Get The Dirt On Hand Soap
By Jillian Polaski
Filed Under Conscious Commerce, News & Reviews | Leave a Comment
Mothers, doctors, chefs, and hardcore germaphobes-listen up. You like clean hands, yes? With all the options on the market today from hand sanitizer to antibacterial soaps, you’d think that this society would have the cleanest hands in history. Not so. Many of today’s soaps contain some very unhealthy chemicals and surprising animal byproducts.
Soaps are produced by combining a fat source with an alkali, and unless the package specifically states that the product contains no animal ingredients, chances are good that the fat source in your soap is pig fat. Yum. In addition, the chemicals found in soaps penetrate our skin and can cause hormonal disruptions and even cancer. After the soap makes it down the drain, it ends up in our drinking water. Triclosan, the main antibacterial ingredient in many hand soaps, has been found in many streams and rivers and can disrupt thyroid hormone function in bullfrogs. When was the last time a bullfrog did you wrong? Exactly. So what’s the best option for getting your digits squeaky clean, while not wronging any innocent forest creatures or yourself? Steer clear of the antibacterial variety and purchase an all natural version that uses vegetable rather than animal fats as its base, and that doesn’t include any petrochemicals. Here’s our favorite hand soap finds…
Amlavi Hand and Body Wash
Amlavi’s mission is to build a collection of all natural bath products that maintain a connection to the earth, air, and waterways surrounding us. They’ve accomplished that through both their products and their practices (they offer bike-to-work incentives for employees, use recycled office supplies, and use compostable or plantable materials in their product packaging, among other things). Their hand and body washes are superb. They produce three aromatic blends, citrus, sandalwood, and floral. Each blend contains between eight and twelve very pronouncable ingredients in a base of coconut, avocado, sesame, or olive oil. There are no petrochemicals, no animal byproducts, no phthalates and no parabens.
This soap is a little bit less gelatinous than a more traditional, chemical-filled hand soap, but it feels smooth and silky, doesn’t dry out your hands, and smells natural and delicious.
MSRP: $15.95/bottle
Continue reading Get The Dirt On Hand Soap…
Posted on July 22, 2008 |
Ted Ning And The Lohasian Nation
By Jenn Breckenridge
Filed Under Arts & Culture, Conscious Commerce | 4 Comments
Deep in the heart of Gaiam’s new corporate digs, behind the desk of a modest office amidst many modest offices, sat the Man Behind The Music,”Mr. LOHAS,” Ted Ning himself. His face was unexpectedly open and soft, his voice quiet and warm. This alleged powerhouse of a man was the kind of person you’d let look after your kids, or your money, or yourself. He appeared to be one of the new breed of executives, forgoing the old “greed is good” model of the 80’s and 90’s, for the refreshingly straightforward “good is good” model of the new millenium. Ted Ning, Director of eco-marketing giant LOHAS, was none other than a sweet and gentle guy. After realizing all this, I relaxed and sat down.
Well, first of all, what is “LOHAS” anyway, I wanted to know. Is this a Hawaiian massage technique or the name of some airport in the Pan-Pacific region? No, LOHAS stands for “Lifestyles Of Health And Sustainability.” This marketing term, originated by the Natural Marketing Institute (NMI) in the early 2000’s marked the defining of an era…or at least the defining of a very powerful demographic. NMI realized that three seemingly disparate consumer groups-spiritual folks, environmentalists, and health fanatics-had very similar purchasing patterns. Once NMI pooled the buying power of all these groups into a study of one large consumer base dubbed LOHASians, the corporate giants of America finally realized there was real money to be made in doing right by communities, wildlife and ecosystems. According to NMI, that “real money to be made” was about 209 billion dollars worth. LOHAS was designed to help companies speak the language of this newly defined group. Continue reading Ted Ning And The Lohasian Nation…
Posted on June 17, 2008 |
Good Enough to Eat
By Jenn Breckenridge
Filed Under Green Living | Leave a Comment
Women love products. We do. There’s a cleanser, cream, spray, soak, serum, lotion, potion, tonic, foam or gel for every last inch of our bodies, and then some. At some point over the years, I realized my quest for cleanliness, beauty, and a powder-fresh scent was contributing a stockpile of plastic bottles to our already overtaxed landfills. I also realized that propylene glycol and sodium laureth sulfate might not be the best ingredients for my health conscious lifestyle. Giving up the products appeared from the outside like a beauty suicide and quite honestly, what could one clean and coif themselves with that didn’t come in a plastic bottle full of chemicals?
I had heard about soap and even remembered a time during childhood in which I’d actually used it myself. Bar soap seemed a thing of the past, an antiquated remnant of an age far gone, something a frontierswoman might have used after a long day driving the wagon train in the same no-nonsense way that she used cow chips for fuel. Wasn’t it drying? Wasn’t “one-quarter moisturizing cream” something that had fallen short of my expectations time and again? If memory served, I felt less like a Dove post-soapdown and more like Melba toast, which is why I’d switched over to the fancy plastic bottles full of unpronounceables to begin with. Continue reading Good Enough to Eat…
Posted on April 10, 2008 |
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