Monday, March 29, 2010

Keeping It Real and Green: Deodorants and Soap

Who knew deodorant was such a popular topic!? My last post, "Just The Pits," generated a lot of great feedback, for which I am ever appreciative of. Kate Gallagher of The Practice suggested her favorite, Burt's Bees spray with oil of sage, while the Divine Miss Em took the brave leap into living a deodorant-less lifestyle. And Fig+Sage made the good point that Tom's does still include propylene glycol, which alters the structure of the skin by "allowing chemicals to penetrate deep beneath it while increasing their ability to reach the blood stream."(The Good Human) Um...that doesn't sound good. So at Fig+Sage's recommendation (and many rave reviews in the blogosphere), I just purchased Soapwalla's deodorant cream (pictured above), which consists of superfine vegetable powders, clays, lavender, peppermint and tea tree essential oils. Right on! I'll let you know how it works! :)


For the rest of today's post, let's keep things clean and nice-smelling by talking about soap! My quick green tip of the day: skip the bottle and go for the bar. Many liquid soaps are packaged in big, heavy plastic bottles, but unfortuantely not all types of plastic can be recycled (and this can be especially dependent on the recycling center in your area). Bar soaps however, usually come in cardboard packaging, or no packaging at all, which cuts down on waste. There is a huge selection of handmade soaps on Etsy, many of which come in recyclable packaging. Visit Nashville Wraps for eco-friendly gift bags and you've got yourself a charming set of bridesmaid's gifts.

4 comments:

rachel said...

Yep I totally agree about the soap verses bottled cleanser. Why buy more plastic for no reason? A bar of soap will get you equally as clean. The same goes for buying big gallons of juice, in my mind - If I am going to need a lot of juice, why not just buy the concentrate and make it in my own container?

dining room table said...

I agree with this too! It has the same results and the same benefits.

Giovanna said...

i'm not a big fan of tom's of maine deodorant, so i'd like to check out the soapwalla cream. definitely keep us posted! by the way, love your blog. we're trying to plan a wedding that's as eco-friendly as possible, and i wish i would've discovered this earlier! it's a good resource.
xo, giovanna, SWOON
www.swoon-online.com

Hi-Fi Weddings said...

i use a the thai crystal (http://www.deodorantstones.com/) and i love it! i mean, i live in the south...alabama - so it's humid. so i'm embracing the fact i sweat in the summer and it's my body riding itself of toxins.

also, with soaps and body washes, you have to be careful of SLS (sodium laurel sulfate) as its affects are very harmful. i figure if you're trying to avoid the aluminum (YAY!) then i hope you are taking measures to remove SLS (and parabens) from your life...unless you have already...then of course i applaud you :)

xoxo

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