AloeCure Pure Aloe Extract for Digestive Health Review

My husband suffers from acid indigestion, heartburn and stomach cramping daily.  His stomach has caused him discomfort for the past 6 years.  We would buy him an assortment of Calcium Carbonate Anti Acid / Tums tablets (which he would consume several times per day), Peptol Bismol, various heart burn and antiacid and fiber products.  He has even tried a few detox powders.  Some items would work and some would make him more uncomfortable.  I have been trying more natural methods of health and beauty products myself over the past 2 years, and have tried having him incorporate Apple Cider vinegar, more fruits and vegetables, and water.  It seems to help him when he takes a small 2 oz shot of apple cider viniegar and then follow with a tall glass of water but often the taste is much too bearable for him and it is not healthy for his teeth.  I had heard of the benefits of taking pure aloe juice and when I was given the opportunity to review a product such as this I gladly agreed.

The company is called Aloe Cure, and they make a wide variety of products made with 100% Pure Aloe and other natural ingredients.  Aloe Juice has many fantastic properties and benefits.  Aloe, when taken internally, aids in digestion and helps with regulating stomach acid  and prevents and treats heartburn.  I have been having him take 2 oz each day and following with a tall glass of water.  He says this helps within a few minutes.  I have tried the Aloe Juice and although I know how it would benefit me, I cannot get over the flavor.  I had been putting his aloe in orange juice but he says he much prefers it taken in a quick shot (there is a handy measuring dose cup included) followed by water.

Other benefits of drinking aloe are constipation relief, detoxification of the colon and body, blood sugar regulation, potential weight loss or proper maintenance of a healthy weight, improved circulation, reduction of inflammation in the body, strengthened immune system, among other benefits. The Aloe Cure products contain vitamins (such as Potassium and Calcium), minerals, amino acids, for healthy and comfortable digestion and wellness.

We were sent a 6 bottle case of the original flavor and although he is only on his second bottle, we decided to dedicate one bottle for external use. :) He and I have been sulfate free for a while now and try to not use alcohol based hair creams or gels.  I use argan oil or jojoba oil based shampoos and often apply a drop of two to my hands and rake it through my hair.  I really do not need or desire to use hair wax, pomade, creams or gels, but my husband, who has really curly hair, has always used and preferred using somesort of styling product.  Thankfully, after years of heavy use of chemical and alcohol based pomades and gels, he gave in to my pleading and has looked into more natural methods. :) I suggested he try styling his hair with the aloe juice. He now uses a dollap of the aloe juice with a small drop or 2 of castor oil (for hair growth) and some Burdock root oil with Nettle.  All of these ingredients are nourishing to hair, boost hair growth, and chemical free.  He is liking the gentle hold, as it defines his curls, and we hope that his thinning hair will improve.

Aloe Vera juice is pH-balanced for our hair and so it makes sense to use it as a hair gel.  It makes his hair shiny and enhances his curls, as it acts as a humectant (draws moisture).  He applies this gel mixture immediately after showering on lightly towel dried hair.  This makes his hair look styled all day long. 


We have not tried any other brands of Aloe juice, so this is our first impression of using any form of it.  We have been using regular Aloe Vera (100% pure and clear) for years on our skin.  We like how the Aloe Cure products are gluten free, zero calorie, low sodium, fat free, and naturally healthy when taken internally.  They do not have any artificial colors and no preservatives.  The company knows where all their aloe juice comes from, as they own and operate the organic aloe vera farms.  They process and bottle it themselves.

I am excited for him to continue the hair styling gel use and the internal use.  We were sent a 6 pack case of original flavor, however all thought are our own.  The company also makes a Grape flavored variety in case you are interested, as well as skin treatments.

For more information, you can connect with the company on Facebook and Twitter for new products and healthy tips for your body.

CanYouHandlebar EDC Kit Wisdom Beard Oil and Wax Kit: Reviewed

I just finished up my review for the CanYouHandleBar Beard Brush and Initiative Beard Oil Flask, and now would like to let you know about  a handy little kit that will be a perfect gift for your bearded gentleman.  Father's Day will be here before we know it...yeah I am thinking summer thoughts.  I introduce to you the CanYouHandlebar EDC Kit Wisdom Beard Oil and Wax Kit.

This is a beard care kit designed for travel, but also for daily use at home. Both the stainless steel beard oil flask and the can of mustache wax are sturdy and secure enough to take with you in your grooming travel / train case,  pocket, or in your work/school/day bag.  The set would look classy on the vanity as well.

Here is what is in this nice set:

A beard oil flask in Wisdom, a can of Primary Moustache wax and a custom wax lifter (guitar pick). Every Day Care (EDC) kits come in a handy box lined with fancy wood shavings. This makes it great for a gift or a quick and classy way to pack for a weekend.

This is a dandy little set.  My husband loves his.  The beard oil is a warm and rugged scent with notes of fresh cut spruce and cedar.  The base oil was designed with excellent ingredients to help your beard look great and maintain its health. I uses these same oils in my oil cleansing and hair conditioning.  These Beard oils are blended and bottled by hand, which is nice because it makes them extra special.  They have carrier oils of olive oil, grapeseed oil, apricot oil, jojoba, argan, along with vitamin E and essential oils.

The overall look of the company's products is classy, masculine, and a bit vintage daper gentleman mixed with a ruggedly handsome woodsman.  The attention to detail extends to the labeling which is both waterproof and oil-proof.

The company has 2 types of wax, primary and secondary.  This primary wax is a lighter hold. This wax has a inviting fragrance and contains gnetle, and natural ingredients.  There are no artificial dyes or fragrances.  I liek how they use local wax (from Michigan bees), USP lanolin, castor oil, coconut oil, shea butter and vitamin E.  I have been having my husband use castor oil for the past year on his (thinning) locks to help fortify and thicken the growth.  The other ingredients in this wax are ultra nourishing to hair.  The batches are made by hand, inspected by hand and packaged by hand. I like how they use a guitar pick for the wax scraper, it makes it unique and quirky.  The wood shavings are a nice touch as well.

*We were sent this set in exchange for an honest review, my husband likes this set and we recommend it as a gift idea.  It is available on the CanYouHandleBar website and on Amazon.

Check out these other fantastic beard grooming products on their website. Here
Check out these mustache grooming products on their website. Here

You can connect with the company on Facebook and Twitter to learn about upcoming sales and new products.  

CanYouHandlebar Beard Oil Brush and Initiative Beard Oil Flask Review

I had the opportunity to review more wonderful products from Can You Handlebar.  I reviewed their Wisdom Beard Oil a few weeks back---no not for me, for my bearded hubby.  Today I will tell you about 2 products from the same company.  The products are the Beard Oil Brush and the Beard Oil Flask (1 oz) in the Initiative variety/fragrance. 

Can You Handlebar makes and sells a wide assortment of manly grooming products, one of which is the Beard Oil Brush. This brush is designed to be used with special oils that nourish skin and hair.  It comes in a handy storage tin and is specifically for a man's beard.  The product line remind me of a well dressed, dapper woodsman with a neatly groomed beard and a flashing, manly grin.  He may be wearing flannel plaid, but it is his best one, and neatly starched and tucked just so.

The neat thing about this product and the entire line, is it can be used by men who are the outdoor type or businessmen.  There are businessmen who wear beards and are not afraid to grow out that 4 oclock shadow into a dashing, well groomed, full beard.  The products are attractive to display on your bathroom shelf or dresser table.  I love how the labels look slightly vintage and the packaging is very upscale.  The labels are oil proof so they will not get stained.

This beard oil brush was specifically selected by the company to work with Beard Dry Oil (Beard Balms) (in tins) as well as traditional beard oils. We were not sent a dry oil balm, but we were sent a mini stainless steel flask of their Initiative Beard Oil.  The difference between the oil in the flask and the beard balm is the balm is not liquid as it contains a more solid form ingredients in a tin and has the addition of beeswax.  It is similar to a hybrid of mustache wax and beard oil.  The beard oil works very similar, and still provides excellent moisture, nutrients, and luster.  My husband has no difficulty using it with the brush.

Each beard brush is branded with the CanYouHandlebar Question Mark. The base of the brush is wood and the bristles are horse hair.  It reminds me a bit of my husband's shaving brush in texture.  He and I both use shaving brushes (mine is for legs obviously) but his brush is boar hair and mine is badger hair.  He keeps a medium full beard, but likes to keep the under beard neatly shaven.  The boar hair brush is stiffer than badger so it is more similar to the horse hair beard brush in my opinion. The bristles on this beard brush are sturdy and stiff, and capable of a gentle massage and exfoliation to the facial skin.  The oils are able to be brushed and buffed into the beard for nourished hair and skin,  providing a well groomed appearance.  Men, prepare to be kissed, snuggled, and have that mane loved on by your special someone.  :)

The benefits of having the beard oil stainless steel flask is portability.  Although the website mentions that you can "pocket-carry your oil wherever you go," I do not imagine many men will carry their oil in their pocket, but they can rest assured that it is travel friendly, airport friendly (most likely), and will not shatter as glass would.  Initiative is a really nice, handsome scent in my opinion.  Ruggedly handsome.  It contains wonder oils, all of which I use on my own face when I oil cleanse each night.  It is made with olive oil, grapeseed oil, apricot oil, jojoba, argan, vitamin E and essential oils, is blended and bottled by hand and has a citrus undertone.  It is VERY nice.  :)

We were sent a 1 oz size and I really only have one complaint, the lid is difficult to screw on the top easily and straight.  I admit, I have been sneaking a few drops from his flask to put on my eyebrows.  I am trying to fill them out vintage Hollywood Style, reminiscent of vintage young Elizabeth Taylor.  This oil smells AMAZING, and it was only 1 oz.,  I think we need a larger flask...

The Beard Brush and The Initiative Beard Oil Flask were sent to me for my honest opinion and review.  My husband tested these fully (as did my eyebrows with the oil) and hubby still uses both products.  I like them and recommend them to manly beards everywhere.  Perfection.

Would you like to purchase these from Amazon? (affiliate links)

CanYouHandlebar Beard Oil Brush


CanYouHandlebar Initiative Beard Oil 1 OZ Mini Flask

You can connect with the company on Facebook and Twitter to learn about upcoming sales and new products.  

BEAUTYOILS.CO 100% Pure Camellia Oil Review

Do you use oil on your hair or skin? I do and have for the past 2 years.  One oil I had not tried was Camellia Oil.  A Japanese beauty secret, Camellia oil, or tsubaki oil, is very nourishing on the skin and in hair.  I was sent a bottle of Camellia oil from BeautiyOils.co and have reviewed their Pomegranate Seed Oil previously.

This Camellia Oil is 100% PURE and natural.  It is cold-pressed to ensure optimal quality and effectiveness.
The oil comes in a classy bright red box and is quite the stunner.  I really like the look of the label and the box.  It has a press-top cap dispenser and is housed in a dark amber plastic bottle to keep out light.  I would have preferred it to be a glass bottle as it would feel nicer.  I am not a fan of the flip top lid as it is hard to get the product out.  I would have prefer a dropper top lid or a pump. 

Ingredients

100% Camellia Seed Oil (Camellia Oleifera)

I have never tried any other brands of Camellia Oil, so I have nothing to compare this to, however I have used other various oils and this works as well as those.   I use this as a beauty oil on my face and it seems to soak in quickly.  My skin feels soft afterwards.  The way I apply it is putting a few drops of the oil on my Beauty Blender makeup sponge after I have wet it.  I then mix in my tinted BB cream (which acts as my foundation).

Camellia oil is rich in Vitamin E and antioxidants and has been used for skin, nails, scalp and hair beautification throughout history.  This oil originated from Japan and is from the Camellia Japonica flower (called Tsubaki in Japanese).  This lightweight oil is easily absorbed into skin and rich in plant collagen.

I have used oils in my hair a few times a month, and Camellia is a wonderful one to try.  I usually use Argan Oil or Jojoba Oil.  I am sulfate free and only wash my hair twice a week and have improved my hair appearance and texture.  I also use a natural boar bristle brush (Mason Pearson Popular Mix) and seamless wooden (Bamboo) comb (Body Shop).  I hope to sometime get a special handmade wooden comb from Japan.  Applying oil to hair by hand is messy, often applies heavily, and does not distribute the oil as well. If you comb through your oiled hair with a wooden comb, you will have better coverage and will not have heavy hair.

Japanese combs (Tsuge combs) are made from Boxwood. They are polished and filed with attention to detail, to a very smooth finish.  They are seamless, so they will not break or snag hair.  Have you used a cheap plastic comb? (most combs in stores are cheap and painful.  I have not used a plastic comb for the last 2 years.  Wood is the way to go.  Mine is a wide tooth comb made from Bamboo, but someday I will find a nice handmade wooden one.  Wooden combs lessen static electricity, smooth the hair, and are gentle.

The Boxwood combs (and pretty much any other nice quality seamless wooden comb) re-distribute Camellia oil (or whatever light oil your are using) evenly throughout hair. This promotes a pretty luster and gloss.   The traditional way of using a Tsuge comb is the lightly dip it in Camellia oil overnight before using it in your hair.  The wooden comb will absorb the oils and the next day the perfect amount of oil will be applied.  My comb is wide tooth, but the Japanese combs are closer together and Tsuge/Boxwood combs are often carved with intricate patterns.  I think these below are just lovely.

I recommend you look into Camellia Oil, if you are wanting to try a new oil. This was sent to me for review, this is my honest opinion.


BeautyOils.co Camellia is available on their website and on Amazon.  The company is currently having a SALE of 10% off all online orders! Just enter the code: LUNA10.  This is valid until 3/8/15.  The website also has free shipping on orders of $35.

Connect with the company on Facebook  and Twitter for information about their products and special sales. 

Syono Full Length Orthotic Inserts and Insoles Review

My husband works in a busy hotel restaurant as the manager, however does not have the normal cushy manager duties that I have seen in many restaurants (casually walking to each table, greeting guests and occasionally refilling drinks). He only has 2 waitstaff (at most---sometimes it is just him and one other) during a busy meal shift (due to the hotel not hiring more employees for his department) and so he is not only the manager, but he is also a host, waiter, bus boy, garbage man, room service delivery service, and more. He gets a lot of miles in his shoes and his current insoles were horrifying (I neglected to take a picture before throwing them out, but they were pretty worn and disintegrated in areas). They previous ones also were more of a soft foam material and without structure. I personally like memory foam inserts and my holy grail of inserts and the only ones I like were discontinued years ago (they were some from Dr Scholl's and a memory foam air step kind). I am not sure the brand my husband had in his shoes but they were not very good and he hated them.

When these arrived, I personal thought they were very stiff and that they might hurt his feet. I also was thinking he may need to break them in. I put them in his shoes (we got him the XL) and we were happy to see that they did not need any trimming, however they are easy to trim along the guide if needed. I had forgotten to ask him about the Syono insoles for a few days and wondered how they were feeling on his feet. He had absolutely no complaints about them and he said he forgot that they were new (which says to me, that there was no breaking in period or painful rubbing). He says he likes how structured they are and says they are perfect for him and his need for support along his entire foot. They have vented holes at the area under the foot pad to allow for the feet to breathe and this keeps his feet cooler and less smelly. :) He likes the padded support at the heel as he often has the most pain at his heels.

These insoles are for those suffering from pain in the foot, arch, and heel, as well as individuals seeking something with additional arch support and comfort. My husband speed walks on hard concrete floors non stop for up to 12 hour days. He says that these insoles help with providing a buffer and support his entire foot. He does have a bit of Overpronation, which is excessive inward rolling of the foot after landing.

Individuals with Flat feet, Fallen arches and even High arches, can feel relief. The insoles are designed to distribute and minimize pressure in the foot by providing additional arch support. These are excellent for shock absorption and my husband has had less foot and heel pain.

Every pair is TRIM TO FIT and can be adjusted down an additional two sizes.  My husband wears a mens 11 1/2 shoe and the XL was a perfect fit and did not need any trimming.  He wears these in his semi dressy work shoes. 

SIZE GUIDE
XS - 6-7
S - 7-8
M - 8-9
L - 9-11
XL - 11-12


They appear well made and have held up well for about 2 weeks so far. *A sample pair of insoles was received for review, however this is our honest account of the insoles.

These are available on Amazon.