Recently in Health | Beauty Category

I'm kinda fickle when it comes to beauty products. I'll use a product half way and then get bored of it. My salon though encouraged me to try Green Science - a face cream that my skin just drinks up! I'm on my third container, so I figure at this point, I'm smitten.

If you like a light, yet emollient face cream, this one is delicious for your skin!

If you are in the Sacramento area, check out Salon B. They are running product specials in September, so don't miss out.

Aveda is recognized for their sustainable practices and beauty products
Aveda received the Gold Standard of Cradle to Cradle (C2C) product certifications for sustainability in beauty products. C2C certification and endorsement are the culmination of 30 years of socially and environmentally responsible business practices.

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We love our readers who continue to send us fantastic ideas and recommendations for features on Extraordinique. This week, we received an email that says it all about a company and a product she uses and loves. I wanted to share with you her exact email:

Dear Extraordinique:
I found a little gem that I really like and thought I'd share it with Extraordinique. I was at Target the other day looking for an antibacterial gel for the kids. Though it's something I hate using because I personally think it feels icky, dries out my hands and leaves a yucky residue, it's a necessary evil in my life with kids...especially after playing in a public place. So I found a new little product that I just adore called Clean Well. Its non-alcoholic, has a nice scent and it doesn't leave any yucky residue on your hands, which I worry for the kids as they eat their sandwich, grab their fruit or touch their face. CleanWell is plant based and environment friendly. I don't question as much what my kids are ingesting after they've used it. Plus, I use their spray so it's far more convenient than gels and lasts longer.

Anyway, they sell CleanWell on Amazon as well as Target. I'm totally in love with it. I need to stock one in my car and every bag I own. :)

Being somewhat of an admitted "germaphobe," finding something that fights germs in a responsible way is really important to me. Reading up on Clean Well, I'm touched by their story and impressed with their approach looking to nature to find the remedy. That's Extraordinique!

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Couldn't pass up the Vote soap for our U.S. readers. "Take a shower with this soap -- it's good for you -- so is your vote -- so do both!"

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Last year, I was using several services to track my physical activity throughout the day for weight loss. I had to enter in my workouts and my caloric intake. Then I added the Nike Plus, which tracked my mileage and the pace of my runs, and then allowed me to upload my workout to my Nike Plus dashboard.

Available early next year, I am really looking forward to utilizing the Fitbit Tracker an advanced monitor to track my activity throughout the day and even the quality of my sleep. Fitbit is the all-in-one fitness and sleep monitor (using motion sensing technology) to help track your level of activity throughout the day...and night. The small bluetooth device fits to your clothing worn throughout the day. The data collected is wirelessy uploaded to your own Fitbit dashboard where you can monitor and measure your progress.

FitBit seems to simplify and aggregate all of the necessary information into one health and wellness dashboard to log food, activities and track weight. The Fitbit device then does all of the rest, showing how many calories burned for the day and other personal stats.

To learn more about Fitbit, read more on the Fitbit launch at this year's TechCrunch50.

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This is probably inspired from my trip to the dentist yesterday, but I love going to the dentist for a good teeth cleaning. My teeth always look so bright and sparkly afterward. I like to keep that sparkle as long as I can, but being an admitted green-tea-oholic, the tannins tend to stain my teeth quickly. Always on the look out for a good whitening toothpaste, I recently tried SuperSmile whitening oral rinse created by Dr. Irwin Smigel, who happens to be known as the "Father of Aesthetic Dentistry."

I have to admit I am not a huge fan of the taste, but I can really feel it working (lots of hydrogen peroxide bubbling away) and I can see the results keeping my teeth brighter longer in between cleanings. It's actually the first product I have used (outside of dentist prescribed teeth whitening bleach and trays) that seems to help keep my teeth white long after the trip to the dentist.

Visiting Supersmile, I found that Dr. Smigel also has other whitening products, including toothbrushes, toothpastes and even whitening gum. Oh yeah, and check out their celebrity testimonials too -- even Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog gives props to SuperSmile... Too funny!

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The ice cold beverage isle always seems to draw me in during the summertime at our local market and what I've recently noticed is that the beverage isle is kinda a "cool" place to be!

Our local Nugget Market carries a wide selection of really great drinks, including my favorite GT's Kombucha, and now a new line of drinks, call Function. Function, on the shelves caught my eye, because I had recently read an article on a line of physician-developed drinks with concrete science behind them.

Stocking our Extraordinique fridge with Light Weight, I've got to say the Pink Grapefruit and Acai Pomegranate are a guilt-free, calorie-burning, preservative-free alternative to diet soda and other sugary juices and "sports" drinks.

Function Light Weight includes EGCG, a green tea extract to help increase calories burned and gymnema extract, which limits the absorption of calories your body takes in from fat and carbs. Light Weight also includes reservatrol, which if you've been to any health store lately, it's all the rage. Reservatrol is a red wine extract that has found to increase energy and overall calorie burn.

Now, with all of that said, I will also say you don't get the caffeine jitters or that amp'd feeling on this drink. You just get a sense of "upbeat" energy, which I can always use by mid-afternoon to gear up for exercise at the end of the day.

In addition to Light Weight, Function also has drinks to boost your immune system, improve your mood, and ease sore muscles after a workout.

I haven't tried these others yet, but I'm thinking this weekend, I may try a Vacation.

Cheers!

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I feel like I've been on a never ending quest to find a shampoo and conditioner that keeps my hair and scalp healthy. We live in an area that has hard water, so a good shampoo and conditioner are often essential, especially for my color-treated hair.

Getting ready for my day this morning, I thought, I must really, really love Terax. I have 5 bottles of it in my shower from their classic Delicato Shampoo for daily use and Bosco Shampoo, which I use once a week for my scalp. I have one and a half bottles of the Crema Conditioner and I just started to use the Hydrate Botanica, which is a leave in conditioner as well.

Looking on the counter, I realized I also have the Finishing Spray (which I actually don't recommend - it's an aerosol and has a very strong smell). I won't purchase it again until it goes in to a spray pump and they diffuse the smell. It's really very strong.

Acknowledging that I had all of these Terax products, I realize that I really have an affinity for these products. I'm the type to try, test and explore anything in the salon or beauty store, so to have consistently bought so many of one brand of hair care products, means I'm hooked.

If you give Terax a try, let me know what you think. I'm hooked.

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