Banana Peels to Heal Bruises

"Holding a banana peel over a bruise for 10-30 minutes will remove it's color!" 

Between work, hobbies and wrangler to two kids, I've had my fair share of bruises. So having seen this idea pin several times on pinterest I decided to give it a try. Despite testing it several times, it never once worked for me. Some of the pins suggest doing it right after you get hit, others seem to say it will fade already developed bruises, however if you bang your knee on a table and put a banana peel on it, and a bruise doesn't form - was it the peel or were you just not going to develop a bruise? I tested it both on newly hit areas, and bruises I already had, yet it didn't do a thing for me. (Other than making me looking silly, holding banana peels to my legs) 

Having looked up the contents of the banana peel, I was hoping perhaps there was some high content of some mineral or vitamin known to help the skin, and in turn people assumed it would help with bruises. However despite having vitamins like Manganese and Potassium, it has a much higher fiber and water content compared to an actual banana (source) In that case, why not just use an actual banana? 

Type in "How to get rid of bruises" on pinterest (or even google) will pull up dozens of different methods. I've personally tested out the banana peel method, but I'm going to list below some of the other ways they say you can fade a bruise:

• Listerine
• Bananas
• Vinegar
• Milk
• Hand Sanitizer
• Leeches 
• Onions
• Eat Pineapple, Parsley

Unfortunately - most of these will not work. That's not how bruises work. They are caused by bleeding under the skin. About the only one I can see being effective on that list is the leeches, but I don't know of anyone who happens to keep a jar of those handy around anymore. Anything else is just being placed on the surface of the skin, and won't have much of an impact on how fast the blood will fade.

There are some more traditional methods that you can try to help lessen the coloring and pain, such as icing the area and taking an NSAID or tylenol; however as I was researching various methods I came across one that seems to actually work faster than just time : Kinesio tape, also known as KT tape.

The interesting thing about this, is that there are well documented photos showing how well it works. 

from the blog Ride. Write. Repeat.

In fact because of how the tape is applied, you can see where the tape was aiding in the healing process. After searching details on this method, I found countless photos and examples of people with kinesio tape to help heal bruises. The way the tape works on your skin, the tension involved and how it pulls up on the skin; allowing the blood to better disperse. Though it might seem a bit overkill if you're just trying to heal a small bruise on your knee or arm, if you're facing a far more serious and painful bruise, this is the method I'd turn to. Leave the banana peels in the garbage. 

Activated Charcoal to Prevent Hangover

"Simply take 2-4 pills of charcoal after a night of drinking to prevent a hangover!" 

I ordered a bottle of charcoal for another pinterest project to test out, but when looking things up online I found there are actually many different remedies that call for charcoal. One was to use it to prevent hangovers. Sound enough idea, if it's good enough to use in a hospital for absorbing chemicals, surely it'll work on alcohol too right?

So I decided to take one for the team this past Saturday and test it out. One bottle of wine later, I took 3 charcoal pills and went to bed. Come morning, I was hungover. In fact I was SUPER hungover. Far worse than I would normally be after having a bottle of wine.

So what went wrong? Well research actually shows this isn't a good remedy to prevent a hangover. There's a great write up done on this by Mark Rucker, who wrote about the science behind why this doesn't work. The short of it is that charcoal seems to have ZERO affect on the blood level of alcohol in your system, so it won't really prevent a hangover.

The best way to prevent a hangover is still the old standby of not drinking too much, and making sure you are staying hydrated; try having a glass of water for each alcoholic drink you have.

And if you DO find yourself with a hangover, the best remedy in treating it is hydration, and eggs. Not only is the protein in eggs helpful, they contain a large amount of cysteine, which helps break down the hangover causing toxin called acetaldehyde.

DIY Sugar Wax Hair Remover

"Finally a Working Homemade Hair Removal Solution!" 

This is one of those ideas I debated on blogging about, but after asking fans over on our facebook page if they wanted more "it works but it's...ehhhh" posts, I decided to go ahead and share.

Sugar Wax. A long-time touted hair remover, and something you can easily make in your own kitchen. With a few simple ingredients you can be on your way to being hairless for a fraction of the cost of waxing kits you buy in the store. Right?

It's not that simple. I decided to test this out myself after reading a lot of mixed reviews on it. I found this YouTube video and decided to spend an evening testing it out.

The first batch didn't turn out. Neither did the second. Or the third. I told myself one more try, and then I was going to give up. Well wouldn't you know it, fourth time's a charm I guess, because this time to turned out like the video suggested it would.

So how well does it wax? Not as harshly as the store bought wax I normally use. Which was nice. I tested it out on my eyebrows, upper lip, and arm. It wasn't as easy to control, so my brows didn't turn out as cleanly as I like them, but the upper lip was nice (and it didn't make me break out, which most waxing does when I do my upper lip) I did have to apply and remove it many, many times to get most of the hair, unlike the one time application I do with other waxes. I have dark thick body hair though, so my fair haired followers might not have to apply it as much as I did.

I wrapped the leftovers in plastic wrap, and then went back a bit later to try it again. Unfortunately, it stuck something awful to the bag, and despite briefly microwaving it and trying to warm it with hot water, I could not get it off the plastic wrap. What I did manage to pull had changed in texture and consistency and was pretty much useless.

Personally, I'm sticking to commercial waxes (this is the one I normally use). At the end of the day, this was such a hassle, a mess, and countless hours in frustration that I just can't get into it. Does it work? If you can manage to get it the right consistency, yeah. But is it worth all the hassle? For me, the answer is no.

So has any of our fans tried this before? What were your results like?

Good Idea Friday - Plywood Floors

We've spent the past year overhauling our attic into a bedroom. Our house, built in 1909, has amazing hardwood floors in most rooms and we were trying to figure out how we could install new flooring--on a budget--that wouldn't clash too terribly with the original flooring. After spending countless searches on pinterest trying to come up with a solution within our budget, I came across this blog post from the infamous Centsational Girl about plywood floors.

Now, I was skeptical. Really skeptical. But after crunching the numbers we realized with $80 worth of plywood, we could install flooring not just in the new bedroom, but also in the hallway leading out to the upstairs landing, So we decided to give it a try. If it didn't work out we weren't out that much money, and hey, nothing a couple area rugs couldn't cover right?

We went about it slightly different that the above post, we had the hardware store cut the wood for us, in the same width as our hardwood floors, and in various lengths. Stores generally charge for this, but for us this was still better than trying to use our extremely old and fairly scary table saw.

First to go down was the sub floor chipboard, screwed to the floor joists, then plastic foam sheeting designed to go under flooring. We laid out the planks, lined them up to our liking, and nailed them down using a brad nailer. Once in position, we used dark caulk to fill in any gaps. This is a great trick, by the way, for hard wood floors; plaster, putty, and glue-sawdust mixture tends to dry and can crack apart and/or pop out over time. Silicone caulk on the other hand, does not. You can find it in various different colors too, so get one that matches the stain you plan to use. (I got the idea from a great friend who also blogs about home remodeling and projects - Us Versus The House) 

After the caulk set we sanded, gently. Plywood is thin sheets of wood glued together, sand too hard or deeply and it gets funky looking, as some colored inner layers will start to show. Just be careful when sanding. We then applied 3 coats of a dark brown stain (Jacobean by Minwax), the same we used on the original floors, and then finished the whole floors with 3 coats of water based polyurethane.

And the final product! 

There's a few things we would have done differently with our flooring though: don't skimp on the wood. We went with a thinner (cheaper) 1/4" plywood, where as the original blog post suggests 1/2", and though it was fine for the room it's in, in a much higher traffic area we would really recommend going with thicker plywood. It LOOKS great, and nearly matches the original wood floors for us, but the sound is off. I know that sounds silly, but it actually sounds more like a laminate flooring instead of actual wood.

All in all I'm extremely pleased with the floors, and for the price (roughly $160 for all the supplies), you really couldn't get a cheaper flooring option than this. This might SOUND like a large undertaking, and something out of the reach of most people, but it really was one of the easiest projects I've done. To summarize, you basically get plywood, cut into planks, lay down subfloor and subfloor sheets, nail planks down. sand, stain, poly. Done. Something like this could easily be done in a week or less (have to let that stain and polyurethane dry!) and is a great floor option for anyone looking for something new on a tight budget. 

Oh, and because I just can't NOT post before and after photos of the attic turned bedroom, here you go if your curious. It was originally lined with wood planks and covered with newspaper from 1918. We KNOW wood plank rooms are en vogue on pinterest, but if you saw the amount of dust and heaven knows what else that fell along with the planks.. you wouldn't want that in your bedroom. Ever.

Before Remodel

After Remodel

Spoon To Prevent Pots From Boiling Over

I'm sure we've all seen the pin on how a simple wooden kitchen spoon, when placed over a pot, will prevent it from boiling over. Unfortunately it's not true. I made a video demonstrating and explaining why that doesn't work, as well as showing a few methods that do.

So why doesn't this work? Simple. Starch. If you place a pot of water on the stove, crank it up to high and walk away, its not going to boil over. It will boil dry (and possibly ruin your pan) but it won't boil over. What causes pots to boil over is what you're cooking in them, usually high starch foods like pasta. A spoon isn't enough to break the sticky, starchy bubbles that form, and it still allows it to boil over. Images showing this working are likely done by bringing the pot to a lower, more gentle boil, rather than a full, rolling boil, so the chances of the pot actually reaching the point of boiling over are much lower.

So what are the two best methods to prevent this? Use a large stock pot (filling it no more than half way with water) or simply turn the heat down to a medium to medium-high heat. What you're looking for is a gentle boil, just the top of the water moving, not forming large bubbles. It's enough to cook the food, but without forming starchy bubbles. Another method involves a kitchen gadget such as a silcone lid, which allows the foamy mess to collect on top with out pouring all over your cook-top. I personally love mine, but it's not a necessary to prevent pasta from boiling over.

All Natural Weed Killer

"{Weed Killer} 1 Gallon white vinegar 2 cups multi purpose epsom salt 1/4 cup regular blue dawn dish soap"

I've had a lot of people asking about this one, and even seen it debated on a few of the gardening forums I read. In fact, I'm embarrassed to admit that it was the siren's call of gardening that has kept me away from writing recently. If there is one thing I love, it's gardening. But as anyone with a yard or garden knows, weeds are a major hassle to deal with. You can get all sorts of sprays to treat them, from hiring a professional company to many kinds of pesticides sold at gardening and hardware stores. But what if you're looking for a more natural solution? There's always pulling, but some weeds are hard to remove that way, and if you're staring down a yard full of them, it could take way too long not to mention a back breaking job. 

So in today's post I compare two more natural methods up against a chemical weed killer spray I picked up at the hardware store.

I have a patch of weeds that I've been battling for years (in fact if anyone reading could identify them for me, let me know in the comments!) I even installed a weed cloth in the flower bed to try to combat them, but they've grown along the edge and out of the rocks of the bed where the sheet meets the sidewalk (though I wish at the time I knew about newspaper as a weed barrier, it would have saved a lot of hassle and money in the long run for me!) And to make sure these methods work on various other weeds, I also tested out on my embarrassingly bad curb strip, which is plagued with awful thorny weeds. 

So here are the contenders: Boiling water, vinegar/soap/epsom salt mix, and a commercial spray. 

I marked each section I was going to spray, and then I mixed up the solution - 2 cups vinegar, 1/4 epsom salt, and a bit of Dawn dish soap. All of these are on the list of "Cure Alls" that are common on sites like pinterest, so I was a bit skeptical. To make sure the water stays boiling, I poured it into a insulated carafe before bringing it outside.

Here are the weeds in their before state:

And 24 hours later: 

Boiling Water: 

As you can see, the boiling water had the most effect on the weeds. I made sure to pour it as close to the ground as I could. I've actually used this method before with GREAT success, and it's been my go to weed killer this summer. You do have to be careful when using it that you aren't killing the plants around it. I use a carafe with a small pour spout, so I have better control over where the water goes. 

I give it an A. It's both effective, easy to use, and about as cheap as you can get. What's not to love?

Vinegar/Epsom Salt/Soap Mix: 

Much to my surprise, the vinegar/epsom salt/soap mix actually did a pretty decent job! I made sure to soak the leaves as well as the base of the weeds, though the stems of the weeds are still green (compared to the dead stems from the boiling water). 

I would give this a B. I still prefer boiling water - it's easier to make, and I have no idea what this mixture is going to do to my soil, unlike boiling water (which really the only real risk is killing off the soil flora, something easily fixed by either leaving it alone or adding some fertilizer to it)

Chemical Spray: 

And the Ortho spray didn't do a single thing. I'm not even joking. I'm shocked. Utterly shocked. I followed instructions, I sprayed both the leaves and the soil. and they don't look even phased. I honestly have no idea why this didn't work even a bit, you'd expect after 24 hours that the leaves would at least start to curl like they do when they are sprayed with products like this. I give this a big F.

So there you have it.. set down the costly sprays and reach for an electric kettle. Test these out in your own yard or gardens and let me know how it works for you. And if you have any other natural weed killers you'd like me to test out, post them over on our facebook page or on twitter and let us know. 

Salt and Vinegar to Remove Rust

"Solution for rusty tools. Soak overnight in vinegar and salt for good as new!"

I have a problem with moisture in my studio, which means if my tools don't get put away properly, rust happens. I found a cache of bits and burs I had left in a jar tucked away on my bench, and they were a mess of rust. I realized this would give me a great chance of testing out a pin I found awhile back, suggesting that vinegar could easily remove rust. 

Having used up all of my white vinegar for egg dying, however (I mean really, what else were we going to do with dozens of eggs after our test of popular hard boiling methods?), I did have some apple cider vinegar on hand, and it has the same acidity level as white vinegar (5%) so I figured I'd go ahead and test this out. I bought a commercial rust remover just in case and decided to test them out side by side to see which comes out the winner. I was honestly a bit nervous about testing this out since these aren't cheap burs, and I know salt water is just about the worst thing you could introduce to your tools. 

They both smelled pretty bad honestly and my kids were complaining, so I had to keep them stored overnight in my studio. After 24 hours I checked on the bits to see how they were doing.. The commercial rust remover in the forefront there, was looking pretty murky and dark. The vinegar salt combo in the back, on the other hand, just looked dingy and oddly foamy. 

I washed them with a bit of dish soap and then patted dry with a paper towel.

Can you guess which is which? 

The burs with rust still on them were the ones who got the vinegar salt bath, the blackened, yet rust free, burs are the ones who got the chemical bath. 

Now I've since seen a few youtube videos on this, and it seems that yes, it does work, to a degree at least. You have to admit the bits do look less rusty compared to the before photo, but they aren't rust free. The videos recommend scrubbing the rusted item with a coarse bristle brush. However these bits are tiny. Something like this might be worth a shot on random tools you pick up at a yard sale, but when faced with delicate costly work tools (or burs and bits in this case) I'm going to reach for the chemical bath. Not only that, but scrubbing alone will remove the rust. So the vinegar might loosen the rust, but you still have to scrub - if that's the case, you might as well soak it in anything and go to town with a steel wool pad.

Though really, I'll work better at putting my tools away, so I hopefully won't have to test this out again any time soon.

Egg White Pore Strips

"DIY pore strip/mask with egg white and toilet paper! So trying this!"

This is part 2 of the DIY pore strips that I've been testing out. The first one didn't even set up right, but what about this one? First off - the link connected to this image, at least for me, was a spam site. Which isn't really adding to the credibility of this. Now the idea of eggs as a facial isn't new, and egg white masks have been popular for many, many years, but can you use them as a DIY pore strip? 

Well I tested this one out this weekend and it failed miserably. I don't know if it was the paper I was trying, but it became a soft gooey mess on my nose. I had to attempt this one a few times, because the toilet paper kept falling apart. I first tried to dip it into the egg whites, but it mushed up in the bowl, so I then smeared some of the egg whites on my nose, placed the paper on, and pat on more egg whites with a q-tip. However that caused it to goo up again and tear. So round three, I put egg whites on my nose and tried gently patting the toilet paper on. It didn't work all that well, but it did stay, and at that point I figured it was good enough. 

Facebook and Twitter fans got a sneak peak of this lovely image

I waited until it was hard and set up and peeled it off. I looked over what I peeled off my face but didn't see a single thing. It's hard to say if it was due to the texture/pattern inherent in toilet paper, but even on zoom I couldn't see a thing. 

Now here's where I add the disclaimer that I'm a skin care freak, in the same way some women are crazy about shoes, or makeup, or books, I'm that way about skin care. So my pores are generally kept clean and clear more so than the average person. But even the best skin has clogged pores and blackheads, so I went ahead and tried a Biore strip to compare what it pulled out vs the egg white/TP mix. This time around it was clear the strip pulled some gunk out of my pores. (if you look closely by my fingers in the photo below, you can see a few blackheads)

Ewww! 

So there you have it.  If you ask me, it doesn't work at all. Just testing out the two methods side-by-side, the feeling of pulling the biore strip off hurt more than the egg white one. Which sounds weird to say, but the hold, the adhesive of the biore one was clearly stronger than the egg whites were, so it seemed more likely to get the junk out of your pores better. 

I'll be testing out a few other methods in the coming weeks, so if you have any DIY pore strips you're curious about post the ideas over on our facebook or twitter!

History of April Fool's Day

Love it or hate it, April Fools is a holiday that is hard to avoid. There is a lot of myth and legend surrounding the history of April Fool's Day, but what is the true history of the April Fools that we know today?

Well I've spent months researching the holiday for today's post. I first got the idea last year when I saw the above image. The truth behind the holiday took me by surprise. It didn't start out as a holiday for fools and pranks. It originated in victorian era France as a spring gift giving holiday. You see, before electricity and refrigeration, fresh food was scarce during the winter months, and people resorted to eating dried and salted meats throughout the cold season. So when spring finally hit and the rivers and ponds thawed it meant they could finally have fresh fish. What does fish have to do with all of this? Well much like the bizarre trade of tulips with the Dutch, come spring it became tradition to gift those you love with fresh fish. (source) The demand for fresh fish became so great, that they increasing sold at higher and higher prices. If you really loved someone, you didn't give fine chocolates, you gave fish. This tradition became so popular that they would often give "Fish Day" cards such as these.

But how did a national holiday of fish giving lend to the holiday we know today? It started back during WW1. (source) Occupying soldiers from outside of France witnessed this bizarre custom. Puzzled as to why the French would gift fish in such an elaborate way, they assumed it was some sort of prank. French soldiers also talked fondly of such traditions from back home as the bunkered down with allies in the trenches. Once the war was over and they returned to their home countries, the practice of pranking the ones you love stuck. However Fish Day is still celebrated today in France, but due to modern sensibility out has gone the practice of gifting real fish, and instead they use paper fish.

So if you take part in April Fool's Day just remember - it all started with fish. What are some of your favorite April Fools pranks? Let us know! Share your prank ideas on our facebook and twitter.

And as the french say today, "Un sot trouve toujours un plus sot qui l'admire" Happy Fish Day! 

Good Idea Friday - Paper Weed Blocker

Newspaper Weed Barrier : Rosemary On The Tv 

A fan posted a question on our facebook, asking if this was a legit pin or not. Now I know some of you are probably still facing down piles of snow, but here in the Pac NW spring has finally showed up, so it's not too early to start thinking about gardening.

Well start saving those old newspapers and cardboard boxes, because it does work really well. If you're looking for one of the best ways to prevent weeds from popping up in your flower beds or gardens, look no further. 

Now what about professional weed blocking sheets you ask? They have their pros and cons - if you don't plan to do a lot of planting or plant perennials in that spot, then a commercial non-biodegradable sheet will work just fine. The con is of course that they don't break down fully, so if you want to gut your flower beds or move plants around, it becomes a huge hassle. They also aren't foolproof, and can fail over time which means you have to rip them out and redo it. 

With things like newspaper or cardboard however, it does break down over time, and is generally great for the soil - think of it as compost that helps fight weeds. It can also help maintain a damp soil, since the paper or cardboard will absorb the water and stay moist longer.

If you're interested in reading more about using newspaper or cardboard as a natural barrier, the forums over at Organic Gardening have a lot of comments and suggestions on it. The orginal pin just went to one of the ever so common relinking websites that had little information on the actual image or idea, but I was able to hunt down the blog where the image originated from - Image credit goes to Rosemary On The Tv's blog post about this - creatively titled Manscaping (which gave me a good laugh) You can read her posts about it here. 

Cinnamon Roll Crust

"How great is this? Just use store bought cinnamon roll dough in place of crust for your pies!"

A fan submitted this one and had the same concerns I did when reading this. If you've ever made cinnamon rolls before, even store bought ones often found in the chill case, they tend rise when baked. So either the rising roll crust is going to cause all the amazing pie filling to leak out the sides (and onto the oven floor) or it's going to remain a dense, chewy undercooked mess. 

Luckily I was able to track down the original source of the image, and wouldn't you know it? That's not what this is an image of. Over at Tablespoon, Stephanie shares a great recipe on how to make a pie with a faux cinnamon roll crust made of rolled up crust, spices and sugar. Since it's crust, it won't rise like the supermarket rolls will, so your pie filling will stay in place. You can read more of her recipes on her blog at Girl Versus Dough. 

So, is anyone game to try this? I'd try one with cinnamon rolls from the store, but I made a new years resolution not to set my oven on fire for this year. If you try ether examples though, let us know! Share photos or stories on our facebook and twitter. 

Crisco Candle Does Work, But Still Not the Best Idea

Ah, yes, the Crisco candle. I've had a lot of people send me this asking about it. Does it work? Yes, it does. It's also easy enough to make: just take a tub of crisco, use a stick or skewer to pierce a hole through the center, and insert a wick. I know, I usually do Good Idea Fridays, but this one is a mixed-results post; since it does work, I didn't feel it qualified as a bad idea, but there are some risks involved that I think everyone should be aware of. 

First off, the container the shortening comes in? It's a foil-lined cardboard tube. So, where as this can burn for something like 45 hours, as the pin suggests, I would never in a million years suggest doing that. If left to burn long enough, the melted oil of the crisco can make it's way into the paper, making it perfect fuel for fire. Also, as with all things like this, Crisco CAN catch fire (so can wax and other oils that are used in candles and oil lamps). Please, if you try this, DO NOT let it burn for too long. It's not something you just light and walk away from. 

The truth is, this is something I would only ever use in a last case scenario. There are much better options out there that would work better, but if you find yourself in a cabin in the woods in the middle of the night with no electricity and the batteries in your flashlight are about to go out, then something like this will work. But for everyday home use when the power goes out, anything from candles to a battery powered lantern would still be preferable. The truth is, with a bit of wick and pretty much any oils, you can make a candle or lantern out of anything from kerosene to tallow to paraffin or lard. But they all come with a high flammable risk, so be careful.

Glow Sticks and Nail Polish

"break a glow stick & put in clear polish" 

With Halloween coming up I've been seeing a lot more Glow in the Dark pins then you usually see. However as we learned with our other glow stick pins, not only will this not work, it's probably not the best thing for you. Not only that, glow stick formula typically doesn't glow that long once it's exposed to air. I was going to test this out and see how long it will glow, and if it would even set up properly but alas, I'm out of glow sticks. Even if it did set up right (instead of leaving your nails a big glowing gooby mess, which is what I think would happen) the glow would only last a short time, then you're left with a funky colored bottle of nail polish.

Instead, just buy glow-in-the-dark nail polish. A quick search not only pulls up a lot of different companies and online vendors that sell it, they also use the same exact image as the Pinterest pin! But I'd also like to point out that even with retail glow in the dark nail polish, without a blacklight you will not get the effect depicted here. That's not your standard glow-in-the-dark glow. 

Any fans out there with a spare bottle of nail polish and glow sticks want to test this out for me? I'm honestly really curious if it will even set up and harden right. 

Good Idea Friday - Monistat Cream as Face Primer

Monistat as Primer : My Vanity Basics

I first heard about this many years ago on a bargain forum and couldn't believe when I found the pin it was still a thing. I mean come on - it's an anti-chafing cream for a lady's more, uh private, parts, and people are putting it on their face? Just as skeptical now as I was years ago when I heard about it, I decided to do more research on it.

Lets start by taking a look at the ingredients of Monistat gel vs Smashbox primer (here is where I warn you that when they say Monistat, they are talking about a certain anti-chafing gel, not the yeast infection medication. Please don't just grab any monistat product and start rubbing it on your face.)

Smashbox Ingredients:

Original Photo Finish
Cyclopentasiloxane, Dimethicone Crosspolymer, Dimethicone, Trisiloxane, Silica, Dimethicone/ Vinyldimethicone Crosspolymer, Ethylhexyl Salicylate, Retinyl Palmitate, Tocopheryl Acetate, Carthamus Tinctorius (Safflower) Seed Extract, Propylene Glycol, Water (Aqua, Eau), Vitis Vinifera (Grape) Seed Extract, Cola Acuminata Seed Extract, Camellia Oleifera Leaf Extract.

Monistat Chafing Relief Gel Ingredients:

Cyclopentasiloxane, Dimethicone/Vinyl Dimethicone Crosspolymer, Silica, Tocopheryl Acetate, Trisiloxane

In fact, chances are any face primer you grab will have at least dimethicone in it. The science behind it that basically dimethicone stays on the surface of your skin, helping to minimize the appearance of wrinkles and pores and prevents your foundation or base from rubbing off. I can't say if it's really the best thing to be smearing on your face (most reports say it's pretty harmless, but some say dimethicone adds to your skin drying out and over time can cause more problems, and that its not biodegradable, so there's always the environmental factor of it.) Also most major primers have added moisturizers and SPF added to them to better aid your skin. 

So does it work? Yes, as well as the Smashbox primer does. Pretty much all cosmetic companies today have a facial primer on the market, and as much as they vary, the one thing in the common they all share is dimethicone. It's the price point that wins most people over; an ounce of Smashbox primer can cost over $40, whereas a bottle of Monistat anti-chafing gel? Around $6 a bottle from Amazon. 

Listerine for Blisters

"Home cure: Listerine Use it for: Blisters The classic breath freshener—and powerful antiseptic—can also do a number on blisters. Moisten a cotton ball with Listerine and dab it on your blister 3 times a day until the area dries out and no longer hurts"

This is another one of those that is commonly seen in a large strip of home remedies on Pinterest. I have no doubt this would work, but it still seems silly. Unless you're out camping and forgot the first aid kit and have been walking barefoot through a swampy lake only to realize your blisters have popped, in which case I could understand using this. You see, the main ingredient of Listerine is Ethanol. Yep. It's basically booze. Sure it has a hint of other things, like menthol, thymol, and a few other herbal flavors, but at 26% pure alcohol, that's what's really getting the job done. Really, you're probably better off leaving the listerine on the bathroom shelf and reaching for the rubbing alcohol (a solution of either ethyl or isopropyl alcohol), or even a bottle of rum or vodka in a pinch. Due to its natural antimicrobial properties, tea tree oil is another, more natural route you could go that will help fight germs and dry the blister out if need be. 

I've also seen this pinned stating that "Listerine contains antiseptic and disinfectant ingredients; it has been used for everything from curing gonorrhea to cleaning floors." and that's true--or, at least, it was over 100 years ago when it was created and used as a surgical antiseptic. But when at looking at the turn of century, it's important to remember that it was the era of Cure-Alls; it was fairly common for a lot of items to be toted as a universal solution for anything and everything. For example, Lysol was originally created as an antiseptic disinfectant to fight against cholera. Soon after, in the 1920's it was recommended as feminine douche and preventive for pregnancy after all. Interestingly, this was around the same time as Listerine was suggested as a mouthwash to help fight bad breath (which, prior to that time, wasn't considered such a terrible thing).

So all in all, yes you can use this for blisters, but it's so silly I don't see why anyone would want to.

Good Idea Friday - Lemon and Clove to Scare off Wasps

"A way to get rid of wasps! Lemon with 10 cloves or put out a saucer with cloves in it. Wasps hate the scent!"

Lemon and Cloves : Warsztat Mamy

This is a pin that I thought would be easy enough to research and instead has taken me weeks of research and emails to people to collect data on, only to I realized I was focused on the wrong part of the pin. 

You see, I was honestly really skeptical about this. How often do we see natural remedies or pest control ideas on Pinterest (like garlic for mosquitoes) that just aren't effective. Having grown up in a very rural part of the country myself, I have seen the way wasps especially flock towards any fruit (you learn real quick as a kid not to run barefoot near the apple trees) Wasps like the scent of fruits and meat, so I wasn't too sure if a fruit like lemon would really drive them away. I spent some time on google trying to find if wasps really didn't care for the scent of lemon and was unable to find anything regarding it. I decided to go straight to the source. If there is one person who would know if wasps like lemons, it would be the owner of a lemon orchard. 

I sent out a couple of emails and Karen from Lemon Ladies Orchard in California was kind enough to reply. She keeps bee hives next to her orchard (great for pollination) but hasn't noticed any wasps. Is that due to the lemons, or the bees? She sent my question on to other lemon growing friends of her. Susan Burchiel of Birch-Hill Organics replied and said she hasn't seen wasps in the orchards, but does have yellow jackets. Interesting, I started wondering if the honey bees and yellow jackets were chasing off the wasps or if really was the scent of lemons. Yellow Jackets are actually a class of wasps themselves, so I was starting to think maybe this wasn't a true remedy to deter wasps. 

And then I decided to start looking at the clove aspect of the pin and that's where I became surprised. You see, a lot of bugs really do hate the scent of the cloves. In fact, it's one of the most popular form of natural pesticide and is used in even commercial products. (source) It's called eugenol oil, and is found in cloves, cinnamon, basil, and bay leaves. Now eugenol oil despite being natural does come with it's own host of dangers, mainly that in large amounts it can kill you if ingested. (source) But it works, and since this idea uses cloves in their natural form it's probably a far safer method than using just pure eugenol oil or other pesticides. 

So if you're looking for a natural way of combating pesky wasps and other bugs at the picnic table, this is a pin I would suggest trying. 

Toilet Seat Covers to Blot Oily Face

"Use a toilet seat cover to blot the oil from a greasy face."

So the idea behind this suggestion is that the thin, dry tissue like seat covers in bathroom stalls can act the same way as facial blotting papers can. Sure the paper texture is similar enough, that it might just work. That's not the problem with the suggestion though. So what is? Well it's a commonly known fact (or at least I assumed it was) that there is a spray radius from toilets. It's one of the reasons they suggest you always put the seat down before flushing. In fact, the Mythbusters did a show on this. Their results? It's true. Not only that, these seat covers are usually found in public restrooms, where there aren't lids for the toilets. 

So you're best bet is to skip on trying to use these are facial blotting paper. Stick with using rice paper which works great and can be bought online for fairly cheap. 

Using a Banana To fix a broken CD

"Use a banana to fix a CD/DVD!"

A fan on our facebook page requested we look into ways to fix CDs. She had seen there was a pin out there for toothpaste, and I had one already saved that said banana, so I figured I'd tackle both of them in one post. So, can common household items fix your CDs? Yes, but.. some are better than others. 

Sketch of a disc : Make Use Of

It comes down to how CDs are made. You can see a lovely sketch made there to the right. They are all just plastic discs with aluminium backings, which allows the laser of the reader to bounce back and read the pits and notches engraved on the CD, very similar to how old records work. When a disc gets scratched, it's the protective plastic coating that was scratched. Rubbing a banana on it (some have also suggested car wax, peanut butter, banana peels, etc.) fills those scratches in temporally, allowing the disc to hopefully play right. But it's not a permanent fix, and really the idea of keeping a disc around that has banana goo stuck in the scratches is kind of weird. 

But what about toothpaste and the like? That is a definite YES actually. Because toothpaste is abrasive, it acts as a buffing compound that helps smooth out the top layer of plastic on the disc. This makes the scratches less noticeable by the laser, ensuring the disc can be read better. It has to be our tried-and-trusted old fashion high grit toothpaste, not the modern gel styles, but it does appear to work. So I'd keep the bananas in the kitchen and just grab your toothpaste instead. 

Before grabbing every ruined disc in your house though, I'd highly suggest reading this great write up over at "Make Use Of", where he goes more in depth about how this works and why (and also gives some great pointers if you're wanting to try it yourself).

Not post-related but I wanted to take the time to let you guys know I'm now on twitter too, so make sure to follow us at @dontpinthat

Penny to Preserve Flowers

"Add a penny with a pinch of sugar into the vase of cut flowers to have them last twice as long!" 

There are a lot of myths out there on what you can do to prolong the beauty of cut flowers. Everything from vodka, bleach, even aspirin is said to help. This one here is an old wives' tale that has been around for so long that I doubt anyone knows where it came from. I remember my grandmother doing this when she bought fresh flowers. But can a copper penny prolong the life of your flowers? No, not really.

Let's start with the water. Tap water is regulated quite strictly; all tap water must maintain a pH level between 6.5-8.5, which is round about the center of pH levels. I've spent quite some time trying to research if copper can alter the pH level of water at all, with no luck of finding any data on this I turned to a chemistry-knowledgeable friend of mine who informed me "Copper does not react with pure water, so it should not affect the pH. If you're talking about tap water, that's a lot more complicated and dependent on the particular contaminants. I'm sure there are side reactions with the other particles that could slightly affect pH, but nothing major since the contaminants are in low quantities."

Why does this matter? Because most cut flowers prefer a higher acidic water. According to a great page by the Horticulture Department of Minnesota - "An acidifier makes the pH of the water more near the acid pH of the cell sap. Most water supplies are alkaline and can reduce the life of cut flowers. The acidifier also stabilizes the pigment and the color of the flower." (source)

Commercial flower preservatives are made up of basically 3 things: sugar, an acidifier to prevent the growth of microorganisms, and a respiratory inhibitor. If copper does not affect the pH levels, perhaps it acts as an antimicrobial in another way, but the results of copper as an antimicrobial are largely debated (source). In large quantities it looks like it might help limit the growth of microbes, but the small amount of copper found on a penny isn't going to do that. It's important to point out that most pennies in circulation today were made after 1982, and are not pure copper. Instead, they are copper-plated zinc and only contain a thin coating of copper on the outside. However, adding a pinch of sugar to the water isn't a bad idea, but it won't get you the same results as a commercial cut flower food will. You're best bet if you don't have any plant food on hand is to just make sure you change the water daily, keep any leaves or foliage out of the water, and a pinch of sugar can't hurt (but leave the pennies in the change jar).

If you're looking on more information on myths of cut flowers, here is a great article by Terril A Nell, PhD, who was chairman of the flower research program at the University of Florida. He touches base on pretty much every flower myth and explains why they aren't true.

Jello Lip Stain

Use Jello as a lipstain! Pour the powder mix into a bowl and moisten a Q-Tip with water. Then, being very careful not to use your fingers since the red stains stay put, dip the Q-Tip into the powder and apply it directly to your lips.

This has to be one of the more stranger pins I've found on pinterest. It's not that it wouldn't work, but it more or less confuses me. The dye in jello is the same used in food coloring. It would probably be easier to carry a small bottle of red food coloring and dab that onto your lips instead of carrying around a packet of powdered jello. If you're looking for a more natural route, you could probably keep a slice of raw red beet in a zip top bag and use that instead. 

So what do you think? Anyone wanting to trade in their favorite lipstick for a packet of jello?