Image courtesy of Kookkai_nak / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
This has been such a great year for Nature’s Nurture! I’m so humbled by all of the wonderful people who visit this little old blog of mine every week, and the love I feel from all of you is truly a wonderful thing. Nature’s Nurture has grown so much in 2012 and really established itself on the green-living blog scene, and we couldn’t have done it without each and every one of you. So, before moving on, I want to personally thank you for coming back every week and joining me on my journey to living the simple life. 
Image courtesy: SkinCareBeautyZone.com
Although Winter technically doesn’t start for another month, it sure doesn’t feel that way here in Toronto – the temps today dipped into the negatives, it snowed for all of five minutes, and the slight breeze was not making things any better! Unfortunately, along with winter, comes the dry, itchy skin that is characteristic of eczema. There are many factors that contribute to eczema flare-ups, but for Monkey and myself, it’s the cold, dry winters that get us all itchy and scratchy.
It’s almost winter, and you know what that means! Well, besides snowmen and days off, winter unfortunately also means the height of the cough and cold season. Earlier this week, I shared with you natural ways to prevent and treat the common cold, and today I want to share a wonderful recipe I came across for an all-natural remedy for one of my least favorite cold symptoms: the sore throat and cough.
This post is part of a series on Natural Skin Care. To view more posts in this series, click here.
Last week, I shared with you my no-soap facial cleanser: The Oil-Cleansing Method (OCM). Honestly, I didn’t expect that post be so popular, mostly because it’s been discussed so many times by so many other blogs! But it just goes to show time and time again, it’s the post that you never expect, that are the ones to take off.
So this week, we’re tackling blackheads. Yeah, I said it – black. heads. We all have them. We don’t like to talk about them. But they’re there, nuzzled ever so comfortably in our pores. Some more visible than others. And honestly, they’re more annoying than harmful when you really think about it.
Crunchy Betty gives a pretty good run down of what exactly those little black things are:
Blackheads are just pimples that don’t have skin over them. That’s all they are. Because there’s no skin, and they’re exposed to the air, the top layer of gunk in your pores oxidizes and turns that darkish black color. (Source)
Alright, easy enough. So now that we know what they are, let’s get to the real point of this post and talk about how were going to get rid of those bad boys once and for all – or at least as best as we can.
I present to you, the cheapest, homemade skin exfoliant/blackhead warrior:
Baking soda! Yep, that good old box of baking soda that we talk about so often here at Nature’s Nurture. The box says it’s for baking, cleaning, and deodorizing, but I’d like to add yet another use for this stuff: exfoliant.
I’m just going to put this out there from the start:
I haven’t washed my face in 2 months.
Yes, you read that correctly. I haven’t washed my face in 2 months…Well, not with soap, anyways. And you know what? I absolutely love it! I do NOT miss my old facial cleansers one single bit! And believe me, I’ve tried every kind. Liquids, bars, creams, foams, etc. You name it, I’ve tried it. And no matter what perfect list of promises was listed on the packaging, my face always still felt either too dry, too oily, too pore-y, or worse, just plain pimply… Eww..
So a few months ago, I came across this crazy idea: washing your face with oil.
