Posts Tagged ‘organic’

Posted on August 28, 2010 - by Leslie Billera

6 All Natural Ingredients to Know About

We’ve told you what you don’t want in your truly natural and healthy personal care products (formaldehyde, triclosan, etc.)  Now it’s time to focus on the “dos!”

Nature is chock full of wonderful ingredients that can moisturize skin and hair with nary a chemical in site. In addition to our all-time favorite, organic lavender, consider these inspiring ingredients:

1. Aloe vera: In addition to her love for lavender, Cleopatra used aloe as a skin rejuvenator. It is rich in polysaccharides, galactose, plant steroids, enzymes, amino acids, minerals and even natural antibiotics.

2. Avocado: Containing more fatty alcohols than any other fruit, avocados are rich in potassium and vitamins B, E, and K. Avocado is also a highly effective emollient.

3. Beeswax: Rich in fatty acid esters, beeswax (a colorless liquid secreted by female worker bees) is an emollient, thickener and emulsifier. It locks in moisture, fosters cells and protects skin from dangerous environmental factors.

4. Cornflower: Tired and puffy eyes? No problem. Cornflower (or the more romantic bluebottle or bachelor’s button!) is known to soothe skin and reduce dark circles.  Try this easy face steam and feel your face lift: use a hot tea made from cornflower, marigold, lavender and wild chamomile; steam for 10-15 minutes.

5. Candelilla wax: This vegetable wax is the vegan’s alternative to beeswax; it can be found in lip balms or body lotions and is lauded for its anti-inflammatory properties.

6. Cocoa butter: It’s made from the vegetable fat of the cocoa bean – how can it not be awesome!  With its incredibly high volume of Vitamin E, cocoa butter provides extreme renewal and repair properties. In addition to moisturizing, cocoa butter is famous for reducing scars.

What are your favorite all-natural ingredients? Let us know!

Read More:

Travel Beyond the Surface of Skincare

5 Wrinkle Reducers

Posted on August 26, 2010 - by Leslie Billera

Breathe, Be and Believe: Empower Yourself with Essential Oils

Essential oils positively purify three critical areas of your physical well-being: lungs, body and mind.

The Aromatherapy Bible, by Gill Farrer-Halls, cites the following benefits in his info-packed, go-to guide for all things aromatherapeutic:

• Lungs: The cleansing breaths you take at your favorite spa put you instantly at ease: that’s essential oils at work. Essential oils replace waste products like carbon dioxide with oxygen and essential oil particles, truly clarifying every breath you take.

• Body:  Once soaked into skin, essential oil circulates around the bloodstream, traveling to different organs and body systems. Extra bonus: different essential oils have a therapeutic affinity for certain organs. Rose essential oil, for example, is known to have a regulating effect on the uterus.  Lavender, when taken internally as a tea, has been known to help upset stomach, gallbladder and liver problems

• Mind: Essential oils have powerful mental, emotional and psychological effects. Lavender alleviates anxiety, depression and nervousness – no chemicals, nothing synthetic. Try this holistic approach and watch your mood lift and your frazzled nerves unwind.

Put the power of essential oils to work for you – whether it’s organic lavender (as always, our vote!) or something else and add a true scent-sation to your personal care routine!

Posted on August 24, 2010 - by Leslie Billera

Rough patch? The ‘Why’ Behind Dry

Your skin is more complicated than it looks. The average square inch of your skin holds:

• 650 sweat glands
• 20 blood vessels
• 60,000 melanocytes (pigment skin cells)
• 1,000+ nerve endings

All three main layers (epidermis, stratum corneum and dermis) work in harmony with one another. If any of the following are a part of your daily life, dry skin may disrupt your natural ability to moisturize:

• Exposure to excessive sun
• Excessive bathing
• Use of conventional, detergent-based soaps
• Low humidity
• Central air and heating

It’s time to get rid of pesky dry patches one and for all!

Moisturizing Madness to the Rescue!

Napa Valley Bath’s Moisturizing Madness gift set includes 3 steps to moister, smoother skin:

1. 8oz. Lavender Lotion – Certified organic herbal extracts, the highest-quality natural food-grade safflower vegetable oil, nourishing seaweed (algae) and healing aloe vera blend with four lavenders selected from around the world. Decadent, delightful…and mortal enemy of dry skin.
2. 4 oz. Body Butter - Combines the highest quality shea butter from Uganda, healing herbs, health-food-grade fresh vegetable oils, natural vegetable waxes, and soothing aromatic lavender water from the Aromatic Plant Project. A must-have for cracked, callused and parched skin.
3. Hoof Cream – This tin of rich balm revitalizes your hands and feet with a blend of olive oil, coconut oil, beeswax, tocoperol, orange essential oil, lavender essential oil and peppermint essential oil

…given the prices of typical department store brands (which are chock full of synthetic ingredients, toxic fragrance and may even be tested on animals) the Napa Valley Bath Moisturizing Madness package is a steal at $58 – order yours here!

Posted on August 21, 2010 - by Leslie Billera

Holistic Mom Power!

Bringing a new face into the world makes it a whole lot brighter…but a lot more worrisome too.

What’s in that bubble bath? Is that burger grass fed? Is that car seat in correctly? Is he/she eating/drinking/sleeping/smiling enough?

Mamma mia is right!

Holistic Moms to the Rescue!

Holistic Moms Network is a 501(c) 3 non-profit organization connecting parents who are interested in holistic health and green living. (Dads are welcome too by the way!).

For $45 a year, you gain access to a Holistic Moms Network chapter meeting near you. This network of like-minded people beats at the heart of your membership. Membership includes a slew of benefits, but I particularly like the FREE digital subscriptions to Mothering and Organic Spa Magazines in addition to the Wise-E Mom E-Magazine that HMN publishes. The HealthE Mama News is free to all.

What is Holistic?

Here’s how HMN puts it:

Holistic living is the art of living in balance with ourselves and our environment. Understanding and respecting that all things are interconnected is at the heart of a holistic lifestyle.

Holistic living is about taking responsibility for our actions and choices in the knowledge that these choices have consequences for all living things on the planet.

If that sounds good to you, consider the Holistic Moms Network. And as always, we welcome your ideas and comments on living life naturally, organically and happily right here!

Read More: Baby Love: Keeping Toxins at Bay

Posted on August 19, 2010 - by Leslie Billera

Expert Voice: The Organic Trade Association

We connected with Jennifer Rose, New Media Manager and Staff Writer for the Organic Trade Association, who shared why organic products are important to both people and planet.

1. The Organic Trade Association launched a campaign called “Organic: It’s Worth It” recently. What was the impetus behind this name?

Organic producers and handlers must meet strict standards to achieve and maintain organic certification. We wanted a message that communicated to consumers that the benefits of organic make these efforts worth it. It’s worth it to spend the extra dollar for organic produce. It’s worth it to keep synthetic pesticides and fertililzers out of the earth, etc. OTA’s “Organic. It’s Worth It” campaign and its consumer website, www.organicitsworthit.org, provide a platform for communicating to consumers these and other reasons WHY organic is worth it.

2. Most people apply ‘organic’ to food. Are people applying organic to their personal care more? What trends are you seeing?

People are seeking out organic personal care products for many of the same reasons that they seek out organic food: they enable you to avoid exposure to harmful synthetic pesticides. At the same time, because they are produced without the use of synthetic fertilizers, organic personal care products help prevent against damage to valuable water resources, protect species diversity, and combat climate change.

3. What does the Organic Trade Association do to fight greenwashing when it comes to organic labeling?

OTA encourages organic companies to use the USDA Organic seal whenever possible, and explains to consumers what the seal and organic practices stand for.

Read more: 

Coming Clean

Keep Truly Clean with 100% Organic

Posted on August 12, 2010 - by Leslie Billera

Get Your Green ZZZs!

As we’ve discussed, lavender is an all-natural sleep aid. Organic lavender? That much sweeter the dreams.

In part 2 on our series of organic lifestyle love (clothing, bedding cleaning), let’s delve a little deeper into sustainable slumber!

To the Mattresses!

Pesticides, polyurethane, petroleum-based polyester, and chemical flame retardants…sounds more like a nightmare than care-free reverie. Yet these are typical ingredients found in your standard, ‘conventional’ mattress.

Green mattresses, on the other hand, are mostly chemical-free and naturally hypoallergenic. Look for:

• All natural latex, which is made from rubber tree sap: note that Dunlop and Talalay are processes by which natural latex is produced and both are of equally high quality.
• Organic cotton, organic wool components: chemicals and synthetics used in conventional bedding – inhaled or absorbed through your skin while you sleep – can cause allergies or chemical sensitivities in some people.
• Biodegradability: about 40 million used mattresses fill landfills every year; invest in a biodegradable one and rest easy knowing that at the end of its life you won’t be contributing to the mattress morgue!
• One-of-a-kind…most organic mattresses are ‘custom ordered’ – yes, they are more expensive, but my research has shown when it comes to organic mattresses, a commitment to your comfort and satisfaction is a major perk.

Read more on my Planet Green post, including recaps on green brand names like Essentia, Lifekind, Savvy Rest and others.

An Organic Snooze? You Simply Can’t Lose!

Make an organic lavender sleep pillow for yourself or a loved one. It’s super easy – and totally dreamy!

Posted on August 10, 2010 - by Leslie Billera

The Case for Organic Clothing, Bedding & Cleaning Products Too!

Since skin is our body’s largest organ, it truly matters what – exactly – is in our personal care products (and why organic and natural products from companies like Napa Valley Bath help us breathe easy).

In addition to all natural and organic personal care, other daily use items that effect our health include:

• clothing
• bedding
• cleaning products

Over the next series of posts, I’ll delve into each one of these areas and share why it’s worth considering the organic options of each.

Clothes Horse?

Billions of pounds of synthetic pesticides are used in non-organic cotton production every year. Sadly, the cotton industry’s ‘fabric of our lives’ purity message is simply false. Cotton pesticides:

• Find their way into the soil and water systems
• Threaten soil health and clean water supplies
• Negatively effect biodiversity
• Expose people who buy clothing and textiles to toxic chemicals with known health risks

Choosing organic clothing and textiles is one way to ‘vote with your dollars;’ you’ll help reduce the use of toxic and persistent pesticides and contribute to better personal health and the health of the planet.

Worry-Free & Fabulous Fabrics

In addition to organic cotton, here are some other sustainable fabrics (sustainable fabrics = natural, organic or made from recycled content) to look for:

• Bamboo (some varieties of bamboo can grow up to 3 feet a day!)
• Hemp (yes it’s illegal to grow in the U.S. – but not to buy!)
• Flax (used to make linen, flax requires fewer pesticides and fertilizers than cotton)
• Soy (made from the by-products of tofu manufacturing!)
• Lyocell (made from wood pulp from fast-growing trees)

Learn more about organic agriculture here.

Posted on August 7, 2010 - by Leslie Billera

How to Buy ‘Cradle to Grave’ Green!

Labels, certifications and stamps of approval…oh my!

It’s tough to navigate the growing forest of green standards and to know what’s real – or what’s greenwashed.

BuyGreen is a great resource. It comes recommended by Tom Szaky of TerraCycle, a cool company that makes affordable, eco-friendly products from different non-recyclable waste materials that you can find in places big box stores like Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Target and more.

The company’s set of standards addresses the total ‘lifecycle’ of a product in a way that’s both simple yet comprehensive. Whether you shop on their site or not, their lifecycle definitions are a handy guide to understanding what makes something truly green. Assessing a product in this manner is also known as ‘cradle to grave.’

Use the following as a screener before blindly buying green:

• Source Material:  What is the product made from? Are there toxins evident? What raw materials does it hail from (natural, organic, sustainable, recycled?)

• Manufacturing:  How is the product manufactured? Animal testing, resource and energy consumption, pollution, packaging…these are all aspects to consider.

• Use:  How is the product used and what is its effect on the environment? If it reduces or eliminates any of the following, it’s a good thing: material consumption, trash production, energy consumption or toxicants (as in Napa Valley’s natural and organic lavender-based personal care products)

• Disposal:  How is is disposed of and what is its impact?  Is it bio-degradable or recyclable?

Read BuyGreen’s Standards more closely here.

And if you’re interested in learning more about greenwashing, check out the 2009 7 Sins of Greenwashing by another ‘terra’ – TerraChoice, an environmental marketing firm.

Posted on August 5, 2010 - by Leslie Billera

Michael Pollan Says Invest in Organic!

“Don’t eat anything your grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food.”

Simple, smart advice like this is why I’m a fan of Michael Pollan, a writer who covers the politics and pleasures of eating with a passion.  Several generations ago, no one would recognize the foods commonly found in today’s vending machines…or pretty much anything pre-packaged for that matter.

Pollan was interviewed recently in what looks like the Greenmarket Farmers Market in Union Square, NYC. At Napa Valley Bath, our focus is on personal care products, but I thought I’d do a ‘tip of the hat’ to our sister site, St. Helena’s Olive Oil Co. and share some of Pollan’s top sound bites (pun intended!):

• “Food is too important to economize on.”

• Organic is always a better choice for the environment:  buying organic helps contribute to keeping pesticides out of land and water supply.

• If economizing, buy organic when it comes to delicate skin foods – peaches, apples, grapes. They tend to have more residues than thicker skin fruits and veggies (oranges, bananas, pineapples).

• Organic food is harder to grow – hence why it’s more expensive.  More weeds means more work (vs. labor-saving chemicals/pesticides).

• One way to economize with organic meat is to buy in bulk and freeze what you don’t use.

• Organic junk food is still junk food – don’t fall for it.

• When it comes to organic milk, make sure it comes from grass-fed dairy cows. Ditto for buying beef.

What are some of the healthy food choices you live by? Share them with other readers here!

Check out Michael Pollan’s interview in its entirety at NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams.

Posted on August 3, 2010 - by Leslie Billera

The Cold Coal Truth

Coal tar, a thick liquid or semisolid obtained from bituminous coal, is an oft-used ingredient in:

• Anti-dandruff shampoos
• Hair dyes
• Topical treatments for psoriasis and skin rashes
• Moisturizers
• Most of the synthetic colors and dyes found in our cosmetics

Why the Goal Should Be No Coal

Coal tar is a…

• known human carcinogen
• contributor to lung and urinary tract cancer
• potent skin irritant

The European Union banned coal tar in 2004. But yep, it’s still in play here in the U.S., even though it scores a 10 (highest hazard rating) in the super helpful Skin Deep: Cosmetic Safety Database. And the Centers for Disease Control recommends that coal tar simply should not come in contact with your skin.

Coal tar can also be listed on ingredient lists as:

• Tar
• Coal
• Coal tar solution

What to do? Invest in organic personal care products. The Organic Trade Association says it best with their campaign Organic: It’s Worth It. I love this title since it frankly admits that yes, organic is more expensive…but it is a worthy investment in order to protect your health and the health of your loved ones.