Your Favorite Organic / Healthy / Natural Health & Beauty Products?

[amldaley]

I have successfully switched DD to Desert Essence Organics shampoo & conditioner and Toms for Kids toothpaste, but am having a hard time making the switch myself to healthier hair care, deordorant, nail polish, etc.

So, if you have explorered the vast realm of "better for you and the world" healthy & beauty products, could you please share what products seem to work better than other or are worth their price tags?

And...similarly...what's a waste?

[infomama]

Well this is my favorite soap maker. http://chagrinvalleysoapandcraft.com/
I know the website looks rinky dink but I order from them about six times a year and they are fantastic. They have been around forever and you can find them on Skin Deep.
I use the chocolate almond soap on my face and body (kids, too). I can't live without it.
They have natural deodorant now...may have to try that next order.
ETA--I have used their shampoo bars and they work well. I am going to try citrus/chamomile next..supposed to leave your hair really soft. I also use Yes to Carrots as my moisturizer.

[LMPC]

The ladies here at the BBB finally convinced me to try vinegar as a conditioning rinse...and I love it! My hair is shiny and soft! I also use Nature's Gate shampoo....like it well enough. For bar soap, I use something from WF...just their regular ol' soap that's on a table (not the one that you cut but already made up bar soap). It comes in some nice scents that are not overwhelming, and it's like 3 for $5. I use tom's toothpaste every now and then. For lotion, I use Alba unscented...no paraben, etc. But I can't give up my deodorant....have tried but I just feel stinky (probably because I am lol!)

[AnnieW625]

I have been using these products for close to 10 yrs., if not a little bit longer:
Toms of Maine baking soda toothpaste
Earth Science Clarifying Cleanser
Beauty Without Cruelty Herbal Cream Cleanser
Alba Cream Shave (aka, Trader Joe's Cream Shave)
Shi Kai lotions and shower gels

I am not currently using the following products, but have in the past:
Tom's deoderant
BWC AHA cleanser
BWC eye makeup remover

The only all natural hair products I have used was the color line from Giovanni and it worked okay, but even after I had washed the product out of my hair they bleached my towels, I was a little irritated. It was so long ago though I don't remember if I really thought they were world changing.

Also if your DD isn't very good at spitting make sure that you get the Tom's Flouride Free Kids toothpaste and not the regular flouride one. The flouride one is much easier to find, but I believe that our Whole Foods carries the flouride free one.

[vludmilla]

I like Giovanni hair products and I get them for a good price at TJ Maxx or Marshalls or through vitacost.com.
I like TJ's fennel, fluoride free toothpaste.
I use jojoba oil as my facial moisturizer.

[SnuggleBuggles]

I use Whole Foods brand body wash, shampoo and conditioner. So cheap and does it's job

Beth

[brittone2]

Giovanni for hair (I use a wax on my short hair, shampoo and condish. DD uses the shampoo and conditioner too. Not all of their products score equally on Skin Deep so I look for the formulations with "better" scores).

Giovanni body wash, Dr. Bronner's body wash (diluted) or whatever product I decide to use from Frontier (which is where I get most of my personal care products, including Giovanni).

Nature's Gate deodorant and Crystal spray (alternate or double up depending).

TJ's xylitol toothpaste (Some Tom's products IMO still have ingredients I'm not wild about. SOme of their formulations contain SLS for example).

I wash my face with coconut oil or jojoba oil. You can google "oil cleansing method" to get an idea of what some people do. Compare the price of a huuuuuge tub of coconut oil to something like this product from Shu: http://www.shuuemura-usa.com/_us/_en...ed-formula.htm ($30 for 5 ounces, first ingredient is mineral oil, 2nd ingredient is corn oil....). I can get a huge tub of organic, top notch quality coconut oil for $20 and use it as a facial wash, a moisturizer on legs and arms, and it even works as a deodorant. It also works as a makeup remover. The oil thing sounds weird but if you think about like dissolves like...it works well. I wash with it and then pat some back into my clean skin. Some people do better with castor oil, jojoba oil (which I also use), or olive oil. A few people here like the OCM...it sounds weird but my skin is in better shape with it than any commercial product I've tried.

[elbenn]

Brittone2, do you use a castor oil blend for your cleansing oil? I have used coconut oil as a moisturizer but never as a cleanser. I am intrigued. After you cleanse, do you still moisturize with something?

[brittone2]

I "wash" with it (jojoba or coconut), and then rinse, and then pat a little oil back into my (clean) skin. I started w/ castor oil years ago and my skin didn't like it. Coconut and jojoba work the best for me. It can take a little playing around to find what oils you prefer.

BUt yeah, I cleanse with it and then just pat a little back into clean skin.

Sounds crazy until you realize high end companies like Shu sell what is basically the same idea (the concept of a cleansing oil) for a comparatively astronomical price per ounce, using (IMO) inferior quality ingredients.

[nmosur]

PP - question about coconut oil storage. How do you store it?? And where?? Do you find that it goes rancid pretty quickly?? TIA