Eco Tip: Skin Deep

I've always been concerned about our environment and conscious about the things I put into my body, but in recent years I've also become more aware of the things I put onto my body. Your skin is your largest organ and whatever is put on it seeps in and can affect the rest of you. I've more and more been making an effort to use personal care products with all natural, organic ingredients. I've been a long time fan of Lush (especially their bath products), but also like to support my crafty sistas, too.

I've been known to indulge in bath products as well mineral cosmetics from Lollibomb. By the way, Luca (of Lollibomb fame) is a doll and her products are amazing. I had gotten her six month subscription and had so much fun opening a box of goodies every month.

I also fell in love with the Veggie Deodorant originally offered by Sugar Lips who passed the torch onto Wicked Clean.

Pink Quartz Minerals has the best ever under eye concealer called Goldenrod (I use this stuff religiously).

Lately, though, I've been taking matters into my own hands.
Above, you see some awesome sugar scrub that I talked about in a previous post, some baking soda style 'tooth paste', a vinegar rinse for my hair, and some lemon hairspray. The vinegar rinse works great, but took a little getting used to (my hair went through an adjustment dealing with the different ph). As I mentioned, I love this sugar scrub. I'm still deciding on the lemon hairspray: my hair is either super fly away crazy or kind of gunky when I use it. Since it goes from one end of the spectrum to the other, it may be another factor (like the weather), so I'm giving it some more time. So far as the tooth paste goes, my teeth have never been whiter and I love how clean and not chemically they feel. My only concern is the lack of a protective ingredient in it. I have read that there's more fluoride in tap water than ever before, so does that mean I'm getting all the fluoride my teeth need through my drinking water now?

**Did you know that only 11% of ingredients in beauty products undergo premarket safety tests? If this concerns you (it certainly does me), check out Skin Deep. First launched by the nonprofit Environmental Working Group in 2004, the website provides information on more than 25,000 personal care products and nearly 7,000 ingredients. Searchable by brand, type, and ingredient, the site ranks products according to known risks. Ever question the wisdom of appying chemicals like phenoxyethanol to your delicate skin? I would.**

Happy Earth Day!!

I am an avid beach bum, so I care a great deal about our oceans, beaches, and it's wildlife. For the past couple of years, I've participated in the International Coastal Cleanup. Rubber gloves and garbage bag in hand, I've picked up countless cigarette butts, soda cans, tires, cigarette butts, condoms, snack bags, balls, cigarette butts, frisbees, plastic soda bottles, fruit pits, more cigarette butts, and plenty of other things I can't even think of right now. The Ocean Conservancy organizes this event every year; you can find more info about volunteering here.

I just signed the Ocean Conservancy's Earth Day Pledge to take simple actions to help keep trash out of our oceans.

The Ocean Conservancy's strategic priorities include:
1. Restore Sustainable American Fisheries
2. Protect Marine Wildlife from Human Impacts
3. Conserve Special Ocean Places
4. Reform Government for Better Ocean Stewardship

Will you take the pledge with me and help save the planet's oceans, one of our most amazing and beautiful resources?

Make a Difference

In honor of Earth Day coming up in a few days (April 22), I'd like to talk about a grassroots campaign called Take Back the Filter. My friend Cat over at The Green Cat, posted about it recently. The purpose of the campaign is to get the US Brita company to start a take-back program for their filters. While the original European Brita GmbH company has created a take-back recycling program for its filter cartridges, Clorox (the US Brita company) has no such program in place for re-using or recycling Brita cartridges. This means million of plastic cartridges get dumped in landfills or incinerated each year.

The campaign is requesting that Clorox:
1. Redesign its Brita filter cartridges so that the plastic housing can be refilled rather than discarded each time the filter is changed.
2. Provide a take-back program, such as the one that exists in Europe, so that used cartridges can be returned to the company for recycling.
3. Create a system for the cartridges to be dismantled and the components recycled/reused domestically rather than landfilled, incinerated, or shipped overseas.

Please take a moment to go check out the official Take Back the Filter web page to learn more about it and find out how you can help (sign the petition, I did). This is truly a grassroots effort that can inspire some major environmental change, but it needs your help.

Make a difference in our world. Thank you.

Beach Bum Creations is Moving in with Athena's Armoury

Now available in Athena's Armoury.

Many of you may already know that my first shop on Etsy was called Beach Bum Creations. And then chain maille pretty much took over all of the creations and I felt it necessary to open a second shop strictly for my maille. Well, after trying to make a go at maintaining and promoting two different shops, and not being terribly successful at it, I think it's time to try something new. All stock from Beach Bum Creations (mainly semi-precious gemstone jewelry) will be moved over to Athena's Armoury. It will make my life so much easier by only having to promote one shop!! But it will also help round out my shop and give me even more stuff to list as I continue to work on larger scale maille projects that take some more time. But, I'm also hoping that it will give my customers more fun stuff to look at and perhaps encourage cross purchasing.

The first item to make the move is this gorgeous bracelet entitled For a Good Cause - The Nature Conservancy. $5 from the sale of this bracelet will be donated to The Nature Conservancy - the leading conservation organization working to protect the most ecologically important lands and waters around the world for nature and people. Please visit Athena's Armoury for the details about this bracelet and to find out how you can help make a difference for our Planet Earth.