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

Bubi Baby Butter

Bubi baby butter is soothing for babes and moms alike. The handmade combination of organic shea butter, coconut oil, calendula, and chamomile leaves skin hydrated during this cold, dry time of year.

The butter is free of petroleum by-products, fragrance, lanolin, and surprisingly, zinc-oxide. I have yet to find a diaper cream that does not have zinc-oxide, including many natural brands. There is debate about the safety of zinc-oxide, so some choose to avoid it. Most commercial creams contain zinc-oxide, as it helps to form a barrier for the skin. Soothing oils can work wonders in comparison to the commercial creams, and certainly won’t generate free-radicals or mess with my kid’s endocrine function!

Bubi’s works and can be used anywhere – parched hands, wind-burned cheeks and dry lips love it.

Top 5 Fave Natural Beauty Products for Winter

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.

Calendula: A Soothing Herbal Remedy for Skin Ailments

Calendula, also called the Pot Marigold, is a beautiful plant for the garden, and its edible blooms are prized for their cheerful beauty. But did you know it can also be used for a variety of health purposes? Calendula Officinalis is a great herbal treatment for all manner of skin ailments including burns, bruises, sprains, rashes, chafing and open wounds.

Calendula is antimicrobial and antiviral, and is generally prepared as an oil or salve for easy application. It’s a great alternative to Neosporin and other petroleum-based wound salves, as it will speed healing and prevent infection. It decreases swelling, kills bacteria, speeds tissue regeneration and prevents scarring. As it’s anti-inflammatory, it can also be used to get relief from itchy, irritating varicose veins.

Many women like to rub Calendula on their growing bellies when they’re pregnant to prevent stretch marks. Another great use is to soothe childbirth-related postpartum pain – you can soak cotton pads with the oil and freeze them for instant relief. Similarly, it can be safely used to treat a baby’s diaper rash naturally and effectively.

You can purchase the herbal oil or salve from an herbal supply company, or make it yourself if you grow the plant in your garden. Herbal oils generally have a base of olive or coconut oil, and salves add beeswax to give them a thicker texture.

It can be applied as massage oil, rubbed on with a cotton ball, or simply smoothed onto the affected area. Calendula is often seen in beauty treatments such as moisturizers and soaps, and its benefits can be received that way as well. It combines well with Comfrey and St. Johns Wort, two other herbal remedies for the skin.

A few great products that include Calendula are Kiss My Face Honey & Calendula Moisturizer, Kiehls Calendula Herbal Extract Alcohol-Free Toner and Weleda Calendula Baby Cream.

vedaPURE

Dr. Natalie Geary, a Manhattan pediatrician, developed a line of natural products for people who want to avoid many substances in current body products such as parabens, artificial fragrance, petroleum, animal ingredients, steroids, preservatives, and artificial colorings. Originally motivated by parents who were looking for healthier alternatives to Vaseline or traditional Butt Paste, Dr. Geary formulated the vedaBABY line which has since expanded to vedaMAMA and vedaDUDE. Natural and ayurvedic practices, combined with her seasoned pediatric knowledge, infuse Dr. Geary’s creams, scrubs, and butters with gentle and soothing recipes for healthy skin and all-around wellness. Using organic botanicals such as cocoa butter, avocado, organic jojoba, organic neem, and fragrant essential oils, makes these formulations feel incredible on the skin.

This is a luxurious line, compared to some less expensive brands, but a little goes a long way. There are very few products available that actually use completely natural ingredients in entirety. Even at some of my favorite health food stores, products that claim to be organic use parabens or preservatives. With this line, everything is pure. Some of my favorites are: vedaMAMA body butter which has lavender, orange and mango, vedaBABY calm moisturizing cream that contains organic coconut and aloe, and vedaBABY baby butt diaper balm which uses calendula, vitamin E and organic rose hip oil to keep babe’s butt from being irritated.

Daisy Blue Naturals: Like a Green Avon!

If you’ve ever read the ingredients on conventional shampoo, body wash, or lotion, you know how many chemicals and unpronouncable ingredients are in them. Jena Thompson, 33, a trained chemist and mother of two started Daisy Blue Naturals five years ago in response to the already overly-toxic world we all share. 

DBN has a large product line for all you picky people out there, which makes it an easy one-stop shop for all the bathroom basics. There are no parabens, petrochemicals, artificial phosphates or sulfates, are not tested on animals, and are all biodegradable. They make a full ingredients listing available on their site, which is often tough to find.
Like Avon, DBN is sold at parties or through ‘consultants’, though these days sales are made through the internet as well if you aren’t into the idea of a product party.

Tami Molitor Delano, a DBN independent consultant and team leader from Minnesota was nice enough to send me samples to try, and I give them the Eco Chick thumbs up! The mango skin therapy cream, the bulgarian lavender oil and the calendula and honey baby oil (which I used right after a shower) all smelled great, moisturized me quite nicely, and came in easily recyclable containers without extra packaging.

Tami says, “I love the products because they are simple, safe and healthy for everyone in my family.” Tami  Contact Tami here if you want to buy, and like most direct marketers, the company is always looking for more folks to become salespeople.