Natural Home Products

When choosing a shampoo, it can be difficult to differentiate between an all natural shampoo and a shampoo product that contains “some” natural ingredients.  Product labelling can be confusing and the list of ingredients even more confusing.  Just a quick check of the label, and knowing a few of the ingredients to look for, will help ensure you are buying an all natural shampoo product.

A quality, all natural shampoo should NOT contain any of the irritating or harmful ingredients listed below:

• Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, a lathering agent often listed simply as SLS
• Sodium Laureth Sulfate, or SLES
• Formula boosters such as Diethanolamine (DEA), Monoethanolamine (MEA), or Triethanolamine (TEA)
• Artificial colors, preservatives, or “fragrance”.

A good, all natural shampoo should be unscented or naturally scented with pure essential oils.  Checking your shampoo label and knowing what to look for will help ensure you are truly buying an all natural shampoo product.

With all the media hype about the H1N1 Swine Flu pandemic, we sometimes forget that simple hand washing is the most effective way of preventing the spread of H1N1 and any flu virus.  Proper hand washing is the simplest, yet the most neglected, disease prevention practice.   While germs can survive for up to three hours on our hands, a thorough hand washing with hot, soapy water can prevent any germs or bacteria from transferring to others.

It is important that hands be washed properly to prevent illness. The “rinse and go” method that is all too common nowadays is ineffective for preventing the spread of germs or bacteria. To Wash Your Hands Properly you must use soap and warm, running water.  Make sure to wet your hands before applying a liberal amount of soap to your hands. Rub your hands vigorously for 20 seconds.  You can try singing two rounds of “Happy Birthday” for timing your hand washing.  Make sure you wash all surfaces including:  the backs of your hands, wrists, between your fingers, the tips of your fingers, and under your fingernails. Then rinse your hands well and dry with paper towel.

Studies have shown that using good hand washing technique with plain old soap and water is just as effective as using antibacterial soap in controlling the number of microbes on hands.   Using an all natural soap or natural antiseptic soap such as tea tree oil soap, will get the job done and prove milder to the skin with repeated washings.  Hand sanitizer can also be used as an effect adjunct to hand washing, particularly when you are not near hand washing facilities.  Health agency recommendations include the use of hand sanitizers, but not as a replacement for proper hand washing, suggesting hand sanitizers not be used in place of soap and water but alongside a proper hand washing regime.  As with the spread of any flu, proper hand washing remains the very best defence against the spread of illness.

Few people know the benefits of bamboo fabric, when in truth, it has several advantages over standard cotton. One of the main benefits of bamboo bath towels is their absorbent nature. Bamboo fibers are quite absorbent, and are also just as soft as cotton. With a bamboo towel, toweling off is much easier because the fibers allow the towels to soak up water and air out faster. Bamboo is also a natural and sustainable resource, and most bamboo towels are 100% organic, containing no harmful chemicals or dyes that are often in cotton towels.

There are no special steps needed to wash or care for bamboo bath towels. For the most part, bamboo towels look and feel much the same as cotton towels, but provide superior absorption and are easier on the environment. With the world turning to more sustainable and lasting resources, bamboo towels are poised to become much more popular in the near future. It’s quite possible that bamboo fabric might even one day replace cotton as the material of choice for garments, towels, and bed linens!

When it comes to romance, just about everyone has their own theory on what works best. Of course, no one knows their significant other like their own partner, but a few tips and a little advice never hurts. One of the best places to start thinking about romance is in the bathroom. We’re talking about handmade soap, bubble bath, moisturizers, bath fizzies, and massage oil. There’s nothing better than having a private candlelit bath and coming out feeling clean and refreshed.

For husbands who want to set a romantic bath for their wife, start with a little bit of bubble bath solution. Draw the bath, and be sure to light a few candles around the room, and dim or turn off the lights. Having incense burning can help to set the mood, but if incense isn’t right, then consider scented candles or tarts. Provide a bath set complete with sensual soaps and oils, and let them have a relaxing soak and come out feeling like a new person.

For hundreds of years skilled craftsman have made handmade soap.  Prior to the Industrial Revolution rough cuts of handmade soaps were crafted on a small scale.  While today most soap is mass produced,  many skilled craftsman continue to pursue their passion for hand crafted soaps, adding a personal touch to their soap and a sense of luxury to our personal hygiene.

The quality of today’s handmade soaps differs from massed produced industrial soap in that, usually, the glycerine is not removed.  This leaves a naturally moisturizing soap rather than a detergent.  An array of oils and butters are used in the hand crafting process such as olive, coconut, palm, cocoa butter, hemp oil, and shea butter, with each oil providing different qualities.  For example,  olive oil provides mildness in soap; coconut oil provides lots of lather; and coconut and palm oils provide firmness.  It is easy to see how the selection of hand crafted soap has become so vast.

Handcrafted soap is made unique with the additions of essential oils, fragrance oils, botanicals, herbs, oatmeal or other natural additives.  Often rosemary essential oil is added as a natural preservative and fragrance. While many of the handcrafted soaps are long lasting hard bars of soap, they remain exceptionally gentle soaps that can be used on sensitive skin.  The high natural glycerine content of handmade soap draws moisture to the skin to combat dryness. The high quality handmade soaps crafted today will remain among the mildest of soaps for sensitive skin.

It’s impossible to stay perfectly informed about every last product we use or ingest. Still, common sense holds that goods made with familiar, all-natural ingredients are better for the body. Discerning shoppers can gain a wealth of knowledge about the foods they eat by merely pausing a moment and glancing at the ingredients. Artificial doesn’t necessarily mean harmful, but it’s best to go with natural ingredients where possible.

That rule of thumb is not limited to food products alone. Hygiene products are available in clearly labeled, all-natural options as well. All natural shampoo, for instance, draws its cleaning and restorative properties from plant oils. These shampoos tend to be biodegradable and feature a relatively short list of ingredients. Knowledge is power, and you can gain some by asking questions about the contents of the products you buy every day.

The variety of hair care products available today is staggering, each with its signature scent.  But the catch all term “fragrance” used on shampoo labels may actually be masking harmful chemicals you would otherwise choose to avoid.  The National Geographic’s Green Guide: The Complete Reference for Consuming Wisely explains that while the term “fragrance” developed in the cosmetic field to allow manufacturers to keep their fragrance formulations under wraps, they may mask harmful chemical formulations including phthalates.  With no requirement to list the fragrance ingredients, it may be your signature scent that you should be avoiding.  

The National Geographic’s Green Guide suggests avoiding unnecessary exposure to harmful chemical “fragrance” formulations by choosing fragrance-free products.  If you prefer a mild scent to your shampoo, you can avoid the phthalates by selecting products scented with essential oils such as lavender and rose.  Read the labels and choose from all natural shampoo products that list all ingredients and look for brands that are forthright about the safety of their ingredients.

Many people are turning to organic food to avoid the pesticides used in standard farming practises.   The term “Organic” refers to an ecological system of growing and processing food and products that prohibits the use of chemicals and genetically modified organisms (GMOs).  Organic farming practises rely on healthy, rich soil to produce healthy plants that are disease and pest resistant.   Using innovative farming practises such as crop rotation, cover crop planting, beneficial insect release and composting, organic farming works with nature, instead of against it. 

Choosing organic food reduces our exposure to chemicals and pesticides, but did you know that the skin can also absorb chemicals and pesticides?  Everything from irritating cleaners to shampoo and lotions can contain small amounts of toxic chemicals. The bloodstream then carries these toxins to the rest of the body’s organs, and there is no way of knowing the short term or long terms effects of this exposure. So why risk your health and well being when organic body care products offer safer, healthier and milder alternatives to good hygiene?  Organic bath and body products avoid the use of petroleum based products, sulphate cleaning agents, synthetic fragrance, artificial colors, parabens, and chemical preservatives.  Organic body care relies on organic plant based ingredients and natural fragrances.   Using all natural and organic bath and body products reduces the exposure to toxins that may someday produce adverse effects.

Sometimes known as melaleuca oil, tea tree oil is an essential oil known for its camphor-like smell. The oils are derived from the leaves of a tree found in New South Wales, Australia. It’s most common uses are in medical and cosmetic products. In both instances, the oil has usually been greatly diluted, because in high concentrations, it has been known to cause irritation for users. Users should also be aware that tea tree oil differs from tea oil, which is merely the seasoning derived from pressed tea plant seeds.

On the medical end, tea tree oil is used most commonly as an antiseptic. It is also an antifungal agent, which is why it’s found at times in anti-dandruff shampoo. With uses beyond human applications, the oil has also found itself a common form of flea control. But always make sure the animal can’t consume the oil if it’s applied directly to their skin. Consumption has been found to induce sickness or even death in animals. So whether you’re using tea tree oil soap or considering using it as a natural flea control method, make sure you use precautions that the oil is used sparingly and is never ingested.

While some people don’t realize it, salves, cremes, and lotions that are put onto the skin are absorbed into the body.  These skincare products often contain chemicals or toxins that would be dangerous to ingest, but they seep right into the skin and people don’t have a second thought about it.  It’s important to realize the dangers of exposure to the chemicals and toxins used in health and hygiene products.  Using natural soap, as well as natural skincare products is the path to perfect health.  Natural products don’t contain the dangerous chemicals and toxins that most other products contain, and it’s important to use natural products on the body. 

When you use natural products, you’re also helping the environment.  Natural products are free from chemicals and toxins, and true natural products are also healthy to the environment because their ingredients were cultivated and harvested through natural and non-invasive processes.