[I'm pleased to introduce a new addition to the debsaidno team: our new guest blogger, Corey, who will focus on all things green. Enjoy her first post!- Julie]
Good for your body and the Environment
Over the past three years I have been trying to “greenify” every aspect of my life. This has included making changes one step at a time from what I eat, what I use to clean, and what I put on my body to make myself look good! I began this process by buying or making my own natural cleaning products and tools, I then started eating significantly less meat, and I have since stopped purchasing “single use” products. It has been crazy learning how many chemicals I have been using in my daily life, that are just as bad for my body as they are for our planet.
The hardest change has definitely been going green with my all of my beauty products. While choosing new products, I used David Suzuki’s Dirty Dozen and the website Skin Deep to help me analyze the ingredients listed on the product packaging. It has been a rather frustrating process of trial and error, but I finally feel like I have found some great products that not only work well, but that I am comfortable putting on my body!
Here are my favourites:
Make-Up: Cargo PlantLove, Green Goddess Collection
This is my favourite environmentally friendly product. This palette comes with four eye shadows and two blushes, and is green from the plant based biodegradable packaging, to the fragrance- free formulas. These are my go-to eye shadows and blush, as they look good and last all day, and the four colours give me lots of options to mix and match.
Moisturizer: Kiss my Face, Fragrance Free Olive & Aloe Ultra Moisturizer
Although everyone loves a lovely scented moisturizer, the truth is the less fragrance a product has, the better it is for your body and the environment. This lotion is non-greasy and extremely effective for dry apartment living!
Shampoo and Conditioner: ShiKai, Colour Reflect
Finding shampoo and conditioner that would protect my colour treated hair, give me volume, and be environmentally friendly was the hardest product to find! I found ShiKai at Whole Foods and have been really happy with the price and quality of this product. For those with less temperamental hair, other good options are the hard shampoos from Lush (but do not use these if you have colour treated hair!) and the many options from Live Clean, which you can find at Shoppers Drug Mart.
Soap: Dove Beauty Bar, Sensitive Skin
I have used Dove soap since I was a little girl, and when I did my research I found that it was a great option. Bar soaps are MUCH better for the environment than body wash as the packaging is minimal and biodegradable. Either the “Sensitive Skin” or “Unscented” are the best options.
Cuticle Cream: Burt’s Bees, Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream
It doesn’t matter how much calcium I get, my nails still tend to get dry and crack. This product is amazing for keeping beautiful nails. In fact, it works on any patch of dry skin almost immediately. Burt’s Bees is a fantastic brand that offers a lot of great products.
Face Wash: Lush, Ocean Salt Cleaner
Although pricy, this product is amazing for both cleaning and exfoliating your face and body. Also, Lush has a great recycling program that has you exchange your old product containers for a Fresh Face Mask. The only thing that I don’t like about Lush is that most of their products are very heavily scented.
Although it takes some dedication, making the change one product at a time will make a huge difference to your health and the environment. Happy shopping!
Corey Everrett is a guest blogger at Deb Said No, with a focus on earth-friendly products. She lives in Whitby with her fiance and her impressive collection of Buffy paraphernalia. Her passions include travel, history, and knitting.
Got a question for Corey? Looking for some advice or a recommendation on green products? Email debsaidno@gmail.com and include "green living" in the subject line.
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