As I mentioned a bunch earlier, I had a very hard time with smells in the early part of this pregnancy. It actually was so bad I had to stop using regular toiletries and find natural and non-smelly alternatives, or simply eliminate the item.
This all happened as we were heading into winter, so eliminating lotion long-term was not an option. I went without it for a few weeks, but the result was dry and itchy skin. Then I remembered that I had read that you could use oils as moisturizers - in fact I guess that's probably what folks did before we had fancy chemical moisturizers with fragrances. I considered what sort of oil I thought would be least smelly and most enjoyable, and decided on almond oil. It ended up being a great choice.
I just keep the bottle of oil in the bathroom and after I take a shower, put a thin layer of oil everywhere. I try to give it a few minutes to soak in, but it's really not messy at all (they key is to not use too much - which is also frugal!). It has almost no odor and makes my skin very soft. I don't know if I can give the oil the credit for this, but I also haven't gotten any stretch marks at this point!
This is not as cheap as free lotion through the drugstore game, but it is very inexpensive. I also like that it's healthy - there is nothing artificial in it at all. It's also simple, there's just one product to buy and no deliberation, and I like that simplicity.
Head over to Life As Mom for more of Frugal Friday.
3 comments:
Great suggesions! My MIL has sensitive skin on her face and she uses this as a moisturizer, but I never would have thought to use it for whole-body moisturizing! Do you buy it at a health food store, or is it widely available and I've just never noticed?
Good advice. Back in December, Martha Stewart Living had a recipe for a bath scrub using sunflower oil. I made some (sunflower oil, epsom salts, and essential oils for fragrance, which can be eliminated of course!), and it's fantastic! Sometimes the old ways really do work the best.
C - I got mine at Whole Foods. I suspect the regular supermarket might not have it, but you never know. I like that it's not a huge bottle too - it's easy to manage. I bet you could use light olive oil (less of the distinctive smell) with similar results. Or maybe sunflower oil like the next comment mentions.
Anne Marie - Now that you say it, I remember when you did that project, and I think that encouraged me in this experiment. It's funny, I'm pretty ok with essential oils, especially now, but the artificial stuff is still more difficult for me. I figure that's probably not a bad thing - the real stuff is better for us anyway.
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