28.4.11

Leopard print accessories and seven things you didn't know about me, part 7

Today I felt like wearing my mother's old leather jacket from the seventies for my trip to the flea-market. To match it, I put on a pair of mum's or dad's 70's trousers, a pair of 70's style boots and a hat, and picked out a matching handbag (matching in colour, not decacade.) This sort of stuff is what I would wear ten years ago, when I hand not yet discovered the 40's and 50's. Blending in with the crowd never really was my thing...


On the subject of blending in, these shoes may be in a camouflage pattern, but perhaps meant for other environments than what we have around here...Aaw. Just look at them. They came back with me from Grand Canaria and are just waiting for an occasion to be worn.


More shopping finds! I found the belts (second hand) on my latest trip to Vaasa, and the leopard print cloth they are resting on is a sarong which I also bought on holiday. It goes well with my leopard print bikini...



And now, for the final part of the seven things you didn't know about me-challenge! I have stopped using deodorants and antiperspirants. Instead I use this stuff;


Cocnut oil. Note, this is the virgin oil stuff, not the hardened grease you find next to the butter in the shops. The oil is antibacterial and if you put some under your arms, the oil kills of the sweat-eating bacteria who cause sweat to smell and it last maybe 8 hours or so. The oil is solid under temperatures of 24 c if I remember correctly, and fluent when warmer. Basically what I do is wash my armpits with water only (soap reacts badly with the oil) then I take a bit of solid oil out of the jar (I've put some in a separate jar for use as deodorant, in case I wanna use the big jar for cooking), the oil starts to melt in contact with my warm fingers and I can then rub the oil onto my skin. Done! I do sweat, but I don't smell of it. I smell lightly of coconut! I actually tested the oil by putting some under just one arm when going to work one day, and what do you know, in the evening one armpit didn't smell but the other did...

One of these days (=when I get inspired) I intend to make an actual deodorant-mixture containing this oil and a few other natural-ish ingredients (recipe found here) but for now I'm getting by with just the oil. Thanks to Ina who posted about alternative deodorants here! If you wanna try this, I can tell you that the 200ml jar I bought cost about 4,95 at the big supermarket nearby, and it's organic too. There were more than just one to choose from as well. I found it in the section for sauces and asian ingredients. There are many other uses for the oil, it can be used for cooking, skin and hair care etc, and there's loads of information on the web if you just search for it.

Well then, feel free to tell us seven things we didn't know about you, or if you like, accept the challenge of giving up your old chemical-filled deodorant for a more natural one! Have a lovely weekend!

4 kommentarer:

Mrs Munster sa...

Wicked cool outfit. Just to ask is there a reason you've stopped using deodorants? The coconut oil sounds quite nice though (I love all kind of coconut smellies)

Kitten loves vintage sa...

Mrs Munster; Thanks! The reasons for me wanting to stop using deodorants are several; I read somewhere that deodorant blocks the pores, and subjects we're really supposed to sweat out can't get out (as easily anyway) and this got me thinking. Now when I've been using the oil the feeling under my arms is soo different, I now think that yes, what I used to slap on before actually made the skin feel blocked, because now I feel like it's breathing again! And the oil is not sticky, leaves no stains (this far at least) and absorbs quickly.

The possibility of deodorants causing breast cancer is another reason I wanted an alternative, a third is that when I started to think about it, we actually sweat for a reason. Should we really stop it? And why are we so desperate to stop so many other of our body's natural functions (hair-growth in certain places, oil in hair etc)? Why are we so obsessed with covering our whole body with chemicals? Is it really healthy? I'm not too keen on chemicals, I prefer a more natural alternative. I'm not too keen on all that plastic we're using either, so I like it that this jar will last a long time and it's made from recyclable glass and metals!

Phew, almost another blog-post there :P

ina sa...

Nice to see it works out for other people, too :)

Kitten loves vintage sa...

ina; :) And thank you for sharing your experiences!