I’ve never had any luck with using bar soap on my face, no matter what brand it is and how natural it is. There’s something about what they use to make it into a bar that strips the natural oils off my face and leaves it dry. I’m happy to be proved wrong though, I’d love to try something that actually doesn’t do that. Although to be honest, I’d prefer to find a natural cleanser in a bottle, simply because it’s easier to travel with and carry around.

Do you use a bar soap cleanser? Let us know about it! Write a comment in the box below.

Smooooth Legs hooked me in by their very clever demonstration. As I walked passed the stall I heard them explaining to women how their system removes hairs from the root so it’ll grow back slower and finer. And as I watched a demonstration I got hypnotized into trying it myself.

Luckily that day I was wearing jeans because my legs were, um, a little bit unkempt! So I actually had some hair to trial the product on. They gave me a VERY impressive demonstration which involved exfoliating my leg quite vigorously in a circular motion with what looks a lot like sandpaper. I was then told that you have to moisturize and they recommended to moisturize with their own product which of course they tried to sell me as well.

The part of my leg they exfoliated actually felt amazingly smooth so that sold me straight away. At that point I totally believed the product worked, and that my hair had been magically and painlessly pulled out from the root. This was enough to convince me to buy the product. Although I didn’t buy the moisturizer because it’s not natural.

But of course it was all too good to be true. I knew by that afternoon that the product was scammy as the patch they’d “removed my hair” from started to get prickly. If they’d actually removed my hair then it would take a couple of weeks to get to that prickly stage. Still I wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt so I gave it a good go at home, but the results were even worse. Not only did I find it difficult to achieve that same smoothness that I experienced during the demonstration, but I found it a lot of work to remove all of my hair. In fact, I gave up not long after I’d started on the second leg. Honestly, shaving is a lot easier and quicker.

And then for the next couple of days my skin was very dry and irritated. I had to use a lot more moisturizer than usual and I even got a bit of an itchy rash in the areas that I’d used the product. It’s so not worth it.

I would definitely not recommend this product to anyone. I’m a bit sad it doesn’t work because it seemed like a great option. Even if it did just cut the hairs off like shaving does, I would have been happy to continue using it (because that would mean I could use it while watching a DVD), but the skin irritation just isn’t worth it.

So if you’re walking passed one of these Smooooth Legs stalls, don’t get suckered into it. Unless you want something that can “buff off” a few stray hairs in an emergency situation.

Please let me know if you have any questions or comments about this video.

We couldn’t go past Joel’s amazing video entry which beautifully expressed his personal story and his strong determination to heal his skin. Check the video out if you haven’t seen it already -

I’d also like to give a special mention to Florentine’s video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIknsScMvzI, Kevin’s word document and to Henrieta’s and Chris’s text submissions. But REALLY I’d like to thank you all because each and every submission was of a very high standard and it makes me sad that I can’t offer this opportunity to each and every one of you.

I’ll make sure that Joel keeps us updated on his progress and lets all of us know how his treatment with Dr Neal is going.

In my nutritional medicine studies I learned how important it is to be in a happy mood and positive frame of mind when you’re cooking. Because believe or not, your energy does go into the cooking. So if you cook from the heart and prepare food with love, then you’ll definitely be creating a better and much more enjoyable meal. And it goes both ways - if you hate the fact that you’re cooking, don’t like what you’re doing, or are in a cranky mood then your negative energy will come out in the food too.

This is really trippy hippy stuff I know, but there is definitely a lot of truth to it. I even dug up my old nutritional medicine text book so I had some kind of professionalism behind this blog post.

Introduction to vibrational cooking

Vibrational cooking covers both areas of the way the food is cooked (i.e what temperature and method of cooking) and the attitude and frame of mind of the cook. For this blog post I’m going to focus just on the attitude of the cook because otherwise the article will end up way too long for you to read!

When we cook, an invisible energy is transferred to the food we’re preparing, which then gets transferred to the people that consume it. The appearance, taste, presentation of the food and the way people feel after they’ve eaten it, is all a reflection on your current physical, emotional and spiritual state. It makes me wonder how “lovingly prepared” restaurant food is, especially fast food outlets staffed by teenagers who hate their jobs.

Here are a few key vibrational cooking facts to take note of-

• If the cook is angry then the anger is transferred into the food
• If the cook is feeling rejected then the food will most likely be rejected too
• Food cooked in a stressed or hurried manner can result in anxious, chaotic thoughts and actions. This is a big one for restaurants I think, how common is it for cooks and chefs to be rushing their food along?
• If the food is lacking in nutritional value then it can lead to overeating and a feeling of deprivation

I’m staying with my parents for a few weeks until my friends and I find a house to rent. So while I’m here I’m going to be doing a lot of the cooking for my mum. Partially because she hates cooking (therefore not much love is going into it) and partially because then I get to cook healthy stuff

Often when I cook I go into speed demon mode and hurry it all along. But now I’m going to make a conscious effort to slow down, enjoy the cooking process and cook with love. Personally I feel that preparing a meal can be a wonderful gift that you can provide to your family and friends so I’d like to do more of it. I’m looking forward to moving into my new house with my three beautiful yogini friends. We all love good food so there will be plenty of sharing lovingly prepared meals together!

Tips to help you enjoy the cooking process more

• Give yourself enough time to be able to slow down and cook at your own comfortable pace
• Find recipes and foods that you’re excited about cooking
• Get new recipes online and in books, I find that variety and trying new recipes makes me more excited about the cooking process
• Put aside the stress in your life for a while so you can devote 100% of your energy to the cooking process
• Be grateful for the opportunity to be able to cook for the nourishment and vitality of your friends and family (of even your own body!)
• Cook in a tidy kitchen
• Play relaxing music or turn off all digital distractions so you can enjoy the sounds of the cooking process
• Be simple with what you’re cooking, don’t make things too complicated for yourself
• Get to know the healing powers of foods and move towards cooking with good quality, healthy whole foods
• Cook for someone who inspires you or someone who you care for