TOPIC:

FYI

Elemis frangipani Monoi oil is available on Strawberry Net with free worldwide shipping.

It's great isn't it that we get a second chance now!
I really hope we all get to do a whole lot of things we could only dream about before
I am planning for another half century of making art and trouble.

Good morning ladies, I hate to say it, but feel I must. I have an extremely sensitive skin and have tried Elemis and it irritated my skin over a few days use. I am not at all convinced of its purity.

There are very few products that are actually organically pure, your skin is your largest organ, so whatever you put on it, needs to be processed and enters the blood-stream and I guess therefore, the liver. Personally, I try to avoid any toxic products, including household cleaning products and especially laundry and my skin has improved enormously. Why give my already stressed liver and more to deal with, you know?

Here's a very helpful site : www.ewg.org/skindeep/
At the Skin Deep website, you can type any product in the “search” field and it’ll rate the toxicity on a scale from zero to ten (best to worst).

Here's another interesting link for you : www.soilassociation.org/Whatisorganic/Organicbeauty

A quote from that website : "Unfortunately, unlike organic food, there are no legal standards for organic beauty products. So as a result, some companies choose to label a product as 'organic' even if it only contains 1% organic ingredients or if it contains potentially hazardous substances"

Beware clever marketing with the use of the words 'natural' or "nature" etc - Many toxins can occur naturally!

Hope this is helpful

Sorry I'm not a lady but I'll post here anyway as dry skin is non gender specific. That Elemis oil seems to be a very expensive coconut oil plus monoi which has methyl salicylate as its active ingredient. You may want to read up on methyl salicylate ( en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methyl_salicylate ). It is a toxic ester of salicylic acid (aspirin), and a suspected carcinogen.
I use a marvellous Chinese oil called White Flower which is mainly wintergreen oil, which also has methyl salicylate as its active ingredient, as a rub-on treatment for headache, sinus blockage and muscle pain and is very effective. Ingredients: Wintergreen 40%, Menthol 15% and Camphor 6%. Inactive ingredients: Eucalyptus 18%, Peppermint 15% and Lavender 6%. Because of methyl salicylate's toxicity I use it sparingly and very occasionally.
So I would suggest using pure coconut oil instead maybe with a drop of fragrant essence. Or even a drop of White Flower although the menthol smell may not be what you want in your hair.

Oops! Have just read the posts re the Elemis frangipani Monoi oil, but not the links yet, but will do.
I would find it very hard to give this product up as I find it so lovely!
But am going to look at these links now........
Debs

I'm not saying it's bad for you as the monoi is just infused in the coconut oil and would be very low concentration. What I am saying is that it is a very expensive way to buy sweet smelling coconut oil.

I must say when I need a moisturiser, either skin or hair, nothing beats high quality coconut oil. It's brilliant stuff!
I also find certain herbs are incredibly good for my skin....burdock is a big one. Boil up the roots and eat them or make tea.
You are dead right about beauty products LG...toxic rip offs for the most part. I stay well clear of all that stuff, especially make up, which is incredibly bad for your skin. Also most soap and gels, which just rip the moisture and vitality out of your skin.

I should add, caring for and stimulating the lymph system is integral to skin health. Thats why skin brushing works. I also recommend abandoning all forms of restricting and constricting clothing. Anything with elastic that leaves red marks is harming your skin health and circulation.
Of course I know the Interferon has had terrible permanent sides for many of you, but perhaps they can be alleviated somewhat by supporting your organs with herbs (after treatment of course). I know that really the only way we can ever heal our skin is to first try and heal liver and kidneys. It all starts within and works its way out, in terms of vitality. Hopefully once the virus is eradicated, our natural healing powers will be much improved, but if this whole sorry situation has taught me anything, its that there are many ways to help it along.

Interesting debates
For me it just stresses the value in sharing from our experiences as we are all made differently and come from different climates and have had tx or not
I'm never going to beat myself up re being put through peg/inf I recoiled at a liver specialist who wanted me to sue the doc who put me on it
We all have our vulnerability and I have mine at diagnosis I had more than a full plate and was vulnerable
The most fantastic skin cure I found for my severe actinic and Alunare granuloma which is at times so disfiguring that my photos were taken for medical purposes was to scrub my skin with sands from the Big Island of Hawaii
I'm not of any real knowledge about why that worked for the fortunate time I was in HI but it did!
Maybe that the volcano spews out from the earths core into the sea?
Last night seven changes of clothes so stepping up the on call t shirt stack ha!
I'm keeping notes on these good shares
I think most of us want to restore ourselves
I wasn't diagnosed until Dec 2011 myself and by then had two beautiful girls. It was a huge surprise to be diagnosed. Funny, but I always felt protective about things like toothbrush etc with my girls when they were growing up
Both are clear and HepC free
Mahalo for that
There's a lot of good knowledge coming out here please keep the love coming xxxxx

Never beat yourself up about anything! You are a hero to have made it this far.
And a survivor
We women are far too hard on ourselves as a rule, and need constant reminders to keep up healthy levels of self love and appreciation. Loving yourself and healing yourself go together!

I think we need to look at how we are confounding these factors - attributions are variously being made to HCV v treatment and IFN/riba treatment v DAAs. The only symptoms I have experienced are earlier menopause (ie mid-late 40s when the australian average age is 53). Subsequently I also experienced some hair thinning which frequently occurs with post menopausal women.

With the shock of menopause so early I researched and discovered that most HRT products contained the wrong balance of the three oestrogens and the progesterone with which it was necessarily opposed was usually progestin (a synthetic) - so no wonder a huge American study later found that it didn't confer the cardiovascular and cancer protections manufacturers claimed. I arranged supply through a compounding chemist which obtained the properly balanced and genuine articles from Europe and prepared them in a good quality jojoba base.

Since commencing the DAAs I am actually losing my hair. Early in treatment (sof-dac) I noticed a greater than usual quantity of hair across the bathroom basin. Also constant loss through my hair brush. Its not like cancer hair loss which comes out in clumps leaving the scalp patchily bare - but I am losing so much that my hair is getting thinner and it is unusually dry.

As for skin/ products, I can't tolerate most perfumess - I exfoliate 1-2 times weekly, use a non soap body gel for washing and 24hr aveeno body moisturiser. I use a bedhead shampoo and wella volume mousse conditioner for fine hair. When I apply some hair colour I go to a green krop hair salon which uses organic, least toxic products. I use La Roche-Posay facial cleanser, eye cream and face moisturiser including sun screen. Rarely used cosmetics - an occasional shallow brush of blush and lippie. So that's me folks. All my secrets. Until last decade I never bothered with any additional care - just shower, wash hair and run.

It would never have been my intention to publish this information but felt I should join the girlie spirit of collectively gathering information. Ive never otherwise been much for cosmetic chat and I have an aversion to the TV commercials which demonstrate wealthy, glamorous women preening themselves with exorbitantly costly cosmetics and smugly stating " Because Im Worth It". What about all the poorer, hard working women out there burdened with multi-problem lives barely able to put food on the table, the silent heroes - too busy for the remote concept of worthiness.

Archer wrote: What about all the poorer, hard working women out there burdened with multi-problem lives barely able to put food on the table, the silent heroes - too busy for the remote concept of worthiness.

I have never heard it said better.
dt

Thanks Archer for sharing, I am sorry to hear about your hair, I think hair is really part of our identity and not because of commercials and the plasicifaction and botoxification of womanhood that has poisoned the conceptualisation of perceived beauty. Hair feels good when you run your fingers through it, it feels good when the wind blows it around, it is tactile, it is a sign of youth, of age, of wisdom, of health and of legend even. Old stories of Sampson and Delilah, of Rapunzel.. etc etc. Once upon a time women covered themselves all up, thinking of the Victorian era, and hair was their version of sexy. Scott Fitzgerald even wrote about how 'daring' it was for a woman to 'bob' her hair in the 1920's..as a stand against the previous era of long gowns and high necked clothing. I have lost a ton of hair to tx before and I recall how fantastic it was to feel the wind in it again. Well that is my little hair done, take care, Ariel

Wow, LG and CJ I hadn't heard of a link-

LG "ps I have also suffered multi-miscarriage in the past & baby born early. Have also read the virus can cause this."

CJ "Wow LG, exactly what I wondered when I had many miscarriages & had J early."

I too suffered multi-miscarriages and my 'miracle boy' born 13 weeks premature.
Previously suffered horrendous endometriosis, had multiple surgeries which has left my abdominal cavity filled with scar tissue - adhesions. Had to have complete hysterectomy about 31/2 yrs ago and surgeon told me after that my descending colon was 'glued' to my abdominal wall from adhesions.

So, Tina, no menstrual cycle here either BUT have definitely been having severe sweats/ hot flushes while on Tx.

As for the hair problem - me too! Once thick, lustrous hair is now thinning and have actually been losing chunks since starting Tx!
But, the scalp psoriasis I've had forever, has gone!

I do use oils - coconut, sweet almond, jojoba - whatever is available, make a blend and mix essential oils, like FFox discusses, to massage into the scalp. Boost Vitamin B - necessary for healthy skin and hair. I also have a hair tonic with Vitamin B and Magnesium to be sprayed on the scalp and absorbed, seems to be helping to improve condition. Still freaked about hair loss though.
Bleeding, swollen gums - usually means vitamin C deficiency.

Hello, Sonix lurking in on Ladies chat
You mention this product you use-
"Ingredients: Wintergreen 40%, Menthol 15% and Camphor 6%. Inactive ingredients: Eucalyptus 18%, Peppermint 15% and Lavender 6%. Because of methyl salicylate's toxicity I use it sparingly and very occasionally."
My query is how is it possible that the Eucalyptus, Peppermint and Lavender oils can be "inactive"? Did you read that right?
There is very good reason that whole blend is combined that way. It looks very similar to good old 'Tiger Balm' - but that uses petrochemical and mineral oil base.
Such a blend is meant to be used sparingly and on tiny patches of skin, always avoiding eyes - not liberally applied to large areas - so you're only absorbing 'therapeutic doses." Very effective combo, especially for lurking migraines.

Great section Ladies and lurking Gents (just kidding with you Sonix)

Chejai wrote: Hello, Sonix lurking in on Ladies chat
You mention this product you use-
"Ingredients: Wintergreen 40%, Menthol 15% and Camphor 6%. Inactive ingredients: Eucalyptus 18%, Peppermint 15% and Lavender 6%. Because of methyl salicylate's toxicity I use it sparingly and very occasionally."
My query is how is it possible that the Eucalyptus, Peppermint and Lavender oils can be "inactive"? Did you read that right?
There is very good reason that whole blend is combined that way. It looks very similar to good old 'Tiger Balm' - but that uses petrochemical and mineral oil base.
Such a blend is meant to be used sparingly and on tiny patches of skin, always avoiding eyes - not liberally applied to large areas - so you're only absorbing 'therapeutic doses." Very effective combo, especially for lurking migraines.

Great section Ladies and lurking Gents (just kidding with you Sonix)

I just copy pasted from a Chinglish website. scarfamilyditdajow.com/WhiteFlowerOil.htm
Definitely similar to Tiger Balm, which I still use for muscle pain (Cambodian imitation version actually). Tiger Balm doesn't have wintergreen which possibly makes White Flower more effective for headaches.