Batty's Blog

Blog

Weekly Photo Recap & Little Man Update

Here’s this week’s photo recap! There’s lots of little man news in this one because his surgery was this week! Enjoy the doggie cuteness

Pictures are displayed from the oldest to the most recent (dates are included in the description of the picture). If you’d prefer to see my picture updates as they are posted, follow my instagram feed – that’s where I post these pictures during the week and then recap them here on the blog once a week. (This is a relatively new feature on the blog but to see previous photo recaps, check out the “My Week So Far” tag).

An appropriate throw back thursday for this week: little man as a baby (April 10th)

This morning in the studio: body balm cooling down and setting up (April 10th)

I was up super early this morning and got a head start on my “studio to do list”… I’ve already made shampoo, conditioner, and leave in conditioner! Now on to a few other things on the list before switching gears after lunch. After lunch: order packing time! (April 11th)

(April 12th)

I just heard about this so I’m posting for anyone else who hasn’t heard about it yet either. (April 12th)

From my studio: my bin of misc soaps! Any soaps that don’t turn out “pretty enough” to be sold as Batty’s Bath soaps end up here. Don’t feel bad for them – it’s not a soap graveyard lol. They are all full functional (just a little on the fugly side lol) so I fill my soap dishes around the house with them, my family and friends occasionally snag bars from this bin to take home and use for themselves, and any time I need to make more laundry soap (how-to here) I use the bars from this bin. I also turn these bars into rebatched liquid hand soap or general purpose liquid household soap when I need it. There’s all kinds of soapy gems to be had from this bucket (April 12th)

The weather was perfect to try out my new instax mini camera! I love how the polaroids turned out! Such a fun little camera. I’ve been really missing taking insta pix since I ran out of film for my joy cam… and haven’t been able to find more at a decent price. The instal mini is a perfect substitute/upgrade. (April 12th)

The morning light has arrived in my office (April 13th)

Super long day of work but another record set with the number of orders we packed up today! Conclusion = long but bliss filled day! I’m pretty sure I’m going to sleep sweet and deeply tonight! Thanks to momma batty and VA lauryn for all your help! (April 13th)

So I killed my blender yesterday. Momma batty came to the rescue and brought me her vintage olive sunbeam blender (which is at least as old as I am) to hold me over until I get a new blender. I’m kind of nervous that I’ll kill this beautiful relic lol. (April 14th)

In my office (top pic) and in my studio (bottom pic). (April 14th)

Spent the day in bed feeling like crap. Pain levels are high and on the rise. As I predicted on my blog, I’m facing a flare up this week. Now I do face elevated symptoms every week – I have about two full days each week (on average as of late) where I’m feeling well enough to be uber productive… and 5 days of elevated symptoms… but I can usually predict which weeks are going to be better than others. This is one of those “other” weeks. My prediction for this week was based on the stress of little man going in for surgery – stress increases my symptoms. I drop little man off for surgery in less than 7 hours. Eek. I’m going to be a ball of stress until he’s back at home. At the moment he’s curled up against me sound asleep (April 16th)

My boy in now in the hands of the surgeon! Eeeek! This doggie mommy is a huge ball of stress! Send little man your positive vibes and prayers! (April 16th)

Sassy girl has been super stressed since I came home without little man. she’s been pacing and watching out the windows (for little man to return) all day. This is one of those times that I wish doggies knew English. I’ve told her a few things that I always say when I’m leaving for a short time to try to let her know that he’s only gone for a short time but her actions tell me she’s not getting it. Poor girlie. (April 16th)

Sharing the good news with sassy earlier tonight: little man made it out of surgery and they said it was a success! (The bad news? His X-rays showed signs of hip dysplasia) (April 17th)

Little man is back home and resting. (That’s an ice pack btw). As suspected, he stole the hearts of everyone he came into contact with during his stay at the vets! My sweet boy is making friends all over the place hehe. (April 17th)

Sassy immediately came to lay by little man now that he’s home. She’s finally stopped pacing and is relaxed now that her best friend is right by her side. (April 17th)

Our dining room. (April 17th)

Early this evening. All tucked in to sleep + recover + look so darn cute! (April 17th)

What I wore: all smiles today because little man is back home. He was only gone for about 28 hours but because of the circumstances, it felt like a very v..e..r..y long 28 hours! I’m wearing a #handmade reconstructed / upcycled sweater and fleece lined thick stretchy pants – such a comfy outfit! Plus I love that the colors in the sweater match (and complement) my current hair colour (not that you can tell that well from these pix) (April 17th)

A win! Let’s be next ontario! (April 18th). Posted on this instagram account

Our living room. This room is on the main floor of our house and where I’ll be spending a substantial amount of time over the next few months while little man recovers. Since he can’t do the stairs that go up to the bedrooms, studio, office, etc, the living room will be my temporary workspace so I can keep an eye on him. Thankfully momma batty will be coming over on a regular basis so I can head upstairs to work in the studio … Cus let’s face it, there’s only so much of my work I can move to the living room lol. Things like labeling products and online/computer/admin stuff will be happening in the living room for now but everything else I’ll need a doggysitter for so I can jet upstairs to the studio for a few hours at a time. It seems momma batty will have a co-host to help her keep an eye on little man … Sassy hasn’t left his side since he came home! I also spent my first night sleeping on the couch in I don’t know how long last night! And I use the word “sleeping” loosely.. “waking up often” would be a more appropriate description of last night’s activities lol … doggie mommy duties don’t stop at night! You might be thinking why don’t i just leave the dogs downstairs together at night… well, sassy gets all worked up if I don’t let them upstairs … monkey screeches ensue… (and I’m sure her having to pick between going upstairs like usual at night or staying with little man would send her into a full blown anxiety frenzy! ). So we’re camping out in the living room like a bunch of swatters for the next little while lol. Right now I’m going to sneak upstairs to soak in the tub while the dogs saw logs shhhh (April 18th)

The extras…

I’ve decided to add a little “extras” part to these recaps where I share what I’m currently watching, reading, etc. This will provide a little space for me to also share things that I’m excited about, fun finds, or any other random tidbits.

This week the extras section will just showcase what I’m watching and reading right now (and I suspect this will be the case most weeks).

I’m currently watching:

Medium. I’m surprised I haven’t watched this show before. I’ve been having a harder and harder time finding tv shows to watch on netflix while I work lately… mostly because I’ve watched all the tv shows on netflix that I think would interest me. I’ve even watched some of them several times lol. Now I’m just grasping at straws for shows that will at least keep me mildly entertained, or at least not annoy me lol.
I watched Revenge earlier in the week but got bored of it after a while, and finished watching the available seasons of Sons of Anarchy on netflix the week before. I didn’t think Sons of Anarchy would be a show that would get or keep my attention, but my sister recommended it so I gave it a try. To my surprise I got sucked into the storyline super fast and was hooked!
As always, there’s two shows that I don’t do anything but watch when there’s a new episode (re: I don’t work while I watch these shows! I just sit back and enjoy!). Those two shows are Grimm and The Vampire Diaries.

What I’m reading (non-work related):

For the past few weeks I’ve been reading a collection of books I got for my kindle (via amazon) for dirt cheap. The collection is called Magic After Dark and has 6 books in it. The first 3 (Sacrificed in Shadow, Crimson Night, and Influential Magic) were interesting enough. The 4th book (Fairy Tales and Ever Afters) didn’t grab my attention at all. I always give novels at least 3 chapters before I give up on them. After the 3rd chapter of the fourth book I skipped ahead to the 5th book (Maggie for Hire). The last book is called Sterling. To see the authors and whatnot, here’s a link to the collection on amazon, although I’ve noticed they only have 5 books in the collection now (they’ve removed Fairy Tales and Ever Afters … which is the book I skipped over anyways).

Apr 18, 2014 | Categories: Batty's Life, Your Sparkle | Tags: Animals, Batty Ramble, Behind the Scenes, Home Decor, My Week So Far, Pets, Soap, What I Wore | Leave A Comment »

Q&A: What products do you recommend for hyperpigmentation?

Hi, I have severe hyperpigmentation on my face, neck and chest. Dermatologists have no idea what the cause is but suspect it might be e result of infertility drugs I used to get pregnant over the last 6 years. I ready about you on beautylish.com where you shared that you create masks for hyperpigmentation but didn’t know what product to choose from your website, so I thought it best to reach out directly to you

I look forward to hearing from you!
Cheers!

Here’s my super quick product suggests for hyper pigmentation (in order):

- dry clay mask

- hydra healing skin rescue gel

- after acne serum

- balance serum

Additionally, Facial Primer Facial Moisturizer gives a low dose of the clay found in the dry clay mask (that reduces redness)

Please see my acne scars video and my vitamin deficiency + skin care video (posted below) for even more suggestions! The acne scars video also includes how to use these products to reduce hyper pigmentation, what to avoid, and more! The vitamin deficiency + skin care video includes suggestions for steps you can take to boost your skin healing power internally!

I hope that helps

Apr 18, 2014 | Categories: Be Informed, Helpful Articles, Product How To's, Skin Care | Tags: Acne, Internal, question and answer, Rosacea, Scars, Skin Care, Skin Routines, Videos | Leave A Comment »

Honest Review of Detox Kit from Teenager with Cystic Acne

An anonymous review was submitted to ShopBattysBath.com a while ago (the site screens reviewers to ensure they are in fact customers who have purchased the products), and I couldn’t help but share it here! The review is of my Detox Skin Care Kit from a teenager with cystic acne. And while they didn’t use only the Detox products (as the routine recommends), they still saw (in their words), “the results were amazing“! They also share the ups and downs of their experience over several weeks of using the kit and provide tips based on their journey. It’s definitely worth a read! Thank you so much to this amazing teenager who stuck with it and bravely shared their results!

Here’s what our reviewer posted to the Detox Skin Care Kit page:

“So first off I would just like to say that I have cystic acne mostly with the occasional pimple and clogged pores (mostly on my forehead).
At first, my skin seemed angry and broke out even more (but it was still within the first two weeks) and when the second week was up, and I still had just as bad acne as before I was horrible upset because it was hard to convince my family (i am a teenager) to go the natural route and they all seemed to say ‘i told you so’. But I decided to keep going and to see since it does take a pimple a week to form.

And thankfully the results were amazing! my clogged pores even from before the two weeks were a lot better, and i stopped getting the occasional pimple there. I still have slightly clogged pores but it is MUCH better than before.
I tend to get cystic acne on my cheeks and sometimes on my chin and those two problem areas stopped breaking out. I do two right now, unfortunately but I think that was due to the monthly gift. My redness has definitely gone down in both areas, and my scars seemed to look better though I can’t say for sure it was these products that worked for those (I do use some other all organic products not from here) but i can definitely vouch that my acne is so much better due to batty’s products so thank you so much!!

I for some reason started getting pimples on the sides of my face (which is a little weird, i normally don’t get them there) but they’re looking better and it’s probably cause i didn’t focus as much on that spot.
So I can say I am a lot happier about my skin, going from having at least 5 cysts on my face to most of the time none (even the 2 i have right now is better than before) and I’m super happy about it.

This was only the detox, and if i continue breaking out I’ll probably just get some of the products from acne kit but even this has done an amazing job!
I would like to warn though, for my face in the winter (its like below freezing/freezing) the facial primer is not hydrating enough but that’s cause of the winter. So I would recommend if you live in a cold area to probably get the other one as well.

I hope this helps others with a similar situation with mine and convince you guys to buy it cause i swear it’s worth it.

(the four stars* is cause i still get a few breakouts and during the beginning made me break out before but i probably just need to switch to the acne one and this is still amazing product and will probably eliminate the problems for those who do not have as bad acne as i did). “

*out of 5

Apr 15, 2014 | Categories: Be Informed, Inspiration, Skin Care, Your Sparkle | Tags: Acne, Detox, Heard Around the Bathtub, Skin Care | Leave A Comment »

Q&A: Should I continue with your rosacea Kit? What do you recommend for “teenage” acne?

Hi Batty, I have been using the rosacea kit since early December. (What I have is acne rosacea. So my nose, and cheeks are red plus in the last few years I have developed the acne. I do follow all the tips that you recommend for balancing hormones and have for quite some time.) I have gone as far as a gaps diet but nothing seemed to really work. I had checked out your skin support serum and the tea and was thinking about ordering those . So, I’m still not sure what to do?

I noticed that my skin was softer and some of the acne was disappearing. Maybe a little redness as well. Nothing drastic. I believe that part of the problem with the acne is hormonal. My acne seems to calm a little and then about every 3 weeks it breaks out but seems to hang out for a while. I am almost out of the face mask. I would like to continue to use your products. “Should I just continue with the rosacea kit?” Also, I have a 12-year-old girl who has started the teenage acne. Nothing bad but still what would you recommend I use from your products for her?

Th going to provide my recommendations first, but then will follow-up with some extra info. If anything from the extra info sparks something you think I need to know to tweak my recommendations, just let me know

I’m focusing my recommendations on rosacea because it was the problem that cropped up first (and any rosacea focused recommendations won’t aggravate your acne, BUT certain acne recommendations could aggravate your rosacea!). So we’ll play it safe and focus on rosacea, as well as internal work that benefits both.

Recommendation: Continue with the Rosacea Kit

You mentioned that you’ve been using the rosacea kit since Dec – I would definitely recommend continuing to using it if you’re seeing even the smallest improvements. Our skin is often slow to calm / balance / react to changes so it’s important to stick with it. Rosacea or acne (or both!) that are caused by previous product use (i.e. chemical based products or products that your skin is sensitive to or reacts to), begins to calm down fastest. Although depending on how sensitized and damaged the skin has become, this too can take a while to clear. But, i often find that my customers aren’t only dealing with product-induced skin problems, so we need to take it a step further while continuing to nurture our skin with calming ingredients (and you definitely picked the right kit for that!).

Recommendation: Internal Support plus a few other suggestions

Having said that, it sounds like you’ve taken steps to support your system via internal methods (I’m not an expert on the gaps diet but if it follows the guidelines in the hormonal balancing tips and focuses on whole foods, then that’s awesome!). I find that internal support (via food) takes the longest to show up as progress on our skin. So it can be hard to stick with or know if it’s working or not, but it’s definitely worth sticking with. Internal changes will be what clears up stubborn and chronic skin care problems that natural skin care alone can’t.

A few things that might help (and have been proven to work with a lot of rosacea sufferers) are listed below:

Supplementing with B vitamins.
- Often rosacea actually INCREASES our nutritional requirement for several of the B vitamins as well as other nutritional requirements. The nutrients that have been directly linked with rosacea (as in a deficiency has been linked) are riboflavin (b2), coenzyme q10, vitamin k, niacinamide (b3), thiamine (b1), and selenium. There’s also strong evidence that the whole b vitamin group can be beneficial to rosacea sufferers. making sure you’re getting adequate amounts (or more!) of the above should help.
Topical B vitamins via my Hydration Mist.
- My hydration mist has recently been updated to include provitamin b5 and vitamin b3 (applying these topically was found to be as beneficial as taking these nutrients internally… doing both would be even better!). I also feel that the hydration mist will help calm your skin because it’s loaded with aloe.
Increase your intake of EFA (=reduce inflammation, a key in both acne and rosacea)
- EFA – essential fatty acids – have also been shown to improve several skin conditions (notably acne, rosacea, and eczema). You may be getting a good amount of EFAs with your clean diet, but be sure to double-check how much you’re getting and what the recommended intake is. When clearing up a skin problem, the more EFAs the better (some daily recommended intake guidelines are pretty low). I supplement my diet with fish oil capsules from my naturopath (if you’d like to know what kind i take i’d be happy to share the name/brand with you!)
Skin Support Tea
- Like we already discussed
if there’s one body system that all skin problems have in common it’s our digestive system! I talk a bit about this in the video I mentioned in my previous email, but supporting your digestive system is a lot more in-depth than what I had time to mention. It sounds like you’ve already got off to a great start with this (with your clean diet). One of the things i often tell my one-on-one clients (and this might sound like too much information lol) is to make sure they are having a bowel movement at least once a day! many natural health practitioners recommend more than this (the trend seems to be 2 – 3 x a day). The reason I mention this is because many people with chronic skin problems don’t even realize their digestive system is compromised (not working as efficiently as it can) and is therefore causing skin problems. And bowel movements are one of the first places to figure out if somethings “off” or not. BUT, even if BM aren’t an issue, many times we don’t even have any overt symptoms to tell us our digestive system is causing (or adding to) our skin grief (no cramping, no “bathroom issues”, no gas, etc). But it’s more likely than not that a slow / compromised / over burned digestive system is contributing to the problem.
Skin Support Serum: Not on your face!I think giving the skin support serum is worth a shot, but do not apply it to your face – since rosacea is at play, it could aggravate it. If you do go with the skin support serum (for the hormone balancing benefits), apply it on any of the areas shown in the picture on the skin support serum page.
Speaking of serums: Rosacea Serum
- If you have to pick one serum (the skin support or the rosacea serum), I feel that the rosacea serum might be a better place to start. Although your hormones are likely at least one cause of your skin concerns, the other suggestions (along with the clean diet you’ve adopted) should help balanced out our hormones… and when picking one serum, the rosacea serum might help you see results quicker as far as reducing redness. Both serums will definitely help, but I’m leaning towards the rosacea one for you, at least for the next while… especially since you’ve only been using the rosacea kit since dec, now is a good time (at the beginning of your journey with BB products) to load up on the calming ingredients.
Focus on supporting your digestive system
- There’s a ton of resources online for supporting your digestive system so I’ll just share the two things I tell almost all my clients:
  - add psyllium husks to food or a drink once a day. I do this by adding it to smoothies (my smoothies are: 1/3 is kale & spinach, 1/3 fruit, 1/3 water… plus flax & chia seeds, probiotics, etc). speaking of kale & spinach, the more green veggies you can work into your diet the better (which you probably already know since you’ve on a clean diet). But i thought I’d mention it. If you can’t get enough greens by eating them, green food supplements are a great option.
  - take a probiotic. the one i take is rom my naturopath (and I’ll happily share the brand/name of it with you if you’d like!).
- A couple more notes on digestion….
  - There has been a few studies that show a link between low hydrochloric acid and/or high levels of candida in the digestive systems of both acne and rosacea sufferers. Either (or both) might be something to explore further.
    - noted suggestions for both are taking hydrochloric acid and/or digestive enzymes, as well as cutting out processed sugar and white bread/rice. Plus, antifungal therapies if candida is a culprit
  - There was a study done in 2002, specifically with rosacea patients and they found that speeding up transit through the bowel (ie. time it takes food to hit your stomach and go out your you know where lol), immediately relieved the majority of rosacea symptoms! Now I only saw part of the study so I don’t know what they classify as “immediately” – it could have been after weeks of a particular regiment, and I don’t know what they did to speed up the transit time, but the takeaway points us back to having healthy and efficient digestion.
    - noted suggestions for speeding up transit time is usually drinking aloe juice daily

Ok.. that’s it for my recommendations in this email

Now on to the extra info I promised…

Although “Acne rosacea” is a common phrase that was used before scientists and researchers realized how different the two diseases really are, it’s rarely a term that gets used now (in a medical / treatment setting). And because each of them (acne and rosacea) contain completely different processes, it’s super important to figure out which one you’re dealing with…. but that’s not to say you don’t have both! Having both isn’t as common, but it definitely happens!

There’s several different ways to figure out if you are suffering from both, or if it’s rosacea (which is great at mimicking acne in appearance with redness, inflammation, and even pimples!), but one of the first things I often ask people in this situation is if they have or have noticed blackheads or not? Blackheads are usually not present with rosacea (or at least they aren’t present in abundance). Additionally, physical symptoms of rosacea only show up on the face, where acne can show up all over the body (so, if you’re only experiencing acne symptoms on your face, and never have any problems anywhere else, it might be rosacea mimicking acne).

If you’re experiencing any visible “veins” or broken capillaries on your cheeks or nose a deficiency in progesterone could be at play.

The Bottom line

For product recommendations is to stick with the rosacea kit, add in the hydration mist and rosacea serum, and start on the skin support tea. Skin support serum can be added to your routine as well but not to your face

Now for your daughter as teen age acne is almost always hormonal based, She’ll definitely want to start with the acne prone skin care kit as well as the skin support serum. You might benefit from the skin support serum as well (read up on all the benefits here).

Apr 11, 2014 | Categories: Be Informed, Helpful Articles, Product How To's, Skin Care | Tags: Acne, Green Living, Health, Heard Around the Bathtub, question and answer, Rosacea, Skin Care, Skin Routines | Leave A Comment »

Studio Update and Weekly Photo Recap

Here’s the weekly recap of my instagram pix! Usually I try to post the recap on Tuesday’s but this week I was so busy with little man’s sale that I didn’t get to the recap until now!

Actually, posting this is a little break from filling orders from little man’s sale. Thankfully I had back up yesterday (thanks momma batty!), and I’ll have more back up on Sunday – momma batty and VA lauryn are coming over! If we get all the orders packed up from little man’s sale before the end of the day we’re going to switch gears and start restocking products! I’ve got a long list of products that either sold out during the sale or are now in very short supply.

I’m hoping to have the majority of the products that are low in stock made (and packaged AND added to the online shop inventory) by the end of next week. That’s the goal but it might be a pretty far reaching goal since next week little man goes in for his surgery. I’ve also had a mighty big (yet thankfully short lived) flareup this week that knocked me out for almost a full two days.. and if I know my body like I think I do, the stress of little man going under the knife will throw me into another flare (stress affects my symptoms just as much as lack of sleep, working too much, etc).

Next week during the days following little man’s surgery will likely warrant a few days off to care for him anyways… so I’m thinking, whether it’s a flare up, or little man’s first days of recovery, I’ll be taking some time off next week.

So in a nutshell?

little man’s surgery is next week
i’ll be taking part of the week off to care for my man and get him situated
extra help has been called in to get orders out as fast as possible AND get products restocked
reading between the lines: it’s pretty safe to say that my 2-3 day email reply turn around time won’t be getting any shorter any time soon BUT i’ll be working hard behind the scenes… as usual

Now on with the photo recap!

Soaking in the tub and watching Jem and the holograms ! Yup, this makes me happy! (April 2)

Just a quick pic. The pastels didn’t turn out as vibrant as I’d hope but they did turn out exactly like I expected from this brand and the shade I dyed over. I’ll take some better pix when I get a few extra minutes. Ps I just left my hair air dry with only leave in conditioner in it. Hence the messy “in need of some help” look lol (April 3rd)

Previously in the studio. ….. packaging mild jojoba facial scrub (April 3rd)

First pic – yelling at sassy. Second pic – oh crap. I’ve been caught (and sassy still confused about what just happened). Reality? I caught him yawning in the first pic. In the second pic his ears are back because he was all excited that I was looking at him lol. (April 3rd)

This week’s cosmo inspired nails plus a new soap I just added to the online shop – cherrylicious – smells like black cherries. Mmm. (April 3rd)

This happened in the studio earlier today… made skin support tea (April 4th)

Me and this handsome man are off to see a special doggie surgeon about his leg today. Wish us luck! (April 4th)

It was a bit of a wait to see the surgeon and little man was nervous to be in a strange place without sassy by his side, but he did great! He may have even stole a few hearts ..what can I say, he has that effect on people lol. The downside? He definitely needs surgery. He’ll be going for the procedure in a week and a half. I’m going to be one nervous doggie mommy that day! He’s going to have a bit of a long recover too. But he’s a trooper and I’m sure he’ll meet this challenge with his tail wagging! (April 4th)

Little man is helping (by mostly supervising) me prep all the orders that have come in for his sale! Thank you so much for the huge outpouring of support! We’re well over half way to covering his surgery! (April 5th)

Got just over half of the orders that came in before noon today (for little man’s sale) packed up! The rest? They will be tackled after some serious shut eye! Thanks so much to everyone who has helped out by participating in little man’s sale!! (April 5th)

Pic from yesterday. While momma batty and I packed orders, I had one of my mixers working hard too (it’s making my primer & daily detox moisturizer). (April 6th)

Little Man and I are updating order status. If your order was dropped off at the post office (actually at a store with a postal outlet in it that’s open on Sundays hehe) today, you’ll soon know (April 6th)

Happy feet! (April 6th)

Sassy the houndy hound is doing what I’d like to be doing right now lol. Instead I’m making more headway on orders that have come in for little man’s sale! All the support that has come in has been overwhelming (in a good way!) Thanks to everyone who’s placed an order during little man’s sale and has sent well wishes for our fur man! Do you see your order in the ones I just picked? Another big batch of orders (including the ones in the picture) will be dropped off at the post office on Thursday. (April 8th)

In my office (April 8th)

What’s up in the studio this morning: Patchouli & grapefruit facial soap setting up in its molds. (April 9th)

This handsome man will be going in for surgery next week! Eek! Cross those paws! Today he’s just doing his usual: looking cute, being sweet, and stealing my heart! Thank you to everyone who has made a purchase during the surprise sale to help with the medical costs!!! (April 9th)