October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, which might be more usefully renamed Breast Cancer Prevention month. Most of us are aware of breast cancer. Now let’s increase our understanding of how to avoid it, and foster some habits that might help us reduce this scourge. Several ingredients contained in almost all “ordinary” personal care and […]
Category: Health
Talking on eggshells
I love eggs – they are one of nature’s miracle foods. But did you realise that the shells of eggs are an incredible resource too? They are so useful and versatile, they definitely deserve a place here on spotless. Here are ten ways to use them. (Many uses for eggshells require them to be crushed. […]
Toothsome Toothpaste – why try it?
I’ve been working on some new toothpastes, and I realised I had so much to say about them that I needed to devote a whole post to the topic! I use the Spotless toothpaste as my base recipe. I wrote quite a bit about the benefits of the main ingredients of that recipe when I […]
Rooibos: Solar tea
I’ve been using a lot of (and writing a lot about) Rooibos tea lately – at nappy changes, for rinsing my hair, on my skin, not to mention to drink. So I thought I’d share with you a very simple spotless way of making it (or any tea). It isn’t instant, but you can do […]
Protecting your strawberries, naturally
Strawberries must surely be one of the most beloved of fruits. Delicious heart- shaped pockets of sweet pinky-red juiciness… Yum! Like little exposed hearts, they are also very fragile, and as inviting to every passing insect as they are to us. It is still certainly worth the effort of growing them yourself though. Apart from […]
Cure for cradle cap
I’ve written about this solution before. In case you missed it though, and because I have recently rediscovered how brilliantly well it works, I’m writing about it again, in more detail. All my kids have had cradle cap, that flaky, crusty, yellowish skin rash on the scalp that many infants get (infantile or neonatal seborrhoeic […]
Lavender, part four – dried Lavender
To dry Lavender, make bunches of a dozen or so flower stalks and tie them together with string or an elastic band. Hang the bunches upside down in a dark and airy place. Depending on the weather, the Lavender will dry in about a week or so. Once dried you can store the flowers in […]
Skin brushing, part one – the basics and the benefits
I can’t urge you enough to give skin brushing (also known as dry skin brushing or dry skin brush massage) a try. I would be most surprised if someone who has tried it, doesn’t keep it up. The rewards occur at many levels, but include an immediate sense of well-being that is hard to beat […]
Wood & leather part 1: Why to avoid commercial wood and leather cleaners and polishes
Commercial polish and cleaners for use on leather and wood are things you really want to avoid. They consist mainly of hydrocarbons distilled from crude petroleum oil, such as naphtha, as well as synthetic waxes, solvents, artificial fragrances, preservatives, surfactants, and propellants if they are in an aerosol form. Is this cocktail of hazardous ingredients and likely carcinogens really something we […]
Skin brushing, part three – the lymphatic system
The biggest benefits of skin brushing come through the way that it stimulates and assists the functioning of the lymphatic system, so this post is dedicated to explaining how that system works. We generally know more about the blood circulatory system than the lymphatic system, so let’s start there. The two systems work closely together, […]