The Greenridge Herbal Thymes

Get Your Beauty Sleep

Research shows the skin works the hardest to rejuvenate itself during the night while you are asleep. If you are giving up some sleep in lieu of working, or other activities, you might not be doing your skin some good.

Here are 5 beauty tips to help keep your skin well rested and looking beautiful:
1. Use a moisturizer after cleansing, right before bed. This helps seal in moisture, and allows it to really do it's job, without other things like environmental pollutants, makeup, or dirt getting in the way. Since you are going to bed you can wear a moisturizer that richer than what you would normally feel comfortable with wearing during the day. Serums are spectacular for this purpose.
2. Wash your bed linens at least once a week. This gives the mind comfort and serenity of sleeping in cleanliness, and also benefits the skin. Make sure you use a natural fragrance-free detergent for your linens like Seventh Generation. And never, ever use dryer sheets! These are chemically too sensitive for the skin. Did you know that researchers found that to kill moths in your sweaters, they would put a dryer sheet into a bag with the sweaters and zip it up? That's how potent these chemicals are. They kill insects, and they can kill beneficial skin cells, too.
3. Stay Hydrated. Not just by drinking lots of water throughout the day but really trying to incorporate fresh fruits and veggies in your day will help keep skin hydrated and glowing. If your skin is really dry, use a humidifier in your room at night.
4. Have a cup of Chamomile Tea, an hour before bed. Even if you are busy late at night, which I usually am, try to pour yourself a cup of warm tea, preferrably a relaxing blend such as Chamomile, and drink it an our before bed. This really helps me anytime I feel a little stressed late at night. Remember Peter Cottontail?
5. Incorporate Essential Oils into your Bedtime routine. Using a mist such as Sweet Dreams Pillow mist, you can easily incorporate aromatherapeutic essential oils like Chamomile and Lavender to help your mind and body sleep better, which in turn will help your skin look better in the morning. Lucky for you, we're giving them away for FREE the month of March, with all purchases over $50!

Kombucha Tea

Kombucha Tea has been used since ancient times to help increase longevity, improve hair growth, clean teeth, boost the immune system, and much more. Not only is it delicious when brewed just right (most health food store brands do not do it justice), but it can be a real treat when used in skin and body care formulations. Lucky for me I became addicted to the health benefits of drinking it from a local friend who brews his own. He recently gave me a scoby where now I can brew my very own and include the beautiful properties of Kombucha in my skincare formulations. Here are a few products that currently contain this magnificent ingredient:
Organic Hair Conditioner
Kombucha Cider Vinegar Rinse

I'm sure as I come up with more products and figure out how to integrate this wonderful tea into more products you will see more of it to come. If you have sampled some Kombucha Tea at your local health food store and find it too sweet or too bitter, it may not have been brewed "just right". Keep your eyes out for maybe someone local or a friend who may be able to brew it just right.

Did you take time to breathe today?

It's that time of year that we all crave rejuvenation. The need to fill our souls with goodness and spiritual fulfillment that leaves a peaceful feeling running through our bodies and minds. It's so easy to get lost in the day to day happenings of to-do lists, phone calls, cleaning, and everything else that happens to come our way that we often forget to just take a deep breath, which is something that can really help us achieve those refreshing goals. Just inhaling oxygen is very critical to our well-being, and any effort to increase the supply of oxygen to our body also increases oxygen that is given to the brain making us happier, healthier, and more relaxed.
Do you ever feel tired, nervous and irritable and can't really put the finger on why? Do you have trouble sleeping at night sometimes? It may actually be connected to your lack of breathing during the day. Lack of breathing can lower the immune system, making you more susceptible to catching colds, flu, and illnesses. As we go through life, bad breathing can become habitual.
Oxygen purifies the blood stream, sending out toxic wastes. So the better our breathing, the more pure our bodies, mind, and even our skin will appear.

Here are a few deep breathing tips you can do at your desk:
1. Sit up straight
2. When you inhale, you should feel the stomach moving in, and feel your belly filling with air.
3. After filling your belly, keep inhaling. Feel your rib cage and chest expand.
4. Try to hold for about 5 seconds, releasing very slowly.
5. Close your eyes if you can and envision yourself in a sunny meadow surrounded by flowers and trees.
6. Relax your face and mind.
7. Practice this whenever you can throughout your day. Even one relaxing breath like this can put you on the way to a better night's sleep and ultimate relaxation.
8. Turn on some relaxing music. Even if you are on the computer it's great to have a little relaxing background music, which can help you to be relaxed, focused, and breathing while you are working. Yes it is possible!

Another simple way to attain some relief from stress, anxiety, or restlessness is to take a warm bath. A little warm water, some soft relaxing music, and an assortment of bath luxuries you have on hand always do the trick! Taking some time out for yourself to do this will help you remember to breathe. Take long, deep breathes as you envelope your body in the water.
But you don't have to be in a tub to enjoy deep breathing benefits. You can even be at your desk working! It's easy!

This month our free gift is a keep sake apothecary jar filled with our Essential Bath Crystals in the Breathe blend. Did you take time to breathe today? I hope you will, in a warm bath, surrounded by beautiful music, and some of our purifying, detoxifying, and mineral-rich bath crystals.