October is National Domestic Violence Awareness Month. This month we decided to spread awareness regarding domestic violence. Domestic violence is not only physical but it can also be mental.

The pandemic and having to stay in place has made it harder for those who may be experiencing domestic violence to seek and get help.

We have selected SOFIA to help them with their local efforts with domestic violence. SOFIA stands for Starting Out Fresh Intervention Advocates. Started by Cynthia Walker after she heard about a local women murdered by her ex-husband. She knew something had to be done to support those affected by domestic violence. SOFIA provides education to the community regarding domestic violence and offers victims and survivors with assistance and encouragement.

Will you stand with us against #domesticviolence? We choose our honey lavender soap because purple is the color for domestic violence awareness. For the month of October when you purchase our honey and lavender soap we will donate 20% of that sale to SOFIA.

To learn more about S.O.F.I.A. visit their website here.

Curly hair is naturally dry. This has been my natural hair journey struggle to keep it looking hydrated in between hair washes. It seems it is always in need of moisture. 

Due to Stay and Place, I have been buying more avocados to make homemade guacamole. I don't always get to use all of them and was about to through one away when I realized I could create a deep conditioning hair mask using the over ripe avocado. 

Avocado is just all around awesome. We know it contains healthy fats. In our diets we can use it to replace other not so good fats in our recipes that require mayonnaise. I have even had chocolate pudding made from avocados. Surprisingly you can't tell the difference.

In this deep conditioning hair mask we are going to use four ingredients that you may already have in your pantry: over ripe avocado, coconut milk or coconut oil, honey and olive oil.

Avocado is a fruit rich in nutrients and vitamins that leave the hair looking healthy, shiny and you guessed it hydrated. 

Coconut milk or coconut oil is easily absorbed by the hair giving it awesome shine. Many cultures use virgin coconut oil in their daily hair routines.

Honey is a natural humectant and it helps the hair to retain moisture. So you know this is a win for me with my curly dry hair.  It may also provide soothe irritated scalps.

Olive Oil helps soften and moisturize your hair.

Recipe:

One Ripe Avocado
2 Tablespoons Honey
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
1/2 Cup Coconut Milk

Mix all ingredients in a blender until smooth. Apply to washed hair starting from ends up to scalp. Massage into scalp. Cover hair with a shower cap and let sit for 30-40 minutes. You can also sit under a hair dryer for 15 minutes to shorten the time and increase penetration. After 30 minutes rinse hair thoroughly with warm water. Apply styling products to hair and style hair as normal.

If you try this recipe please let us know your results. It will be interesting to see everyone's results.

Recommended Nyah Beauty Products for Hair Care

We are living in unprecedented times and during unprecedented times may call for unprecedented measures. Who would have thought that hand sanitizer would cost $9.99 or more for a bottle. I didn't.

The World Health Organization has provided some guidelines on how to make your own hand sanitizer. The recipe is pretty easy however the recipe make a liter of hand sanitizer. If you are making this just for yourself that might be a tad bit too much to keep on hand.

The other challenge may be in finding one key ingredient, isopropyl alcohol. It literally is not available on any store shelves. Even if you do find it, the proof needs to be at least 70 % or above. The alternate to isopropyl alcohol would be ethanol alcohol which you can find at your local liquor store. It needs to be at least 75 proof. A brand such as Everclear would be sufficient. Do not use vodka. It does not have the right proof percentage.

Hand sanitizer is consider to be a drug and is regulated by the FDA. The reason being it's considered an anti-bacterial. Do not make this for resale. All drugs manufactured in the USA have to be approved by the FDA.

The key ingredients are alcohol, hydrogen peroxide and glycerin. Distilled water is used to finish off the remainder of the litre bottle.

So what do these ingredients do? The alcohol is the active ingredient. The hydrogen peroxide helps to eliminate any spores. It is not an active ingredient for hand sanitation. The glycerin is a humectant which is water soluble. It helps the sanitizer from being so drying. It is strongly recommended not to add any other ingredients as it may reduce the efficacy of the sanitizer.

Recipe for about 8 ounces of liquid hand sanitizer.

ethanol alcohol at least 75% - 200 ml
hydrogen peroxide 3% - 10 ml
glycerol 98% - 3 ml
distilled water - 27 ml

Mix the ingredients together and pour into a spray bottle. We know using hand sanitizer is no match for soap. But in moments when you may not have access to wash your hands with soap hand sanitizer is good second choice.

You can review the full instructions outlined by the World Health Organization here.

The term hypoallergenic is used in marketing primarily for cosmetics. There is a misconception to what the term actually means compared to its perceived definition.

For the consumer when they hear this term they believe that it will not cause an adverse allergic reaction. For those who have sensitive skin this may be a term they look for when shopping for non irritating skincare. 

The problem is that this is not a guarantee. The definition of hypoallergenic is that it is "relatively unlikely to cause an allergic reaction." What the manufacturer is trying to say when they use this term is to make the consumer aware that the product was formulated with ingredients that causes fewer allergic reactions. 

It would be extremely hard to make products that are 100% allergy free. Our body chemistry changes especially as we age and go through hormonal imbalances. What once was non-allergen may now be.

At the end of the day, this term is more of a marketing term. If yo have sensitive skin be sure to read the ingredients listing to make sure you are not allergic to any of the ingredients listed regardless is they are "relatively unlikely" to cause an adverse reaction.

Washing your hands with soap for twenty seconds is the best way to rid them of germs including bacteria and viruses as outlined by the Center for Disease Control. With all the recent hand washing because of Coronavirus it is leaving our hands super duper dry.

There is a good reason behind it. It all boils down to some chemistry. Soap is alkaline. This means it has a pH above seven when added to water. Water has a natural pH of seven.

Our skin is naturally acidic. It has a pH below 7. It should be somewhere between 5.5 - 6.

Moisturizers are acidic with a pH range of 4.5 - 6.5. This is why you use a moisturizer to help your skin lock in moisture and to help your skin provide a barrier of skin protection. 

In order to clean the skin soap has to be alkaline. Our skin quickly changes back to its acidic pH because the alkaline state is very temporary. But add excessive hand washing with soap and our skin begins to feel extra dry.

With the extra hand washing you will need to help your skin out with extra moisturizing. Using a moisturizer like lotion is a one two punch. It contains both water to hydrate the skin and oils to moisturize and lock in the hydration. A moisturizer containing plant based oils is better for your skin than those containing mineral oils including petroleum jelly. So be sure to label read as petroleum based oils counter act and actually aid in drying the skin.

The Covid-19 virus is actually a weak cell that is made with a fatty outer shell. Globally, hand washing with soap has shown that it slowed down the death rate of communicable diseases in communities in which they don't have access to soap. There are agencies, such as Clean the World, that have made it their mission to re-purpose used hotel soaps and send them to countries that need access to soap. 

Soap by it’s nature has a dual attraction. One end of the molecule is attracted to water but not oil. The other end is attracted to oil and not water. This makes soap an emulsifier. An emulsifier allows something that doesn't normally bond together to combine. Such as oil and water, they just don't mix. This attraction is what make soap so special.

When you wash you hand you wet them and then rub with the soap. The soap creates a lather as you begin to agitate it with the friction of your hands rubbing together. This friction for at least 20 seconds allows the soap to bond to the dirt attached to the oils on your skin containing germs which may include bacteria and viruses.

Our skin has creases and crevices for germs to hide. Washing your hands for 20 seconds allows the soap time to penetrate those areas.

The soaps breaks though the fatty shell of the virus with the fatty loving end of the soap molecule. Once it has broken the shell it can pull the water end inside the cell and neutralizes it.  The cell can't sustain itself, collapses and disintegrates.

Since Covid-19 is a highly communicable disease washing you hands is the best defense against contracting it and sharing it. 

So do as your mother told, "Wash Your Hands."