Archive for ‘Natural Health and Beauty’
Honestly Loving The Honest Co.
Awhile back, a friend tipped me off to Jessica Alba’s latest project, The Honest Company. Jessica Alba is best known for her movie roles (and her banging hot body, see: Sin City) but is now a celeb mama on a mission. While researching baby products for her two daughters, Alba quickly realized that there are little to no standards in place to protect families from toxins present in the very products marketed to moms of babies and young children. I’ve said it here many times and will continue to hammer it in: Some of the most trusted brands (Nestle, Johnson & Johnson) also have the most deplorable marketing and consistently poisonous products. Thankfully, Jessica Alba is using her fame and fortune to help families move in the right direction. Her line of baby and home care products are just ‘crunchy’ enough to be truly safe yet palatable to someone used to more mainstream products.
The Honest Company is now beginning to offer individual Honest products for sale, but it is primarily a subscription service. Sign up for one of their bundles – the Diapers or Family Essentials bundle – and every month you’ll receive a selection of awesome non-toxic items. The Family Essentials monthly price is fairly affordable (around $40 I believe), although the cost for Diapers is a little up there – But I may just be sticker-shocked because we cloth diaper. The coolest part is that you can do a free trial for just $4.95. It works like magazine sign-ups and other monthly services – You must remember to cancel on time, but really, how difficult is that. I did just the trial and it was easy peasy. That $5 is the shipping cost, nothing extra, and you get a good amount of stuff to try out.
The Honest Company have more products than I received to review, but here are the ones I tried:
laundry detergent – This laundry detergent is Free & Clear (meaning free of all dyes and perfumes) so it is probably cloth diaper safe but not confirmed. I used my sample on a load of regular clothes with no discernible difference from the All Free & Clear (or whatever brand was on sale that week) that we were using. The Honest brand is probably more environmentally-friendly than Tide, etc., so I’d recommend Honest if money isn’t an object. It’s always important to vote with your dollar, spending your money at companies whose values you support.
hand soap – The scent of Honest Hand Soap reminds me of Mrs. Meyers (a brand with amazingly fragrant natural products), and I love anything that smells like lemongrass. It’s also really gentle, so I would call this an above average hand soap. Our little bottle is almost empty, sitting on our sink, and it makes me happy every time I use it. – Ya gotta love anything that gives you that kind of boost throughout the day, especially after doing dishes!
face & body lotion – The Honest Company Lotion reminds me of Skin MD Natural, which I like a lot. I’m a fan of any lotion that works well on both face and body, and it’s really gentle. And non-toxic!
shampoo & body wash – We’ve tried a lot of baby body washes, and this one is about average although I especially love the vanilla scent. For the record, our fave baby wash is this one, although we are currently loving BabyGanics
healing balm – This is my favorite product of the bunch, and probably the only one that really stands out from other similar products I’ve tried. I love this stuff. The Honest Co. Healing Balm is USDA organic. Not sure if it’s cloth diaper safe but I’m sure it would treat rashes for babies in disposables. Sebastian has never had a diaper rash but I did use the Healing Balm on some scrapes on his chest as well as a dry patch on his legs that was bugging him. It is also the best thing I’ve found to treat a particularly dry & flaky area on my face, and it doubles as GREAT lip balm. I wear it to bed, or underneath my lipstick for a really smooth finish and muted color. Also good for elbows, cuticles, pretty much anything.
We cloth diaper, but did give The Honest Company disposable diapers a try. We received the ‘boy’ bundle (I’m not a fan of having to select gender versus individual designs, but whatev), which included several diapers in fun styles. There were some anchors, skulls, and the plaid design above. Honest diapers are on par with Seventh Generation in that they have less chemicals and are better than Huggies or Pampers… but they’re still disposables. I always feel a little bit dirty when I use them, but I did fall for these a bit. Sebastian doesn’t pee overnight but they did contain a big morning pee when Mama was too lazy to get out of bed right when he woke up.
I have trouble endorsing disposable diapers – It’s scary how much these held – but if you are going to go that route (or use them for a trip or daycare or whatever) Honest is a good brand to go with. The wipes are good as well. You know, they’re baby wipes. I generally use them for makeup removal and stick to cloth wipes for butts.
Overall, I found The Honest Co. products to be pretty great. The Healing Balm is the only one that really stands out, but all of these are a huge step up from the usual crap on drugstore shelves. I do wish that these would move into stores where they could get more visibility – As of right now, moms who don’t spend much time online probably won’t even hear about the brand. And I feel like moms who research products online are more likely to already be making healthier choices. But, baby steps.
I am not affiliated with them in any way, but Cool Mom Picks is currently running an awesome Mother’s Day Giveaway featuring a $200 gift card to The Honest Co. You can enter their giveaway here – It ends on Sunday.
Give your mood a boost without toxins – The safest scents for home and body
“Fragrance” is a largely unregulated term, with the sweet smell of many products actually being the most toxic component. Companies aren’t legally required to disclose what goes into their fragrances, so it’s no surprise that many commercial perfumes, home sprays and air fresheners are full of unsafe chemicals. Toxins in home and body fragrances are bad news for anyone, but especially bad for expectant mothers and children. Chemical fragrances cause harm to the skin and respiratory system, and can have a lifelong affect on the various systems of little bodies. Scents are specifically designed to linger, so it’s especially important that we choose safe fragrances for use around our families. Fortunately, there are healthy alternatives that will let you enjoy mood-lifting aromatherapy without the dangerous side effects.
Fragrance for body
A Perfume Organic are hand-poured perfumes out of Manhattan. The scents themselves are certified USDA organic, and the packaging is not only recyclable, but is embedded with flower seeds for you to plant and enjoy. A Perfume Organic products are also fair trade, vegan and cruelty-free. The brand offers five scents to choose from, or select the sampler pack to mix and match your own signature scent. Prices are comparable to department store fragrances but much better for your family and the environment. — If you act within the next 24 hours or so, you can pick up these fragrances at a great discount through my affiliate LovingEco.
Harvey Prince is my favorite fragrance brand right now. I was lucky enough to review their line of non-toxic scents and I am a legit fan. My favorite scents are Ageless, Eau De Lite, and Coupling, which are rich enough to wear alone and also smell amazing layered. You can read my Harvey Prince review here.
Essential oils are another healthy way to wear fragrance. Pure oils should always be diluted in neutral carrier oil such as coconut oil or organic body oil, and can be applied to pressure points (I like wrists, neck, and on my hip bones) for a highly therapeutic fragrance. Grapefruit and other citrus oils can offer an uplifting effect while scents like lavender are known for their calming properties.
Scents for the home
Those home air “fresheners” you see advertised on television? Toxic toxic toxic! I refuse to review brands like Glade on this blog for a reason – Because they’re disgusting! There are healthier brands you can try – Method
Adding plants to your home will improve air quality and flowers will give your home a natural, fresh scent. Avoid naturally toxic plants (duh) and keep even safe botanicals out of reach of small children – It only takes a few minutes of boredom before they’ve ripped off every leaf and petal in classic “loves me, loves me not” fashion.
Create your own home spray. This Freshen Up spray from The Well Daily uses white vinegar and essential oils. If you’d rather shop than DIY, scroll down on their page for some healthy aromatherapy options you can buy, including these aromatherapy diffusers
- – The Well Daily is a website and daily email I discovered recently. Browse the site or sign up to have a fun wellness tip delivered to your inbox each day. I highly recommend it!
Brew fragrance on your stove top. Boil orange peels in a large pot along with a handful of cinnamon and cloves for an aroma that will fill your entire home.
Burn non-toxic candles. I am obsessed with candles, but they are not necessarily a safe fragrance option. When shopping candles, high-end versions are typically safer – Definitely avoid the dollar store for candles, although you can find some cute glass candle holders for cheap! Candles that produce soot around the rim are actually releasing that carcinogenic soot into the air.
If you are a candle lover like me, don’t fret – Inform yourself with this great post on avoiding toxins in candles and go on enjoying your scented candles guilt-free! Your best option is 100% soy or beeswax candles, which are safe and clean-burning. I personally love-love-love Bluecorn Naturals soy candles.
Green Carpet Cleaning Manhattan
I’ve always been a little bit obsessed with cleaning, and clean floors are a big deal to me. Gross stains are obviously the worst, but even seemingly benign spots (soda spills, etc) really get under my skin. I try to use throw rugs in high-traffic areas, especially because our apartment has beige carpeting – It shows every little accident.
It was when we first brought home our puppy (now three years old) that I started really thinking about the chemicals we were using to clean our home. I always disliked the smell of cleaning products, but having a teeny puppy down there on the ground really made me look hard at what we were using to “clean” our carpets and floors. The truth was, those surfaces may have looked spotless, but the chemicals residing there were far worse than any visible grime. With the addition of our son, we stepped up our efforts towards green cleaning even more.
It’s easy enough to to give your home a ‘green clean’ when you’re choosing and buying your own products, but working with an outside company can complicate things. With all of the current focus on the environment, more and more healthy cleaning options are popping up… but there is also a lot of “greenwashing.” Greenwashing is when companies throw around words that sound good but don’t carry much (or any) actual weight in terms of what’s good for the environment.
Fortunately, it is possible to find truly eco-friendly carpet and rug cleaning. Green Choice offers green area rug cleaning Manhattan, and you can find similar services across the nation. When deciding who to hire, do your research and collect as much information as you need to feel comfortable – A legit business won’t mind answering all of your questions.
Healthy pet picks from Mr. Chewy
Mr. Chewy is an awesome online pet food store, catering to dogs of all sizes, with various dietary needs and preferences.
Mr. Chewy has over 70 pet brands available, all searchable by name and category. Although they primarily sell dog (and cat) food and treats, you can also buy potty pads and kitty litter. Mr. Chewy offers free shipping on any order over $49, making their site just as affordable – yet more convenient – than shopping at your local pet supply store. They carry all of the big brands as well as a large selection of healthy pet brands, for lack of a better word. Products with real, whole food ingredients, especially meat.
We ordered several products from Mr. Chewy, including our usual dog food, AvoDerm, and a variety of treats. The Dogswell sweet potato chews were definitely the favorite – They looked so good, the toddler tried to give them a taste. Toddler actually taste tests a lot of the dog’s food – One more reason to keep it natural!
We also gave a bag of Calming treats by Pet Naturals of Vermont a try. (Those ones should be kept away from the kids.) We didn’t see any decrease in anxiety, even with the maximum dose, but our small dog is full of BIG CRAZY. He definitely responded to the taste of these treats, so I would recommend the brand. Although we didn’t see a marked difference when using the calming treats, we do see a change in Rufio when we switch from high-quality natural dog food (or homemade dog food) to buying cheaper bags of dog food. Just like humans, dogs are healthier and happier (with more balanced moods) when they are fed real, whole foods!
I would definitely recommend Mr. Chewy for your pet food needs. It’s easy to compare prices, and everything shipped quickly in one order. I would absolutely order from their website again.
I received several items from Mr. Chewy for the purpose of this review. I was not otherwise compensated, and all opinions on this blog are my own.
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