Texas Big Healthy Hair

Texas, Texas, Texas, My great state is home of full-size hair and home grown goods. While there are other beaches to brag about, a moon lit bonfire in the Corpus Christi sand is always a memorable night. Spring break 2012 I chose to spend with my family instead of with crazy friends boozing away. We found a hotel across the street from the beach and walked from small boutique to ice cream shops talking about our studies and what our parents have been up to at home with an empty nest.  We rented some surf boards and tried to surf the nonexistent waves and ended up laughing lying on the flat choppy water. My mother and I left the beach to find a spa while the boys fished on the bay. We came across Anthony's Aveda Concept Salon & Day Spa. We got massages hair treatments. While Anthony Aveda is not known for his Spa, he has several celebrity clients for hair care. Because of the lack of creativity in his spa menu, my mother and I decided to see what his hair care was all about. He has a special line of product he developed that does wonderful work on damaged hair. His prices are extremely reasonable! And his work is wonderful. I loved my style and it grew out beautifully. His Aveda Damage Remedy Renewal Treatments are magic! “This intensive professional treatment offers a holistic approach to repair, strengthen and restore damaged hair while bringing perfect balance to your scalp. Organically-grown quinoa protein and tamanu oil, an intensive moisturizer, are used in this botanically active treatment.” And of course I couldn’t say no to an organic treatment. It lasted about thirty minutes with two rinses and a low level blow dry. I recommend a daily usage of argon oil. It’s a simple and inexpensive natural way to keep your hair well fed and shiny. Healthy hair is rich with nutrients from what we eat and the products we put in daily. Organics are defiantly not just for your skin. Hair is a living part of your body and deserves to the best care.  And what else are we going to twirl in our fingers or flip when we are flirting with the boys!

Signing off,

XX Porcelain Girl

 

Gushing About Green Tea

Lately I have found myself fixed on Green Tea products. Everything from Teas to Masks and Exfoliates line my shelves. The wonderful things about picking an organic herbal substance to be fixated on are the extensive health benefits. It's difficult not to gush about green tea. While there is more than a decade's worth of research about green tea's health benefits, particularly its potential to fight heart disease has been more than intriguing. Some of the studies about green tea's role in lowering cholesterol, burning fat, preventing diabetes and stroke, and staving off dementia are over looked, BUT not by this girl. When I heard of its body balancing and weight control I had to have it all!  My first venture into the botanical world of Green Tea was a weekly mud mask. I am pleased to say it softens and purifies skin!  Because clay is one of the oldest and frequently available natural materials on earth its ability to heal was so obviously meant to use for beauty! Green Tea has the exceptional ability to draw impacted impurities to the surface, and to deeply cleanse and purify pores. The second approach I took to green tea was a body scrub. My favorite weekly ritual, especially in the winter! This organic botanical based scrub has a calming aroma and awakening property. When you step away from your shower not only will you feel soft and supple but like the moisture is permanent. The specific scrub I used contains coffee that stimulates skin cells to tone and reduce the signs of aging, while the sugar cane polishes skin with natural alpha hydroxy acid. The sign of a great scrub is its list of pure ingredients. This product includes Organic Raw Sugar Cane (Saccharun Officinarum), Coffee (Coffea Arabica), Shea Butter (Butyrospermum Parkii) Fruit, Green Tea (Camellia Sinensis) Leaf, Safflower (Carthamus Tinctorius) Oil, Soybean (Glycine Soja) Oil, Silica (Silicon Dioxide), Vitamin E (Tocopheryl Acetate). The benefits of organics are endless. Instead of drinking green tea, some people apply green tea bags to their skin to soothe sunburn and prevent skin cancer due to sun exposure. Green tea bags are also used to decrease puffiness under the eyes, as a compress for tired eyes or headache, and to stop gums from bleeding after a tooth is pulled. So when you pass a box of green tea on the shelves at the market ... don’t just think “yum that would go great with sushi!” but “Yum that’s good for my body!”

American Royalty’s Approach to Pampering

Bucket lists; I had never given thought to a list of things I wanted to do before I die because frankly I have not reached a point in life that I consider myself not actively living every day to its fullest potential. My mother however has made a list of her childhood desired designations and we, as a family, are bringing some of those dreams to fruition. One of the places on my mother’s list was the Biltmore Estate one of the early estates of the Vanderbilt family during the rail road era. This beautiful 8,000 acre property is home of the most Brilliant Christmas tree lighting in North America. Explore George Vanderbilt’s extraordinary home, beautiful gardens, and Antler Hill Village & Winery, nestled in the mountains of Asheville, NC. A fifty foot live Christmas tree is cut into pieces and then reassembled in the great hall of the manner every year. My family spent thanksgiving 2011 viewing the same lush landscape that presidents and great world leaders frequent. These luxury accommodations make a young girl feel like 18’Th century royalty; and what are Vanderbilt if not American royalty. When you wake you find Lush grounds filled with adventure. Bow hunting classes and Fly fishing and Special Christmas tours of the Grounds. As a family we rode horse back to the top of one of the larger hills on property and had lunch waiting at the top with a beautiful view of the estate. I felt stately, almost as if some of the elegance and sophistication taught me something and will stay with me ceaselessly.

After touring the main house of a woman who was waited on, hand and foot, I was in the mood for some pampering myself. While the spa is not located within the estate its self, It is in the luxury Inn located on the estate grounds. On the second floor above the library with a single glass pained door as an entrance, you would miss it if you were not looking for it, I found the spa. While not as spacious as the gorgeous Biltmore Estate, It was quaint. Because most do not frequent the Biltmore to be pampered but rather to see how the other half lived in the 1800’s, I did not expect to be dazzled because I was already so smitten with the whole experience. There was a very small waiting area, more like a broom closet really with hard wooden benches covered with silk pillows. When I entered I was not awed. The therapist quickly came for me and led me through a narrow hallway to a room with no view, or shower, or tub. I was not going to complain because, it looked to me like the facility was lacking so there was no other option for a soothing ambiance. I will say the saving grace of the spa was its use of fine product. When being pampered all I can really ask for is the thoughtful choice of botanicals when considering my skin. The hotel staff however rose above the job obligation to show us a fantastic time while we visited. I have nothing but high reviews for the lavishness that is the Biltmore Inn.

Signing off,

XX Porcelain Girl