Blue Ridge Rollergirl, Tessa "Distressa" Eaton's Transformation

27 Zit Remedies from crunchybetty.com

27 Quick and Crunchy Home Remedies for Pimples

• Dab a little lemon juice on it. The astringent properties in lemon juice will suck out some of the oil and shrink the blemish. Wash off before going in the sun, though, as this could bleach your face and make it more sensitive to the sun.
• A teeny, tiny clay mask will fix it. If you need clay, go here (and you need clay, I promise):Mountain Rose Herbs. So a search for “cosmetic clay” and you’ll find that an entire pound is a whopping $4.95 (you might want to order another thing or two, to make the shipping worth it). Now, once you have your clay, take 1 tsp of it and mix enough distilled water to make a thick paste. Apply it directly to the blemish and leave on as long as you’d like (at least 20 minutes or all night long). I’ve seen pimples completely disappear overnight from this. Yeah. Really.
• Use an itsy bitsy smudge of lavender or tea tree essential oil. Again, you can purchase these things at Mountain Rose Herbs. They’re great for a whole host of different things, and they absolutely annihilate zits. Use one tiny drop of either oil on a Q-tip and rub it on the blemish. Leave on overnight.
• Make a paste with cinnamon and honey. Use approximately 1/2 tsp of cinnamon and add to the honey. Mix to make a paste. Apply to the blemish and leave on for 20 minutes (or overnight). Zit = zapped.
• Rub a slice of potato on them. Leave it on for at least 20 minutes, or all day.
• Tomatoes. Tomatoes. Tomatoes. Try rinsing your pimply face with fresh tomato juice. Leave this on for an hour before washing. Or, try the Homemade Tomato Juice Peel-Off Mask!
• Apples and honey to the rescue. Grate a small bit of apple into a fine mush and add honey to make a sticky, fruity paste. Apply to the pimples and leave on for 20 minutes. Or, do your whole face! Wash well.
• Try the Aspirin and Honey Facial Mask. You can do your whole face, or just tiny little spots.
• Make a tiny mask with dried calendula and castor oil. Freaky, right? Oil for a zit. But castor oil is actually drying and the calendula will soothe the redness and the surrounding skin. Calendula can be purchased at, of course, none other than Mountain Rose Herbs (links above).
• Make ice cubes out of green tea. Just rub one of those things over the blemish area two or three times a day. Swelling will go down, skin will be soothed, and the green tea acts as an astringent.
• Pound an orange peel. Yep. That’s right. Take a small amount of orange peel, sprinkle some water on the pith-side and pound it with a (clean) hammer or meat tenderizer for 10 seconds. Rub the peel over the pimply areas (you could even tape it there for a few minutes for extra action).
• Dab it with strong basil tea. Boil 1 c. of water and add 1 Tbsp. dried basil leaves. Steep for 10 minutes. Strain. refrigerate until cool. Apply to the pimples (or all over your face, if it’s oily).
• Strawberries are yummy zit zappers. In addition to whitening your teeth, strawberries are excellent for occasional pimples (or acne). Slice the top off off a strawberry (eat the fruit) and rub the small amount of flesh left at the top of the strawberry on your pimples. Leave on for 20-30 minutes and then rinse off. You can read more about strawberries and skincare here!
• Witch hazel and a cotton ball. Or any kind of fabric, really. Just soak the fabric with some witch hazel, hold on the blemish for a minute or two. That’s it. Astringent to the rescue.
• Concoct your own pimple cream with lanolin, glycerin, and castor oil. Just melt, on very low heat, equal parts of all three. Store in a small jar. Apply it to pimples as necessary.
• Make a poultice with dried hibiscus. Hibiscus makes a wildly delicious tea, but it’s also very effective on blemishes. You can have it both ways with this remedy! Just steep 3 tsp. hibiscus in 2 c. water. Strain (saving the hibiscus). Add a little honey to your tea and drink up. Then take the wet hibiscus, place it in a small paper towel or piece of cheesecloth, and apply to the pimple. Hold it there for 5-10 minutes.
• Don’t be a vampire – use garlic. I know, I know. It sounds really stinky. Desperate times call for desperate measures and all that.  And garlic is pretty wondrous when it comes to clearing away the pimples. Peel a clove of garlic and then mush it up well with a fork. Apply the mush to your pimples and let it set for 20 minutes.
• Spice it up with some nutmeg and cloves. Put 2 tsp. whole cloves and 1 tsp ground nutmeg in 1/4 c. milk. Heat on low for 10 minutes (careful not to scald the milk!). Allow the milk to cool. With a small washcloth or other fabric, apply the spicy milk to the pimply areas – or all over your face!
• Splurge on some neem. Neem powder and neem oil are two magical pimple treatments, but they may be hard to find. Try Whole Foods, your local natural foods store, or Mountain Rose Herbs and pick up either one – or both. With the oil, just daub the oil directly onto the blemish. Or, with the powder, mix with a tiny amount of water or witch hazel to form a paste that you then apply to the pimply areas. Leave on all night for extra zit-busting effectiveness.
• Rosewater and lemon juice – a fragrant remedy. If you happen to have some rosewater (if you don’t, you should get some … again, Mountain Rose Herbs or Whole Foods), take 1 tsp rosewater and 1/2 tsp lemon juice and apply to the blemishes. The rosewater will act as a calmative and helps repair the skin, while the lemon juice is astringent and drying.
• Take your honey straight. At night, slather on a little honey over an extra-large pimple. Cover this with a bandaid, and sleep with the bandaid on. In the morning, remove the bandage, be amazed at the lack of pimple, and rinse your face well.
• Apple Cider Vinegar. The good old standby, the liquid that does more things than Madonna (career-wise, I mean) – just dab a bit onto the affected area and let it dry. Leave it on for 20 minutes … or forever!
• A sprig of mint’ll do you. Take one leaf from a sprig of fresh mint, rub it well between your fingers until it’s bruised. Rub the “juice” from the mint leaf over the pimple. Leave on.
• Localized egg white mask. Just separate the yolk from the white, whip the white a time or two, and dab on to spotty areas with a Q-tip. Leave on overnight and wash well in the morning.
• Aloe vera gel or leaf. For some time, I had an aloe vera plant in my home. Then I forgot to water it. For a month. Anyway, whenever I started to feel a pimple coming on, I’d break off a tiny bit of the leaf and rub the gel inside over it. Worked like a charm at heading off (sorry for the pun) the pimple. You don’t have to have a plant – just look for the purest aloe vera gel you can find in your local natural foods store.
• Bruise some fresh cabbage leaves. Just mush ‘em up and rub them on the offending area. Leave the juice on for at least 30 minutes or more. Rinse off and finish with an astringent.
• Dissolve some salt in lemon juice. If you want even MORE drying power than just straight lemon juice, try dissolving 1/2 tsp salt in 2 tsp lemon juice, rub on the zit and leave on (being aware that lemon juice is also bleaching and can cause sensitivity to the sun).

Getting Waxed By Holly Morrison

As you probably know by now, Adorn has a new esthetician, Holly Morrison. The lovely Holly became a member of the Adorn family just in time for shorts, skirt and dress season. I was quick to sign up for a leg wax because, like most busy women, I had grown a winter coat, so to speak... and was eager to shed it for the warm weather.

I am not a stranger to the process of waxing. Having been on the swim team in high school, I began getting waxed around that time and became hooked. Let’s face it, keeping those kinds of things maintained is a lot of work and waxing allows lazy ladies like me to go for up to three weeks without worry. However, since I have been getting waxed for such a long time, I have been exposed to several different kinds of wax and several different kinds of estheticians. Everything from messy d.i.y. experiments at home (not recommended, will end in tears) to fancy spas where prim and proper women pretend that they are not, in fact, dealing with your most private areas *ahem*, to bold asian women in Brooklyn who yell out orders like “Wider!” and “Hold this!” as they slap at your belly. I even had a friend tell me that she had gone to one of these Brooklyn women and afterwards the woman had given her an affectionate slap on her derriere. Yikes!

Holly was perfect! She was very no-nonsense and not bothered by the procedure - a waxer who genuinely enjoys waxing. I was first just going to get my legs done, but she had such a pleasant demeanor. The more that we talked the more comfortable I felt and I was lucky enough to catch her at a point in her day where she had enough time to do everything and so we did EVERYTHING. We currently have two kinds of wax being used for the waxing services we do - a hard wax and a soft wax. The hard wax is applied and then it hardens and is pulled off without using any strips - this is great for Brazilian and Bikini services. The soft wax is applied and then removed with strips - this is for legs, face, etc. When you go to an inexperienced aesthetician for something like a Brazilian and they are not versed in how to properly remove the wax, you are confronted with what it means to know true pain. I have definitely known this pain, but Holly is experienced and the pain for even the most tender areas was like night and day from any other time I’ve been waxed. There was almost no pain...I think I need to repeat that: THERE WAS ALMOST NO PAIN! It was awesome.

It’s no surprise that she won first place in 2012 for best esthetician in WNC. I feel like I want to hang a banner or yell from the rooftops how great the experience was. If you have found yourself with your own winter coat and aren’t sure what to do about it, I would highly recommend commissioning Holly and guarantee you won’t regret it.

Holiday Transformation From Yellow to Lavender

See a great transformation from a few months back. Holiday takes one of our lovely clients from yellow to lavender!! <3

Worst Haircut Ever Contest Update #2

A few more gems rolled in; here are two favorites from today. We're really enjoying reading your stories! Thanks to all who are writing in!

Chubby Bumpkin

When I was in the third grade, I was a little country and a little overweight for my age...such a sad combination. Buuuut, that's what you get growing up on the East coast. So my mom was always amazing about re-decorating my room and pushing me to well re-decorate myself and feel fresh and new. 

SO one day we went to the hair salon to get a fresh do in time for picture day (which is almost always a bad idea for the record) and I was insanely excited. I sat down and let the lady chop everything up nice mid-length, the way I usually would have it done. But on this particular day I got really excited and looked up at her and said, "shorter, shorter". Okay, she said to me, we'll go shorter. So she cut my hair just a little bit shorter and I smiled and cheesed at myself in the mirror, wanting to push the boundaries. So I looked up again and said, "shorter, let's go shorter". She smiled a little and looked at my mom and asked me if I was sure and I nodded my head. Well, this went on a few more times until I let this very sweet but very ridiculous lady for letting a third grade child tell her what to do (and yes I blame my mom as well). 

I left the salon that day with nearly no hair- boy short!! And as I mentioned I was overweight for my age (in which case you need more hair to frame your chubby little face). I got home and my brothers pointed and laughed in my face and I was distraught. I cried and cried and refused to go to school the next day. My mom eventually got me out the door after teasing my hair out the wazoo (Reba Macintyre was an inspiration in our house mmkay). My third grade school photo is a chubby me in a vest with cowboy boots on it with teased out boy short hair, eyes puffy from crying....and even recounting this story now, tears are streaming down my face.

Butchered Blond

My worst haircut experience was pretty traumatic for me! I had a brand new baby and decided I needed to do something about my hair, that I hadn't done anything with during my pregnancy.  I have very thick wavy, dark blonde, hair and at the time it was a little past my shoulders.  So, I went to a salon I had never been to before, explained to the guy doing my hair that I wanted blonde highlights and a trim.  When he took the towel off of my wet, freshly colored hair it was ALL white! I sat in shock and watched him trim my hair which kept getting more chopped up by the minute.  I finally started to cry and asked him to "please stop cutting my hair".  I could tell by the expressions on other customers faces that they were also shocked by how badly he had butchered my hair.  I went to the front desk in tears and asked if I was over reacting, and through their shocked faces I could tell I was not.  I looked like Debbie Harry with bedhead! Since I had to get home and nurse my baby, they had to reschedule me for the next day. I had to wear a hat to cover it out in public, and when I returned I ended up with a pixie cut because it had been so badly fried from the color and chopped up! They fired the guy too! It took about 2 years for my hair to grow back to it's previous length. 

Do you think you can top these ladies' stories? Write in an tell us all about it at adornasheville@gmail.com.

Featured Artists: Marisol Spoon

Marisol Spoon is the creative collaboration of a husband and wife artist team Jason and Lauren Weatherspoon. Adorn currently feature's the couple's handcrafted lockets. In addition to their beautiful lockets, Adorn will have the pleasure of  hosting Marisol Spoon's art work in the salon for the summer months of June and July. Stay tuned for their opening date!

1. Where did the inspiration for the name Marisol Spoon come from?

It's a funny how things work out, but our team name comes from a children's book that Jason is working on,  the girls were originally created as illustration for the book. The land the story takes place in is "Marisol Spoon". 

Part of the name comes from our last name; "Spoon" in Old English refers to a valley, and "Marisol" is made up of two Latin root words "mar" meaning sea and "sol" meaning sun. So our world is made up of the sun, sea, and valley.

2. How did you begin to collectively work and distribute art together?

 

We have been making art side by side for over a decade and have always wanted to collaborate but could not find mutual inspiration until Marisol Spoon evolved. It would take a long time to unfold the events that lead us to where we are, but I can tell you we could not have planned it, things just seem to unfold on their own.

3. What are the challenges or benefits of a) creating and selling handmade object b) doing this together as a couple and c) doing this in Asheville? 

Wow, that is a lot to answer, the best way I could sum it up is to compare it to gambling. We take huge risk constantly, we invest a lot of time, energy and money into our business and there is no promise of a return. 

But we love the adventure, and being together, even more so now with our child. I think we would both wither away without the challenge and risk. As far as being in Asheville, we could really be anywhere as we earn primarily online and at art/craft fairs. We travel about 30 weekends a year, and living in Asheville just makes coming home that much sweeter!

4. What have your biggest inspirations been lately? 

 

It would have to be our little girl, she has lit a fire in the both of us that will certainly lead to new creations. We make alot of our belongings, including furniture, tools and even our home. Jason has already began plans for an awesome playhouse and toys, and I am working on designs for dresses based on Marisol Spoon paintings.

 

5. What can some of your followers look forward to seeing from you in the future?

Hopefully the book! But definitely new paintings and new art objects. We are constantly working on multiple projects at once, so you never know when something new will pop up!

6. Do you have any funny stories about a time when you were creating something together and it wasn't coming together or it came together with ease?

 

Well, something that comes to mind is our work trailer, Jason bought it off the side of Amboy rd about 8 yrs ago, it is funky and homemade from an old VW rear end. We left it under the bridge by the Wedge while we were in NY and it was stolen, so we put the word out and it magically reappeared. We recently needed an enclosed trailer to travel our art with and at the same time Jason happened to find an abandoned aluminum truck camper shell. He hauled it back and it fit our trailer perfectly! Now we travel to shows in homemade gypsy/ hillbilly style!

To find out more about this dynamic pair, please visit their website at: http://marisolspoon.com/
or their blog at: http://marisolspoon.com/blog/

Worst Haircut Ever Contest Update

We've really been enjoying reading some of the 'Worst Haircut Ever' contest submissions and thought y'all might like to take a peek too! Here's one of our favorites from the past two days:

 Worst Haircut Ever aka A Close Shave

I was fresh out of college and thrilled to be teaching English and Study Skills at a little college prep. boarding school in New Hampshire.  My duties there involved teaching 6 separate classes for grades 7-10, being an assistant dorm mother, monitoring evening study halls, directing various performances, and even coaching the high school girls’ basketball team.  I’ve always been the kind of girl who spent money on used books rather than clothes, makeup, or hair. That said, I have also always been a girl who cares about excellence in every area, like any self-respecting detail-obsessed English teacher.

The boarding school had a unique schedule, so my colleagues and I often ran personal errands before or between our classes.   One fateful Tuesday, I taught my first block class and then dashed into town to get a trim.  Now, I really should tell you that I had a wonderful hairdresser at this time who worked at a lovely Aveda salon.  So, there’s really no excuse for what happened next.  All I can say in my defense is that my wonderful thrilling first job paid only $8k/year and, at 20, I was as passionate about teaching as I was naïve about the amount of money I would need to live on my own.  It was a particularly tight month (in addition to low pay, some months that year, teachers didn’t get paid at all!), so I convinced myself that it made sense to save some money by walking into a place that advertised haircuts for $8. 

It was over before I could even process the “red flags”--or should I say, the red and white striped barber pole!  I can still hear the buzzing of that razor and recall the shock of not recognizing my newly shorn self in the mirror.  In a daze, I paid and drove back to teach.  That’s when the reality of my situation hit me.  8^th graders are not known for tact!  Their looks of shock quickly turned into jokes about my “weed-wacked” hair and lack thereof.  Like any Grammar teacher worth her salt, I channeled their comments into sentences that we diagrammed on the board.  Sentences like, “It will grow back, right?”  followed by fragments like “Not soon enough!” 

Heather Shirin is April's Featured Artist at Adorn

Heather Shirin is a mixed media artist creating Art Nouveau inspired portraits of women. Her series "Playing Love" is described on her website as:

"Deep wood birch panels with acrylic paint, mixed media and gold leaf. Art Nouveau designs are sketched directly on the wood with pencil, then hand painted.

The wood panel's sides are then coated with with a deep red mahogany wood stain. They have a multi layered varnish with UV protectant. They require no additional frame, and are gallery ready. This latest series was started in late December 2011 and continues to grow. Please contact Heather Shirin for her latest works available as they may not yet be online. Commissioned works always welcomed!"

Shirin also offers classes for people who would like to learn the techniques that Shirin has implemented in her pieces. These next class is 6 weeks, Friday April 26-May 31 2013 from 1-4pm. The tuition is $235 plus a $15 materials fee for specialty materials.

To find out more please visit her website at: http://www.heathershirin.com/

Win a Free Haircut at Adorn!!!

Maybe you lost a bet, were trying to save money, went to the wrong stylist, or burned it off in some freak accident. Regardless, we want to know! What's the story behind your worst haircut ever?
Adorn Salon is holding a competition. Be the one to write in with the most entertaining tale of haircut woe and win a free haircut!
Adress your story to: adornasheville@gmail.com. Be sure to include 'worst haircut ever' in the title. We're of the philosophy that it's always a good idea to include pictures and/or video, but it isn't necessary.
Also, if you happen to be one of a group of women shaved lightening bolts into their hair some years ago and came into adorn to get it fixed, we'd especially love to hear from you!


Until then, below is some inspirational material to get those creative juices flowing ;)

                                                                        (skip to 1:37)

                                       

Black to Blond

                                          Before                                                        After

                                                         Haircolor by Andrew Williams