Swathy and Sky

Blogging Series Vol. 19 – Blogging Goals for #2015!!

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blogging goals for perfectskincareforyou in 2015

Well, I have to say that since I have taken full time blogging, it has been feeling overwhelming! Being a professional blogger increases the commercial interests and that has made me lose focus on what made me start blogging in the first place! It was like reading all about blogging except writing – you know do this, do that and do what not and avoid this and this would not work out and the list is endless. Whew!

So, I thought it would be good to realign myself with what and why of the blog before proceeding to do anything! This past week has been a silent one – first with the festival frenzy and then with all of this thinking. And, finally, I have decided to start with a clean slate. So, let us check what all we have in store for #2015.

#1. Realigning the purpose and goals of the Blog

I remember why I had started this blog. It was to share my knowledge on how to take care of skin and hair using simple home remedies which were easy on the pocket and equally effective. So, budget was one of the mantras at that time. I was studying and I really did not intend to spend much.
While writing about skin and hair, delving into healthy lifestyle was inevitable. So, there were and are a lot of articles about simpler lifestyle and healthy habits which if integrated with daily habits would be one step closer to leading a healthy life. 
Then, we delved into product reviews and I discovered and worked with a lot of brands – good and bad – and recommended some of them to you. And, then, we stopped evolving!
Worse still, I had almost abandoned the blog for one year during my wedding and I am sure it must have upset you to not find any new content on the blog for weeks and months together!
And, let me tell you getting back to blogging is really not easy! In these past few months, I had so much trouble churning out new articles. It was almost like I was forcing myself to write and that is what I want to avoid!! So, writing better content without forcing myself is a goal this time. And, as you might have known, I have reduced the frequency of posting as well to help me in this goal. So, you would find articles every alternate day!

#2. Weekly Chats!

I have already had two weekly chat sessions this year and now I am planning the third this weekend sometime. But, the problem is that this weekend and the next one are the birthday times for us. So, it might be a leetle-bit difficult to accommodate it these two weeks.
Actually, the problem with these sort of chats is that I am putting them on facebook and not everyone wants to be publicly involved in it. And, then, both the chats were in the noon time on a working day so that also made impossible for some people to attend it. So, I have to think of a way around it!! Let us see what I come up with.

#3. #OneMonthtoHealthyHair Event

Now, this is a real experiment I am doing. Well, this is a one month event starting on 1st March, 2015 to 31st March, 2015. March is the starting of summer and as you already know hair grows better in the warmer months. So, I am holding this event for all the beauties with dry, rough and damaged hair who want a better hair.
In this one month, we all will follow a defined hair care regime which I shall obviously post about and at the end of each week, we shall compare the progress. Also, included are discussions on various hair issues and problems everyday of the month. So, yes, it is a packed month!! And, there would be giveaways and other fun contests included as well. So, do join in! Check out the event facebook page.
I am also planning to release and ebook after the event. So, fingers crossed!!
did you know series by perfectskincareforyou

#4. #DidYouKnow Series on facebook

I have started a new branded graphics #DidYouKnow. Including one of them here.

#5.Change in the flow of posts – More Topics

If you have ever noticed, my blog has always been aligned to my life’s flow so more of new topics specially on baby planning and pregnancy and all those things will be coming up. Yes, parenting would be a part of the blog once we become one! No, there is no good news on the cards right now. Hope you would like the new topics as well!

So, these are the top things on my mind right now! And, yup, I want to share a secret – I am working on a project right now and I am extremely excited about it. Okay, I am building up the suspense here so keep it going till I announce about it! Hopefully, it should be soon enough.

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Essential Oils 101 Vol. 2 – How do the Essential Oils work?

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essential oils and how do they work

I had started a series on Essential Oils last month and continuing in that, we shall discuss today about how do they really work for us?
Now, essential oils are recommended for literally everything, even by ayurveda. For example, it is amazing in skin care or hair care or treating wounds or changing our moods. In fact, there is a separate range of edible essential oils.
There is no scientific backing about how effective essential oils are (as I mentioned in the previous part of my series) but most people have seen positive outcomes after using them. But, how do these essential oils work? What are the essential oils made of? We shall be talking chemistry today so relax and let me try to make it as simple for you as possible, not that I understand whole lot of it!!

The Chemistry

Like all things in nature, essential oils are also made up of molecules. Essential Oils are organic compounds and made of hydrocarbons. A generic structure of any essential oil is made up of the organic components like monoterpenes, sesquiterpenes, phenols, alcohols, aldehydes and many more (Source). And, depending on the specific essential oil, the structure of these components vary which defines the exact nature and healing properties of the essential oils.
For example, oils with high monoterpene hydrocarbons react readily to air and heat which is why citrus oils oxidize more easily. Sesquiterpenes are anti-allergic and anti-inflammatory like chamomile and rose. Cinnamon and Clove oils have high concentration of phenols which is why they must be used in lower concentrations. Phenols are toxic in high quantities and require more work to excrete from the body.
To give an example, grapefruit has 86-92% d-limonene which is a monoterpene. Grapefruit contains 90-95% monoterpenes, 3-8% Tetraterpenes, 1-3% Aldehydes, and less than 3% Furanocoumarins, Sesquiterpenones, Alcohols and Thiols. So as we can see from the chemistry of essential oil that Grapefruit is a detoxifier, has cleansing properties because it is a mostly made of monoterpenes! Monotropenes also restore the correct information in the DNA of the cell once the sesquiterpenes and pheonlics have done their job. (Source)
Source : http://www.biospiritual-energy-healing.com/essential-oil-chemistry.html

How Essential Oils affect ‘Emotional Brain’?

Do you love the sweet smell of Earth after the first shower of rain? It smells of happiness to me. So, this is what is called Aromatherapy. Our sense of smell has the power to alter our moods.

A smell can be overwhelmingly nostalgic because it triggers powerful images and emotions before we have time to edit them… When we give perfume to someone, we give them liquid memory. Kipling was right: “Smells are surer than sights and sounds to make your heart-strings crack.”

We need only eight molecules of a substance to trigger an impulse in a nerve ending, but forty nerve endings must be aroused before we smell something. (Source)

Human body has an emotional brain called the limbic system which not only controls emotions but also the physical functions like heart rate, blood pressure, hormone production and release and many other such functions. It also has a olfactory cortex which is where any smell you inhale comes to and triggers response in your body.

So, basically, when you inhale an odor, it passes through the nasal passages in form of a protein. This protein is converted to electrical impulses when it reaches the cortex. So, whatever impulses the cortex receives, it sends the same messages to other organs. If you inhale a calming odor, the electric impulse tells the limbic system to relax and the system sends calming nerve impulses throughout the body.

Honestly, it is not as simple as this sounds but I have just given you a gist. For a detailed explanation, I would suggest you to check out this source.

Now we need to see how aromatherapy plays into all of this. Each of the essential oils has therapeutic properties, in that they are stimulating, calming, sedative, balancing, etc. When we inhale an essential oil molecule, it travels through the nasal passage to a receptor neuron that transports it up to the limbic brain, especially the hypothalamus. Remember that some of the functions of the hypothalamus are to regulate blood pressure, control heart rate and adjust hunger and thirst? Well, if you smell an essential oil that has a vibrationally calming effect on the body, and the hypothalamus receives the input to relax, then it creates neurochemicals that are sent through the body to relax and calm. Likewise if an essential oil has a frequency known to stimulate the body, then the limbic system will conform by sending the message to energize and become more active. Through this manner of transport, one can understand how aromatherapy oils can increase immunity, balance hormonal secretions, dampen or enliven hunger and thirst, and create sexual desire. (Source)

References

http://www.essentialoils.co.za/components.htm
http://www.experience-essential-oils.com/chemistry-of-essential-oil.html
http://www.biospiritual-energy-healing.com/essential-oil-chemistry.html
http://www.brainpickings.org/2014/04/10/how-smell-works-diane-ackerman-senses/
http://wisechoiceliving.com/our-brains-and-aromatherapy/
http://www.suzannebovenizer.com/aromatherapy-essential-oils/the-limbic-system

Eyova Hair Nutrient with Egg Oil {Product Review}

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Tags : Home >> Product Reviews >> Hair Oils

Eyova Hair Nutrient with Egg Oil Product Review

After a very very long time, I came across an interesting product on the block. Well, we all already know that egg is amazing for hair but who knew there was something called Egg Oil. Check out what the website says about their product. So, let us directly check out how I liked the product!!

Other Particulars

  • Price: Rs 590 for (extremely expensive!)
  • Packaging: Not really great! Comes in a flip top bottle and I am not really sure if it completely travel-friendly. 
  • Smell: Ohk, this has to be one of the hugest problems with the product! I hate the smell. No, it is not the egg smell at all!! It is sickly sweet and very artificial. And, even the brand people assured me that they are working on improving it!!
  • Texture: The oil looks extremely dense but is not really that dense on touch. And, it is silky to touch. (last pic)
  • Usage: It is recommended to be used on scalp. 
  • Results: Makes the hair extremely soft and leaves the scalp nourished after wash.  
  • Ingredients: It mentions egg oil, canola oil and fragrance (shown in pic below).

    Eyova Hair Nutrient with Egg Oil Product Review

    How I use the product? 

    As I mentioned, I hate the smell. What I recommend is mixing essential oils with it. I did not do that due to the review purposes. But, I highly recommend it. Now that we have this issue out of the way, lets get to how does the product perform!

    Regarding ingredient clarification when I asked the brand, this was their reply: Yes Eyova has a mix of egg oil and canola. Egg oil is as high as 80-85%; canola oil is used only to make it easy to apply.  Well, I would have loved if it was almond or coconut or even olive oil in its place, though!

    The oil has to be applied only on the scalp so I did that and obviously it is too expensive to use on the entire hair length! Well, I have to say that you might go on using this product because it just does not end up getting oily. The product either gets absorbed too quickly or is extremely dry (as in like a dry oil, not the skin dryness).

    Well, I would not really comment on the hair growth part as I am not too sure about it. But, if I recollect, I had been facing hair fall issue back in November which seems to have gone away now! So, may be it is due to this product considering I did not do anything else specifically for it!! But, what I love most is that it actually makes the hair roots extremely soft and since the oil is silky to touch, massaging with it feels really soothing on scalp!

    And, one more thing is it is supposed to work for gray hair as well which I had planned to test out on Mr. P but since he was mostly away on client location, I could not do that. But, this is what the brand said about gray hair and the product: Yes it works for premature hair graying. So your husband can try it as well. You don’t have to apply the oil across the length of the hair (even if you do its safe so don’t worry). It’s primarily scalp massage oil that works on hair follicle level so ensure a good scalp application. The hair grows ½ inch every month, so kindly keep that in mind while checking for results for graying.

    Eyova Hair Nutrient with Egg Oil Product Review

    My Recommendation

    One problem with the product is that it is definitely expensive and one bottle of 50ml would probably last (if used miserly) only 6-8 times!! For me, I would say I need one bottle every month. But, yes, I would definitely recommend the product. It is different than others in the market and definitely worth a try!!

    So, what do you think? Would you like to try out this product? Or, are you allergic to eggs? Btw, I have to tell ya that this product is also for the people who are allergic to eggs so yes you can use it! So, do try it out and let me know if you like it. 

    You might also like these products:
    Love Long Hair Range – Update III
    Pee Safe Toilet Sanitizer
    Soulflower Grapeseed Oil