Savvy Brown

Simple DIY Hardwood Floor Polish

Savvy — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:56:53 +0000

I’ve been cleaning my poly-coated hardwood floors with vinegar for a while now, which does get them clean, BUT they weren’t being left as shiny as I would like. I accidentally spilled some of my Homemade Furniture Spray on the floor, and well, this happened.

Pour all of your ingredients into a glass spray bottle, (because oil tends to go rancid faster in metal or plastic containers). Shake well and spray on the area of hardwood floor that you wish to polish. Then mop the floor in sections with a microfiber mop or a microfiber cloth over a Swiffer mop. Shake before each use.

This formula cleans a bit as well because of the vinegar, but I like cleaning with straight vinegar first, letting the floor dry and then following with this application. I also LOVE the smell of lemongrass essential oil, so I usually use about 20 drops of that but I also use the lemon essential oil, so the remaining 10 drops go to that scent. (I heard that real wood likes a bit of citrus). But this is not the only combination out there. Check out the list below for some other sweet smelling ideas:

How do you polish your hardwood floors?

Moisturizing DIY Honey-Coconut Face Mask

Savvy — Thu, 09 May 2013 22:25:09 +0000

This is not the first time I’ve put honey on my face. I previously wrote about a honey mask I did with egg and olive oil back in this post. I can’t take any credit for this one though, this great little mask comes directly from Eden DiBianco, natural mixoligist and makeup artist extraordinaire. She offered this little tip after our panel at GreenFest NY this year. According to Eden, raw honey and virgin coconut oil are excellent for providing moisture to dry or combo skin (like mine) and it’s so simple!

I’ve done this mask about twice a week for the past two weeks and my face feels great! My skin has been really soft and mid day it doesn’t feel dry anymore. Tea tree essential oil acts as a preservative and detoxifying agent and lavender essential oil is mildly antisceptic and aids in healing inflammed, wrinkled and acne-prone skin . Both oils are anti-microbial and can help calm the skin down. You can usually get all of these ingredients at your local heath store or specialty grocery, but if the stores near you don’t carry these items, you can find them online below.

Where to buy the ingredients:

WARNING: IF YOU HAVE NEVER USED ESSENTIAL OILS ON YOUR SKIN BEFORE MAKE THIS MASK WITHOUT THEM FIRST AND TEST ON A SMALL AREA OF YOUR HAND OR CHIN TO SEE HOW YOUR SKIN REACTS. THEN ADD THE OILS AND TEST AGAIN BEFORE USING ON YOUR WHOLE FACE.

Have you ever used honey or coconut on your skin? What did you do?

NY GreenFest “Green Your Beauty” Panel Recap

Savvy — Tue, 07 May 2013 20:55:22 +0000

Yoli Ouiya of Yoli’s Green Living and I ran a panel on Sat., April 20, at the NY Green Fest at the Jacob Javtiz Center in New York called “Green Your Beauty Green Your Life” Here’s a list of some of the things that we shared, in case you missed it:

- It’s really simple to make your Brown Sugar Body Scrub, with just three ingredients: Grapeseed Oil, White sugar and Turbinado sugar

- You can make your own DIY Fabric Softener with just vinegar, or vinegar and baking soda with just a couple of drops of your favorite essential oil

- Yoli had some great tips about how you can whiten your teeth naturally with strawberries:

rub a cut strawberry across you teeth and let it sit for a few minutes before rinsing
mash a ripe strawberry with baking soda into a paste and brush with it

- You can also whiten your teeth and solve digestive problems at the same time by eating a slice of papaya every day

- Cherries are an excellent source of antioxidants and aid in digestion as well as clear skin

- Oil pulling is good for your skin and your body. Read more about it on Yoli’s site here

We had a lot of fun at the event and got some really great questions from the audience. Unfortunately, Eden, who was supposed to do the panel with us with her fabulous makeup tips, had a huge wedding to do but answered people’s questions individually afterwards. (Check out Eden’s site here).

Thanks so much for everyone’s support! Stay tuned for my round up of fabulous folks and gear that I met this year!

Also, it was great to see that the GreenFest also was committed to Deaf Accessibility as we had not one but two people translating our lecture into sign language for us.

You can find all of us on twitter if you have any more questions!

Savvy’s Twitter

Yoli’s Twitter

Eden’s Twitter

Did you go to GreenFest NY? did you have fun?

DIY Left Over Coffee Body Scrub

Savvy — Fri, 03 May 2013 01:58:50 +0000

One day I was out of the turbinado sugar I usually use to make my Brown Sugar Body Scrub and I decided to try my hand at making my Body Scrub with used coffee grounds instead. Usually, the used coffee grounds (and their filters) end up in the compost pile, but lately, I’ve been making more coffee than salad so I decided to try to use the grounds for other stuff.

Coffee has a myriad of health benefits and is used in everything from eye cream to body cream. Coffee is full of antioxidants which means that it removes potentially harmful oxidizing agnets from your skin. (When copper oxidizes it turns green!) Caffeine is also a vasodilator which means that it has the ability to relax and open up constricted blood vessels which means that the surface of your skin will look temporarily smoother and firmer. I just realized that this is why tons of anti-cellulite creams have coffee in them!

I will now bathe in coffee.

(Just kidding)

Anyhoo, this scrub is super easy to make and will keep for awhile under normal room temperature conditions. (If you don’t like “food” in your bathroom, then just keep this stuff in the fridge).

DIY Left Over Coffee Body Scrub

If you like fragrance in your body oil, add a few drops of your favorite essential oil. (Try peppermint or tea tree for a real pick me up!) If you want a softer scrub, leave out the sugar, and just mix the coffee with the oil. You also don’t have to use leftover coffee, you can also use unbrewed grounds too. (In fact the caffeine will be stronger this way because it hasn’t been brewed out yet). I like using almond oil and grapeseed oil to make my scrubs, but I was at my mom’s once and totally raided her cabinet for the olive oil to make this stuff! Just don’t use anything like baby oil or Crisco, because that’s just “ew”.

Ever use coffee on the outside? Please share how you used it!

A Simple Retro Protective Style

Savvy — Wed, 01 May 2013 20:10:53 +0000

Check out my latest contribution to Transitioning Movement! This is a simple protective style I often do when my hair is not “behaving”. Please leave comments on the site and let me know what you think! Click on the pic below to read!

Review: 100% Pure Organic Lavender Seafoam Facial Cleanser

Savvy — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 19:10:16 +0000

I’ve been looking for a new morning cleanser to add to my Morning Skin Routine and was happy to try something from the 100% Pure line of skincare products. I like the fact that none of their products contain parabens, mineral oil, pertrolatum, sulfates, propylene glycol or behentrimonium sulfate. So I decided to try the Organic Lavender Seafoam Facial Cleanser.

100% Pure Organic Lavender Seafoam Facial Cleanser (3.5oz) $17.50

Ingredients: Seaweeds (Kelp, Sea Lettuce, Spirulina),Green Tea, French Green Sea Clay, Saponified Coconut Oil, Vitamin C (ascorbyl palmitate), Vitamin E (a-tocopherol), Sea Buckthorn Oil, Rosehip Oil, Extracts of Pomegranate, Grapefruit Seed and Rosemary, Lavender Essential Oil, Extracts of Cinnamon, Thyme, Goldenseal and Oregano

This product is vegan, gluten free and all natural. It has the consistency of a very thin clay mask. It foams only slightly, but does clean thoroughly and a little of this product goes a long way. My face doesn’t feel overly dry after I use it, but I still wouldn’t skip the moisturizer. I do like the light lavender scent and as well as the company’s commitment to all natural ingredients. The only thing that I wish is that it was a little cheaper. The good news is a little goes a long way and the bottle should last me a while.

RATING: 4 Smart!* – Great product, great ingredients, great results. Wish it was cheaper.

You can buy this product here.

*Savvy Ratings: 5=Savvy 4=Smart 3=Suitable 2=Satisfactory 1=Stupid

• Have you ever used this product? What do you think?

Savvy At NY GreenFest + Contest!

Savvy — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 13:52:43 +0000

This Earth Day weekend, New York GreenFest will be at the Jacob Javitz Convention Center in New York. This Saturday, I’m going to be on a panel with Yoli Ouiya of Yoli’s Green Living and stylist Eden Di Bianco of Eden’s Hair and Makeup. The topic of the panel is “Green Your Beauty and Your Life” and we’ll each be demonstrating how to make several home and beauty products on your own the green way! In addition, Yoli is running a contest and is giving away 9 tickets to GreenFest! For more info about the panel and the contest check out the links below! Hope to see you there!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Click here to purchase tickets to NY Green Fest

Oil Cleansing Method Update

Savvy — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 19:37:54 +0000

For those of you who have read this blog for awhile, you know I’m a huge fan of the Oil Cleansing Method, (OCM for short), and how it has kept my face rather clear for the past couple of years or so. Since my original OCM post, however, I have tweaked the formula a bit so that it works better for my skin. Here’s what I’ve learned…

Castor oil, although it is an oil, can dry out the skin if used too frequently. Since my skin tends to be dry/combo, I found myself using a bit less castor oil and a bit more olive oil to moisturize my skin more. I like using the clear castor oil better ithan the Jamaican Black Castor Oil on my face. (For more info on the difference between the two check out this site).

The other thing that I’ve learned is that during the summer, I need to use a lighter oil than olive oil. So when the temperature gets up past 60 degrees, I’ll use virgin coconut, sweet almond or organic jojoba oils. Organic Jojoba really is the lightest, but it tends to be more expensive than the other oils. (I try to mix it with one of the other oils until I’m out of it, that way I save money). I now only do this method at night and I use it to remove my makeup and cleanse my face at the same time.The other thing I’m doing differently is that I now use OCM just to clean my face, NOT to moisturize it. I use my Aloe Vera Juice toner karama@gmailand a new moisturizing method I will share in another post to care for my skin at night. In the morning. I still do my Morning Skin Reggie, but with the addition of the Aloe Juice Toner as well.

Un-Locking Your Natural Hair

Savvy — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 23:19:31 +0000

Thinking about taking down your locs? Wondering how to care for your hair if you do? Well check out my latest post over at Transitioning Movement, “Un-locking Your Natural Hair: Things to Remember When Transitioning Back From Locs”

CLICK HERE OR ON THE PIC BELOW TO READ THE ARTICLE

Review: Paper Pellet Cat Litter From Planet PetCo

Savvy — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 22:50:49 +0000

After finding out how toxic most cat litter is to cats, I have been trying for years, (YEARS, do you hear me?) to find a green cat litter that my cats would actually use. My youngest cat will basically go in any container you put him in, he’s not really picky. But my oldest cat, (he’s 12), liked his Fresh Step and wasn’t leaving it without staging a formal protest. (Meaning, strategically placed poop all over the house). I’ve tried just about every “eco-friendly” litter on the market.

They.weren’t.having.it.

In a last ditch effort to try to “green up” the litter box, I tried something new I found at PetCo. Paper Cat Litter. To be honest, I was skeptical, since the last paper litter I tried, (Yesterday’s Mews) provided no odor coverage at all and stunk up the whole house.

Planet PetCo Paper Pellet Cat Litter ($9.99)

Here’s what’s in it…

“Petco Paper Pellet Cat Litter is made with 95% or more post-consumer paper, newspaper and magazines. It is also biodegradable and can be used for landscape mulch, compost, weed blocker or incinerated if not soiled. Litter is made from specially processed recycled paper fibers that have added odor control agents. Paper Pellet Litter is so absorbent that they do not break apart or cake to the bottom of the litter pan when wet. This leaves a much healthier environment for your cats and clean-up is much easier. Safe for both cats and kittens.” (from PetCo website)

The cat’s use it.

There is little to no odor.

The cats are happy.

I am happy.

Order has been restored.

*Sigh*

Also, if your cats are declawed, (mine aren’t) they need something soft that doesn’t irritate their sensitive paws. This stuff is recommended for them as well! Remember, to introduce a new litter, slowly mix in the new litter and reduce the old over about a period of two weeks. Every couple of days, I scoop out the poop and add a little more to cover the box, and then at the end of the week I dump the whole box and start over. This product, (unused) is also good for compost bins. I haven’t tried that yet, but now that its warming up, I’m going to add a scoop of unused litter straight from the bag into the compost bin to see if it makes a difference.

RATING: 5 Savvy!* – Great product, great ingredients, great price, multi-use!

(*Savvy Ratings: 5=Savvy 4=Smart 3=Suitable 2=Satisfactory 1=Stupid)

You can buy this product at PetCo or online you can find it here.

Here’s one of my critters…he’s hiding.

He’s not very good at it.

What green cat litter are you using?