California Baby Hair Care: Not Just for Kids

Hello California Baby Fans

Although California Baby products are used and promoted for use by sensitive adults, they are designed for babies and kids. Usually little ones have baby fine hair and do not use styling aids like gel, hairspray, etc. Their hair care needs are a little different than an adult’s.

Nevertheless, California Baby washes and conditioners work great on adult hair because they are non-stripping, which means your own natural oils that add softness and shine are left intact, and hair coloring treatments lasts longer.

Here are a few CB hair washing and conditioning tips

• Wash your hair once—but let it sit for at 30-60 seconds to do its job
• Start the cleansing at the temples, front and back of scalp, which are the oiliest parts
• Move to the ends of the hair, which tend to be the driest, and to keep your ends in tip top shape and extend your next hair trim, don’t concentrate or start your washing at the ends
• By now we know that bubbling isn’t where the cleaning happens, so avoid trying to ‘foam up,’ instead make sure the product is evenly distributed—if it makes contact, it’s working to break the surface tension of oil and water—releasing it from your hair
• California Baby hair conditioners are lightweight by design—giving you the option to leave it in for extra conditioning (great for curly hair) or do a quick rinse for finer hair

Adults should only be using a half-dollar sized amount of product at each wash (and a dime or quarter sized for kids). Give my technique a try, it works for me—I hope it works for you too!

Jessica

Earth Day = Spring Cleaning

It's Earth Day, which means you'll probably be reading about simple ways to "go green" all afternoon. It's true that the small changes we make can have a big impact on the health of our planet. For example, take shorter showers to conserve water, eat local and organic to reduce our use of oil and pesticides, wash your clothes in cold water instead of hot to save energy. All of these things are important and make an impact. I try to do all these (and more) year round.

I'm not a collector at heart, but there are some things I can't simply toss in the trash. Cork from wine and champagne bottles are, or should I say were, my ongoing pet project. I had corks piling up in ice buckets, boxes and bags, "Oh! Don't throw that away, I'm going to do something with it," was my often repeated mumble. My family, knowing that once I get something into my head, knows its not going to go away and shrewdly decided to let the topic pass.

You might have heard something about the (beautiful!) cork flooring we installed last year in our eco-showroom at California Baby headquarters in Los Angeles.

By now, it can safely be assumed that I LOVE cork floors, which is why I envisioned my used beverage corks being recycled into soft and comfy eco-friendly flooring. The cork we chose for our showroom is harvested from the cork tree by stripping the outer bark, which is done without harming the tree, so it's a wonderfully sustainable material. The process of turning the bark into cork for flooring is also very green and low-impact. Cork pieces are cured, boiled and then pressed and even scraps from this process can be collected and reused so there's very little waste.

Not planning on getting new flooring anytime soon? Well, you can still make a difference and do what I did: recycle your wine bottle corks by sending them to The Cork Forest Conservation Alliance, which runs Cork ReHarvest, a recycling program that saves wine corks from the landfill and sends them to businesses that repurpose them into things like cork flooring. Visit www.corkforest.org for more information about how to recycle your corks.

Recipe: A Great Vegetarian Side Dish

Yikes! You were shopping at the Farmer's Market and inspiration struck... it's the start of tomato season, the farmer piled them high, there was a bit of bumping and vying for best, and it was fun. At home, while unloading your bounty, you realize you bought way too many tomatoes.
Not to worry, here's an easy and delicious way to use up the tomatoes before they start rotting on your kitchen counter (don't put them in the fridge) and end up in the composter as expensive worm food.
This recipe, it's really more of a how-to, is an effortless way to transform those red globes into warm and juicy comfort food. Serve up a few tomatoes per person as a veggie side dish or puree the whole thing and use as a super tasty pasta sauce (don't forget to squeeze the garlic out of its skin first though).
Option: Throw in a few whole jalapeno peppers to turn up the spice dial

Equipment

• Casserole baking dish or cast iron pan

Produce & Seasoning

• Tomatoes - enough to snuggly fit the dish/pan when cut in half
• Salt and pepper to taste (use your fancy salt here, I love Fleur de Sel from the Camargue region of France)
• Herbs de Provenance; fresh or dried. Don't have it? Improvise and create your own fresh blend by mixing thyme and oregano and even a little rosemary, chop finely.
• Olive oil
• Garlic - leave them whole and in their skins. Allow at least two per person. They will roast and become mild, creamy and nutty; simply squeeze directly into your mouth.

Teaching moment: Develop your child's palate by getting them hooked on roasted garlic. They can pop them directly into their mouth or spread the paste on a piece of bread for a sophisticated snack!

How To

1. Wash the tomatoes (I dilute CB Super Sensitive bubble bath or wash for this) rinse well to remove any soap residue and dry
2. Cut tomatoes in half and fit into your baking dish – a snug fit is what you're after
3. Tuck in garlic cloves in open spots
4. Sprinkle with herbs, salt and pepper
5. Drizzle with olive oil

Temp & Time

• Bake at 450 F
• 30 minutes or when tomatoes are caramelized and the garlic is soft and creamy - check every 10 minutes or so and rotate the vessel if you see one side is cooking faster and for balanced cooking.

Serve It Up

• Allow to cool for 5 minutes before serving as the tomatoes will be HOT!
• Serve directly from your baking vessel onto plates as it is hard to transfer the tomatoes onto a serving dish without destroying a few.
• Soak up the 'sauce' that accumulates at the bottom of the vessel with slices of crusty country loaf bread

Enjoy!


Cheers!
Jessica