Category — Herbaria Soaps

Wildly popular on Bionic Beauty, Herbaria Soaps, also offers a few other natural options besides their glorious soaps. One such product, Jojoba Healthy Hair is billed to “nourish hair and scalp”. I gave it a shot, as I’m always in search of a hair product to keep my hair damage-free (or at least as much as possible) while I swim, sun, blow-dry, straighten, and color.

The Jojoba Healthy Hair is a light herbal oil blend. You pump a few sprays into your palm, rub them together, and lightly spread through you hair. I used it on the ends of my hair before straightening and it made them glossy, kept the frizzies away, and left my hair easy to style. I also found another use when our neighborhood pool opened- rubbed it through my entire head and it seemed to keep the chlorine affects at bay.

The oil blend (see below) is perfect for dandruff sufferers, scalp massage, and assisting in reversing damaged hair.

Herbaria does not test on animals and is completely all-natural.

Be careful not to apply too much since it is an oil. The scent is wonderful… herbal, clean, and fresh. A 2 ounce bottle runs $9 at Herbaria’s website. This hair care product is certainly worth a try, especially with all the hair-hurt summer can bring.

Ingredients: Jojoba oil and essential oils of rosemary (said to help prevent premature hair loss), lavendar (relaxing), cedarwood, thyme and basil.

Suggested reading: Bionic’s review of Herbaria’s soaps.

Photo courtesy of and copyrighted by Herbaria Soaps.

Before hitting the sun, surf, or pool this summer don’t just apply SPF to your skin, be attentive to your hair’s special needs as well. Summer humidity, pool chemicals, ocean breezes and salt can take a major toll on your locks.

Here’s a list of my hints for summer haircare:

1. Slather on conditioner or a hair serum before entering the pool or ocean. By filling your hair’s cuticle with conditioner, less chemicals will seep in. This is particularly important for blondes. Serum will act as a barrier and assist your hair in sloughing off all the baddies. (Bionic’s recommendations: BioInfusion Hydrating Conditioning Balm, International Orange’s hair cream, or Herbaria’s Jojoba Healthy Hair).
2. Use a UV protectant spray prior to and during sun exposure. It’ll help prevent color fade- making your hair color, natural color and highlights stay bright and true. Pack your UV spray in your beach/pool bag and reapply whenever you add more sunblock to your body. (I recommend: pHormulate’s 3a Leave-in Treatment).
3. Leave-in Conditioners work exceptionally well to prevent wind tangles (when applied before) and help you gently comb out knots (when applied after). I don’t leave home without it. (Recommendation: Paul Mitchell Awapuhi Moisture Mist - it even works *great* on your skin!)
4. Embrace surf styled hair and texture. Summer should be laid back. Don’t worry so much about fly-aways and bends. Use a hair paste or wax to gently twist your hair into “ropes” (run your fingers through after 10 minutes to loosen the waves) or gather hair loosely into a pony tail or headband. Which brings us to number…
5. When using elastic bands to tie back your hair, avoid the ones with the metal clasps. The metal can catch and break fragile hair, and can even react with pool chemicals!
6. Save yourself pain later and apply sunblock to your hair part and ears. Trust me.
7. When all else fails, or for an impromptu outing, grab your ball cap and rock it. Guys love it.

What’s your pre-sun ritual for hair care?

To the Moms across the globe and world wide internet, “Happy Mother’s Day!”

My mom lives about 5 hours from us, so we don’t get to visit too much, but we talk a few times a week and email quite often.  My mom always shared beauty advice (some I would take, some I wouldn’t- just like every daughter, I assume) and she raised my sister and I to be strong, independent women. Even though I moved out right after high school, she does not treat me like I’m only 18. She respects me and my decisions and because of that, we go to each for advice and are happy to help each other out.  Through my younger years, she would get up hours before work to take care of all our pets (and we had TONS), make us breakfast, pack lunches, and then she’d head to the barn to feed my horse breakfast, turn him out and finally she would head to work. I’m not sure how she did everything. To this day, her parrots have a cleaner house than I do! :)  She certainly allowed me to get bit by the critter bug, and I would not be the person I am today without my Mom.

The picture above was taken during the summer of me being 16, just outside of Blairsville, Georgia. My parents would drive me 13 hours to the north Georgia mountains to spend the summer at Trackrock Campground. I would work at the stable all summer- guiding trail rides, teaching vacationers to ride horses and training my horse for barrel racing. My parents would make the drive a least once more during the summer to visit and again at the end to pick me up. Dedication.

Mom, I love you!

And now, onto the gifts…

I bought my mom, mother-in-law, and a close friend a Mother’s Day gift pack of Herbaria Soaps. I picked the varieties based on each personality. I’m also bringing 4 bars to another friend’s baby shower today. I figure if I am addicted to these soaps, I should share my obsession. So what did you ladies buy for Mom?

My search for a better soap… I was tired of the harsh, drying effect. I wanted a bar soap that still foamed (I’m a sucker for suds!), didn’t have an overpowering scent, and lasted while stored in the humid shower environment (you’d be surprised how many natural soaps fail this test).

Well, I think I’ve found my solution, ladies! Herbaria Soaps. Beautiful, soft, gentle, and natural. Can you really ask for anything more than that?

I’ve had my soaps for a few weeks now, but I wanted to thoroughly test them before posting up my opinions. Thus far I’ve tried the Eucalyptus Mint, the Jojoba Shampoo Bar, and the Rose Geranium. I still have a bar of the Lavendar Oatmeal wrapped and I’m anxious to try it.

The soaps smell grand and leave a light scent on your skin. I had no breakouts, dry skin or adverse reactions (nor did my friends who I’ve had try the soaps). The Eucalyptus Mint is extra nice when you’ve got a case of the winter snifflies. And the Jojoba Shampoo bar is unbelievable for shaving, washing, and even washing my hair! I’ve used a few shampoo bars and they’ve always left my fine hair as stiff as straw; the Herbaria Jojoba bar left my hair soft and very manageable, not stripped.

The only drawback? Be warned, I was ’stuck’ on the Herbaria Soaps website for over an hour deciding what bars to try (what a dilemma!). There are 35 varieties including speciality soaps for pets, old-fashioned lye, sensitive skin, and gardener’s hand soap. Herbaria also offers a natural bug repellent Citronella Mist spray.

Highly, highly recommended. Customer service is a dream by the way, and they’ve got some super gift baskets for the holidays (hint, hint). Order quickly and avoid some of that holiday rush!

Photo courtesy and copyright of Herbaria Soaps.