauty products. I am totally that girl who has 4 different shampoos and conditioners in the shower at once. I have three different face washes, more moisturizers than I know what to do with, and enough hair products to fill an entire under-sink cabinet area. Don't get me started on the bags of makeup. No, I am not exaggerating. However, I started doing some research and I've put most, if not all, of those products to rest.

Here's what happened - after I had Picky, my face and hair (not to mention other parts of my body) just weren't the same. My hair had these weird curlies around my face and was falling out in handfulls - and I don't have much to start with. My face was breaking out like I was 13 again - nasty pimples and these little white bumps around my eyes and temple area (later I found out they are called millia). Gross, no?!?!?! I went online and spent quite a bit of money buying different cleansers and moisturizers. Clinique's foaming face cleanser helped some, and I bought these Complexion Corrections pads from Peter Thomas Roth that burnt the s*** out of my skin but maybe was a little brighter? I probably spent upwards of $250 on skincare that didn't work. I kept thinking, there has GOT to be an easier/cheaper way to do this without burning my skin off with acid.

I was bumping around online one day looking for natural skincare when I came across the Oil Cleansing Method. This was very intriguing to me, because an esthitician I used to work with told me she would never use any of the products we sold because of the chemicals and she just used olive oil to cleanse her skin. Of course it was flawless. I came across a nifty little blog called Crunchy Betty who explains the whole thing. I gave it a try and my skin began to heal. I became more and more curious about natural skin and hair remedies. I also found the "No-Poo" method. I don't think I'm quite ready for that, so I started looking for all-natural and organic shampoos when Chagrin Valley popped up. The rest is history.

I kid you not when I say my skin is CLEAR, no millia/zits, it is bright and I swear to you I look less wrinkly. My hair has grown faster than ever, I don't have to clean the drain every time I shower and I use NO products. It's bouncy, shiny and healthy.

I poured over all of their offerings online and finally made my selection. As this review is exponentially longer than intended already, I'll cut to the chase. I've tried quite a bit of their products, and here are my favs:

FACE
Sea Salt & Seaweed 
Squalane Face & Eye Mousse


BODY
Goat Milk Honey Oatmeal
I use this on my face too, the lather is delicious.

HAIR
Cafe Moreno
Lavender Rosemary

These are all bar soaps - even the shampoo. I'll do another post on my shampoo bar experience soon.

I keep wanting to try other companies to see what else is out there, but they keep coming up with all this new yummy stuff! They just put out a henna shampoo bar and hair balm conditioner. I think I know what I'm getting next! And a HUGE plus... the have EXCELLENT customer service.

Winter Funk

The "official" ETL start date has been postponed due to all three of us being sick this week. I'm sorry, but eating nothing but beans and greens is just not what I want to do when I'm feeling like crap. Three days at the new school and Picky gets a terrible head and chest cold. Then of course, gives it right to us.

I will say, in the past two weeks I have been easing into the program, and I seriously feel good. I feel much lighter and have more energy. I was a bad girl and had pizza last night - completely homemade so at least no weird stuff - but I've done pretty well other than that.

We had PP's second birthday party last weekend, so that was fun. My sister stayed the night and we spent most of it out on the porch talking. It's been a pretty boring week in PP land.

Some thoughts: do you ever feel like the life you are living is not what you are meant to be doing? Like you have so much to offer and just can't figure out what the right outlet to direct all your energy is? There are so many BIG things I want to do - not just resolutions - and I just don't know where to start. I am such a Gemini, I am all over the place seriously. I'm hoping this blog will help me either a)reign in my craziness b)get some perspective on life and/or c)actually do some of these things I've been thinking about for so long but haven't had the balls to put them on paper.

1. Become a yoga teacher
2. Make my own soap/aromatherapy/all-natural beauty products
3. Have a blog that people might just maybe read
4. Figure out how the hell to make the three things above a profitable reality so I can quit my day job and spend more time with my family.

A wise woman I worked with in California told me, "if you write it down and look at it every day, it WILL happen." I'm making a sign to tape to my desk now.

Happy Birthday Picky Picky!

My Picky Picky is TWO years old today! How time flies...

We got her a fish tank and I'm going after work to pick out two goldfish. We wanted this to be a family affair, but since I work an hour away from home it's hard to get the car loaded up at 6:30pm and head out when that's usually her dinner time. She's also got her second day at school, staying through lunch. JJ dropped her off since I had to be at work, and said she wanted to take him around and show him everything. I wish so bad I was the one who gets her ready for school, drops her off and gets to know the other parents. Oh to have a job closer to home...

On another note, I was starving yesterday after my Mexican lunch date fell through, so I had a salad with a yummy mustard/rice wine dressing and leftover cabbage rolls for dinner. I don't know why these rolls aren't doing the trick, but I had to have a snack last night after dinner. I did NOT want to break the diet, so I made a small bowl of oatmeal with some leftover coconut milk eggnog (vegan). It was DELICIOUS! I had another bowl for breakfast, along with a juice. Yum! Having salad for lunch and probably veggie stir fry for dinner. I do feel lighter, I haven't weighed myself yet but plan to do so tomorrow sometime.

New Beginnings

Picky Picky started her new school today! She's going to a Montessori preschool here in Raleigh (well, it's in Cary technically but still close to home) which is a big step coming from a nanny who only kept one other baby while keeping PP. There are 15 kids in her class! We were just there for an hour this morning, to let her get used to everything and she did great. We take her through lunch time tomorrow, then through nap time on Friday. I think she is going to do great, I just can't believe she's already old enough to be in preschool.

My Eat to Live resolution officially starts Monday, January 7, but I am easing in this week. Which is good because I have lunch plans for Mexican today with a coworker, lol. Yesterday we made a juice of beets, carrots, sweet potato and apple which I had for breakfast and lunch, and made barley and bean stuffed cabbage rolls for dinner. JJ and I both really liked them, although I was a little hungry and feeling empty about two hours after dinner. I had another juice this morning, and have been munching on a salad so I don't over indulge at lunch. Those dang chips and salsa are just so gooooood......

I'll post some recipes and my meal plan for the next week soon.