DivaCup Review!

So as any of my regular readers know by now, I am a monthly user of the Femmecup. The Femmecup menstrual cup served me pretty well for the last few months apart from when on my heaviest day. Many of you told me that you use the Divacup as it has a higher capacity, so I wrote to the guys over at www.divacup.com and requested a sample. They graciously accepted my offer to review it for them and so that brings us to today. First off, let me state, I was not paid for this review. I received a cup to trial and give my honest opinion on it for you, my readers, so let's get down to it.

As I am already a menstrual cup user I am already familiar with the different folds and techniques that come with being totally comfortable with your *ahem* inner lady workings. The cup itself is fairly similar to the Femmecup in the fact that it has a small stem and is roughly the same shape. It is bigger, and it has a firmer rim than the Femmecup. If you want to have a look at the Femmecup review I did a little while ago feel free to head over here to check that out.

Here is how the product looks in the packaging: 

And upon opening the box there is a pleasant surprise, a lovely little satin bag to keep it in and a small lapel badge to proudly wear stating what I already know, that I am a Diva!

The Divacup itself has a capacity of 30ml which is actually more than large enough, most women only lose 30-40ml throughout their whole monthly period! What makes the Divacup more convenient to use is that the company state it can be left in for up to 12 hours at a time, meaning you only have to change it once in the morning and once before bed. Gone are the days of having to change a tampon every few hours ladies.

Another great point to note is that it is recommended to change once a year, that means in total your yearly period allowance is around £21.99 a year! 

It is important when choosing a Divacup to choose the right size for you. If you are under 30 and have never had a baby then size 1 is the right one for you. If you are either over 30 or under 30 and have given birth either vaginally or by c-section then choose cup 2.

So far I have only had the chance to use the cup for a day or so, but I can say that it is comfortable and you genuinely can forget it is there. With tampons I was always told you cannot feel them if they are in right, but I always could, so this is a great plus for me. My biggest love with using the Divacup is the fact that you can leave it in all day. This means no more struggling in the ladies room with changing a tampon or even nasty uncomfortable pads. Just pop it in in the morning before you leave the house and you should be fine until you get home in the evening and empty it. I will update this post once I have used it for a few cycles but so far so good.

If you are thinking about using a menstrual cup and you feel that the Divacup is right for you then check out Divacup's handy Storefinder to find out where you can buy near you, or if you prefer, check out their E-tailer page for buying online.

Also, like them on Facebook and Twitter for more reviews by users and handy advice.

If you have any questions regarding this blog please feel free to comment below. Have you used the Divacup? What do you think? Let me know in the comments.

*UPDATE* after using the divacup this cycle I can view confirm, I don't think it's for me. The cup itself is one of the long-standing in the market and it may just be too long for me. The end (trimmed off) sits very low, almost at the entrance which I find quite maddening when I am out of the house as it feels like it's falling out. I turned it inside out to shorten it, which  has helped slightly though. I also find it is much harder to get it to pop open inside, this is challenging xompaews to my softer femmecup. If anyone can recommend a high capacity, shorter cup please let me know. I have heard good things about the mooncup. 

62 days no poo

So it's been 62 days since I gave up shampoo and conditioner for good so I thought it was time for an update. Since going no poo I have tried egg, coffee, Apple cider vinegar, baking soda, soapnuts, distilled white vinegar and tea as shampoos and rinses. Quick run through.

• Egg was beautiful at getting rid of the oil. My hair looked gorgeous the day I washed it but the next day it was absolutely soaked with grease. Not good. 
• Coffee was used as a WO rinse. It was messy and my hair smelled like coffee for about a week. No visible difference between this and water only. 
• Apple cider vinegar is a popular one to be used as a rinse after a wash. I liked it, the smell didn't bother me but my hair was still getting greasy around day 3 so tried DWV instead. 
• Baking soda is a wash. It's great at cleaning hair and is my main wash method that works for me. I wash every 10 days with this. 
• Soapnuts is a wash. It's used as a liquid but for me I found it too good at cleaning. It stripped every last bit of moisture out of my hair and left it brittle and dry. 
• Distilled white vinegar is a rinse alternative to Apple cider vinegar. I use this alongside baking  soda and it doesn't leave my hair greasy. I also use with a water rinse in between washes. 
• Tea is used as an acid rinse but again, no difference between this and water for me. 

So here I am now using BS as a shampoo and DWV as a conditioner around every 10 days and occasionally doing an acid rinse a few times in between. I can honestly say my hair is shinier, healthier and certainly thicker and stronger. If you are reading this considering no poo I suggest you jump in and try it. The worse thing to happen is toy can't stick it out through transition so you go back to poo but for me transition wasn't too bad. Oh yes, here's a picture of my hair today after washing.

The one thing I wasn't expecting was how my hair would actually change the way it feels. It no longer feels soft and smooth but feels kind of thicker and rougher. Not tangly or itchy but just different. It's really hard to describe. The individual hairs actually seem thicker now than they were before.

Have you ever gone no poo? Are you considering it? Any questions? Let me know in comments :)

Moa The Green Balm

Sorry it's been a while folks I have been a little busy as of late, we have two new members to our little family... guinea pigs! So now it's Me, Mr Grumpy and Mini plus Pansie and Drum the Piggies and Walter and Jesse the Goldfish. So it's no wonder my eczema has been acting up...

I only really suffer with one skin problem, and only ever when I am stressed. So it suits me well that I have managed to get my hands on this little beauty. The Green Balm. Head over here to find out where to buy this beauty and for all of its uses. 

This is what it looks like

and it retails at around £15 for the size I have which is 50ml. 

Now the first thing I will say is that I used it on my inner elbow fold for eczema. Before using it my skin was dry and cracked but at the same time it was moist and unpleasant. Oh god it hurt. I could hardly move my arm because of the pain. Unfortunately I do not have a before picture because I was in too much pain to worry about taking it. Immedi after using it my skin felt soothed, it didn't hurt as bad and around an hour later it stopped hurting all together. It was no longer sticky and gross but just smooth and had a nice protective barrier over it. 

Here is the picture just so you can see how bad it is, the redness has really gone down substantially and the soreness has disappeared. 

Sorry guys I know it's not pretty but there you have it. I will keep you updated as to how it heals but so far so good. 

Have you tried the green balm? Let me know! 

*Update* 3 days later and it's totally gone. This stuff is amazing. I'm going to use it for everything. EVERYTHING

Soap nuts on hair Results

As promised here is my review of the soap nut liquid on my hair. You all saw the picture of my hair yesterday it was fairly gross after 12 days of not washing it and a month of no poo.

So what you do is take the soapnut liquid in the shower with you in a plastic bottle or container. Please don't use glass in the shower guys, safety first. Then just use in place of normal shampoo. Really work it into the roots and lengths and you will get a lovely squeaky clean feeling. I also followed up with a quick spritz Of ACV as I have heard soap nuts can make hair tangly. The acv did it's job so there were no tangles.

I then blow dried and straightened my hair. This is a must for me as I am currently only washing my hair every 10-13 days.

Here is the results

Grease be gone! It is so clean it's actually a little too clean tbh and feels slightly dry but I know my sebum will sort that out in a day or two. To those of you with dry hair you would probably need to use an oil such a coconut oil just for moisture as it really sucks the moisture right out.

I am very pleased with the results! What do you think? Have you tried soapnuts? Tell me about your SN experience in the comments.

Home Made Deodorant (that REALLY works!)

Before going no poo I was pretty much a chemical war zone. I estimate I probably used well over 200 chemicals a day on my body and hair including but not limited to:

• shampoo
• conditioner
• face wash
• body wash
• toothpaste
• deodorant (applied twice a day at least)
• face creams
• nail polish
• face masks
• perfumes

God, that list is disgusting. Ever single day I used almost ALL of those products. Come on!

So, since going no poo I have been awakened to the uses of chemicals (good and bad) in the products we use every single day. The word CHEMICAL is overused in the crunchy society as being anything bad so excuse me if I over use it... by chemical we pretty much mean sulfates and parabens and other carcinogens. Pretty much all the nasty stuff you really want to keep away from your body.

In our house we now use soap-nuts on our hair, soap-nuts for laundry, home made MP soap and natural deodorant. On top of that I now no longer use 80% of the products listed above. I do still use toothpaste and perfume but I am looking in to a healthy homemade alternative to that. (I have heard oil pulling is great alongside natural toothpaste so if any of my readers have tried please let me know in the comments.)

So anyway, bla bla bla. On to the deodorant...

I was extremely fortunate to already have all the ingredients for this and I'm sure 99% of people will also as it is so basic but it really really does work. I used to apply deodorant twice a day at minimum and it had to be antiperspirant. This IS NOT an antiperspirant, it doesn't stop you from sweating, what is does do however is make your sweat smell nice. I have had zero B.O since using this. Yes I have had people check... (thanks Pete and Mum...) I also only have to apply this once a day after a shower. It's amazing.

So... the recipe.

• 1/4 cup cornflour (cornstarch) or arrow root powder
• 1/4 cup baking soda (bicarb) 
• 5 TBS of coconut oil
• 4-6 drops of essential oils (I use rose)

Here is how it looks:

And that is literally it, nothing else. There are other little bits you can add to make it more tailored to you, for instance Zinc stops you from sweating so you could add a bit of Zinc powder or something but I really don't need to. Also, aloe gel is antibacterial, that might work... just experiment.

The first thing I noticed when first making it is how easy it is, you just add all the ingredients together and stir until combined. It will quickly turn thick and lovely and it will feel exactly like a cream stick deodorant. 

At this point you can either fill an empty stick applicator or put into a little pot or jar. I usually put in the fridge for an hour to harden up a bit more and then I just take it out and leave it on my dresser.

Not sure about the shelf life but I cant imagine it would go off as none of the ingredients have a short shelf life. I would maybe throw out if not been used in 6 months or so but I reckon it would be well used up by then.

Happy making guys and if you try and love/hate let me know!

*UPDATE*

My Mum used mine and then immediately asked me to make her some which she is now using in place of shop bought deodorants. We have a convert!