Entries from August 2007 ↓

This is going to be a very short post to remind you to take some time out and look after yourself. It’s really important to have some time every now and again to destress and unwind and nurture your body and your soul.

I had dinner with my ex tonight which I was really excited about because I hadn’t seen him in a couple of months. We arranged to meet on the ferry. When the ferry pulled in he was standing at the back on the outside bit waving at me. It was so nice, you couldn’t wipe the smile off my face.

Mr Ex and I dated for a long period of time, just over eight years. We formed a deep love and friendship for each other that I still think will last for as long as we do. It’s so sad that we slowly drifted apart as a couple over the last couple of years of our relationship, but life is fluid and some things are meant to be.

It wasn’t until the walk home on my own after our dinner that I began to feel quite sad. It was hard to say goodbye because I didn’t know when I would see him again. It’s so difficult when you’ve been a ‘couple’ with someone for so many years, making the transition from being the absolute focus of their life to being just a friend.

I came home, had a hot shower, washed my hair and wrapped myself up in some warm comfy clothes. Then I made a cup of herbal tea and ate almost a whole block of organic chocolate. This little bit of luxury, of looking after myself is really important. For me, a hot shower where I cleanse my whole body including my hair is a way of washing away the day. The tea and chocolate are warm and sweet and almost loving to the soul. It’s surprising how a couple of little things can warm you up from the inside and take some of the sadness away.

Take care of yourself, leave some time for reflection and listen to your heart and your soul, it’ll make all the difference.

Frances Kerr

Miracles can happen to those who wait. Finally my skin has been clearing up. It’s a long slow process that has been and still is incredibly frustrating and distressing at times, but finally, at last it’s clearing up.

I have no idea why my skin broke out so badly in the first place. I have a feeling it’s got something to do with my breakup. Emotional turmoil can do crazy things to your body. In my case it made me physically sick, I lost weight, felt nauseous all the time, my digestive system was completely out of whack, I wasn’t sleeping at all and my skin broke out quite badly in two places on my jaw line on each side of my face.

I wish now that I’d taken a photo so you could see a before and after. I considered taking a photo a lot for the blog but to be honest, I was so distressed about it that I couldn’t bring myself to photograph my face. The thought of seeing all that detail on my computer screen was really quite horrifying.

Why it’s so traumatic

For those of you who suffer from adult acne, you’ll know what I mean. When you’re a grown up, adult acne is horrible. I felt really dirty and unhealthy even though I was exercising really well and following a strict healthy eating routine. At times I felt like my skin was never going to get better, I felt incredibly frustrated that I just could not find a solution. I was getting extremely obsessed and paranoid about it and started thinking that everybody was staring at my skin. I also knew that whatever treatment I took, my skin was going to take a long time to recover because there is no miracle cure for pimples that will make them go away over night. This was not a good thought for a very impatient person like me.

Then, to makes matters worse, there’s always the scarring afterwards. I’m lucky in a way that I have very thin skin that scars well, so I don’t end up with deep permanent scars. What I do end up with though, is red marks on my skin where the pimples have been which is made worse by my very pale skin. These red marks can last weeks or even months before they disappear. This is one of the most annoying parts of the healing process!

So, how did I do it?

Continue reading →

I guess I’m really lucky that I remember my dreams just about every morning when I wake up. Dreams can tell you a lot about what’s going on in your life, what you’re fearful of or even what’s coming up in the future.

Most dreams are really easy to interpret. The trick is to follow your intuition and take note of how your body feels and what kind of reaction is evoked when you consider the events of your dream. Every icon in your dream is unique to you. This means an item or person in your dream may mean something completely different in someone else’s dream.

Say you dreamt that you were eating oranges in the middle of the forest. What do oranges mean to you? What is the first thing you think of when you consider an orange? Does it evoke any emotions or feelings? Now do the same for a forest. Once you’ve interpreted each element of the dream, you can then form a conclusion or interpretation.

My reoccurring dreams interpreted

One really easy reoccurring dream that I have is about a friend of mine that lives in London. Every now and again I dream that I arrive in London on a holiday and have forgotten to tell her I’ll be there. Then I spend my entire holiday looking for her because I don’t have her current address or phone number. This dream is telling me to keep in contact with my friend and not lose touch.

Another reoccurring dream that I have, which is really common with people who are stressed, takes place back in school. I walk into an exam without studying and spend the whole exam stressing and asking myself why I haven’t prepared for the exam. This dream always occurs around times of great work or study stress in my life. Very literal.

Most dreams aren’t as literal or so easy to interpret, but if you write it all down and pull out elements and listen to your intuition you’ll find you can usually come up with some sort of conclusion. The best person to interpret the dream is yourself because, remember – those icons in your dream are unique to you.

In my opinion dream interpretation books which list symbols and their meanings are a complete waste of money. I bought a couple of these books when I was a teenager and they now sit in my bookshelf more for a good laugh. It’s crazy how detailed and specific the interpretations in these books. It’s silly really, how can one item possibly mean the same thing to everybody? Each person has their own experiences and their own ideas.

Have said all that, sometimes you may need a little help interpreting a dream. I find getting friends to brainstorm with me is always a good way. Keeping in mind that telling another person your dream can sometimes be very interesting to you but the most boring conversation to them!

If you have a dream that you want help with, especially if it’s reoccurring, write a comment and I’ll do my best to help out

Frances Kerr

It’s about time I did a product review on one of my favourite body products, Banalasta. I’ve been using their moisturisers for years. Banalasta is Australian owned and grown, uses natural ingredients, is not tested on animals and has been really great for my skin.

Because my skin is so sensitive to breakouts, I’m very careful about what I put on it. A have quite dry skin on my face, but I still find a lot of moisturisers can make my skin oily and shiny and clog my pores. I also wouldn’t touch any of the products you’d find in a grocery store because where I live, ALL of the products in large grocery stores are packed full of chemicals. There’s no way I’m putting chemicals on my face, near my eyes and my brain and well …just onto my body really.

I discovered Banalasta through my sister, Gill, who found it looking for products that are natural and not tested on animals. Our favourite Banalasta product is the ‘hydrating day cream’ because it includes Eucalyptus Oil (grown on the Banalasta farm!). The Eucalyptus keeps out skin under control because the oil is anti-bacterial.

I’ve probably been using this product on and off for three or four years now. There’s been many occasions that I’ve run out of my Banalasta and forgotten to order more, so I’ve had to try another natural moisturiser. I’m yet to find one that’s as good, so I keep going back to it.

There’s a hydrating night cream as well as the day cream. I always have both on hand but I prefer the day cream because the shea butter in the night cream is a bit heavy and can cause me to break out if I use it over long periods of time. Gill finds she needs to use the night cream when she’s at work because the air conditioning really dries her skin out a lot.

Where to find Banalasta

You can only purchase Banalasta through their website or via mail order. They sell directly from the farm but that’s only good for those of you lucky enough to live close by. I’ve found their service is always fantastic and the staff are really friendly. The last couple of times I purchased products from them, they gave me an extra product for free.

http://banalasta.com/

If you visit their website you’ll find they have a huge range or products. I haven’t tried their premium range of skin care because the ingredients don’t seem as natural as their regular skin care range. I might get out my Chemical Maze book and look up all the ingredients some time just to check. The words ‘Premium Range’ sound much more luxurious!

Frances Kerr

I can’t remember when I started using natural shampoos but I do know it took me a long time to find a good one. I have really long red wavey hair that gets oily really quickly so I have to wash it every couple of days. The natural shampoos I originally tried stripped too much oil out of my hair making it really dry and a bit like straw which was weird because I’m used to having a lot of oil in my hair.

I got really fed up with the quality of these natural products until I came across two brands which I now absolutely love, Wild and Organic Instinct (which is sometimes called Natural Instinct, I can’t figure them out).

Why bother with natural shampoo?

If you think about it, we put these shampoos, conditioners, hair treatments and hair dyes directly onto our scalp only centimeters away from our brains. This is a little too close to that very special vital body part for me. Most of us have no idea what’s in these products either. Ask yourself this question, what would you feel safe having that close to your brain? Do you really think your skin is a magic shield that blocks everything from going into your body? Of course it’s not. Skin is a porous organ that can soak in whatever we put onto it.

Most ‘regular’ shampoos contain harsh chemicals. Here are just a few:

• Sodium lauryl sulphate (SLS), sodium laureth sulphate (SLES) and ammonium lauryl sulphate (ALS) are detergents, surfactants and foaming agents. They’re also the same ingredients found in car washes, garage floor cleaners and engine degreasers. Animals exposed to SLS experienced eye damage, depression, labored breathing, diarrhea, severe skin irritation and even death.
• Alcohol, isopropyl (SD-40) is a drying solvent that is made from propylene, a petroleum derivative. This chemical can act as a carrier, accelerating the penetration of other harmful chemicals into your skin.
• FD&C color pigments are synthetic colors made from coal tar, containing heavy metal salts that deposit toxins onto the skin.
• Mineral oil is a petroleum by-product that coats the skin like plastic, clogging the pores.

Hmmm yeah, not on my head thanks.

Fran’s shampoo recommendations

I can only recommend shampoos for my type of hair. If you’ve had a good experience with your hair and a natural shampoo then write a comment about it, I’d love to know what other people have tried. I’m especially looking for a great natural shampoo and conditioner for my good friend Yaro who has very curly hair.

• Wild shampoo and conditioner
  Wild is a great shampoo for all hair types. It recommends different amounts of the shampoo and washing time be used for oily and dry hair. I found this shampoo can be a little drying but generally it kept my hair looking soft and healthy.
• Organic Instinct
  This brand has a range of hair and body products. I love their face cleanser and moisturisers as well. I probably prefer to use Organic Instinct more than Wild because it doesn’t dry my hair as much. During certain times of the month when I start producing more oil (girls, you know about this one), it can keep my hair a little too oily so this is when I usually switch to Wild. Two of my friends have also tried this product. One loved it like me, but the other prefers Wild a lot more. Organic Instinct is very inexpensive and cheaper than Wild which makes it a great regular shampoo to use.

Hairdressers and hair dyes

You’ll probably find an organic hairdresser in your town. There are at least two in Brisbane that I’m aware of. They’re especially popular with pregnant mothers who want to continue dying their hair and people who choose not to put chemicals onto their scalp. I’m lucky I have a hair colour that I’m happy with so I choose not to dye it, but there are heaps of men and women out there who do dye their hair so something natural and organic is definitely a better way to go.

Give your brain a break and next time you run out of shampoo, buy a natural one instead. Give it a test run and see if you’re happy with how it makes your hair feel. Your body and your brain will certainly thank you for it.

Frances Kerr