First of MANY EGCG reviews! Sweet Creek Herbs soap!

So, Pili and Iwere REALLY excited to hear that the Etsy Green and Clean Guild was going to be offering their swag bags again for spring! We both marked our calenders, and waited patiently. Well, in the meantime, the EGCG also announced that as a promotional event, they were going to be sponsoring an Easter egg hunt, where you go through participating shops, and search for the hidden eggs in the listings! (hearting stuff along the way, of course!). So not only did I WIN one of the Easter egg prizes, but I also ordered a swag bag and they both arrived on the SAME DAY! Talk about a fun filled night! I sniffed and tested my way though some of the goodies, took some pictures, and started making a list of items that I was going to review. I had never heard of Sweet Creek Herbs before any of this, and I got an unscented olive oil bar in one bag, and a chamomile shampoo with silk bar in the other!



Well, you all know me, I see unscented and I think "HEY! I can use this on Gory! He can test it!"I don't even know where to start with this soap. The pediatrician had told me at Gory's 1 month check-up that using olive oil on his skin may help with his dry, problem skin. This kid is allergic to EVERYTHING, from laundry soap, to diaper wipes. So I tried out the soap on him to see how it was gonna fly. I LOVE this soap! It goes on smooth, there is not much lather, but it almost melts into the skin. It is not "oily" but more like the consistency of an ointment in dry bar form. Gory's skin is not a heck of a lot better, and I am now using it on my dry legs! I really have to say, that this soap is almost like a miracle for dry, rough skin! I even told my husband, I was SHOCKED at how much this soap has helped both of us! Really, it is pretty amazing!



The shampoo bar, on the other hand, well. I am probably not the best person to test that one out. I tried it, but with my SO severely damaged hair, it literally made it feel like wet noodles. The smell of it was AWESOME, but the way it made my hair feel was not so good. I am thinking of making Evan try it on his gross head, maybe it will smell better then his gross 9-year-old boy smell!



There will be many more EGCG reviews to come, as this is the first of many, but I literally HAD to run over to tell you all about this AMAZING olive oil soap that Sweet Creek Herbs makes! You will be pleasantly surprised!

Gudonya Too- The glory of having a dog clean your tresses!

In the world of handmade bath and beauty products, the makers of lotions, soaps, and the like are overabundant. Really, I have some old tried and true favorites that I keep going back to, but in reality, there are MANY to choose from! But when you bring up hair care products....well....that is few and far between. I started to search Etsy and the rest of the Internet, to try and find a shampoo and conditioner that would be able to properly care for my SEVERELY damaged hair.

As a little background, let me start off with the problem I was facing. I have long hair, past the middle of my back. I have been dying it since I can remember, and not dying like "Oh, let me see if this new shade of brown will look good with my new tan sweater!" but more along the lines of "Wow! I wonder if the fluorescent green with the hot pink tips will clash with my studded leather jacket?" So any sort of chemical treatment I would put on my hair involved extensive bleaching, followed by lots of dye and pigments, most of which need to be applied VERY frequently to keep up the color intensity. Currently, my hair is dyed black on the bottom layers, with the top layer being a bleached-out platinum blonde. Literally, the blonde is, as my hair girl puts it "enough to ALMOST strip the hair off your head!"

So, my hair needed help, and lots of it. Plus, I needed something that would NOT strip any of the color OUT of my hair once I had dyed it. In comes Gudonya Too. Their feedback on Etsy is impeccable, and I had heard from Nicole and Redd, both from DIYScene, that their shampoo was VERY different, but awesome! So I figured, hey, what can it hurt?

I ordered the Salty Dawg Creme Shampoo in Wild Strawberries scent. The fact that they touted the scent as "not that plastic strawberry scent that most products have" I was sold. I also ordered the Intense Hair Conditioner, in the same scent. When thy came in the mail, I was so SHOCKED at the packaging! It was so well packaged, in a first class envelope with another sturdy cardboard box inside! There was NO WAY this stuff was getting smooched! They also added in a little free sample of soap, that they also carry in their shop!

I immediately ran to the shower to try out my new goodies. The Salty Dawg IS very different. Think a salt scrub for your hair. When I first put it on, it was very grainy, and did not go anywhere. But the instructions that came with it said to add water after you apply it to your hair. I did, and BOOM! Suds like I have NEVER had before! I mean, you literally only need a tiny little dab of this stuff, even on my long hair, to give you enough bubbles and suds to do the job! And them smell is fantastic! Kinda like jumping into a strawberry margarita! The texture of my hair after I rinsed was unique. If you have ever been swimming in the ocean, and gotten out, and let your hair air dry, that is how I can best explain it. Your hair is so squeaky clean, if you wanted to just leave it unconditioned, you would for sure get that tousled, just went surfing look! With the conditioner (which smells just as good, BTW) my hair feels and looks about the healthiest it has been in a very long time! The conditioner does not leave my hair all greasy looking, but it is also not one of those conditioners that make you wonder if you might have forgotten to even put the conditioner on!

All in all, I have to say, I am sold on Gudonya's hair line. They have many other scents that I can't wait to try, as soon as my current Salty Dawg has gone doggie heaven! Even more exciting is the fact that their hair line is so popular, they are planning the opening of the Gudonya Too Dawg Shop, dedicated to their hair care line!

Clean. Stay.
Good dawg!
RUFF!