Raspberry Moon Skin Therapy

A Sassy, Saucy Skincare & Waxing Studio in Greenville, SC

864.271.2710

1211D Laurens Road Greenville, SC 29607

Fun Facts

World Snake Day

Shannon with Nagini -a pastel ball python
Shannon with Nagini -A Pastel Ball Python

July 16th is World Snake Day so I thought I would ask my friend Shannon to spread a little snake 411 and love. She is my go to on all things snake.

There are few creatures more misunderstood than snakes. They are often universally feared and maligned. While it is natural to fear something that can potentially cause harm to people, most do not know how beneficial and diverse snakes are or how to tell the venomous ones from non-venomous ones.

Most snakes are more afraid of people than people are of them. This means that they tend to hide and typically any bite would be defensive in nature. There are about 3,580 known species of snakes, ranging from the tundra to jungles to the ocean. The majority of snake species are non-venomous and essentially harmless to humans and common pets.

Snakes are highly effective predators that play a significant role in maintaining ecological balance by keeping down the population of rodents, ticks, and other pests. They also contribute to the modern medical field. Snake venom was used in the development of medications created to treat heart attacks, blood clots and disorders, high blood pressure, strokes, kidney disease, brain injuries, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and various pain disorders. Scientists are studying its potential use in cancer and pain killing treatments.

Snakes as pets

Salazar Slytherin - A Hog Island Boa
Salazar Slytherin – A Hog Island Boa

Snakes are not the most exciting choice of pets but are easy to care for with the proper habitats. They do not need or thrive on a lot of handling and affection and are relatively low-maintenance. Most snakes are not aggressive unless they are in feeding mode or need to defend themselves.

Each species will have its own heat and humidity requirements and the key to a healthy snake is maintaining these specific parameters. Snakes rely on their environment to regulate their body temperatures and aid digestion. Most habitats will have a warm side, a cool side, and an ambient (air/environment) temperature. They need a secure habitat with locks or a latching door and a reliable heat source on a thermostat. Heat sources can range from heating pads to heat tape to radiant heat panels. They also need proper humidity, which varies greatly based on species. An appropriately sized water bowl can help you achieve that.

Snakes love to remain unseen and need a designated place to hide on both the cool and the warm side. It helps if they are identical hides so that the snake does not choose one favorite place and fail to regulate its body temperature. Each species will have different feeding needs but most common pet snakes will eat rodents. They can be fed live or frozen and thawed. Young snakes will eat more regularly but adults often eat anywhere from 2-4 weeks, depending on species and size.

Snakes shed their skin a few times a year and an intact shed is a sign that they are healthy. If there is shed stuck on the snake something is wrong with their environment or health and the owner will need to adjust accordingly.

Snakes can be wonderful pets for the right owner. They do not demand too much time or effort but are fascinating to watch and interact with. Much like dogs and cats, there are many species to choose from that range in size and temperament. With a little research and an open mind, you can discover more about these ancient, fascinating creatures.

So if you think a snake is in your future, be sure to do your research, go to one of the reptile conventions and ask questions and learn more.

Salazar Slytherin - A Hog Island Boa

Bright Pink and Delicious – Aloha from Maui Series

DragonfruitMondays adventure in Lahaina was to the Maui Dragon Fruit Farm, which is the largest one here on Maui! Mom was on the fence about going because she says dragon fruit doesn’t have much flavor and I would’ve had to agree. The only times I have had it there wasn’t much flavor but I think they are a beautiful fruit and I wanted to check out the farm since they have 16 different varieties. I am so glad that we did!

Us with our guide Lewis

The staff had a lovely platter of fresh fruit for us to try before our tour as well as some locally made jam that is so delicious. Our tour guide was Lewis, who has only been on island for 3 weeks. He is a surfer from the Northern part of Cali who used to teach 5-to-10-year-olds how to surf. Mom and I could both see him doing this and being a great teacher. Lewis has a very kind spirit and you can instantly like him. Of course Mom had to mother him about being sure he is prepared for the future and her normal stuff, which he took in stride.

A ripening dragonfruit

I can tell you the fresh Dragon Fruit we had in Maui was nothing like other ones we have tried before.

The work that goes into growing these fruits is very labor intensive and Maui Fruit Farms is a totally organic farm. The flowers are hand pollinated at night from 9pm until around midnight. There is only a small window for pollination. They do have bees that help to pollinate but they are usually out during the day and you can’t rely on them solely.

Dragonfruit flower awaiting pollinationAfter hand pollination, the fruit is ready in about 45 days. It will turn a lovely shade of pink and be soft to the touch.

Peeling of a dragon fruit!

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They use a Chinese method of planting vertically (the Chinese have had a heavy influence here in Hawaii but more about that later). The plants are grown on these vertical cement type poles to allow support and easier picking. Fruit is just starting to be ready and in another week or so it will be like mad with pollinating and harvesting. The largest threat to the fruit are birds so there are these soft white mesh bags that are placed around the fruit so the birds won’t mess with it.

Dragonfruit growth support

The farm also grows some pineapple, passion fruit, cacao, bananas and papaya, long ones we are used to seeing and then these round ones that are called strawberry papaya. They also have a zipline and this water ball thing that basically you are in a big bubble and you roll down the hill inside the ball. Makes me seasick just thinking about it.

The flowers on the farm are beautiful be sure to check out Raspberry Moon Facebook or Instagram for some more pictures.

Flower at the dragonfruit farm

Maui Pineapple – So Delicious!

June 27 is National Pineapple Day!

Our first tour here in Maui was at the Maui Pineapple Company and Distillery! I would highly recommend this tour. Mom and I had a great time. The last time I had fresh pineapple was in Okinawa in 2002. After the tour you get a FREE pineapple per person so we have been eating a lot of fresh pineapple. Nothing compares to fresh pineapple or fresh fruits and veggies in general.

Maui Pineapple Company and Distillery Tour
Steve – Our Tour Guide

Maui Gold Pineapple is the only pineapple grove left in Hawaii. This was so interesting to see the farming process and to understand what all takes place to eat some of this delicious fruit. The best part of course is tasting the pineapple picked right before your eyes!

Pineapple Trivia

Here are some interesting bits of info we learned on our tour:

Pineapples are actually a composite fruit made up of berries that grow at the crown of the fruiting tree (more like a shrub).

Pineapples have a lot of great health benefits. For more information on their health benefits, check out http://pineapplemaui.com/pineappleshop/nutrition/

Baby pineapples at the Maui Gold plantation
Baby Pineapple just blooming

Generally they do not have a problem with pests or birds eating plants but deer have been an issue. The deer were introduced to the island in the 1950s. The deer love to eat the leaves of the baby pineapple which stunts the pineapple’s growth.

There are no hummingbirds here in Hawaii and they don’t want any. Hummingbirds would pollinate the pineapple causing seeds and would totally change the pineapple. They replant simply by using the spiky top of the pineapple once it is twisted off from the fruit. Costa Rica has a lot of hummingbirds and their pineapple has seeds.

The Pineapple Harvest

Once you plant the spiky top of the pineapple, it takes 2 years to harvest the first crop. They harvest 2 more crops with each crop becoming smaller in size and then they will turn everything under, let it go to grass and replenish the soil before they plant again.

New pineapple plantings

Most of the workers are older and come from the Philippines. This is very hard work, they can make up to $40/hour if they plant about 6,000 plants a day. Everything is paid by the piece. There is an art to this planting and everything is done by hand from planting to harvesting with only a small amount of automation used with transporting and parts of packaging.

Harvesting Pineapples

Until WWII pineapple was all planted, harvested, and shipped via hand and animals. After the War the Army left a lot of vehicles behind; the Hawaiians used those vehicles to mechanize the farms. Although planting and harvesting itself is still done by hand, packing, shipping and soil prepping is done by machine.

Pineapples ready for shipping at Maui Gold
Shipments all ready to go!

Maui Gold Pineapple are harvest into four categories:

  • Hawaiian Consumption – Has more yellow color
  • Mainland Export to LA and Seattle- has some yellow but mostly green
  • Distilleries – solid gold
  • Cattle – pineapples not acceptable for human consumption or distillation

Pineapple ready to harvest at Maui Gold

Did you know that when you buy a pineapple from the store that it will not ripen any further once it has been picked? It is best to just eat it when you buy it as you don’t know how long it has been traveling. You can flick the pineapple with your thumb and if you hear a more hollow sound, that is the better option. You should twist off the crown, turn it upside down, place it in the refrigerator for 1 day and let all of the juices flow to the top of the pineapple. This way the sugar flows through the whole pineapple. This is what our guide suggested for the Maui Gold so I am assuming standard protocol for all pineapples. You should eat the pineapple within a day or so.

For more tips on picking the right pineapple, cutting and even how to grow your own, check out http://pineapplemaui.com/pineappleshop/tips-facts/

At Maui Gold they use Ozone water to rinse the fruit and start it on its packaging journey. Once the pineapple is immersed in the water it turns yellow. If any fruit sinks, it means it has bad spots and goes in the cattle consumption pile. They use a vegetable wax to seal the fruit and then it is packed based on size. You will have 5,6 or 7 box categories which basically just means you can fit 5 pineapple, 6 or 7 in a box. This is all done by hand.Pineapples packed for shipping

Maui Gold is working to reduce waste and only has about 4% waste. They actually have their own distillation so be sure to do the spirits tour with the pineapple tour, the Maui Winery that makes pineapple wine (I can’t wait for this tour at the end of the week! so stay tuned for that post) and with a cattle company to feed sheep and cows. Some crowns and fruit go to Oahu for planting or fruit slices. Maui Gold Pineapples were basically saved because if they would lose the pineapples from Maui they would lose their line of spirits made with Maui Pineapple. Sometimes a company just needs new leadership to sustain itself.

Maui Gold limits its shipping to Hawaii or the West Coast, they ship to LA and Seattle. They want to leave it on the plant as long as possible and not compromise its quality by shipping too far. But never fear, if you want to try some amazing Maui Pineapple, you can order it directly from Maui Gold Pineapple. 

If you are coming to Maui be sure to make this a stop on your tour. We did this right after we landed so we had time to eat the pineapple but you can always do it on your way home as the Maui Pineapple boxes don’t count towards your carry on!

A Day at Raspberry Moon Through the Eyes of My Niece

I am a terrible Auntie! My niece came to work with me in DECEMBER and wrote this lovely blog post and I am just now getting around to posting it. She wanted to see what business women do, we didn’t traumatize her with any waxing appointments but she did observe some facial treatments. She had a great time and I had a lots of help all day which was awesome! My Mom said they came to check on her and they were informed “Aunt Nikki is with clients and I am not leaving” LOL So below is what my niece thinks of her day with me.

My Visit to Raspberry Moon – By L.R. Martin (Nicole’s niece)

My NieceSo today I came here with my Aunt Nicole, and I learned a few things. I learned about wax and what it does, a micro current, LED light, business, and much more.

There is this yellow stuff and it kind of looks like honey. It is actually wax. Once you apply to the skin you rip it off a few seconds later and the hair is removed. If you wax enough, you don’t have to do it as much in those areas after a period of time. (She has been corrected that we don’t say ripped! We say removed!)

What a micro current does is it is supposed to bring the skin up to make you look younger. As you get older, the skin on your face goes down. So this machine brings the skin up to make you look somewhat younger.

There are three settings on a LED light; Red makes you look younger, blue kills bacteria that causes acne, and infra-red heals. The LED light is SUPER bright! You can’t just look at it without special goggles or something to protect your eyes.

I heard a lot of words that I am not sure what they mean. Peptide is an amino acid that our body already has so when you apply it to the skin, our body already recognizes it. Here you do not use the term “burning” but you use “tingling” because it does not sound as harsh. When she does face masks, she does not use cucumbers because they rot fast. You should put crème on irritated skin because it helps it. I still don’t really know what tapotement or effleurage is but I am sure I will know soon. (She now knows what this means.)

If you want to eat or have a break, you normally just have to have an extra minute or two. At around ten or eleven, she was still eating breakfast because she was a little busy.

My aunt Nicole taught me so many wonderful things today and I am very happy that she let me come along with her. I hope I can do this again some time soon!!!

 

I hope she can come hang out with me again soon too! She was a big help.

 

The Power & History of Eucalyptus!

I was reading an article in September 2016 DaySpa issue called “Eucalyptus, Lift Us!” There were all sorts of interesting bits of info that I thought I would share with you!

  • The 1st botanical record of eucalyptus was recorded in the 1770s off the coast of Tasmania.eucalyptus
  • There are 750 different species and 25 of them are used for medicinal purposes.
  • The Aboriginals used the gum like sap to make their spears and fishing sticks and to treat wounds and burns.
  • The Australians introduced eucalyptus to California during the Gold Rush in 1850 and is an invasive species overtaking native plants.
  • Well cultivated trees can yield 100lbs or leaves per year and 1 acre can produce 35,000lbs of leaf material which yields 800lbs of eucalyptus oil!
  • It was widely used during infection outbreaks.
  • In the 1880s scientist planted groves of eucalyptus trees in the marshlands to stop the spread of malaria, the groves later turned the marshlands to dry land and took away the mosquito’s habitat.
  • In 1865 Dr Joseph Lister (yep the man that started Listerine) had the brilliant idea to use eucalyptus oil vapor to disinfect surgical rooms which drastically decreased the number of people dying from infection.
  • WWI used it to control the spread of meningitis and the influenza outbreak of 1919.
  • WWII French surgeon Jean Valnet used eucalyptus oil spray to reduce staph infection by 70%!
  • The National Center for Biotechnology Information says the waste after distillation of the oil is very effective at warding off mosquitoes.
  • India Pharmacopoeia has deemed it a mild expectorant and counter irritant.
  • Chinese Pharmacopoeia has said that it can help soothe nerve pain.
  • Ayurveda recommends its use for headaches and colds.
  • Germany recommends a eucalyptus tea to help sooth bronchitis and throat inflammation.

You have to be careful with the use of this oil or dried leaves as too much can cause drowsiness, severe diarrhea, hypertension, compromised kidney function, coma or even death. This oil should be used very carefully with children, seniors or people with a compromised immune system.

Here is a quick article on ways you can use Eucalyptus.

This is merely an information piece meant to share the info I learned that I found interesting. So remember to consult your Doctor; this use of this oil can hurt you; and all that other legal crap that no one reads and really you should just use some common sense but either way consider yourself warned and you are on your own.

 

Ear Cleaning at the Dinner Table in China

This fall I had an amazing opportunity to go to China, Tibet and India for 6 weeks. I am going to finally be writing a few posts on my experiences! The first full evening in China we went to Sichuan Opera and Dinner. This was interesting enough all on it’s own let alone when you add ear cleaning at the dinner table to your experience!

 

First REAL Sichuan Food Experience

I love food and we had a smorgasbord of items to chose from. My friend Rachel (so helpful to have a friend of a friend in China! Made our trip so much easier!) wanted to be sure that we got to try a lot of different items.  According to her, any left overs can be taken with you or go to feed the pigs so nothing is wasted. That being said, if they feel you are ordering to much food they will tell you no and won’t let you order anything else!

 

So at first I said there is no way I am having my ears cleaned at the dinner table. My Mother would be horrified! BUT, I am in China and I do wanted to experience the culture so said “What the heck!!”  We called the guy over and he got to work.

Ear Cleaning Tools

He used several different instruments and had a rhythm to his procedure. It felt super strange – at times it tickled and other times it was kind of uncomfortable. He would twirl the metal pieces with like a little piece of fluff on the end around gently in your ear and then flick the wax on the floor! It’s China so everything gets flicked, spat or shoved on the ground.

One of the neatest elements though was when he had this metal prong like object that he placed near your ear and then tapped it so it gave off a vibration. I have had my ears candled before but I have never had my ears cleaned like this or at dinner but it was totally worth it.

 

I love having massage done. The head, shoulder and arm massage he did was greatly appreciated and much needed after such a long flight.

Head Massage – Aaaahhhh No More Headache!

He had large, strong hands so my headache was pretty much gone when he was done. I only wish I could have gotten a full body massage for like 2 hours!

 

So if you ever go to China be sure to experience ear cleaning at the dinner table!