Category Archives: personal care

Eco Halloween costumes + some safety tips

Posted on October 21, 2010 by | 1 Comment

With Halloween just 10 days away, Recycla’s daughters are gearing up for one of the biggest days of a kid’s year — the holy trifecta of Halloween, Christmas, and a birthday and all their related treats.

This year, Recycla’s girls are dressing up as koalas and their costumes required almost no effort — koala ear headbands and noses that the girls got for Christmas last year (they really love koalas), gray hoodies (with a koala stuffed animal riding in the hood to simulate a baby koala riding on its mama’s back), and gray sweatpants.  Both girls already have all the critical components, so no purchases were necessary.  This is reusing at its finest.

Recycla encourages you to look around your house for what you can reuse and/or recycle for Halloween costumes.  If you need ideas, check out these fun links with plenty of suggestions.  If you still need more ideas, check out Captain Compost’s post about Halloween costumes that she wrote last year.

If you or your resident juvenile witches, goblins, and ghosts are planning to use face paint this year, read this article about how to minimize risks from toxic and allergenic ingredients.

Finally, a few safety reminders so that Halloween doesn’t end up with any bumps or boo boos:

  • Make sure your child’s vision (or yours) is not obscured by a mask or other part of the costume.
  • Make sure you and your child’s costumes don’t hinder your movement — tripping and spilling candy would be no fun at all!
  • If a costume is not reflective or in some way visible in the dark, add some reflective tape so that you can be seen.
  • Be careful when around lit jack o’ lanterns — emergency rooms across the U.S. see far too many patients suffering from burns.

Most important of all:  Have fun!

Tell the Eco Women:  What’s the best costume you ever wore?

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Posted in eco holidays, eco kids, personal care

Homemade Lip Balm and Moisturizer

Posted on October 8, 2010 by | 5 Comments

The Green Mommy started educating herself on safer personal care products ever since she became pregnant with her Girl Wonder. She checks in with Skin Deep to find better alternatives to cosmetics, lotions and deodorants when she needs something new.

When it comes to the products she uses directly on Girl Wonder, though, she works even harder to find the safest options. The Green Mommy knows she can’t put her in a bubble and protect her from every toxin out there, but for things she has direct control over, she’ll do her best to go the healthiest route.

With fall weather and winter cold just around the corner, moisturizer and lip balm are a must in the coming few weeks. Many moisturizers on the “safer” side still often contain chemicals that the Green Mommy just doesn’t feel comfortable putting on her baby’s skin. She had heard about others making their own lip balm but she thought it would be time consuming and difficult. Well, it’s neither!

There’s no “icky” stuff like chemicals in these gems below. The most time-consuming part is purchasing all the ingredients. With your first batch, you may ask if it’s worth it with each of the individual purchases, but when you then think about how many batches you’ll get from it all, you’ll change your mind. These make perfect gifts, by the way, and they’re a great project to work on with children who you want to steer in the direction of “safer” personal care products. Visit your local health food store — they should have everything you’ll need.

The following recipes have been taken from The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Organic Living by Eliza Sarasohan and Sonia Weiss. The book is fantastic and has recipes for your face, body,hair and more.

Use recycled small jelly jars for the lip balm or other glass or plastic containers (#5 is best since they can take the heat) from used personal care products. Just be sure to wash them well before using them. If you need to buy containers, check out this site.

The “Balm” (lip or cuticle cream)

1 Tablespoon beeswax
3 Tablespoons sweet almond oil
1 teaspoon honey
8 – 10 drops of essential oil

1) In a small saucepan, melt beeswax with sweet almond oil over low heat. When the wax is melted, remove from heat. Add honey and stir well. When the mixture begins to cool, but before it gets too thick, add essential oils a few drops at a time and stir to mix. Pour into small jars and let cool.

2) The glossiness of the lip balm is determined by how much oil you use. This recipe has a slight gloss. If less is desired, reduce the amount of sweet almond oil by 1 teaspoon.

Variations: If making lip balm, try combining a couple of drops of peppermint essential oil with orange, lemon or lime; if making cuticle cream, benzoin essential oil helps heal cracked cuticles and works well with one or more of the following: lavender, Roman chamomile, tea tree, neroli, palmarosa, sandalwood, jasmine.

Yields: 1/3 cup balm
Cook time: 10 minutes
Serving size: 1/4 teaspoon balm

Lube Ya (moisturizer for hands and body)

A very rich, very smooth lotion with a slight coconut scent (smells like chocolate!) that dry skin will eat right up. A good one for areas that take a beating and where skin can get especially dry, like knees and elbows.

1/2 cup grated coconut butter
2 Tablespoons coconut oil
4 Tablespoons sesame oil
2 Tablespoons avocado oil
2 Tablespoons grated beeswax

Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl and set in a pan filled with an inch or two of water (this is a bain-marie, or water bath). Melt over a medium heat, then pour into a glass jar. Stir and let cool.

Yields 1 cup plus 2 Tablespoons lotion.
Cook time: 15 minutes
Serving size: 1 Tablespoon lotion

Don’t have time to make your own? Check out Recycla’s post from yesterday where she recommends some great store bought, winter skin care products.

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Posted in eco baby, eco kids, personal care

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Winter skin care for Eco Warriors

Posted on October 7, 2010 by | 5 Comments

With fall here and the temperatures getting a little cooler every day, Recycla is gearing up to do battle with her old nemesis — Cold Dry Air.  As soon as the temperature dips into the 40s and lower, Recycla’s skin starts to dry out and even flake off.

Recycla’s dry skin issues go back 30 years to when she was in elementary school and her fingertips would crack and bleed.  Unfortunately, it was a great many years before she learned not only the importance of applying lotion proactively, but also using the right lotion for the job.  For a long time, she bought a basic body lotion from the drug store and then used it for all parts of her body.  It has only been in the past few years that she’s learned that she needs different lotions, balms, and serums for her hands, feet, body, and face.  Recycla has also learned to stash lotion and lip balm in a variety of places — her purse, her car, her kitchen, her  bathroom, etc. — so that she always has what she needs close at hand.

Recycla has made a determined effort to find products that don’t contain parabens and other yucky stuff.  Through trial and error, she has finally found lotions to suit all of her needs.

Here are all the EcoWomen’s  favorite products from head to toe:

HEAD

For the face, Avalon Organics and Alba Botanica both make really nice moisturizers.  In particular, Alba’s Jasmine and Vitamin E Cream smells divine and does an amazing job.  A little goes a long way, so Recycla only has to buy moisturizer once or twice a year.

Around the eyes, however, Recycla needs a little extra help combating dry, irritated skin, so she pulls out the big guns with Burt’s Bees Naturally Ageless Intensive Repairing Serum.  One drop of this around her eyes every night has made an amazing difference.  No more red, flaky skin!  Yes, this costs a little bit more than regular lotion, but since Recycla is using only a drop at a time, a little goes a long way.

On her mouth, Recycla’s favorite lip balm is by Honeybee Gardens.  It’s not at all greasy, yet gets the job done.  As for the rest of the Eco Women, Enviro Girl is a fan of Zum products and also notes that Alba lip balm is less than $4/tube at Target.  Eco Lassie loves Aveda lip balm and says, ” A lot of lip balms make my lips peel, but this one never has.” Captain Compost is a fan of Burt’s Bees.    The Green Mommy actually makes her own, which she will tell you more about tomorrow.

HANDS

For dry hands, Recycla is a big fan of Badger Balm’s Organic Healing Balm.  This is seriously greasy stuff, but it gets the job done and Recycla’s fingers no longer crack and bleed each winter.

Eco Lassie swears by Aveda Hand Relief while Enviro Girl uses Kiss My Face hand creme (grapefruit + bergamot).  She says, “It smells like Froot Loops and a little goes a long way.  I LOVE it because it lasts and lasts and doesn’t soak in and disappear, but really seals and heals my skin.”

BODY

Recycla has tried a lot of body lotions, including some made by Burt’s Bees, Avalon Organics, and Indigo Wild.  Honestly, none has worked as well for her as Aveeno Skin Relief Moisturizing Lotion.   If anyone has any recommendations, she’d love to hear them.

FEET

Recycla uses two different foot products:  Badger Balm’s Organic Foot Balm and also Natralia Heel Balm.  Both work quite well.  Eco Lassie says that she’s a slave to Aveda Foot Relief.  She slathers it on, then puts on thick socks to help the lotion absorb into her skin.

~ ~ ~

So those are just some of the Eco Women’s favorite products to combat winter’s drying effects on their skin.

There is also another possibility.  If you want to really understand what goes into your skin care products, then perhaps you might want to try making your own.  That’s not such a far-fetched idea and, as mentioned above, the Green Mommy is going to cover this very topic tomorrow.

Tell the Eco Women:  What are your favorite eco products to combat dry skin?

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Posted in personal care

Natural acne remedies for all ages

Posted on September 16, 2010 by | 3 Comments

Recycla entered her 40s last year and, surprisingly, she does not mind her age one bit.  In fact, she has found it to be somewhat liberating.  What she does mind, however, is her skin.  While she did not have acne when she was a teenager, she does now.  Hoo boy, does she ever.  Some days she wishes she could just wear a mask to cover her entire face.

Way back in the 80s, a teen’s skin care options were for the shock-and-awe variety:  of the small selection of items available, they all zapped the heck out of one’s skin.  Oh sure, the skin around that zit might dry out and flake off too, but at least you wouldn’t suffer the embarrassment of a huge zit on  your chin at the Homecoming dance.  (Oh no, that particular joy was for the prom…)

In the past few years, as Recycla’s skin has betrayed her repeatedly, she has done a fair bit of research into skincare products and has been delighted to find that there are a lot more options, including products for “mature skin.”  However, those are all conventional products, which means that virtually all contain ingredients that she’s not wild about.

So what’s available for us Eco Warriors?  Luckily, a combination of lifestyle changes and eco products can help you have blemish-free skin:

First of all, be aware of the relationship between your diet and your skin’s condition.  Drink lots of water so as to flush out your body.  Eat a diet high in fruits and veggies and unprocessed foods.  It’s a myth that chocolate and pizza alone are responsible for oily skin, but fatty foods and refined sugars in general can cause problems.

Next, stress is also a factor in your skin’s condition.  Get enough sleep and find ways to relieve stress — exercise and yoga are two ways.  Chamomile is known for its ability to relax the body and this herb can also calm inflamed skin.

Unfortunately, hormones do come into play, so you might not be able to avoid zits altogether.  When they do pop up (so to speak), keep your hands off your face!  While it will be tempting to mess with zits, the dirt and germs on your hands will add to the mess that’s already there.  Instead, wash your hands with soap and water and then soak the offending bumps with a warm-to-hot wet washcloth.  Even if this doesn’t cause the zit to open up, it should provide a bit of relief from the discomfort.

As for products to apply directly to your skin, tea tree oil has natural antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and antiseptic properties, making it useful for combating bacteria on the skin that cause acne.  A 5% solution works similarly to benzoyl peroxide but without causing your skin to dry up and flake off.  Recycla has been using tea tree oil for a few years now and is pleased with the results.

Another product to try is witch hazel, which contains high levels of tannins that make  it good for a variety of skin conditions. Witch hazel can tighten pores and veins on the face, reducing inflammation and minimizing pores, while gently cleansing the skin. Unlike so many conventional products, witch hazel won’t dry out your skin.

Finally, an important thing to remember is to keep your skin clean.  Wash your face every night before you go to sleep in order to wash off your makeup and the day’s general grime.  Repeat in the morning to remove oils that built up overnight.  Recycla uses a basic bar of face soap that she found at her local organic grocery store and a wash cloth to help exfoliate and remove dead skin cells.

Hopefully, these tips will help you have really great skin!

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Posted in personal care

A little dab’ll do ya

Posted on September 7, 2010 by | 4 Comments

One very easy thing you can do to save Planet Earth is be cognizant of your product use.  Specifically, be aware of how much, say, toothpaste or lotion you use and make sure you’re using the right amount and not too much.

Have you ever noticed in toothpaste commercials how they always show a toothbrush that is just loaded down with toothpaste?  It covers the entire toothbrush and then curls back up.  You really don’t need that much.  Just  a small amount will do it.

Or what about cleaning supplies?  Do you slop cleanser all over your bathtub, using about one-quarter of a jug in the process? (Recycla was guilty of this for years and still has to remind herself to be a bit less generous when she’s cleaning.)

Then there’s toilet paper.  Recycla was puzzled by how much her family of four was using.  Then there was the odd fact that one of her girls was consistently clogging the toilets.  It turns out that the child in question was using WAY too much TP when she was in the bathroom.  Recycla finally suggested the number of squares of toilet paper that should be sufficient for a quick pee trip and the problem was solved.

For years, Recycla used aerosol cans of shaving cream, but they usually only lasted a few weeks because the product didn’t go very far.  About 10 years ago, she was in an organic grocery store and saw non-aerosol shaving cream and on a whim decided to try it.  She’s never gone back.  Just a quarter-sized squirt of shaving lotion will cover an entire leg, so even though a tube of the product is $7, she uses so little each time that the container lasts for 6-8 weeks.  Contrast that with the two or three or even four cans of aerosol shaving cream she would have used during that same time.

In another example of how a little goes a long way, the face lotion that Recycla uses is around $17 for a 2-ounce container.  That’s a lot of money!  However, Recycla has learned that she only needs a couple of tiny little dabs to cover her entire face, so that little pot of lotion ends up lasting for nearly a year.

The point of all this is that by being aware of how much stuff you use, you will find that you need less than you had thought.  And by using less, you’ll waste less.  This means you’ll reduce how much you need to buy, saving money in the process.  Really, it’s a win-win situation all around.

Tell the Eco Women:  Are you thrify with how much stuff you use or do you have a little room for improvement?

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Posted in 3 Rs, house stuff, living green on a budget, personal care

How to recycle old makeup

Posted on September 3, 2010 by | 1 Comment

Recycla doesn’t wear much makeup, so her stuff tends to hang around her bathroom drawer for a long time.  She hates to throw away old mascara, but what else can she do with it?  Answer:  Recycle it.  Check out this great article on how to recycle your old makeup!  Now Recycla needs to go round up some ill-chosen lipsticks and mascaras…

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Posted in 3 Rs, personal care

What’s on Your Face?

Posted on July 26, 2010 by | 1 Comment

Enviro Girl loved The Story of Stuff.  It broke down the problems with consumerism is such easy-to-understand terms.  It showed where solutions can work, where the problems really lie.  It gave the best rationale for her choice of lifestyle that she’s  ever seen or read.  She’s  a fan of keeping it simple, streamlined, spartan.  Enviro Girl’s  family’s quality of life improves with less stuff.  They’re  happier with less stuff.  They spend less money, less time maintaining, more time enjoying each other and experiences.  Less stuff = less impact on the environment.

The people at The Story of Stuff are launching their new campaign:  The Story of Cosmetics. 

Enviro Girl already knew a lot of these facts, but was surprised to learn a few things, particularly that the average woman uses 12 products on her skin daily.

Twelve?  That seemed like a lot.  Enviro Girl began counting: Nature’s Gate tea-tree shampoo, Zum bar soap, Purpose face soap, prescription salve for her rosacea, Arbonne moisturizer with SPF 15 in the morning, Kiss My Face body lotion, Crest Sensitivity toothpaste, a dab of Boots No. 7  concealer, Almay mascara, Alba lip balm, occasionally Boots No. 7 eyeliner, Certain Dri antiperspirant, a little leave-in conditioner to keep the hair frizzies at bay (a dab of that body lotion on her bangs as needed), Arbonne facial cleanser and nighttime moisturizer before bedtime and under-eye cream if she thinks of it.  What’s the tally?  Sixteen.  Seventeen if you count the Ivory bar soap she uses when washing her hands throughout the day.  And Enviro Girl considers herself a low-maintenance kind of woman.

Reader, how many products do you use?  Have you checked them out at Skin Deep to make sure you’re not poisoning yourself?  Will you spread the word and join The Story of Cosmetics activism?

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Posted in 3 Rs, health, personal care

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Liquid Soap: What a Dupe!

Posted on July 12, 2010 by | 3 Comments

Long-time readers of the Eco Women know our position on liquid soap.    Bottom line:  what you use for soap matters when you’re trying to reduce your use of plastic and other resources.  Bar soap is a better choice because  it costs less, it’s generally less toxic to your body and the environment, and it produces less waste.

Enviro Girl is constantly astonished at how advertisements convince people to spend money on things they don’t need.  Paper towels.  Air fresheners.  Fabric softeners.  Liquid soap.

And in a failing economy, shower gels are outselling bars of soap.  Shower gels that use tons more plastic packaging.  Shower gels that cost ten times more than bar soap.  Shower gels that are composed primarily of water.  Seriously.  Water is the main ingredient in most shower gels and liquid soaps.  This NPR story, Lather Up:  More Men Switching to Shower Gels made Enviro Girl shake her head in dismay.   It’s the economy, stupid.  It’s the environment, stupid.  It’s simply not necessary, stupid. Those were her thoughts.  Bad enough that Bath & Body Works and their ilk have sold shower gels to legions of teenaged girls and women who apparently want to smell like artificial fruits and flowers (Hello?  “Pearberry” doesn’t exist outside of a fragrance lab!).  Now Madison Avenue has convinced “real men” that shower gels are a manly option to bars of soap.

Take it from Enviro Girl, men.  Real women love real men who use bar soap.  Irish Spring.  Ivory.  Zest.  Lever 2000.  Dial.  If you buy your soap minimally packaged and lather up when you’re sweaty and dirty, you’re as sexy and attractive as if you loofah down with your plastic-wrapped,  faux-fresh-smelling shower gel.

Enviro Girl and all the men in her household lather up with bar soap.  Reader, do you?

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Posted in living green on a budget, personal care

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Eco insect repellents

Posted on July 6, 2010 by | 3 Comments

By this point in the summer, the mosquitoes have become quite unbearable at dusk. Like everyone, Recycla hates mosquitoes, but her loathing goes a bit further:  Her younger daughter is actually allergic to mosquito bites, which swell into painful welts on her sensitive skin.  Rather than consign the child to a life of indoor living, Recycla has researched various options to see how she can keep mosquitoes from biting her daughter — but without resorting to such pesticides as DEET.

Most people don’t give mosquitoes a second thought. They just douse themselves in a spray that has DEET as the active ingredient and go on their merry way. However, studies show that, in the short-term, DEET can cause headaches and, in the long-term, neurological and other health problems. These are not chemicals you want to put on yourself or on your children.

What can you do?

Luckily, there are plenty of natural mosquito repellents available.  Look for sprays or lotions that contain plant oils such as geranium, citronella, tea tree, catnip, marigold, lemon balm, lavender, and peppermint. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend oil of lemon eucalyptus or picaridin, which is considered just as effective as DEET, but much safer.  Recycla has heard that eating garlic will repel mosquitoes and if you are looking for a stronger variation, you can rub garlic on your skin. Bananas, on the other hand, attracts them.

Beyond spraying yourself, there are a few other things you can do to keep the blood-sucking little monsters at bay:

  • Standing water makes perfect breeding grounds for mosquitoes. Empty water from all buckets, kiddie pools, spare tires, or whatever else you might have hanging around your yard.
  • Planting herbs in your backyard may help too. Basil and rosemary tend to repel mosquitoes.
  • Encourage animals that eat mosquitoes to live in your yard.  Install a bat house, hang a birdhouse for purple martins, plant butterfly-friendly flowers and bushes that will also attract dragonflies.  If you have frogs living nearby, rejoice, as they love mosquitoes!
  • Don’t use pesticides or bug-zappers. These indiscriminant killers are likely to kill more beneficial, mosquito-eating animals than mosquitoes.
  • Stay away from scented shampoos, deodorants and perfumes as these tend to attract pests.

If you follow these guidelines, you should have some relief and hopefully won’t hear the dreaded whine of a mosquito in your ear.

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Posted in eco kids, health, personal care

Good Clean Fun

Posted on June 28, 2010 by | 2 Comments

It’s easy to find natural bath products for babies and adults–but what about kids?  Smith & Vandiver have filled the gap for the 2-10 year old age group by creating Good Clean Fun!  Packaged in recyclable and recycled materials, Good Clean Fun products include Dino-Bubbles and Ducky-Bubbles and the coolest fizzing eggs a kid ever dropped into a bathtub.

Created in 1979, Smith & Vandiver has a history of good environmental practices while making natural, cruelty-free body products.  Based in Watsonville, California, all the S&V products are made in the USA and Certified Natural by the Natural Products Association (who also approve Burt’s Bees and Say Yes to Carrots!).  The bath products are PH balanced; sulfate, phalate, paraben and formaldehyde-free and contain no colors or synthetic fragrances.  They contain no animal by-products either, making them a safe bet for the vegan crowd.

Enviro Girl was happy to accept a free sample of this product because she doesn’t have babies and her sons resist “baby” products yet they’re not crazy about “adult” bath products either.  Other kid bath products are often very toxic, too.  Suave’s body wash products are moderately hazardous according to the Skin Deep website.  Enviro Girl doesn’t like giving her sons her bath products because they’re costly or smell too grown up and offer no particular appeal.  The Good Clean Fun line sounded promising.

Enviro Girl first stuck her boys in the tub with their free sample of a Dino-Fizz egg.  Wrapped in a tight casing of plastic, Enviro Girl was pleased at the minimal packaging.  The egg was pretty big and fizzed for a few minutes before revealing a tiny Tyrannosaurus Rex charm.  Her sons were pleased by the fizzing, the charm and the green-colored water resulting from the bath fizz.  The smell was fruity, but light.  Not a “girly” smell by any stretch and not overpowering, either.  The boys smelled clean and thoroughly enjoyed their bathtime experience with the Dino-Fizz.  At $1.59 each, Enviro Girl thinks these eggs would make an excellent stocking stuffer or party favor.  They offer a “Prince or Frog?” version of the same egg geared for girls–Enviro Girl passed it along to her neighbor girl who thought it was very fun.

A few days later, Enviro Girl convinced her sons to take another bath (no small feat in the summertime) by bribing them with Ducky-Bubbles.  It came packaged in a colorful squishy pouch that uses 82% less packaging than a bottle.  The bag can be recycled.  Enviro Girl was again pleased at how thick, rich and frothy the bubbles were–by far the most superior bubble bath she’s found for kids.  The boys had it on their heads and in their eyes without any complaint of stinging or pain, so S&V’s claims of safety were valid.  Both bathroom and children smelled wonderful–”Marsh Melon” wasn’t heavy or faux-perfume/fruit smelling.  The “Marsh Melon” aroma was bright, sweet and clean.  The boys came out of the tub clean and happy about the Ducky-Bubbles.  At $6.99 a bottle Ducky-Bubbles and Dino-Bubbles costs more than the popular toxic brands, but right in range with Aveeno and Burt’s Bees products for babies.  It’s very concentrated, too, so the price seemed fair.

Enviro Girl applauds S&V for clearly labeling their ingredients, using minimal packaging, and creating a biodegradable and sustainable line of bath products for kids.  She likes that they used all natural ingredients and are safe for sensitive skin and eyes.  These products were age appropriate, non-toxic, and really did make bathtime fun and entertaining as promised.  She’s a convert and hopes you’ll give S&V’s Good Clean Fun products a try, too!

*  Enviro Girl receieved the following sample products in exchange for this review:  Smith & Vandiver’s Ducky-Bubbles, Dino-Fizz, Bath Party Fizzie Fun, Prince or Frog.

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Posted in eco kids, personal care

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