Saturday 4 September 2010

Problems, Problems

The idea of this blog is that I want to make it easier for you guys to be a little more eco if you want to so any issues you are having please let me know...

Tina from Austria has asked me about toiletries and, having talked to my wonderful friends Emily and Jo they inform me that there are lots of cosmetic choices at those healthy living type shops, health food shops and the like. Most towns contain such a shop and the products are actually pretty wide-spread. What people don't know about is the bad effects flushing things like Pantene and Dove down the sink can have. This is an interesting article written by a woman who decided to find out what all the individual ingredients in her shampoo actually do:

http://ezinearticles.com/?Is-Your-Shampoo-Poisoning-You-and-the-Environment?&id=501590

The companies that Emily and Jo recommend are Faith In Nature and Natracare. I will buy some of these products on Friday and write a little review so we can see if they're any good. I am assured that they are. Ladies, they also do comepletely biodegradeable 'feminine hygene products'. This website will give you information on the health problems involved in these products, not to mention the environmental effect they have when they turn up, inevitably, in the sea:

http://www.sanitaryproducts.co.uk/

So it is possible to get naturally made toiletries that do not harm the environment at all. Whether they match up to the products we're all used to is something I will discover over the next couple of weeks and let you know.

Lots of you lovely people have been encouraging me with links of your own to sites that you've found useful and interesting in your own eco missions. I'm going to share these because sharing is caring:

Rachel Fox sent me this link to co-op style tea: http://www.justchangeuk.org/buy-tea
She also sent this campaign for paying living wages for clothes made at George Asda http://www.justchangeuk.org/buy-tea

Kat Darling shared this with me. They're a company that helps rural communities take control of the industry in their area, particularly food, so that everything is community owned. It's cool stuff http://www.plunkett.co.uk/

Meryl from Australia has shared a link to her blog with me. She chats about community gardens, shared spaces where you can grow your own food and share it with everyone else too! Neat http://tigheshillgarden.blogspot.com/

Keep on sending them folks. I will blog tomorrow about places around Huddersfield for shopping. If you've found somewhere fun near you that's eco-friendly then let me know, would love to hear about it.

Lots of love little peas.
Ash

3 comments:

  1. I always find those stores to be rather expensive, to be honest!If you can afford it, by all means, go for it. But there must be another way, like, make it yourself! I have this lovely little book called "Make your place" which is all about home-made sustainable cleaners, body and health care products by a lady called Raleigh Briggs. According to her you can just use baking soda to wash your hair and brush your teeth. Or make a proper shampoo with castile soap and essential oils. I think I will give this a go, and I will report back to you.
    For washing I have used wash nuts for ages, and for cleaning mainly vinegar or Borax. Cheap and sustainable, that's the way to go.
    hugs, Tina

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  3. There's a nice shop/website called Natural Spa Supplies which sells alum stone deodorant and rhassoul clay products. It's based in Norwich but posts out. My alum stone was about the size of a walnut when I bought it for £2 at a market, lasts forever. You can buy bigger ones from here, and there's lots of interesting info on the benefits of using naturally occurring alum and also the not so good simulated versions which are often sold. You can even have one stone for the whole family as you can wash it! Sounds weird but is great.

    http://naturalspasupplies.co.uk/

    Jo put me onto another good one, Bionsen. It's deodorant, not anti-perspirant, so doesn't interfere with your body's natural sweating process. I've found this one to be great, actually. You can get it from Tesco's, but also Boots, some Superdrugs and health food shops.


    http://www.bionsen.co.uk/bionsen-home


    I would really like to hear from anyone about cosmetics, and also making my own shampoo sounds terrific. Hoorah.

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