Cover Your Hair Review and Giveaway

Cover Your Hair is one of those websites that makes you realize how wonderful the internets are.  Everything a woman needs to adorn and/or cover her hair, tons of hair accessories, on one website!  Need hair clips?  Go to Cover Your Hair. Baby hats or headbands?  Right there at Cover Your Hair.  Looking for head scarves, a bandanna or a snood?  You know what my answer is by now.

Some info from the folks at Cover Your Hair about what they do:

Hair coverings, clips, and accessories, wheather you have hair loss due to alopecia or your are coverings your hair for religious reasons we can help you with your accessory needs. If you need bandana, headband, berets, hats, turbans, head scarf, pre tied bandana, snood Tichel or a pull on hat for hair loss or for cancer, chemotherapy, alopecia, trichotillomania. We have accessories in every color and style, shop now and always look your best!

Because we live in Hawai'i and because we don't use head coverings for religious reasons, we reviewed some of the hair accessories for adornment.  In particular, Second Born loved the large Lilly hair clip and the Thin Necklace headband (shown below as well as my daughter wearing the headband).  Both are sturdy, quality pieces, reasonably priced, and stay in her hair well.  Cover Your Hair's wide assortment of hair accessories make it a winner in my book.  Where else can a woman get everything she needs to accessorize her hair whether its for cosmetic or modesty purposes?  As a side note, I loved learning more about Jewish traditional hair coverings (snood, tichels and sheitels) on their hair accessories blog and would love to learn how to tie a tichel.  If I ever get to the point of needing instructions on how to tie one or wear some other hair accessory, I can check out their Videos page or their Youtube channel.

SHOP:  For all of your hair accessories needs, go to Cover Your Hair. Chances are they have what you're looking for and they ship worldwide!

WIN: One lucky Moana Saves reader will win her own box of surprise Hair Accessories worth $25! To enter just tell us what hair accessory you would love to try from Cover Your Hair.  This is your mandatory entry which means you have to do it first before earning additional entries.

To earn an additional entry, do one (or all) of the following and leave a separate comment for each thing you do:

1. Become a Google Friends Connect follower of Moana Saves (in the sidebar).
2. Become a Networked Blogs follower of Moana Saves (in the sidebar).
3. Follow Moana Saves on Twitter.
4. Follow Cover Your Hair on Twitter.

5. Tweet about this giveaway (limit one tweet per day) using the following: #win surprise Hair Accessories worth $25 from @coveryourhair and @moanasaves ends 5/9 http://bit.ly/fsKrFz

6. Subscribe to the Moana Saves feed via RSS reader and/or email updates (in the sidebar).
7. Like the Moana Saves Facebook page.

8. Like the Cover Your Hair Facebook page.

9. Subscribe to Cover Your Hair Channel on You Tube.

Only one person per email/household/IPaddress can enter this giveaway. He/she must be 18+ years old and reside in the U.S. This giveaway ends on 5/9/11 at 11:59 PM HST (Hawaii Standard Time). One winner will be chosen randomly via Random.org. I will notify the winner via email and he/she must respond to claim the prize within 48 hours or I will draw another winner.

 *I was not paid, but did recieve products to facilitate this review.  Any and all opinions here are my own.

Review and Giveaway of the Dot Girl First Period Kit

Sponsored by Tomoson.com As a woman in my early forties, I’ve come to realize that most women have “war stories”—the kind of suffering we went through having children, what nursing was like, etc.  Sometimes even the stories of the first time we got our periods are war stories.  I remember sitting through a girls-only class about our developing bodies in the fifth grade, becoming intensely curious about menstruation and then window shopping at Thrifty’s for feminine hygiene products.  My actual period didn’t come until the summer when, to my horror, it showed up while I was at 4-H camp.  Thank goodness my mom had come with us that year.  I really needed her to help me deal with the reality of my first period.  Because I remember my intense feelings at the time, I prepared First Born for getting hers.  Several times--including a few talks over girls-only shopping trips.  I was nervous about it and felt completely cheated as a mom when she went on an overnight field trip and got it without me there.  Because I’d talked to her, however, her experience was very matter-of-fact.  She knew it was coming.  It was just a matter of when.

The Dot Girl First Period Kit prepares a girl in the same way.  It contains everything a girl needs to prepare for that landmark moment when she becomes a woman and it does it in a way that nurtures and comforts her.  To begin with, it comes in an adorable (yet-under-the-radar) pink pouch so a girl feels special.  Some info from the site about what’s inside the pouch: The kit includes The Dot Girl Period Answer Book® which answers twenty common questions about menstruation including: How many days will I bleed? When will I get my first period? How do I track my period? What about cramps? What is a period anyway?  Written in an easy-to-read and positive tone, it covers the basics of menstruation in one compact booklet.  It fits neatly inside the reusable case so girls can refer to it over and over again.  Included also are five feminine pads and five disposal bags, and the Dot Girl Warm Pad, a reusable gel heating pad that everyone loves so much for soothing cramps.  Two hand wipes complete the kit ensuring girls that they'll be prepared in any situation.

What a cool gift for a girl to celebrate the changes she’s going through!  I’m not the only one who thinks so: the Dot Girl First Period Kit® is a Mom's Choice Awards® Gold Recipient.  I showed the kit to Second Born who just turned nine and is not developing yet.  She had no interest in it.  As a mom, I’m incredibly relieved to have the kit in the house so that when she does ask, I can take it out and we’ll read the Answer Book and go through the items in the pouch.  The Dot Girl First Period Kit is a tool to make a girl feel special and loved through this transition.  It effectively transforms this time from a “war story” to celebrated milestone and doesn’t every girl deserve that?

The folks at Dot Girl Products are giving one lucky Moana Saves reader a Dot Girl First Period Kit for the special girl in her life.  To earn a mandatory entry in the Dot Girl First Period Kit, head to over to their Facebook page and become a fan then leave a comment hear saying you’ve done so. 
To earn an additional entry, do one (or all) of the following and leave a separate comment for each thing you do:

1. Become a Google Friends Connect follower of Moana Saves (in the sidebar).
2. Become a Networked Blogs follower of Moana Saves (in the sidebar).
3. Follow Moana Saves on Twitter.
4. Follow Dot Girl Moms on Twitter.
5. Tweet about this giveaway (limit one tweet per day) using the following:
#Win a Dot Girl First Period kit for the special girl in your life from & @moanasaves #giveaway ends 3/12 http://bit.ly/hHJbXT

6. Subscribe to the Moana Saves feed via RSS reader and/or email updates (in the sidebar).
7. Like the Moana Saves Facebook page.

Only one person per email/household/IPaddress can enter this giveaway. He/she must be 18+ years old and reside in the U.S. This giveaway ends on Saturday, 3/12/11 at 11:59 PM HST (Hawaii Standard Time). One winner will be chosen randomly via Random.org. I will notify the winner via email and he/she must respond to claim the prize within 48 hours or I will draw another winner.

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commissions 16 CFR, Part 255 Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising. Tomoson Product review & giveaway Disclosure.

For the Ladies: Review and Giveaway of the Diva Cup

Discussing menstrual products on my blog.  Its a tricky thing.  The hub even made me show this to him before I put it up.  Sometimes I can be the queen of TMI.  I guess he's trying to keep me at the princess level of TMI so we can hold on to our family's dignity.  But talking about menstrual cycles isn't such a big deal! It just depends on how you do it.  So don't worry, I won't embarrass you or me in this post. Okay? Okay.

I contacted Carinne Chambers at Diva International because I believe in their product.  I've used a Diva Cup for nearly four years (not the same one, mind you) and its quite possibly the easiest and the smartest thing I've done to reduce my eco-footprint on the earth.  Back when I first started to use the Diva Cup, it seemed a cheap alternative to the feminine hygiene products I could get at the drugstore.  It bothered me that I had to buy new product every few months especially as I tend to like the ones that are more expensive.  Now, four years later, I haven't gone back to disposable products because its easy to use the Diva Cup.  Seriously!  The learning curve isn't very steep at all.  If I can use one, anyone can.  Sorry, no instruction video here to show you.  That would embarrass my hub.

You can check out all of the info on the Diva Cup website about their product.  The Cup is made from the highest quality silicone, has no chlorine, dyes, colorings or additives of any kind, and is in no way connected to Toxic Shock Syndrome.  Further, it has been approved by the FDA, Health Canada, and holds an international ISO 13485:2003 manufacturing certification.  The Diva Cup was developed by a mother-daughter team who recognize that “not every woman can afford a hybrid car nor easily convert their home to solar power. Yet, by choosing to use a menstrual cup instead of disposable tampons and pads, any woman is able to make an environmentally responsible choice each month. This is no small matter. In the U.S. alone, billions of tampons and pads are dumped into landfills and the environment each year" (Carinne Chambers).


Yes, yes, all of that is well and good but you really want to know what its like to use it, don't you?  Short of getting a bit too graphic on a family-friendly blog, I can tell you that inserting it and taking it out takes a little practice. Otherwise, its a breeze to use.  You can use the same cup for a year or even longer according to the FAQ.  I've used the ones I've had for over a year before replacing them.  The Diva Cup comes in two sizes: Model 1 is for women younger than 30 who have not experienced childbirth; Model 2 is for women over 30 and/or those who have given birth.  It also comes with a cute little drawstring bag and Diva pin. 


BUY IT

You can find a store near you that sells the Diva Cup here.
or
You can purchase one online at Amazon.

WIN IT
One lucky woman will win a Diva Cup of her own.  To earn a mandatory entry, go to the Diva Cup site and tell me something you've learned about the product itself or about women's health.   (Mandatory entry means that if you don't do this first, all of your other entries will be disqualified.)

To earn an additional entry, do one (or all) of the following and leave a separate comment for each thing you do:

1. Become a public follower of Moana Saves via Google Friend Connect (on the left side).

2.  Follow me on Twitter.

3. Follow @DivaCup on Twitter

4. Tweet about this giveaway (limit one tweet per day) using the following:
#Win a Diva Cup ($40 ARV) from @moanasaves and @DivaCup #giveaway http://bit.ly/cYUpd5

5. Subscribe to my feed via RSS reader (right side) and/or email updates (left side).

6. Grab my button and put it on your blog until the giveaway is over.

7. Put Moana Saves on your blog list.

Two new options for this giveaway:

8. Like the (new!) Moana Saves Facebook page.

9. Like the Diva Cup Facebook page.

Only one person per email/household/IPaddress can enter this giveaway.  He/she must be 18+ years old and reside in the U.S. or Canada  This giveaway ends on Tuesday, October 5th at 11:59 PM HST (Hawaii Standard Time).  One winner will be chosen randomly via Random.org.  I will notify the winner via email and he/she must respond to claim the prize within 48 hours or I will draw another winner.

Disclosure: I did not receive any form of compensation from Diva International to host this giveaway.  Any and all opinions are my own.