Operation Pretty Pits - You down wit' OPP?

I have been totally (unintentionally) avoiding my blog.  Sorry people.  I probably lost the few followers that I had.  Hope not.

I've been pretty busy over the past month.  I started the "Couch to 2K" program.  I haven't actually completed day 1 yet...but I have added more time onto my run every day that I try, which is definite progress that I am very proud of.  What else??  I went to Florida to visit my mom and some friends.  Just me and my 3 year old.  We had a good time :)  And being solely responsible for him for a whole 8 days made me realize even further how much I love my hubby and all that he does.  And hats off to single parents everywhere, it is hard!!

What else what else??... oh, I paid off two of my three credit cards.  It hurt to fork over that money from my tax refund but now I feel good about it!

Oh yeah!  One of my besties is getting married and asked me to be a bridesmaid!  That is super exciting!!!  I've never been in a wedding before and I'm not exactly sure what my duties are.  I need to google that ASAP.   They are having an outdoor summer wedding.  She and her hubby-to-be are both into the water and boating and he loves fishing.  So after they say their vows they are going to take a boat ride around the island and when they come back all of us bridesmaids will be holding fishing rods forming an arch for them to walk under.  How frigging cute is that!!??!!  Here is my dilemma... I have black pits from hell!  haha!  Seriously.

We are all picking out our own dresses, no matchy match stuff going on so I can buy whatever I want to wear.  It will be very hot as it will be the height of summer.  So I would like to wear something that I am comfortable in (heat wise)...but I also want to look cute and black pits are NOT cute.  If anyone is not clear what I am talking about when I say black pits, I am referring to my underarms.  After almost 30 years of shaving and wearing deodorants that contain aluminum my underarms are much darker than the rest of my skin.  I spent a good part of Saturday evening on youtube.  Just for shits and giggles I typed "black armpits" into the search box and too my delight there were quite a few videos talking about this very issue.  I don't know for sure if I was more delighted that other women have been cursed with this horrible affliction or that there are some promising remedies for the problem.  I think it was a little of both, muahahaha!  WHAT?  Why should I be the only one with hideous Abyss Pits?!

There are bleaching creams and one in particular (Xtreme Brite) that has shown to work wonders on hell pits.  Let me state right here right now that I love my caramel complexion and would never change it.  I love what my parents created and no matter what color my skin color might have been I would be proud of it.  I think that all shades of skin are beautiful no matter their coloring from the fairest porcelain to the deepest shades of brown.  I do not believe in bleaching your skin in order to obtain an overall lighter skin shade.  I find that quite sad.  Now, having said that...Let the skin bleaching commence!!!!  haha!  I am only wanting to lighten my armpits.  They have been the one area of my body that I have been extremely self conscience about since about 6th grade.  I avoid raising my arms in public in the summer time...at all cost.  As a kid, I remember raising my hand in class and covering my pit with my other hand if I was wearing short sleeves, haha!  Pathetic.  I know that I am clean but the appearance of my pits begs to differ.  I fear that people may think I am dirty because of my FUGLY underarms.

So where was I??  Ah yes, Xtreme Brite.  I watched several videos on Youtube showing different women with dark underarms and they successfully lightened them using this product.  You just apply the gel a couple times a day and typically over the course of a couple months you see results.  But it seemed to me that it could get expensive.  Ladies are saying that they are going through a $10.00-15.00 tube every couple weeks.  On average, 2-3 months seems to be the amount of "treatment" that is needed to achieve goal lightening.  So I am looking at anywhere from as low as $40.00 to as high as $90.00 to lighten them.  That does not appeal to me.  The cost is a turn off along with having to order it on Amazon or directly through their site, which obviously involves waiting for it to be delivered.  And also wanting to avoid using chemicals, I figured I would do some research and find a home remedy for my tar pits.

My research taught me that just washing your underarms in the shower does not remove all of the bacteria on your skin, so swabbing them with a cotton ball soaked in Apple Cider Vinegar will help to remove all bacteria.  I already knew that lemon is a mild all natural bleaching agent.  But I also found that potatoes and papaya are as well.  I did not have any papayas in the house but I did have a bag of potatoes and half of a lemon.  Using my blender, I made a paste out of the potato and the little bit of juice I was able to squeeze out of the lemon.  I put the potato/lemon puree into a plastic container.  I then swabbed my freshly shaved armpits with apple cider vinegar!  FARDKING OUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I'm going to go ahead and say, don't do this right after shaving.  After blowing on pits for a couple minutes and cooling the burning sensation down a tad, I then grabbed a small handful of potato/lemon puree and rubbed it on my pits.  I read to let it sit for approximately 15-20 minutes... I had a child with the flu.  She went into the bathroom about 10 minutes into my "treatment" and she stayed in there for about 30 minutes.  So do the math, it sat on my underarms for 40 minutes.  I wasn't worried, I just figured that I was doing an extreme beginner treatment.  I got in the shower and washed it off.  I felt a bit tingly and raw.  I checked them out in the mirror when I got out and they were definitely a different color...PINK!  But still black.  I know that it will take months of treatment for them to lighten. Oh yeah I almost forgot!  I wanted to avoid using my trusty Arm & Hammer ladies deodorant as it contains aluminum and is probably contributing to my horrible situation.  So I went for the box of baking soda in the kitchen and applied some.  I am a pretty funky sweater and I sweat pretty profusely without my deodorant.  I did the baking soda as antiperspirant for two days.  I'm going to be totally honest, people.  I think my au natural approach to lighter pits is over!  haha!  So not only did I have painfully raw underarms but I was also a bit tart.  And that does not work for me.  Guess who will be purchasing her first tube of Xtreme Brite this week?!  YUP, ME.  I'll let everyone know how that works for me.  I have about 4 months to get my fugly pits in summer dress, pit exposing condition.
Operation Pretty Pits!!  You down wit' OPP?  Yeah, you know me!

Dudu-Osun Black Soap

Ingredients:

Pure Honey
Shea Butter
Osun (camwood)
Palmkernel Oil
Cocoa Pod Ash
Palm Bunch Ash
Aloe Vera
Lime Juice
Essential Oil Blend
Water

I wanted to give a review on a new soap I have been using. A friend came over for dinner a couple weeks ago. After dinner we were sitting around talking and I mentioned the heat rash that I had on my arms for a couple months. She went out to her car and came back with two bars of Dudu-Osun black soap. She told me that she had acne recently on her face (which I did not believe until she showed me some pics, since her skin was flawless!). She used the soap everyday on her face and in no time at all, her skin was clear. At this point I was willing to try anything, my skin was so dry and itchy and I had scabs from scratching so much. I had tried hydrocortisone, a medicated anti fungal gel that a woman from work let me use, (which did help temporarily), different lotions, no lotion, different soap, aloe vera from my plant, etc.

I used the Dudu-Osun soap that night, and I immediately noticed an improvement. SERIOUSLY! My skin was smoother and softer than it ever had been before. The soap has a clean smell, but nothing perfumey or pretty...just clean. I like that and so does the hubby. It has a nice lather and is great to shave your legs with as well. This soap is going to help with my bathroom clutter since I will not need shaving gel any longer :) I also had Keratosis on the backs of my arms for years. Keratosis is a build up of keratin on your skin, looks like tiny white bumps. Harmless but who wants white pimple looking bumps on the backs of their arms?! I didn't even think about this soap helping that, but as I was admiring my new skin a few days ago, I realized that all the bumps were now gone! This is all in less than two weeks!

I used it on my son as well, who is two and half. I typically buy him those kiddy soaps with the funky fun names and fruity scents. He has his special Spider Man soap, but when you read the ingredients on all of those soaps, they rarely contain a single natural ingredient. This soap is made from 100% natural ingredients. He had no reaction to it and his skin felt even softer than a babies typically does. Once we finish off this bottle of Spiderman body wash, that is it. All natural for him. You can also use the soap as a shampoo and I do on him.

My hubby loves the soap as well. He likes the scent and the way his skin feels. He also uses it to shave his head and his head felt even smoother than usual. So again, this soap is eliminating bathroom clutter left and right! How awesome is that!?

The soap is black-brown in color and I have read other people's reviews where they complain that the soap stains their white wash clothes. Ummmm, bleach much!? Stains on my wash cloth are definitely worth the way my skin has been transformed.

It does melt quickly so we go through a bar a week and it is more expensive than the Lever 2000 that we typically used for years, but so worth it. You can find it in African beauty supply stores for about $3.00-$4.00 a bar, or you can find it much cheaper on Amazon.com. 12 bars for $25.00 and free shipping.

I have read in reviews that this soap has helped people with their acne, eczema, psoriasis, blemishes, stretch marks, preventing razor bumps when used for shaving, liver spots and much more.

I am so glad that my friend introduced me to this soap. We will never use "regular" soap again; bar or liquid. I did order a bottle of liquid Dudu-Osun with Shea Butter so I will give a full review on that as well when I have received it and tried it out.

Thanks for reading!

Semi-good

Just checking in. I set my alarm for a 1/2 hour earlier than usual. I did hit snooze a couple of times, but I eventually rolled out of bed and put on some sweats and sneaks and headed upstairs and did 20 minutes on the Total Gym. I'll be totally honest and admit it was not a "go all out", give it your all workout. I did do each exercise until it was difficult to do so. While I was working out I was also taking mental inventory of everything that needs to be done in that room. Donations, Trash, clothes that need to be laundered and put away. I cannot tell you the last time that room was dusted, swept and mopped. And it was all very evident as I did my downward shoulder presses.

I weighed myself and then drank some coconut water after my workout to hydrate my muscles and replace electrolytes. I moisturized my skin after my shower and flossed my teeth! This was the great start for me! I did drop my insulated travel tumbler on the ground while trying to juggle all my crap and get into the car for work. It broke and I spilled the last of my coconut water. I was upset...but I DID NOT freak out and yell F*CK at the top of my lungs...which I am prone to do. I did let out a loud Marge Simpson like grumble. But this is a magnificent improvement for me. Let's see, what else...I downed a quart of water during the work day - with no added sugar or crystal lite or anything! I hate water, so CUDOS is in order! I painted my toenails and plucked my eyebrows during my break.

The job treated us to pizza for lunch today, and I did have three slices...BAD :( They let us out at 1pm today and the hubby and I went on a date to the movies! I bought a large lemonade, since the trough of lemonade was only .50 cents more than the small. I mean, it made sense economically. I did not get any popcorn or candy or other goodies, and again, I will be totally honest...everything was just too damn expensive. If it was a lot cheaper, I can't promise I wouldn't have had any self control.

I am about to take a long bath while enjoying a gin and tonic, I will pumice my tired feet, moisturize with my new lavender body oil with coconut oil and I will moisturize my hair with Vitamin E oil. I will remove my make up, brush my teeth and floss. I plan to have a healthy breakfast and get my workout on again tomorrow morning.

Overall, I was pretty good today...or better than usual. I plan to improve more and more with each passing day.

The days of Mommy neglecting herself are over. Watch out now!

It's a new day

So today is the first day of September. At this very moment, I am sitting on my couch, watching a documentary on Jean-Michel Basquiat, listening to my hubby workout upstairs...thinking to myself, I need to bring my fat ass up there and do the same. I am making a promise to myself right now that I AM WILL GET UP EARLY TOMORROW MORNING AND WORKOUT!

Instead of getting my exercise on now, I am going to bang out a list of areas of my life that need improvement:

BODY

Exercise more

Eat healthier

Take better care of my hair and skin

Drink more water

Stop neglecting myself and make ME a priority

Go to bed (MUCH) earlier

Get up at least a 1/2 hour earlier than I do now

MENTAL

Learn to be more patient

Learn how to relax

Stifle my minor road rage

Enjoy the simple things in life

FINANCIAL

Manage money better

Save money

Market my crafts and natural body products

Develop a successful home based business to supplement my income

HOME

Become more organized

Kick the clutter

Maintain my cleaning schedule

Create a more harmonious environment

I am sure that there are more areas of my life that need work, but off the top of my head, this is what I've got. This is plenty to get started on. It has taken me over an hour to conjure this up and I can still hear my Hubstah working out up there. Why don't I have that type of drive?! I will get up a 1/2 hour earlier tomorrow and get on that Total Gym before work. I will start the 2nd say of the month off right!

Off to bed I go.

Ni-Night!