Wholesale from Lora's Beauty

If you're interested in carrying Lora's Beauty products, Lora does sell wholesale including special orders such as "soap-by-the-block".  Please send your inquires to lora@lorasbeauty.com.

Exciting Changes on Web Site

I'm s.l.o.w.l.y updating my website.  I've upgraded some photos (still not perfect though) and I've made subject specific pages.  Now if you click on a picture of an item at Lora's Beauty you can see more subject related information and feedback regarding the item.  I hope to add even more pictures to these pages but for now, check it out.  

On a related note, I also changed my mobile redirect gadget (this is the gadget that detects what device a person is using to access Lora's Beauty Homepage) so iPad's will no longer be directed to the mobile version of Lora's Beauty.

The Sun's not the only thing hot!

Really!?  Sunscreen that bursts into flames while it's on your skin?

http://www.webmd.com/skin-problems-and-treatments/news/20121022/fire-risk-banana-boat-spray-sunscreen-recall?src=RSS_PUBLIC

Yet another reason to go natural!  Try Lora's Beauty Face and Body Cream with Sunscreen.

Another New Product!

Yesterday I spent part of the day of a partly rainy day to try out a new whipped shea butter cream recipe.  LOVE IT!

This cream is made of organic shea butter, organic rice bran oil, and organic coconut oil.  The oils are then whipped until they are light, fluffy, and luxurious.

This cream could have multiple uses.  Shea butter is an excellent moisturizer, providing elasticity to  skin and luster to hair.

Rice bran oil is rich in vitamins B and E.  It also increases the skin's elasticity and softens and hydrates the skin.  Rice bran oil is great for providing shine and limiting hair's split ends without leaving your hair greasy feeling.

With a little coconut oil added to the cream and you now have a weapon against flaky scalp and skin.

Lora's Beauty sells Whipped Shea Butter Cream in the online store for $8.

Lora Answers Your 40-Year Old Questions

It's time once again to answer those burning questions that were sent in to beauty magazines 40-plus years ago!  

It's amazing to me how time moves on but beauty questions remain surprisingly the same...

Question:
Since winter, my skin has been super dry--especially on my legs. It hurts to shave them, and I'm not able to get as close a shave as I'd like. What should I do?
Judith H.

Answer 40 years ago:
Dear Judith, After a winter's worth of cold, dry air, it's to be expected that your skin would need pampering-especially the areas you shave. When you use a razor, start with a sharp blade, they'll be less irritating to your skin. And never, never shave dry skin-you can end up with a razor burn. If you shave with soap and water, use a soap that contains moisturizing creams.  Afterward, for extra smoothing, you can use a rich cream or lotion. But do wait a bit before applying it. Reason: Skin is often sensitive just after shaving, and lotions may cause irritation then.

Lora's Answer:
Actually, I'm ok with the answer given 40 years ago.  Sometimes the questions AND the answers remain the same.  I will add that Lora's Beauty has a great super-fatted moisturizing soap that would work great for shaving--the Cocoa Butter Soap.  Additional Cocoa Butter is added during the hand-milled stage of soap making creating a very moisturizing bar.
After showering, or better yet while you're still in the shower, apply Lora's Body Butter.  Only natural, nourishing ingredients are used to limit the chance of skin irritation.

Some Good Beauty and Skin Articles and Links

I've probably harped on this a bit much, but here's another endorsement for washcloths and don't forget to checkout Lora's Beauty Pocket Washcloth.

http://beauty.about.com/b/2012/10/09/5-great-ways-to-use-a-washcloth.htm


Haven't heard of BB creams until I read this article.  Have to say, I'm not completely convinced but they're interesting.

Having problems deciding whether a skin care product has expired?  Here's a good article that helps you decide.  None of Lora's Beauty moisturizes or butters contain water or chemical preservatives.  It's best to use them within a year.  Lora's soaps can last a couple years at least, however, the essential oil scents may diminish over time.

New! Patchouli Cedar Sage Goat's Milk Soap

A great new soap!  Made with dried sage and scented with patchouli and cedar. Sage is great at improving the body’s skin renewal process, resulting in healthier skin! Sage is also beneficial in fighting acne and relieving chapped skin.

This new soap has a nice, refreshing, outdoor scent!

Try some today at Lora's Beauty!

Lora Answers...your 40 year old questions!

Another question from the 1970's and another installment of Lora Answers Your 40 Year Old Questions!

Question:
I'm considering one of those new frizzy hair styles, but I worry that it will damage my hair.

Lora's Answer:

I'm not real familiar with those frizzy new hair styles so I'm going to pretend you asked how you can get rid of frizzy, damaged hair.

First, there are many causes of frizzy hair but they almost all stem from a lack of moisture in the hair.

Naturally curly hair, lots of sun, chemically treated or hot styled hair can result in frizzy hair.  Sometimes just rubbing your hair when it's wet with a towel will cause breakage and therefore frizzy hair.

To combat frizzy hair, I recommend washing hair about 3 times a week using Lora's Beauty Beer Bar Shampoo.  This bar contains high quality beer as well as cocoa butter and olive oil.  B vitamins, the proteins found in beer, are said to repair damaged hair and boost overall body. Meanwhile, the maltose and sucrose sugars in beer tighten the hair’s cuticles for enhanced shine and reduced frizz.

Between shampoos and anytime your hair is dry, try using Lora's Hair Butter. Apply to hands and rub until smooth then massage into dry hair. Made with shea butter, coconut oil, jojoba oil, and almond oil this butter makes a great styling balm to control friz.

Thanks for your ever timely question!

New Lora's Beauty Brochure

Please pass along the new Lora's Beauty Brochure.  You can find it here:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1duFgeOvh5QG0H42zG-PNaV_T79EMTKi-qdoBHDaOvy4/edit

Lora Answers...your 40 year old questions!

Here's something fun we're going to try at Lora's Beauty, an advice column!  This isn't any old advice column, however.  This advice column is answering questions written into magazine beauty editors over 40 years ago. It's interesting to see the questions asked and the advice given. So...let's get started with the first question:

Question:

I'm going on a bicycle camping trip with very little room for cosmetics. Which would you consider the essentials?

Answer 40 years ago:

Why not let your natural beauty shine through? Your eyes will be bright and clear from the healthy exercise, and your cheeks glowing from the increased circulation in your body. However, a must is a tiny bottle of Ten-O-Six Lotion to keep your skin clean. Exercise your body, Ten-O-Six your face. Twice a day wherever you are.  Add a moisturizer and a possible suntan lotion for protection and you're off packing. Enjoy the trip!

Lora's Answer Today:

First off, I must say, this is the BEST BEAUTY QUESTION EVER! In fact, it brings up a bunch of questions I have, such as: Where did you go?  What kind of bike did you ride?  How many miles a day did you do?  Did you travel in a group, solo, or just a couple people?  What was the best part of travelling by bike?  What was the worst?  Did you follow the beauty advice given to you 40 years ago?  Did you get sunburned?  Did you get skin cancer?  I hope not.  

Answering that question today, however, I would advice that you carry LOTS of sunscreen and not just any sunscreen, but Lora's Beauty Face and Body Sunscreen.  It's made with zinc oxide and is free of suspect chemicals like parabens, oxybenzone, PABA and retinyl palmitate. I would also recommend carrying Lora's Beauty Skin and Saddle Sore Salve. This salve will protect your skin from prolonged exposure to riding in a saddle. This salve is also all natural without sulfates. Take a bar of Lora's Beer Shampoo and Soap as well. Again, an all natural, chemical free soap that will do double duty on your bike trip. Finally, toss in a Lora's Beauty Pocket Washcloth to help scrub off the road grime. This washcloth is light weight and contains a little loop on it that will work perfectly hooked over your handlebars to dry! I hope you enjoyed your trip!

Old Beer

Anyone remember this product?  I found it in a Seventeen  magazine from 1979.    If you liked it in the 70's chances are  you'll like the Lora's Beauty version as well.  


B vitamins, the proteins found in malt and hops, are said to repair damaged hair and boost overall body. Meanwhile, the maltose and sucrose sugars in beer tighten the hair’s cuticles for enhanced shine.
Lora's version comes with the added benefit of being all natural with no added chemicals or sulfates.

  

Skin Care Links

I found some interesting links regarding skin care I'd like to share.

This article is about how people who lead a simple lifestyle, have a healthy diet, and limit their exposure to personal health care product chemicals have low rates of obesity, diabetes, and infertility.

http://women.webmd.com/news/20120626/simple-lifestyle-may-limit-exposure-to-chemicals?src=RSS_PUBLIC

Here's another article about the unhealthy ingredients in sunscreens and how they may be linked to endometriosis in women.

http://women.webmd.com/endometriosis/news/20120511/sunscreen-ingredient-linked-endometriosis?src=RSS_PUBLIC

And again on the topic of sunscreen...here's a great picture to illustrate why it is important to wear sunscreen (with healthy ingredients).

http://kottke.org/12/06/keep-on-truckin

Have allergies? Common chemicals found in soap, toothpaste, mouthwash, and other personal care products may make them worse.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/06/120619092933.htm

I've written a previous blog about the best type of Lora's Beauty soap for your skin type. Unsure of your skin type though? Here's an article to help you find out what type you have.

http://beauty.about.com/od/skinflaws/a/skintypes.htm

New Product From Lora's Beauty: Hair Balm

Lora's Beauty Hair Balm is made with shea butter, coconut oil, jojoba oil, and almond oil and makes a great styling and repairing balm. Apply to damp or dry hair then style as usual.

Shea butter is excellent at repairing dry, brittle hair. It absorbs quickly into the scalp to help hydrate without clogging pores. This all natural balm is particularly beneficial for heat damaged or processed hair. Comes in a 4 0z container and is only $8.

Personal Care Chemicals in River

It seems everyday I can find an article regarding the affects of chemicals in personal care products on the body. I've blogged about several of them here, here, and here to list a few. Today I ran across something that was particularly troubling though.

The chemicals that aren't absorbed into your body from your personal care products are now contaminating rivers when you wash them off. This is happening even AFTER the gray water is treated and released into the river according to A study conducted by the USGS. Isn't it time to switch to an all-natural alternative for your body's sake and for the sake of our water?

Mobile Redirect in Google Sites

I spent some time today creating a mobile site for Lora's Beauty and I wanted to share something I found today.

First off, you may notice if you go to Lora's Beauty on a non-mobile device you will get a link to shop using Paypal. However, if you go to Lora's Beauty on a mobile device you will be shown a Google store and payments will be made using Google Wallet/Checkout. I did this not to make my life complicated, although it does because now I need to maintain inventory in two places, but to better serve my customers. I've heard from a number of people that they prefer to use Paypal. I've also heard that a lot of people don't want to create a Google login (it's hard to believe that anyone doesn't already have one). Paypal allows people to purchase using their own Visa/Mastercard WITHOUT logging in. People like this.

There's a big problem with the Paypal checkout, however. The buttons you create via their button creation method are not mobile friendly--at all. They don't work. You can fix this by digging into Paypal's API but you better know what you're doing. When you go to the mobile version of Lora's Beauty, you will need to checkout via Google Wallet/Checkout.

From a developer's perspective, Google Wallet/Checkout is WAY easier. Keeping track of inventory and product information is done in a spreadsheet. That's it. Update the spreadsheet and your website is updated. It also works on a mobile device with no special coding.

Having said all that, I did run into an issue on how to place a mobile redirect (code that would detect that someone was using a mobile phone and redirect them automatically to the mobile website) on my Google Site. There's plenty of javascript code on the web that will show you how to do it. The trouble is you need to place the code within the HEAD tags on your page. Google doesn't give you access to the HEAD tags. After much searching on the web, I found this Google Gadget. It worked perfectly!

Just thought I'd share and let me know if you have a better solution or have tried something else.

Truths about Sunscreen

It's that time of year again. Most of the US has had at least a few days of spring-like or even summer-like weather. As it begins to heat up, it's wise to think again about protection from the sun. Please read this before heading out. For an all-natural mineral sunscreen made with 15% zinc oxide checkout Lora's Beauty

Make It Yourself:Salt Spritzer for Hair

If you're looking for a way to get that tousled, wavy hair that shows you've spent your day at the beach swimming in salt water, then this spritzer is for you!

Mix:
4 oz Dead Sea Salt
1 T Sweet Almond Oil (or jojoba oil)
a few drops of your favorite essential oil.

Use your own spray bottle and add a tablespoon of the Salt Spritzer to 4 oz of warm water and shake. Spritz on hair until covered then scrunch hair with hands. Let hair dry naturally.
The salt and oil in this spritzer will help moisturize your hair and boost it's volume. It has also been claimed that Dead Sea Salt can prevent hair loss and promote the growth of new hair.

Acne?

Just came across the interesting results of a study involving the herb thyme and acne. A thyme tincture has been shown to be more effective against acne than benzoyl peroxide, traditionally used in acne solutions. This is great news for people with acne. Benzoyl peroxide can be very drying and irritating to many people's skin.

Read more!

Lora's Beauty Now Accepts Paypal!

Lora's Beauty is now accepting paypal or you can purchase items with your credit card or using google checkout.

Take a look at the new paypal store and remember the sale on Lora's soaps made with cow's milk. Only $2.95 while supplies last and they're going fast!

Make It Yourself

Hot Oil Hair Treatment

Use of a hot oil hair treatment once or twice a month will help maintain healthy hair. This recipe contains jojoba and sweet almond oils which are rich in antioxidants and vitamins. Added to that is a touch of honey to really coat the hair and return it's moisture and luster. A couple tablespoons warmed up in the microwave for 10 seconds should be enough to coat medium length hair. Apply to hair in sections liberally so the entire hair shaft is covered. Wrap hair in a warm moist towel and leave on for 15-30 minutes as needed. Shampoo and condition hair as usual. You'll see the difference in the first application! Softer, shinier, and less fly aways!

1 T jojoba oil
3 T sweet almond oil
1 T honey
10-20 drops of your favorite essential oil (Rosemary works great!)

Make It Yourself

Over the past year and a half I've experimented with many natural skin and hair products I've made myself. Some of them I've offered at Lora's Beauty others I've just made for myself and use everyday. Many of these products are very simple to make and can be made from ingredients you probably have in your kitchen or can easily find at the grocery store. Therefore, I've decided to share these recipes in a new blog feature called "Make It Yourself".

First up is a real easy item and great for all those wanting to get their skin ready for spring and summer clothes--Salt or Sugar Body Scrub.

These scrubs are great for exfoliating and softening the skin. Apply to skin in the shower then rinse off the salt or sugar and the oil remains to soften the skin.


Sugar Scrub
Mix in an 8 ounce container:
Raw Turbinado sugar, enough to fill container 3/4 of the way.
2 Tablespoons honey
1/2 cup Sunflower oil (or almond oil)
15-20 drops of your favorite essential oil

Mix together so scrub is chunky. Add more oil if scrub is too dry for your liking.


Salt Scrub
Mix in an 8 ounce countainer:
1 part epsom salt and 1 part dead sea salt so container is 3/4 of the way full.
1/2 cup sunflower oil
2 T honey
15-20 drops of your favorite essential oils

Mix together so scrub is chunky. Add more oil if scrub is too dry for your liking.

Both scrubs should keeps quite nicely in the shower for several months.

Enjoy!

Lora's Beauty SOAP SALE

It doesn't happen often, in fact it's never happened before, but starting today Lora's Beauty is having a sale on all bar soap made with cow's milk! Get a bar or multiple bars of cow's milk soap for $2.95 each and ship anywhere in the U.S. for only $5 on orders under $40! That's a lot of soap delivered to your door for $5!

Lora's cleaning out her inventory to make way for her new line of goat's milk soap. Going forward all of Lora's favorite soaps will be larger and made with goat's milk, adding even more skin repair and skin softening benefits.

Hurry over to Lora's Beauty to place your order. Supplies are limited!

Goat's Milk Soap is ready!

Goat's Milk Soap!

Many of Lora's best selling soaps are now made with Goat's Milk.

Goat's milk has several benefits for skin. It contains Alpha Hydroxy Acids which help in removing dead skin cells. These acids help break down the bonds that hold dead skin cells together leaving the smoother, younger looking skin cells.

Goat's milk is also high in Vitamin A, an essential vitamin for skin repair. Vitamin A has been linked to reducing the appearance of wrinkles, acne control, and providing relief for psoriasis.

Goat's milk is highly moisturizing. The milk itself is very creamy and therefore won't dry your skin out.

Now available in the online store: Honey Safflower soap made with goat's milk and Cocoa Butter Vanilla soap made with goat's milk. These bars are also larger than the regular Lora's Beauty bar.

Goat's Milk Soap

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December was pretty busy as usual, however with the New Year I have managed to start a couple batches of the long awaited Goat's Milk Soap. First up is the Cocoa Butter Vanilla Soap with Goat's Milk. Also curing is the Honey Safflower with Goat's Milk. Both these soaps are rebatched, meaning the Goat's milk is added after the cold process soap has cured. This means more benefits of the Goat's milk are retained and not damaged from the lye during the cold process stage.

Goat's milk has several benefits for skin. It contains Alpha Hydroxy Acids which help in removing dead skin cells. These acids help break down the bonds that hold dead skin cells together leaving the smoother, younger looking skin cells.

Goat's milk is also high in Vitamin A, an essential vitamin for skin repair. Vitamin A has been linked to reducing the appearance of wrinkles, acne control, and providing relief for psoriasis.

Goat's milk is highly moisturizing. The milk itself is very creamy and therefore won't dry your skin out.

Look for these Goat's Milk bars in the online store later this month!