Eco-Chick · The modern girl's guide to living green & fabulous.

Suds Up With These Healthy Soaps!

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by Lindsay E. Brown · 02/09/12

I’ve romanticized the idea of making my own all-natural soaps for a while now, even giving them out as gifts, but the problem is that I can’t seem to find the time to do it! Making our own cleansing products after work probably isn’t going to happen for most of us.

But you can’t just grab just any old soap off the shelf either. The majority of the soaps and body washes you see perusing the personal care isles don’t seem to give a hoot about your health. They’re laced with synthetic lathering agents, artificial colors, and harsh chemicals which bioaccumlate in our bodies. The chemicals get stored in our fat, and when there is enough accumulations of toxins in the body, illness can occur.

Our skin is the largest organ of the body, and it’s both porous and absorbent. What we’re sudsing ourselves up with every day matters.  What we put on our body, is as import as what we put in it.

When I was little girl, my Mother would encourage me to wash up while having fun in the bathtub by telling me to make myself into a soapy snowman. I know, it sounds strange but, it’s a fond memory. Now you can lather up and have some fun, even make yourself into a soapy snowgirl if you wish, with these healthy soaps that will leave you feeling so fresh and so clean.

Wembe’s Cleansing Blend for body, face and hands. My favorite is the mango (above), but you can choose from several different blends.

I wash my face with Dr. Bronner’s Tea Tree Liquid Soap. (Just three drops will do the trick!)
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Beauty, beauty products, cleanser, healthy, natural, nontoxic, Organic, soap

Honoring Natural New Year’s Resolutions: Home Made Bath Scrub

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by Haley · 01/13/11

With New Year’s resolutions sometimes come a sense of failure. By mid-January, you have two donuts instead of one. You can’t believe she did that! You could’ve made a better choice.

Don’t torture yourself! You can make easier, less abusive, and more beneficial resolutions that will bear better results for you and the planet! What if resolutions went like this:

I vow to care for the environment I live in.
I vow to use healthful commodities for both beautification of self and cleanliness of the earth.
I vow to take the time to realize there are accessible, environmental, and sustainable methods to make otherwise harmful on the environment, creams, scrubs, etc.
So, therefore, I vow to use these methods and make a little sacrifice, so I feel better and Mother Earth can too.

Sometimes “environmental” resolutions seem to be too vast or to consume too much time, so to continue our normal routine is easier. So I decided to make something eco friendly, good for my skin, and DIM (Do It Myself!).

One of the first ideas I had was to make some sort of scrub using sustainable, biodegradable materials. I visited the Strand Bookstore (which all lit nuts would love!) to find some sort of “cookbook” that would tell me how I could make scrubs.

I scored a delicious read: “Home Enlightenment” by Annie Bond. I realized soon after that I had found the absolute eco-chic bible. I could now read on how to re-decorate and make all sorts of household commodities that mother earth would love. I found, in the section titled “Bathrooms,” several instructions on how to make bath scrubs, creams, and butters.
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Annie Bond, bath scrub, bathroom, beauty products, bible, body scrub, do it yourself, resolutions, sustainable, sustainable beauty

Jesus is Coming…Look Green! Green Easter Tips, Products Labelling, Electric Cars, and Zombies

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by Starre Vartan · 04/09/09

autos, beauty products, Easter, electric cars

Sara Snow's – Fresh Living: The Essential Room-By-Room Guide to a Greener, Healthier Family and Home

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by Kimberly Jordan Allen · 03/18/09

I first became familiar with Sara Snow when I was pregnant and on bed-rest. Between reading baby books and eating I watched her Discovery show Get Fresh with Sara Snow and enjoyed her ease and playful approach to environmentalism. I love how Sara always mixes stories of her childhood into her day-to-day recipes for green living. This adds a personalized touch to her passion for all things green.

Growing up the daughter of Tim Redmond, co-founder of Eden Foods, informed Sara’s life as a green foodie and all around eco-advocate. In her new book, Fresh Living: The Essential Room-By-Room Guide to a Greener, Healthier Family and Home, Sara traverses the modern home, discussing every aspect of our lives and what we can do to connect more with nature and minimize wasteful practices. This unpretentious guide is an easy read that is full of useful information. Sara discusses everything from how to maintain a green lawn naturally (or better yet, how to plant wildflowers and indigenous greens that attract butterflies and deter mosquitoes,) to how to decorate a toxin-free baby nursery.

Sara gives detailed lists of what ingredients to avoid in beauty products, toys, household cleaners, and pretty much anything else one may have in their home or garden. Comprehensive definitions explain the origins of chemicals, how they are used and what is most harmful. These days many products, including purported “organic” or “natural” items, contain dubious ingredients. The explanations of scientific terms really help one to weed through the ambiguous marketing language of greenwashing. There are also recipes for how to make your own cleaners and home products that are totally natural and inexpensive.

A small part of the book I really enjoyed was the simple reminder that house plants are good. They bring the outside in, clean our air, and promote healthy chi. Sara shares a list of the top fifteen plants to have indoors to remove various pollutants from the air. These days people spend hundreds, even thousands on air fresheners and purifiers. Plants!

The description of composting is user friendly. Sometimes composting can seem detailed or labour-intensive, but Sara keeps it simple with a description of what we need and what ingredients can assist in maintaining a healthy compost, even for those living in urban areas.

An important theme reiterated throughout the guide is that there are real dangers in our environment, but we can be empowered by educating ourselves and creating an atmosphere that is fresh, vital and thriving. This book would make a sweet gift but is also an excellent resource to just have handy around the house.

atmosphere, Baby, Beauty, beauty products, book, books, decor, eating, farm, FDA, Food, garden, Green Living, greenwashing, health, Home, Organic, Outdoors, Personalized, Plants, recipe, urban, waste

Top 5 Fave Natural Beauty Products for Winter

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by Stephanie Rogers · 01/23/09

During the winter, I use more products than at any other time of year out of pure necessity. In order to avoid dry, scaly skin and lips, I do a lot of scrubbing and moisturizing. This winter, I became even more of a purist (or what some may call a control freak) than ever in terms of the ingredients of the products I’m using – I wanted them all to be super simple, healthy and natural. These 5 products didn’t just live up to my expectations, they were so great I just had to spread the word about them.

Vintage Body Spa Ginger Cardamom Cream Body Bar – This ultra-moisturizing body butter smells absolutely heavenly and it was the only thing that has managed to keep the soles of my feet soft and smooth.  Cocoa butter, shea butter, mango butter, jojoba oil, and sweet almond oil lightly scented with clove, cardamom, ginger, cinnamon, orange and mint.

Mountain Rose Herbs Restorative Skin Oil – For the rest of my body, especially my hands, elbows and legs, this moisturizing and healing skin oil has kept dryness and that unpleasant itchy, tight feeling at bay. Organic calendula oil, rosehip seed oil, vitamin E and a blend of essential oils including Neroli and Helichrysium.

Aubrey Organics Blue Green Algae Rescue Conditioning Mask – Finally, a vegan protein treatment for hair that really works. Aubrey Organics combines blue-green algae and red algae extract with coconut, shea butter, aloe, and lavender water in a deep hair treatment that keeps my hair glossy and healthy looking despite harsh winds and drying indoor heat.

Josie Maran Lipstick in Rumi Joon – This might just be the ultimate flattering nude lipstick shade for practically every skin tone. It’s also ultra-moisturizing, long lasting and free of toxic ingredients, petrochemicals, parabens and artificial fragrances. The tube is recyclable, too.

DIY Brown Sugar Body Scrub – This exfoliating and moisturizing body scrub is so decadent yet incredibly easy to make with stuff you’ve probably already got in your pantry. I scoop about 4 tablespoons of coconut oil into a microwaveable container, nuke it just until it softens and mix in ¼ cup of brown sugar, 1 tablespoon of honey and ½ teaspoon of vanilla extract. You could literally eat it (and I can attest that it tastes fantastic) and the brown sugar helps to gently buff away scaly skin.

bath, Beauty, beauty products, Calendula, car, Coconut Oil, cosmetics, DIY, Eco-Chick, essential oils, Hair, health, Josie Maran, Lavender, Moisturizer, mom, Natural Beauty, nude, oil, oils, Organic, rum, skin, spa, sugar, Tea, vegan, vintage, water