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The skincare industry can be kinda overwhelming, which is why we’re (always) here to help. And we totally understand your dilemma; with literally hundreds of innovative products being released each week and the discovery of another “must-have” ingredient, it can be hard to determine what products you really need and what’s just a trend. To guide you through the beauty-jargon on your quest for happy, healthy skin, here are  tips that cover ALL the bases.

Keep your hair happy and healthy all summer long using these natural, chemical-free methods.

Natural hair rules in the summer! Now is the season to let go of perfect, sleek hairdos and embrace that loose, natural look. Learn how to protect your hair from the heat, sun, and humidity without turning it into an endless battle.

1. Cover up!

Use a scarf or hat to cover your head when you’re out in the sun. Not only does this provide extra UV protection, but it also helps your scalp to retain moisture. A hat reduces damage caused by wind, especially if your hair is prone to tangling, and protects colour-treated hair.

2. Put your hair up in loose, comfortable styles

A messy braid is ideal for keeping your hair under control and minimizing exposure to the sun. Tight hairstyles can be damaging because they tend to pull and tear hair, especially if your hair is dry from the summer heat. Extensions are design to make your hair long, checkout these Kinky curly bundles of human hair.

3. Wash less often

Frequent washing strips your scalp of its natural oils, which in turn stimulates additional oil production and makes you feel the need to wash it even more. Try just rinsing in the shower after a day at the beach or pool, and see if that gets rid of some extra oil. Use a homemade or natural dry shampoo, such as cornstarch, in place of regular shampoo to go a bit longer without washing. Another quick fix is to dab a cotton ball soaked in witch hazel along your scalp to dissolve excess oil.

4. Reduce the heat

Try to blow-dry your hair as little as possible. It is already exposed to a significant amount of heat on a daily basis in the summer, and it will probably air-dry quickly anyways, so give the blow dryer a break and go au naturel if you can. Avoid flat-irons, too, as they will do further damage to already-dry hair. Plus, a sleek hairstyle only makes that frizz stand out more.

5. Spritz & Seal

Make a concoction of water, aloe vera juice, and avocado oil. Keep it on hand to spritz whenever a bit of moisture and/or control is needed. Another good option is argan oil mixed with water.

6. Condition always

Rinse with apple cider vinegar diluted in water for a quick natural conditioner. Use some coconut oil or shea butter (careful with this, since it can be heavy) to smooth, de-frizz, and moisturize your locks after washing. The oil will give some shine and, if you have wavy hair, create natural, air-dried curls. Try a natural deep conditioning treatment once a week to get that extra bit of moisture into your hair.

SkinCare

1.  Get to know your skin type

Understanding and getting to know your skin type is the most important thing you can do for your skin. If you’re unaware or misinformed, you could compromise your skin’s natural balance and trigger irritation, inflammation, breakouts, and even premature aging by using the wrong products. The most common skin types are oily, acne-prone, dry, sensitive, and mature skin; it’s also important to note that you can be more than one type and it can change over time or through the seasons, so always listen to your skin.

2. Make sure you know how to layer your skincare

If you don’t apply your skincare products in the right order you could prevent them from being fully-absorbed, which means they won’t be as effective. The general rule is to apply the most lightweight formulas first so they can be easily absorbed without the barrier of heavier creams. To avoid piling (those tiny little balls you get when you’ve used too much product), when you move onto thicker creams, give your skin time to absorb the product (at least a few minutes).

 

3. Don’t apply too much product

When it comes to skincare, ‘more is more’ is not a good rule. So if you apply too much moisturizer, the product will likely pill or could potentially block your pores. Plus, it’s a total waste of product and your money considering your skin won’t be able to absorb it all anyway! Make sure you follow this sizing guide:

4. Always double cleanse

Double cleansing is our fave K-beauty hack, and it’s completely transformed our skin. By cleansing twice, you’ll ensure all the dirt, bacteria, oil and pollution that’s built up on your skin during the day has been removed, leaving you with a thoroughly clean base for you to layer your nighttime skincare routine onto.

5. Never forget to do a patch test

Before you start using a new product, you should always do a patch test to avoid the risk of irritation or an allergic reaction. Just apply a small amount of product to your inner arm to see how your skin reacts to the formula.

6. Don’t use expired products

Hanging onto products past their expiry dates is a big no-no: It’s bad for you. Sadly, your beloved beauty products harbor bacteria (especially if you use them frequently), and these can lead to infections and irritations, not to mention, they don’t perform as well – we’re talking to you, gunky mascara! After a while, products can produce harmful toxins that can be dangerous to your health as well as your skin. As a general rule, if you can’t remember when you bought your face cream, SPF, foundation, mascara or eyeliner – get rid of it!

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The Advent Season is upon us, and the call is to "watch and pray." One way to make fruitful this time of holy anticipation is to prepare the manger of our heart for the coming of our Lord and King.

To that end, let me recommend a couple of great resources we have available for you. On the Women of Grace homepage (www.womenofgrace.com) we are featuring two Advent retreats on CD -- one by Dr. Edward Sri and the other by Father Edmund Sylvia. Both of these offerings will take you deeply into the heart of the season and fill you with wonder at the gift that is ours through the Christ Child

Another great resource certain to enhance your Advent experience is Issue #4 of the Women of Grace Journal.  You can use this independently and it is a fabulous Advent study for your Women of Grace study group. It truly encourages us to enter deeply into the reality of this blessed season by calling us into the sacred mysteries of our Faith. For those of you who are Gold Members of WOG Exclusive, it is available in the library. Simply type "Women of Grace Journal" into the search feature and scroll to Issue #4. It is also available in print and can be ordered through our on-line store or by calling us at 1-800-558-5452.

I am confident that if we enter into this glorious liturgical season and let it enter into us by means of prayer and retreat, Christmas Day will be a graced event like never before.

Let's remember each other in our petitions and ask God to give us all holy anticipation for the coming of our Savior.

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Earlier this week I was in Houston visiting my daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren.  I attended my third annual Grandparents Day at my granddaughter's school. It is a lovely affair that begins with a breakfast, followed by entertainment courtesy of the music department, and concluding with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Carmen and I look foward to it every year and it is becoming a sweet tradition we share.

One of the great blessings in my life is being a grandparent. These little ones teach me so much. Take Carmen, for example. She became a big sister on May 1 when her baby brother, Matthew Anthony, was born. I have seen so many beautiful qualities developing in her since that time. Virtues, really.

Carmen treats Matthew with patience, kindness, thoughtfulness. Much to his delight, she gleefully rushes to him when she sees him after school. She plays with him, dotes on him, and tells everyone she meets that he is her baby brother. Plain and simple, she loves him.

Frankly, I wondered how Carmen would handle his arrival. She had been an only child for five years and very accustomed to Mommy's and Daddy's full attention. I've witnessed other situations where older only children have not been very welcoming to a new sibling. But, Matthew's birth has enriched her personhood and enhanced her lovely feminine graces.

Change can do that. It holds the possibility for us to expand as persons, grow in virtue, develop as individuals. Change can help us discover character strengths we never knew we had and bring to the surface latent talents and gifts. I suppose it really depends on attitude and openness of heart: an attitude of gratitude for that which God is entrusting to us, and an openness of heart  to explore the opportunities the change may hold.

I don't think Carmen thought about any of these things when she learned she was going to become a big sister. With childlike simplicity, she simply embraced the idea.

This has taught me a lot. And given me pause for reflection. Maybe you, too. To what extent do I embrace change with an attitude of gratitude and with openness of heart? I know one thing -- I will be thinking of Carmen the next time a change comes my way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Plurism entered my daughter's car the other day as she drove my six year old granddaughter to school. After hearing some especially disheartening news on the radio, my daughter turned to Julia and said, "Julia, you are growing up in a very difficult world. Keep Jesus in front of you and stay the course."

Julia chewed on these words for a moment and then she said, "Mommy, I know. __________ told me that she doesn't believe in God. She told me her mommy told her God was a monkey."

"Julia, that's too bad, isn't it? We know there is a God and He is no monkey!" responded my daughter.

"I know that!" Julia retorted. "He's a Lamb!"

While this story shows us that Julia has given attention to the Agnus Dei we pray at Mass, and has obviouly given attention, too, to the stained glass window in our Church depicting the Lamb of God, none of this innoculates her against the winds of heresy that blow all too liberally in our culture today.

It also points out the false ideologies many of our children's playmates and classmates are being taught in their homes. One can only wonder at the world they will experience in their adult years.

What are we to do? I think my daughter gives us good example. Make certain our children know the truth. Continue to use every opportunity to tell them the truth (Rom. 10:17). Reinforce that truth. Make them present to the truth by participation in the Faith. Exemplify the truth in your own life. Finally, but preeminently, entrust them to the One Who is the Truth --  and the Way and the Life as well.

If we are willing to do so, deep roots will grow and truth will flourish in our children's hearts. I know this to be true. Those words of advice my daughter gave to her daughter were the very words her father had given her throughout the 26 years of her life that he had lived. Apparently, they had sunk in and were being passed on to the next generation. As Proverbs reminds us, "Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it" (Proverbs 22:6).

A monkey. Really? Even a monkey would be shocked.

 

 

 

 

 

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Gabriel Sullivan, age 8, came home from school with a freshly completed art project -- a paper dinosaur.

But this was no ordinary dinosaur.

This paper dinosaur stood on its own with the help of a special aid rigged by Gabriel himself. He had glued his green creature to the cardboard core of a roll of toilet paper to make his antediluvian reptile stand erect.

And Gabriel loved his dinosaur.

According to his father, Tom Sullivan, Gabriel carried his dinosaur with him everywhere. He placed it on the floor when he was playing. He sat it on the table when he was eating. He even perched it on the back of the couch to have it near while he watched his favorite show and he treated it to a trip to the restaurant when the family went out to dinner.

Dad Tom asked Gabriel what it was that so attracted him to his dinosaur. Gabriel simply responded, " I made it."

I loved Gabriel's answer. It brought a smile to my face and joy to my heart. It made me think of God.

Like Gabriel, God's eyes are always upon us (Psalm 33:18; Deut. 11:12). We are never out of His sight. We are the "apple of his eye" (Psalm 17:8, Deut. 32:10), the center of His vision.

I am thinking if we asked our Heavenly Father why he keeps us in His gaze, His answer would be the same as Gabriel's: "I made you," He would say.

And then He would add "... and I love you; you are mine (Jer. 31:3)."

 

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Hello Dear Friends,

Father Edmund Sylvia, C.S.C., Tom Sullivan, and myself are at EWTN this week taping programs for Women of Grace. I sure do welcome your prayers for us. We have quite a full week with a wonderful group of guests joining us. The programs we are producing are riveting, many of which deal with cultural issues as well as the relationship(s) between men and women. As Catholics, our call is to restore the temporal order. Our goal is to do just that and help you to do so as well. May all of us work together to bring Jesus Christ to the world!

Blessings,

Johnnette

 

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To all Women of Grace  Facilitators, Members, and those thinking about becoming Facilitators:

I had an experience one recent morning that I knew was meant not for me alone, but for all Women of Grace . . .

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Novena to Our Lady Undoer of Knots:

www.theholyrosary.org

Click on "Novena Mary Undoer of Knots"

Masses for Your Intentions:

www.SpiritualTreasury.com

For Your Prayer Requests:

www.womenofgraceplace.com

Click on "Communities" under Quick Links

 

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Have you ever noticed the connection between what is going on in your interior life and what is taking place exteriorly? Often, Our Lord uses the events and circumstances of our daily life to draw attention to a work He is doing deep within us.

Let me give you an example. Several years ago I was sitting in my family room deep in prayer. I had just meditated on a particular passage of Scripture and was earnestly seeking what the Lord was saying to me through it.

Interiorly, I was very aware of His presence and I knew He was about a work of grace. As  I waited in silence, listening for His voice with my "spiritual" ears, I seemed to hear Him tell me He was healing me of a great hurt and that He was about a work of restoration in me. He seemd to say that He was making new a certain area of my being (2 Cor. 5:17; Rev. 21:5).

Just as these words were penetrating my heart, I audibly heard a loud ripping noise that sounded like the very roof was being torn off of my house! Startled, I all but jumped off of the couch. My eyes flew open and it took a second or two to realize what was going on. I had recently hired workmen to replace the screening around my pool area and they had begun to strip away the old material at the very moment Our Lord was telling me He was making all things new!

 Tears sprang to my eyes even as I began to laugh out loud. How poignantly God was emphasizing His work! He was stripping away the debris of my woundedness and replacing it with new life -- and He had seen fit to accompany His work with sound effects to make the point!

What is happening in your life today? Is it worth a bit of reflection to see what God might be saying to you through it? Remember what Jesus tells us in Matthew's gospel, "Ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you..." (7:7). Let's ask, seek, and find that which God is about in us today. He may well be making a very big statement!

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Recently, a dear sister in Christ posted a comment in "Coffee Talk", an open forum at GracePlace (www.womenofgraceplace.com).  In it, she expressed the fact that she was feeling discouraged about a number of things. Several women of grace immediately responded. I was one of them.  I wanted to comment on the way the evil one uses discouragement as a tactic against us, the power of praise in the face of discouragement, and the use of Scripture as a weapon against the darkness of the enemy.

One of my collegues suggested that my comments would make a good blog. Taking her advice, I am offering it to you here slightly modified and with an invitation to join us at GracePlace where you can "Get Renewed and Connected Everyday!"

Let's begin with the power of praise.

Praise:  In Full of Grace I talk about the need to praise God because He is God and deserves our praise. BUT, being a God who loves us, He commands us to praise Him because He knows the benefits we receive through praising. First, Scripture tells us that God inhabits the praises of His people. Our praise of Him is like a calling card that draws Him to us. He delights in our praises and "sits upon them" as Scripture says. And, when God is for us, who can be against us, asks St. Paul. Second, praise raises our hearts and minds above the situation. It helps to put things back into proper perspective. It takes our eyes off of ourselves and the misery of our condition and places them on the One Who can resolve our condition. This is transforming. Third, praising God elevates the emotions and actually makes us happier -- our biology was meant to praise and our biochemistry responds -- good hormones are released and our mood is elevated (laughter does the same thing). Fourth, our praising is not a guarantee that the situation will change. But it is a guarantee that we will change through the praising. We will discover that nothing is impossible with God even joy in the midst of travail and tribulation. And this gives us encouragement when we are confronted in the future with an unpleasant moment or serious situation.

Use of Scripture Against the Enemy: This was Jesus' method of dealing with the temptations of the devil when He was praying and fasting in the desert. And it is the best one to use. The enemy desires to thwart our efforts, to lead us into despair, to cause us to be down-trodden and depleted, to distract us and cause us dismay. Memorize some good one-liners that you can use in these moments. They remind you of the power that is yours through Christ Jesus and it releases us from the hold of the evil one. Here are a few passages you can memorize easily: "Get thee behind me Satan." Matthew 16:23 "It is no longer I who lives but Christ Jesus Who lives in me." "Stronger is He who is in me than he who is in the world." 1John 4:4 "Nothing is impossible with God." Galatians 2:20 Behold, I make all things new." Revalation 21:5 "We are more than conquerors through Christ Jesus." Romans 8:37 "If God is for us who can be against us?" Romans 8:31

Discouragement and Excessive Anxiety: St. Faustina tells us that discouragement and excessive anxiety are two favorite ploys of the evil one. He uses these to gain control of our emotions and paralyze our forward movement spirtually and in the natural. Discouragement left unchecked will lead to despair -- a profound desolation of heart predicated upon the notion that God has abandoned us or forsaken us and that our circumstance will never change. It can also cause us to erroneously believe that our travail or suffering is greater than the power of God. Discouragement roots itself deeply within us and begins to poison our spiritual life attacking the virtue of hope. Excessive anxiety causes fear to seep into our heart and soul. The fear I am referring to here is not the kind of fear that warns us of impending danger, but rather the kind of fear that is "false evidence appearing real." It is a trap and is meant to put us into bondage, place chains around our capacities, and stop us dead in our tracks. When discouragement and excessive anxiety prevail upon you, see it for what it is -- a tactic of the evil one -- and know from whom it comes -- the evil one himself. The Holy Spirit never brings discouragement. Once you identify that the enemy is working against you through this tactic -- praise the Lord because obviously something great is on its way or the evil one would not be attempting to discourage you. His very activity is a sign that great things are about to break loose!

May we all take courage today with the knowledge that God gives us every spiritual blessing in the heavens. He desires to help us in the midst of our deepest travail and to reveal to us the power of His unfailing love and presence. May all of us continue to move forward in the ways God is calling us, and may we seek His abundant life in all things.

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