Natural Skincare & Green living: Ways To Reuse Coffee and Make a Coffee Body Scrub

"Hey!!!Don't waste this"!!! These are the words I tend to tell my husband, my kids and my friends when it comes to certain things. I make sure that leftover water and leftover tea are poured on plants and when it comes to coffee it's no exception. So, I just I wanted to take some time to share some of my simple ideas for re-using coffee and hope to learn something from you guys in return!

Picture taken at a local Starbuck!

As a plant lover I learned that coffee and leftover tea, are good plant food!,
Simply pour your leftover coffee on your indoor or outdoor plants. The coffee grounds can also be used as compost. I always make sure to get some extra leftover coffee grounds from the coffee shop. It's great nutrition for acid loving plants and I must say it also seems to do some good to all my indoor tropical plants.

In the kitchen I found that rubbing some coffee on my fingers with ground coffee work as a good odor remover, especially if I had handle fish, garlic or anything smelly.  It works well too in the garbage disposal to deodorize and disinfect.  The leftover coffee can also be used as a fridge deodorizer, simply  place a small bowl filled with fresh coffee grounds in your fridge.
I love the smell of coffee so much that it's my room deodorizer of choice during the winter months. I simply brew some fresh coffee when I need to fill the house with a pleasant aroma! You can actually put some leftover coffee grounds on a cooking sheet and place it in a warm over, but I just prefer brewing.
Leftover coffee can also be used to:

Picture taken at a local Starbuck.

• Make some frappucino
• Marinate your meat
• Replace red wine when cooking meat in recipes calling for wine!
• Flavor cake or waffle recipes ( replacing milk or water for coffee)
• Mix with condensed milk and freeze as popsicle.

Replace milk in your smoothy! Deliciouuuus!
Make ice cubes.  Why wait on a super hot coffee to cool down when you can just throw a coffee cube in?!
Well there must be many other ways to use leftover cofee in the kicthen but that's my little tried and true repertoire here!

It's also possible to use leftover coffee as a dye! You can use your leftover coffee to dye paper or fabric to give it an aged look.
Did you know you can also add it to the wash water when you wash your dark color clothes?! It's also a good dye as beauty hair treatment if you have dark hair. Apply about 5-6 cups of leftover coffee to your wet hair and cover and leave it on your hair from about 15-20 mns before rinsing! But it's only a temporary dye I can not claim that it will work like Garnier!

Since I love hanging at perfumes counters and shopping for candles I also learned to use it to trick my olfactory senses. Carry along some leftover coffee beans  or grounds and inhale them after smelling a perfume! It neutralizes the scent of the fragrance you smelled previously and help you to better sense the following fragrance.
And as to my favorite use of leftover coffee grounds, a little messy I should admit but very rewarding, I use it as a scrub! Yep! I love to use leftover coffee grounds as a facial scrub or a body scrub in the shower.

MAKING COFFEE SCRUB
2 cups coarse coffee. I prefer to just recycle the one I freshly brewed
1/2 sea salt or brown sugar. I skip that step most times
3 tbsp. oil such as olive, coconut, sweet almond, jojoba etc
A drop of scented oil of choices. Totally optional!


The only inconvenience is having the grounds over the shower floor and in...well...let's say that I advise wearing a swim suit bikini when you decide to use it as a full body scrub! I don't know if it's the pleasure of rubbing something totally organic on my body, or feeling like I am giving myself what could have been an expensive spa treatment from the comfort of my home, but I love love love the way my skin  feels afterward! It's best to use fresh ground coffee as it still have many of it's antioxidant property when it's fresh. Like 20-30 minutes after you have brewed some since it will need time to cool some.
So before you think it's a messy idea ( I am making a face)give it a try because you might love the way your skin feel afterward, it's worth trying!

So... no need to let that leftover coffee go to waste right?
What do you tend to do with your leftover coffee? If you tried or try to use is as a facial or body scrub please let me know what you think of it as a scrub! Have you heard that it's claimed to remove cellulite when used as a scrub on thighs and legs?

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• N'na

Natural skin care:Recipe for an Egg Facial Mask for a natural face lift/ Recette pour un masque de visage pour un facelift naturel

To all English speaking readers: I decided to add a bilingual post today for 2 reasons
1) This post is pretty straight forward so it would not take me much time to translate it to French.
2) Having many friends who are more comfortable with French than English I simply wanted to offer them something they might enjoy as I greatly value them and it's important to me to welcome them on this site.

Attention aux lecteurs francophones:
Mon clavier est un clavier anglophone et je ne sais pas comment rajouter les accents comme l'accent aigu, l'accent grave etc afin de parfaitement les ecrir en francais! Je vous prie d'aussi considerer que cela fait bien d'annees que je n'ai pas redigee de textes en francais aussi j'espere que mon article sera claire et facil a comprendre.


Ingredients

• Egg white from one egg
• Blanc d'oeuf d'un oeuf
• Used coffee (optional)
• Du cafe en pourdre deja utilise (optionel)

The coffee I use is what's generally left after brewing some fresh coffee for an espresso or a cappucino.
Le cafe que j'utilise est generalement ce qu'il reste dans ma caffetiere apres avoir fait du cafe pour un espresso ou du cappucino.

If you read my previous post   http://goodhealthdiva.blogspot.com/2011/04/on-hairnatural-homemade-deep.html  you will know that I did not crack an egg just for that mask. I simply used the egg white I had left from separating some egg yolk for a homemade deep conditioner.
Si vous avez lu mon article precedent  http://goodhealthdiva.blogspot.com/2011/04/on-hairnatural-homemade-deep.html qui est en anglais vous realiserez que je n'ai pas casse un oeuf juste pour ce masque. J'ai simplement recupere le blanc qui me restait apres avoir separe le jaune d'oeuf pour un traitement a cheveux.

Beat the egg white and add a tablespoon of used coffee.
Battre en neige et ajouter une cuilleree de cafe en poudre deja utilise.

Use a brush or your hand and apply the mixture to your face.
Utiliser une brosse ou juste la main pour appliquer le melange sur tous le visage.

Leave for about 15-20 minutes and rinse out! Gently pad dry!
Laisser secher 15-20 minutes avant de rinser! Essuyer votre visage en tapotant gentillement plutot que de le frotter!

2 Personal suggestions:
2 Suggestions:
1)When the mask dries on your face you will look somewhat scary so I suggest you do not do it in front of anyone you are trying to impress. However the result might impress you as your face will be left pretty smooth. You will enjoy the nanural facelift!
1)Pendant que le masque seche votre visage paraitra plutot effrayant aussi je suggere que vous ne fassiez pas ce masque en la compagnie de quelqu'un que vous chercher a seduir et impressionner. Par contre le resultat sera plutot impressionant. Vous serez fiere de votre face lift naturel.

2)I also suggest doing this right before taking a shower just to make it easier to rinse your face out.
2)Je suggere aussi que vous appliquiez ce masque juste avant de prendre une douche afin que ce soit plus facil de vous rinser le visage!

If you have never tried this mask before please try it and let me know how you liked it!
Si vous avez jamais fait ce masque auparavant laissez moi savoir ce que vous en pensez une fois que vous l'aurez essaye!

For more face mask ideas read those following posts in English
Pour d'autre idees de masque jetter un coup d'oeil sur mes articles suivants, ils sont en anglais!
http://goodhealthdiva.blogspot.com/2011/01/2-creative-use-for-ripe-bananas-facial.html
http://goodhealthdiva.blogspot.com/2011/01/face-mask-for-him.html

I also suggest checking for posts under the label Pampering as they tend to be very popular among my readers.
Je vous suggere d'aussi jetter un coup d'oeil sur mes articles dans la categorie Pampering car ils sont tres populairs parmi mes lecteurs!



If it's your first time here I hope that you greatly enjoy yourself here and that you will become a Follower on this blog and my other blog http://www.beautyfullgifts.blogspot.com/ and Like the facebook page Goodhealthdiva and Follow Goodhealthdiva on twitter.
Si c'est votre premiere visite sur ce site j'espere que vous apprecirez ce site et que vous serrez un Suiveur (Follower) de ce site et de mon autre blog http://www.beautyfullgifts.blogspot.com/ et aussi que vous Aimerez la page Goodhealthdiva sur facebook et me suivrez aussi sur Twitter.

Have you tried an egg facial mask before or is it your first time reading about it? If you had tried it before what benefit do you see to doing that mask?
Avez vous essayez auparavant un tel masque avec du blanc d'oeuf ou est ce votre premiere fois de lire cette recette? Si vous avez deja essaye un masque a oeuf auparavant quels bienfaits vous a t'il offert?

N'na

Natural hair: Natural homemade deep conditioner for stronger and healthy hair

I made Friday evening a deep conditioning mixture that one of my maid used on my hair when I was in elementary school. Every Sunday afternoon as she would do our hair ( twin sister and me), she would shampoo our hair and make a mixture of egg yolk and olive oil that she would apply for 45 minutes before rinsing and braiding our hair.
I don't know why it never occurred to me to do it until now! Like I said in a recent post, a lot of pleasant childhood memories have resurfaced in my mind and this recipe is one of them. The only difference is that I added coconut oil.


I started with

• one egg yolk
• a tablespoon of EVOO Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• a tablespoon of coconut oil (optional)
• The one ingredient I did not add that I would greatly suggest adding is Honey! I abstained from adding some in this mixture because I did not have any more raw honey and I just did not want to add the commercial brand I had on hand and my treatment was a spare of the moment thing.

Then I just mixed all the ingredients! The texture was just like a commercial conditioner would be since my coconut oil was still in it's solid form!

I shampoo my hair with a commercial shampoo and then applied the mixture. I was not satisfy with the quantity so I made some more this time without the coconut oil! I mixed one egg yolk and one tablespoon of EVOO! This was enough to saturate my hair.
I put on a shower cap and vacated to the rest of my activities ( tackling the laundry and having a devotion time with my children)


You could leave it for 30-45 minutes but since I was not in any rush I just thought the longer the better so I kept mine on for well over an hour!

I rinsed it out by adding some apple cider vinegar to the rinse water...

And I applied some olive oil to moisturize my hair and let it air dry! Voila!

Please do not have egg white in that mixture otherwise you will be spending your time picking up egg from your hair!

The next day I deep conditioned my daughter's hair as well.  I used the same ingredients except that I added some honey.

I did not have to make any extra conditioner for her hair and I followed the same procedure up until the time I rinsed her hair.

After rinsing her hair I did not add olive oil to moisturize her hair! I simply finished her hair treatment by applying some mousse to her hair.

There she is after her shampoo and deep conditioning!

Since I love to recycle things, I used the egg white from my deep conditioning and hers to make a face mask. After beating the egg white I added  a tablespoon of coffee to the egg white just for antioxidant and the scrub feel. This mask can be made with the egg white alone but since I generally use some coffee as a facial or body scrub I added some to the mix I figure it might as well add some to the mix!

Facial mask with leftover egg white and used coffee. More on that in my next post!

Final result, Mother & Daughter enjoying their natural look after a healthy homemade deep conditioner!

In case you wonder why use egg yolk in my homemade deep conditioner:

Hair are made of protein

Eggs are protein

Eggs' protein will straighten the hair follicle

Eggs make the hair smooth and easier to comb and keep the hair from tangling That is if you are combing. In our cases we left our hair curly!

Well just a few benefits I am aware of, there might be more so feel free to share!

Have you used egg yolk before to condition your hair? What was your experience? What natural ingredients do you generally use to deep condition your hair? Do you know any additional benefits to using egg yolk in your hair? Have you ever had the unpleasant experience of having egg white in your hair?How did remove them?

N'na

Natural hair: Deep conditioning recipe for stronger and healthy hair

I have a simple treatment  that I love to do on my daughter's natural hair and wanted to share with you. The previous post is actually a French version that I wrote to encourage my readers who are not fluent in English to feel welcomed on this blog.
The treatment simply calls  for 1 tbsp of honey and 2 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil that you would mix with your conditioner. Reserve some apple cider vinegar for your rinse. Here are the simple steps.

• Shampoo your hair as usual
• Apply the mixture of honey, olive oil and conditioner ( you can do that with just honey and olive oil)  to your hair until your hair are fully saturated with your mixture. Sit under a hot dryer or simply leave it on.
• Leave it on for 30-45 minutes.
• Rinse thoroughly with water and a little of apple cider vinegar 
• Apply some of your conditioner mixture as a leave in- conditioner and
• Complete your treatment by applying any of the following oils: coconut oil, almond oil, olive oil, jojoba oil or any carrier oil of your choosing. I personally stick to the first three simply because they are easier to find.

On my daughter's hair below I applied some almond oil after rinsing her hair and applying a little bit of the conditioning mixture.
Please share with me some of your own homemade hair treats.

Three oils I love using for hair care

Ingredients for this homemade deep conditioning

In the small white bowl honey and olive oil (to mix with or w/o the conditioner) after shampooing




With the shower cap on waiting 30-45 minutes with the deep conditioner on

 



Soft and shiny hair after deep conditioning and Almond oil to seal her hair.


What kitchen ingredients do you generally use for your homemade deep conditionner? Which of the oila listed above do you use most often on your hair?

N'na

FOR MEN: Coconut oil and turmeric face mask!

This homemade mask is of course one for women. I just felt that it would be fun to have a man do it. I am glad my model (smiles) was such a great sport. I think that it's important that our men learn to pamper themselves too, learn to benefit from home spa and take care of their skins!

 What do you think?

A portion of the video is missing. At the end I asked my model here how his skin felt: his answer: " good and smooth"!

I love coconut oil and use it daily in my diet and my skin care regimen. Turmeric on the other hand is a herb that I just fell in love with. My mom who is a great natural health advocate was the first to tell me of the benefits of turmeric. I decided to try this simple mask last Sunday and have been hooked on turmeric ever since I researched its many health and beauty properties. I am adding it to my diet by simply adding it to my cup of tea and of course its now part of my skin care regimen. I wanted to try this on a man just to encourage men to take care of their skin. I will eventually share more about the benefits of coconut oil and turmeric for skin care. For now, just enjoy the video. Talk to you later. Oh, remember to leave your comments and become a Follower, and like the facebook page Goodhealthdiva!!! Thanks and have a great week!

To your better body and your better life!

Did you like this video? Do you have some nice skin care tips for recipe for men?



Pampering yourself is good for your health!

I am not writing here about going to a spa every week and spending money on yourself that will get your husband to remind you that it's time to save not splurge on 'uneccessary things'.
Here I am talking about learning to take care of yourself without breaking the bank and being creative if you do not have a lot of time on your hands.
As a mother of three children, I've learned the importance of taking care of myself. I am still in the learning process actually but in spite of the fact that I do not have any family around to help with the kids and that I lack a strong support system I have created small ways of pampering and loving myself.  I have learned that:
I can not give what I don't have. So I have learned to give to myself  some love throughout the day so that I can love my children and husband. I consider pampering myself an act of love to myself and a gift to those that surround me because taking care of myself in the best of my ability and resources help me to take care of others. You all know the scripture that ask us to love others as we love ourselves. Well, we have to have a healthy love for ourselves if we are to love others.                                  



Gift basket by Nnakodesigns.All rights reserved.



Gift basket by Nnakodesigns.All rights reserved.

                                                 
My first acts of love to myself every morning are:
Kneeling for prayer even if its just 5 mns. Aside from my daily prayer time I just kneel briefly in the morning as an act of gratitude and reverence for God.        

Stretching my body.  It's important to get the blood to flow and my body's energy 'reset' for the day. I will write later on the importance of stretching. 

Seating somewhere with a cup of Green tea and fresh mint preferrably from my garden. During the spring and summer time I sit on my front or back porch and enjoy the calmness of my surroundings before the kids are up and before the neighbors start leaving for work. 

Going on short walk with Cotton my maltese if time and the weather permit.
While on those walks I love to pay attention to the sound of the birds, and all my surroundings.
I consider those short and simple actions ways of pampering myself because they leave me feeling grounded and ready for my day .  

My bedtime ritual consists of :                 

Lighting only table lamps in the bedroom

Burning a vanilla or lavender soy candle

Spraying my pillows and sheets with lavender linen spray

Placing a glass of water by my bedside

Applying some oil or lavender lotion on my feet, rubbing them and putting on some spa socks for the night
Once in a while I do the same for my hands by rubbing and massaging them in oil before fitting them in my spa gloves for the night!

Reading something inspiring or writing in my journal things I am grateful for and

Saying a last prayer of gratitude for the day

                                                              

                                                          


Another way of pampering myself that is dear to me is my eating ritual.
Unless we are eating dinner as a family, I prefer to eat all my meals peacefully and quietly with or without the sound of music in the background.  I also drink my water in a very nice glass and always use my nicest dishes and a nice cloth napkin.
I know that most people reserve their best dishes for their guests. I do not reserve any 'special' dishes for my guests. I use it for myself too. 
                                         

                                     
Once a week, generally Fridays, I take a block of time to soak in the tub, give myself a  manicure and pedicure and just take it easy
 I do no housekeeping on that day and limit my activities. Well, simply put its my Me Time (smiles). Come 6pm I consider myself on a Sabbath. Every chores will have to wait Saturday evening or Monday.

                                            

Of course, I love the benefits of a professional massage but I do not get to indulge as frequently as I want.
The one thing I indulge into weekly is getting my hair done. I am picky about getting my hair done at the end of the week.
 However, I am not picky on who does my manicure and pedicure and I actually love doing this myself.  My reason for it  is that it gives me the flexibility to choose the music I want to listen to, I am not waiting to be helped, I can read a book or watch any TV channel I want while I am doing my manicure and pedicure. I am very picky about the kind of music that's played in public places. At home, I can enjoy pampering myself and enjoy the silence or the music I choose to listen to.
                                                            
 In addition to that, I make my own beauty treats, even throw some of my dried rose petals in the water and instead of soaking my feet in commercial products I simply boil my own herbs, add some oil of my choosing and soak my feet as long as I want to.
Once in a while I get myself pampered from head to feet at a Salon. But for days when it's not convenient to do it professionally I can pamper myself from the comfort of my own home without spending any extra money.
The other thing I love to do which I consider is pampering myself is dressing myself nicely, putting some perfume and a few jewelries on even if I am staying at home most of the day.
My theory is that I want to inspire myself when I pass by the mirror even when I am in comfortable 'home clothes'. I want to see something pretty every time I step in the bathroom and it's important because it keeps me in a good mood.
I do not keep nor wear any piece of clothing that has a hole or a stain on or that looks worn out. Comfort to me means that comfortable clothes are also nice clothes.

Another creative way I pamper myself is to display my dish soap in a nice soap dispenser,

                                                                                                      

 keep a scented hand lotion and hand soap by the kitchen sink                                                   and                             some nice hand towels around versus old raggedy kitchen towels. Next to it stand a small vase of fresh flowers.  Considering all the time we spend in a kitchen I think it's important to add small things that will bring us pleasure. Pampering myself is surrounding myself with cute things in every room and keeping every room very orderly.

Order and cleanliness throughout the house from bathroom counter to living room sofa is for me a way of pampering myself because chaos create stress but order is restful. 
And rest is what we want when we pamper ourselves. Pampering is not just something to be done in an expensive spa facility it's something that can be done daily in small increments that add up to a healthy life


                                            

So to people who do not have time or money to go regularly to the salon, get a professional manicure and pedicure, know that you can pamper yourself even when you feel like it's a luxury. Get the best cosmetic product you can afford, get yourself some new towels, replace your pillows or bed sheets, get a fancy glass cloth napkin and plate set, keep your favorite things around, take a shower or bath light some tea candles and turn some soft music on and start treating yourself even if it's just 15 mns a day. Turn a daily routine into a special ritual . You deserve to value and treat yourself after a long hard day. 

Treat yourself by offering yourself a clean and clutter free home ( and car)  and add little touches of beauty around you. I am confident that it will improve your emotional/mental health and impact other areas of your life.
Taking good care of yourself is a necessity and it's okay to indulge yourself daily. You just have to be creative about it, but it starts just where you are.
Please let me know how you pamper yourself on a daily/weekly basis and if any of those suggestions worked for you let me know which one are now part of your daily routine.

2 creative uses for ripe bananas: facial mask or frozen for smoothies.

If you are like me you probably have one or two bananas on your kitchen counter that you don't feel like eating but that will spoil unless you do something with them. Instead of discarding them, there is a simple way to put your ripe bananas to good use.
Bananas are a nourishing and moisturizing fruit that can be used in face as well as hand masks because it's gentle, and exfoliating . Bananas contain magnesium, potassium, vitamin C, B6, B12 and A. They are rich in dietary fiber, low in Sodium.
There are two things I like to do with my ripe bananas. One is for beauty in your home spa , the other one for nutrition.


Beauty use for ripe bananas:  Make a facial mask
To prepare the mask smash 1/2 banana, mix with a 1 tablespoon of honey and 1-2 tablespoon of sour cream. The mask can also be done with natural yogurt instead of sour cream or just banana and honey.  Apply on your face avoiding your eyes areas. Leave on  for 10-20 minutes and then rinse gently with cold water. Considering that its also a delicious mask should you swallow some of it you should relax knowing that its chemical free. (smiles)
This mask is great for all skin types especially normal and dry skin.

Nutritious use for ripe bananas: Freeze them to use in homemade smoothies.
For those bananas that you can't get to finish, if they  are still good cut them up and freeze them so that you can use them up for homemade smoothies.Natural yogurt, frozen bananas ans strawberries make a delicious smoothie for a breakfast on the go or for a nutritious meal replacement. I often add coconut milk or almond milk to my smoothies with  or without the yogurt . You can also use unfrozen bananas it's just that adding frozen fruits replace the need for crushed ice. I often add blueberries to my smoothies and a few spices and herbs like cinnamon, fennel and even flaxseed.
Keep in mind that bananas are already high in sugar so when making a smoothie with them do not use more than one banana,  and avoid adding any sweetener to your smoothie. Adding cinnamon to your smoothie is a great way to regulate the sugar level.

If you have any healthy suggestions for ripe bananas feel free to share. Do you have any smoothie recipes that you would like to share? There are many smoothies ideas in our Facebook albums.

Thanks for stopping by and reading. Please join us on Facebook we would love to meet you there!