Category Archives: Goods

‘How To’ Essential Oils: Lavender

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If you’re anything like me, essential oils intrigue you, but they intimidate you more.

Recently, I’ve been hearing of the powerful health benefits of essential oils almost everywhere I go and so, I have turned over a new leaf (excuse the pun) and have committed to learn about and become friends with this beautifully wonder-ful natural liquid.

What exactly essential oils are: (if you aren’t actually quite sure)

‘A true essential oil is the volatile (readily vaporised) liquid component of aromatic plants and trees. They occur in different parts of the plant depending on the species of plant; leaves, flowers, seeds, bark, rind etc. These precious essences are commonly collected by a process of steam distillation of the plant material. Expression (pressing) of the fruit’s rind is the method that is used for citrus oils and certain fragile scented flower oils must be solvent extracted in order to capture their fragrances. Solvent extracted essential oils cannot be certified as organic as a result of the chemical solvents (such as petroleum and hexane) that are used during the extraction process.’ SOiL Essential Oil.

‘If you have ever enjoyed the scent of a rose, you’ve experienced the aromatic qualities of essential oils. These naturally occurring, volatile aromatic compounds are found in the seeds, bark, stems, roots, flowers, and other parts of plants. They can be both beautifully and powerfully fragrant. In addition to giving plants their distinctive smells, essential oils protect plants and play a role in plant pollination. In addition to their intrinsic benefits to plants and being beautifully fragrant to people, essential oils have long been used for food preparation, beauty treatment, and health care practices’. – doTERRA Essential Oil.

First up – Lavender.

They say that if you only ever use one essential oil, this should be it. And no, if you own lavender essential oil it doesn’t have to mean you’re either a massage therapist or a granny.

We’ve ALL heard of lavender essential oil. It’s in everything. When I say it’s in everything, it’s either refers to the oil itself, or a fake, man-made parfum version, imitating its goodness and ‘natural’ health properties. Sadly, we’re probably more exposed to the latter.

Lavender is the most popular and most versatile oil in aromatherapy. It’s a must for the first aid box – a great oil for skin conditions where there is inflammation, burns, scarring, etc. Lavender is also well known for its relaxing, antidepressant and calming properties and for treating headaches and insomnia as well as benefiting throat infections, colds and flu. It is also really not that expensive. And you use a drop at a time – literally. Buy it right now.

Let’s get practical with lavender then shall we?

Here are my top 5 uses for organic Lavender essential oil (my brain can only hold a few ideas at once so instead of pasting millions of uses, here are 5 you can try):

To get rid of tension headaches. Just rub some on your temples for a soothing tension headache remedy.

Soothe yourself to sleep. Use some lavender essential oil on your pillow by applying it with your hands or place several drops in some water and mist it on.

Make bedtime more relaxing for your child. If your child has a favourite blanket or stuffed toy, place a couple drops of lavender essential oil on it every so often to help ease them to sleep. You can also create a ‘calm down’ bath. Add some lavender essential oil to their nighttime bath and it will help create a calming effect while getting ready for bed. I’m TOTALLY trying this with my toddler.

Help ease sinus issues. Rub some lavender oil on your chest to help clear simuses due to allergies or the common cold. I’m TOTALLY trying this on my hubby.

Use on bee stings and insect bites. Lavender can help the irritating and painful feelings of bee stings as well as insect bites. Apply one or two drops as you would a bee sting/insect bite cream. This works exceptionally well on mosquito bites too.

There are a million more uses for lavender essential oil – creating your own ‘dryer sheets’, helping prevent dandruff, hay fever, cold sores, dermatitis, chapped lips, nausea, motion sickness, cuts, nosebleeds, eczema and as it being a flavour enhancer.

What are your favourite ways to use lavender essential oil? Let me know by posting them below.

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*If you are not sure about certain oils or have not used them before, please contact your health practitioner before use. Please be smart and educate yourselves on the dangers of essential oils before using them. Using essential oils in conjunction with carrier oils is encouraged.

*Essentail oils are not recommended for pregnant or nursing mums, or on sensitive skins such as babies’ skin. All preggos must be very careful when using essential oils. 

*If you are not keen on using an undiluted essential oil directly on your skin (which many aren’t), you can dilute it with a carrier oil – such as almond, apricot kernel, grape seed, rose hip etc. 

I love glass

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Glass.

I love glass. I love every.single.thing about it EXCEPT that when it breaks it’s a blimmin mission to clean with little blissfully unaware feet stomping the ground. But regardless, it’s a beaut.

I’m on a mission, slowly, and sometimes unsuccessfully, to move towards an all glass/stainless steel life and eliminate plastic. I’m not binary, I’m not so black and white that I’ll stick my nose up to your plastic (un-biodegradable) cutlery when you hand it to me (I’d rather be your friend enjoying a picnic together however it goes down) but for myself and my family, this is something we’re rethinking.

If you’d like to read up on the dangers of plastic, you can do so here. Besides the hidden chemicals and the difficulty to recycle, there is automated ignorance around how much waste we are producing (and therefore polluting). We are also wasting money by how much we mindlessly purchase and re-purchase.

And so slowly, in different areas where possible, we’re moving towards a plastic free life. I still love Tupperware and Lego, and always will. We’ve replaced plastic water bottles with glass bottles (which never hold a odor), and we use glass for our homemade kombucha, natural baby products, sippy cups and bokashi juice (for the garden). We store food in glass mason jars, both in our pantry and the fridge. We like to decant milk sachets into vintage milk bottles, store our homemade yoghurt, jam and salad dressing in rustic old-school jars, and our toothpaste and mouthwash in glass ‘click’ jars. Mason jars are easily available and cheaper by the dozen overseas, so it’s a no brainer using them. I’m thinking about investing shares in Consol because – well, how rad is their new solar power glass lantern?

Not only is glass cool, and we’ll think you’re lank trendy if you make the move across, but glass bottles are begging for some creative flair. You can literally let you imagine run wild – and if you’re feeling creatively-lethargic, browse my Pinterest board here.

Think about it. What are you using right now, that you can replace with a better material? Buying one product is better than nothing.

Boycott ziplocks and replace them with reusable material snack bags. Stop buying plastic water bottles and carry a permanent (preferably glass) one around with you. Plastic bags? Are you kidding! Fabric grocery bags are available EVERYWHERE.

Start small, think it through – and GO.

Healthy, healthy hair

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We think healthy hair is not greasy hair, right? Well that’s what I thought. As long as my hair is not straw like, doesn’t looks dull and or flat – I’m happy. We like the glossy silky feel, and the aesthetic of the foamy foamy goodness, making our hair and scalp blind everyone with its shine and luminescence. Marketing departments have fooled us into thinking we’re clean in every sense of the word if we’re showering under a waterfall with blue skies, our wet locks gripping our toned, broze body, birds flying by, butterflies peering on in approval and foam covering all the places Adam and Eve never hid.

…Shall we rethink this one then?

Shampoos and conditioners. These poor products have endured a fair amount of rejection. The devout non-washees (who, fair enough, might be onto something), homemade concoctions with castor oil and you-name-it-whatever-else. The good news is that there are a fair number of companies bubbling up (excuse the pun) who know what they’re doing with these products and have our health in mind as they create.

One product in particular that has caught my eye is Africa Organics. Besides their pretty slick packaging (which I appreciate) they are EcoCert Certified, a Phyto-Trade Accredited Partner, they are Africa Friendly, Vegan, and accredited with Beauty Without Cruelty (so do not test any products on animals). Clearly, they’re winning.

They have a comprehensive yet simple body care range – including shampoo, conditioner, body wash, shower gel, body lotion, clay wash and a hair treatment. The shampoos and conditioners are great. The shampoo foams a little (thanks to biodegradable foaming agents) and they smell earthy, grounded and natural. I must admit when using the Kalahari Melon Body Wash, I expected myself to leave the shower smelling like a sweet watermelon, but I didn’t. And I had to remind myself that if I had, something would be wrong. Chemical perfumes and scents don’t feature here. They use ‘wild’ natural products – baobab, kalahari melon, marula and mongongo.

(And now for the health lesson…)

Another thing that doesn’t feature in Africa Organics products is parabens. Parabens are a (controversial) class of widely used preservatives in cosmetic and pharmaceutical products. They are controversial little buggers. In a recent study in the Journal of Applied Toxicology, parabens were found in breast tissue at levels up to 1 million times higher than the natural oestrogen levels. The fact that the parabens were in the ester form indicated that they had come from dermal exposure: so (in other words) from personal care products.

Breast tumours generally need oestrogen to grow. Maybe you know someone that has had breast cancer? My mom has. So did my gran. 1 in 8 women will get it. In 1960 it was 1 in 20.

With breast cancer now in our family line in two generations above mine, and while the cancer above might have nothing to do with parabens, I have two gorgeous little boys in my house who need a mom, and I’d like to be around for a while. If I can make one small difference in what I use to wash my hair and body that could make a long term difference, why wouldn’t I? Its a simple question to answer.

Also, who doesn’t love the idea of having a massive pump bottle of body wash in their shower? What family doesn’t like health, in bulk? The Marula Shower Gel (and Body Lotion) are now available in 1L bottles with a pump spout. Win.

If you’re keen to give it a go, you can grab your Africa Organics (and other natural hair care products) here.

AO-Marula-Shower_Gel

 

If you would like to read a little bit more about natural shampoos, silicons and quads – here’s some great food for thought… Africa Organics Natural Alternative to Silicones and Quats.

The Wonderbag Review

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It all began back in 2008 during the regular power outages. Sarah had the idea of creating the Wonderbag to ‘ease the impact of health, socioeconomic and environmental problems facing Africa and developing countries’. Growing up in rural Africa, she was passionate about empowering women living below the poverty line.

The Wonderbag has a powerful story. We love these kinds of stories.

So, I’d been staring at the Wonderbag innocently sitting in the office for weeks – it had been flirting with me for a while – and in a moment of pure impulsiveness (these happen rather frequently), I bought it and took it home with recipes running through my head. Firstly, yoghurt. We loved making our own yoghurt in Vancouver with an electric yoghurt maker (which was on for 15hrs at a time), but now with Eskom pushing us off the grid, we’ve gotta get smart about these things.

I ripped open the box, smiled adoringly at my new purchase, and then headed into the kitchen to get going on the yoghurt. Following the recipe exactly (with my hardcore candy thermometer nogal), I placed my pot of yoghurt goodness – at exactly 110 degrees Fahrenheit – carefully into my Wonderbag. I showed hubby ever so proudly when he got home from work and we went to sleep, eager to get up in the morning and see the result.


The next morning I called the family together (no, really, I thought it a teachable moment) and I presented my first attempt at power-free cooking (you can picture the superwoman emblem beaming under my jarmies), and…  it was a watery curdled mess. No no, this was not okay.

Here’s what I learned:

– Read the instructions before use, (duuuuuuuuuuh, every superwoman should know this)
– Don’t use a pot with a long handle that sticks out the bag. A cast iron pot like this is ideal:

– The Wonderbag does not produce heat – it retains heat (this had nothing to do with my failed yoghurt attempt, but is a good reminder).

As it turns out, I’d missed a vital part of how to get started. You need to open your (previously vacuum-packed) bag completely, give it a good shake to get all the chips moving and happy, to then close it tight, allow it to regain its shape and then get cooking. Errr. Oops.

So you could call it a rough introduction to my new purchase, but one that I’m happy to report has been beautifully redeemed.

I have since made a PERFECT batch of yoghurt, and mouth-wateringly delicious curry with the most tender chicken I might have ever tasted. I most recently made chicken stock which I’m thrilled I can make in the Wonderbag since we ALWAYS forget it on the stove and I way prefer it to store bought stock. After resting in the Wonderbag overnight, my stock measured in at an impressive 140 degrees F. That’s hot!

I find myself wanting to use it for everything I cook now. ‘Let’s make a soup, or another curry, steel cut oats, or risotto? Huh huh huh?’ The recipe booklet it comes with is another WIN. You’d be surprised what you can do with this seemingly simple bag.

My conclusion: You feel like you need a goodie badge for owning this little gem. It cooks food tenderly, is Eskom-free and a very, very practical accessory (errmm, dare I say essential?) for your kitchen. But for me, knowing it began as a community initiative supporting underprivileged women in rural townships in Africa; that makes my heart sing.

You can buy your very own Wonderbag online here. Do it!

Trash is for Tossers’ Toothpaste

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I’ve gently broken into the world of natural, homemade products and have recently been (profoundly) inspired by Lauren Singer, a blogger who writes the blog called ‘Trash is for Tossers‘. Too funny.

So, besides being ULTRA incredible, she makes her own toothpaste. And my fave blogger (you all know by now, Wellness Mama), well she makes her own too. So I compared recipes and read a bunch of reviews and did a teeny bit of research and have decided to give it a go. Disclaimer: I’m not busy writing medical journals or my biochemistry PhD thesis so I have no rock solid scientific backing behind any of this. Just bear that in mind.

I’ve used natural toothpaste before and from the outset – you need to expect it to be different from the usual foamy, beautifully flavoured and freakishly-perfectly-striped Aquafresh or Colgate experience. And while we’re on that – the magic that makes your toothpaste all flavoursome, foamy and beautiful-to-look-at, is not the stuff you really want in your mouth, or your body, or your home. Ever thought about that? I recently tried Earthsap’s toothpaste and it was great. It wasn’t nearly as textually satisfying as the usual bubbly, spearminty, smack-your-lips toothpaste from a regular grocery store, but going green means changing the way you think. You can’t expect to change your ways and use different products and have your experiences stay the same… If they do, something must be wrong…

We use toothpaste every day, and most of the toothpastes we use contain sulfites, sulfates and/or flouride (apparently more toxic than we’d like to know – a controversial topic…). Ermmm.

We now have more than enough reasons to rethink this one. Shall we?

Lauren’s recipe is ridiculously simple:

Zero Waste Toothpaste Recipe:
3 tablespoons coconut oil
1 1/2 tablespoons baking soda
25-30 drops Organic food grade peppermint essential oil (totally depends on how flavoursome you want it – that seemed like a LOT of essential oil to me, so we used less)

Mix all three ingredients in a glass dish (I use a mason jar).

To use, scoop out a little bit with a spoon and put it onto your toothbrush. Add more or less peppermint or coconut oil depending on your textural preference. Voila!

Photo cred: Lauren Singer from Trash is for Tossers

The outcome: Great! Besides it being preeetty salty (which our new bestie Lauren does warn you about), it works well! My friend Marcelle (who I made this with while we fed our children hot chocolate and marshmallows) liked it too. It is definitely an adjustment to regular toothpaste, but remember change is good.

Wellness Mama’s recipe includes stevia powder, which, while it might be a nice addition, if it is not necessary I’m going to keep this one simple and avoid going to the shops for another hard-to-find item. If you’d like to view Lauren’s YouTube toothpaste demo (where you can see she’s beautiful, normal and not a weirded out hippie creature), you can view that here.

IMPORTANT: Pregnant or nursing mums should avoid using peppermint essential oil, as well as babies and children. Also, if your teeth start getting super sensitive then maybe just calm down and get your pearly whites checked – we don’t want enamel issues. With the kids, I’ll stick to Pure Beginnings’ Baby Berry Toothpaste (Clayden can eat this like ice cream, which is okay, because he now loves brushing his teeth and it’s not full of junk) and Pure Beginnings’ Kids Vanilla Toothpaste.

If you’re not keen to go all Suzy Homemaker on us and want to make a change but don’t have the time, energy or inclination to don the old apron and get your hands messy, well fair enough. Why not try Earthsap’s range or Pure Beginnings’ Fresh Mint Toothpaste?

Why we cloth diaper our kids

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Oh heeeeyyyy nooooo – did you just say cloth diaper? Errmmm, well, yes I did.

A friend asked me the other day where all this green-stuff came from and specifically about what I did when the boys were small regarding natural products.

As a pseudo hippie living in Vancouver, I was encouraged by the West Coast air in my lungs, along with the doula, midwifery and placenta ‘encapsulator’ world around me to go the cloth diaper route. Being frugal students (and by the look of the bank balance, the consideration of the environment and the super-cute-and-trendy style of MANY of the cloth diaper products available on 4th Ave – I’m a marketers dream) it was a bit of a no brainer. I gave it some thought, and I liked the idea – not realizing just how important it would be once Clayden (my oldest) was born.

Back to where it all began…

I find myself at home after an incredible doula supported birth (…that’s a WHOLE different post). I’m in my cosy little Vancouver apartment, staring out my window at the beautiful spring-going-summer weather, sipping on a cup of tea, cradling my perfect 6 week old little human… with a bum rash SO BAD it is raw, blistering and bleeding. Not your typical ‘grab the Bennett’s Bum Cream’ rash – this was BAD. Break your heart bad.

I sought all the help I could. We tried a plethora of creams, oils, ointments, powders, both medicated and not. I had to eliminate all wet wipes (definitely no disposable nappies, and at times any form of nappy) and had to sit with him in our 1m by 1m back garden with his bum facing the sun. I did a LOT of laundry.

Eventually, a new product arrived at my midwives clinic called Clay Powder (ironic, I know) so I grabbed it, and used it in conjunction with a calendula based cream that was also new. With astonishment, after a day, Clay’s bum began to heal. And it inspired me to get on the Googles. As it turns out, what one thinks is just the norm in terms of baby buys, isn’t. Let us start rethinking this shall we?

What was with clay powder and calendula? I landed on a blog called Wellness Mama, and it changed my life. The word calendula popped up everywhere, as well as the dark side of disposable nappies, chemical ridden wipes and other fairly harmful baby products and, thanks to the Canadian system of a year’s maternity leave, I had time to read, research, rethink, play, and create.

I jumped online I bought $100 worth of natural goodies and I started from scratch. I made my own (natural, organic, chemical-free, toxic-free, perfume and scent-free) baby wipes, cloth diaper cream, baby powder and oils, moisturizers and safe eucalyptus rub. I had organic coconut oil, shea butter, arrowroot powder, bees wax, calendula and chamomile flowers. Together, armed with my essential oils, vitamin e and mason jars by the dozen, I created my own mini factory of natural goodness. Cloth diapering was a huge part of this healthy lifestyle and both my boys have thrived in cloth.

This is just our story, and as a disclaimer – I haven’t done my own personal research into all the evils of many of what are presumed to be perfectly acceptable baby-related purchases, and as always, I’m certainly not getting this 100% right (at all). I’m also not judgmental of people who use only disposables and off the shelf baby products – not at all. Our decision was very much weighted by health, a big concern regarding creation care and having seen the hardship Clay’s poor buttocks experienced.

But I would encourage you to read more of the scientific/hard core/fact based info here from my everything-natural inspiration, Wellness Mama. Small changes have a big impact.

And also, cloth diapers are really not that gross. Really. They’re stinking cute.

Also, have you seen pictures of landfills lately?