My Favorite Hair & Skin Care Products for Middle-Aged Moms

Big Sexy Hair Powder Play is the dream product of all of us who came of age in the eighties.  Some of us spent a lot of money on root perms to give us the volume we coveted.  While I'm not looking for that much pouf nowadays, I do avoid having flat hair.  This product is AMAZING.  You sprinkle a little bit at your roots and fluff your hair with your fingers, and you've got instant lift.  It's small enough to carry in your wristlet for touchups.  But I've found that one sprinkling of it lasts for two days, no exaggeration.  What I would have given for this thirty years ago.

Aussie Instant Freeze Gel is a favorite of the adolescent boys in my house, but I use it too right after I wash my hair.  I just dab a little next to my scalp along the front of my hair so it falls to the side of my face and not straight down over my nose.  This gel really does freeze your hair and lasts all day long; a little goes a long, long way.  A 7 oz. container lasts us for at least half the year.

LACURA Q10 Night Cream is full of all those great ingredients that are supposed to slow down the aging factors.  I tend to have very sensitive skin, but this is one product I've been using for years with positive results.  Better yet, it's quite inexpensive; I find it at our local Aldi.

 

Cover Girl BB Cream is my favorite facial product that I use daily.  Since it contains moisturizer, toner, and sunscreen, I feel like I've got all the bases covered.  It's lighter than foundation, and the sunscreen isn't tacky, so I don't even feel like I'm wearing it.  Many days, this cream and some mascara are all I need for being out and about.

When I was a child, I would get eczema on my elbows and knees in the winter time.  Then for decades, I had no skin problems at all.  However, for some reason, my eczema returned a year ago.  The dermatologist said I have "discoid eczema" that starts out looking like small round red dry patches that resemble ringworm.  I know; how nasty is that?  They itch like crazy, but the more I scratch, the larger those patches get.  The skin can get calloused and rough and even bleed.  So I now use this Cetaphil Moisturizing Cream on all of my skin twice a day all year long.  It has helped immensely, and I seriously see a huge difference if I run out and have to use something else for a couple of days.  For anyone with dry skin issues, I would highly recommend this product.

I'm going to come clean and admit to you that I have an addiction...to chapstick.  I am miserable without some kind of lip balm on at all times.  Burt's Bees Coconut & Pear Moisturizing Lip Balm is my current favorite.  It contains coconut butter, shea butter, and of course, beeswax, and it feels and smells awesome.  The Easter Bunny brought my girls several tubes of this in their Easter baskets.

So these are my top six name-brand products that I've been using since I've hit my mid-forties.  I've begun using some additional anti-aging creams the past few months, but I'm waiting to see if I notice any real changes before I feature them.  The jury's still out.

What about you?  Any recommendations you care to share?

Oh, and just a reminder that the products shown in this post are affiliate links to Amazon.com.  If you click, it will take you directly to the product page.  Any purchases you make (on most anything) means a small referrer fee to me, at no extra cost to you.  Thanks in advance if you do.

Summer Essentials for Preppy Mountain Living

Summer in the Allegheny Mountains is my favorite time of the year, but there are some aspects of it that are less than enjoyable (ie. ticks, mosquitoes, deer flies, sunburn, etc.)  These are the products that our family has found to be the most beneficial on a mountain farm.  Beginning with the aloe vera plant at the top and moving clockwise:

1. 10 Year old son's Aloe Vera Plant and Aloe Vera Gel.  Breaking off a tip of the plant and squeezing the juice onto a burn works wonders.  We use Fruit of the Earth brand pure aloe vera gel for sunburns.  Even though we use sunblock, the redheads in our family do occasionally get a sunburn in early summer.
2. Neutrogena Ultra Sheer Dry-Touch Sunscreen with helioplex (SPF 70).  The adults in our family use this on our faces since it is a little more pricey.  It is dermatologist recommended for those who have had skin cancer and for those of us who are hoping to avoid it.  We have additional children's sunscreen in SPF 50 for the children.
3.  Calaclear Lotion for poison oak, ivy, and sumac, and sometimes for bug bites as well is a must-have in the mountains.
4.   Mechanixwear  padded palm bamboo Gardening Gloves for protecting my hands when pulling up thistles, brambles, and stray raspberry shoots from gardens and flower/herb beds.  These are also a must for avoiding getting mud caked under my fingernails.
5.       Citronella Candles and Now brand 100% pure Citronella Essential Oil for combating gnats, flies, and mosquitoes.  The essential oil is used in various oil burners or greatly diluted with almond or grapeseed oil to be dabbed onto the skin.
6.    Trader Joe's Coconut Body Butter feels incredibly luxurious on your skin.  We used it in the winter when our skin was dry and cracking, and we use it now since the chlorine from the pool is so drying.  It is made with coconut oil, shea butter, and vitamin E, and is the best body moisturizer I have ever used.
7.    (In the center) "No-Bite-Me" All-in-one Preventive and After-bite Creme.  This is Deet free, paraben free, and alcohol free and is safe for children.  It is made from a blend of essential oils and a moisturizing base, and it can be used as bug repellent before going outside or used on bug bites afterwards.  It is not pretty, and it does have a rather pungent fragrance, but we have found it works better than the leading brands of family-safe bug sprays.  It is supposed to be effective against black flies, mosquitoes, fleas, and ticks.
8. Burt's Bees Honey Lip Balm with Vitamin E is terrific for people like me with chapstick addictions.  It truly moisturizes and heals dry lips and smells delicious.  Fortunately,  I have not noticed that it attracts bees or other insects.
9.      O.P.I. Nail Lacquer in Lucky Lucky Lavender and Nicole by O.P.I. High Shine Top Coat are not exactly essential to mountain farm life, but they are to preppy mountain living.  Since I like to wear sandals or go barefoot on our farm in the summer, the nail polish hides any grass stains or dirt that might be on my toenails.  It is easier than scrubbing my toenails with a brush every evening, and it is a beautiful color of summer.