Close-Up You
Page last updated: 3rd Apr 2008
When I started looking at bathroom products I found a list of ingredients that make very little sense unless you have a chemistry degree. A lot of it is about preserving the item. We expect our bathroom products to last at least two years, maybe more. How many shampoos have you got on the shelf that you never finished?! We'd be a bit shocked if they went mouldy in their bottles. In order to avoid this, the shampoo is pumped full of preservatives and these little fellows are not always that good for us.
The reason they need preservatives is down to the water content. Water does not like sitting around doing nothing, it has an active spirit and gets very unhappy sitting on a shelf! Looking at it this way, it seems very unfair to force it to live an artificial life suspended in preservatives. Most of the things in the bathroom will fall into this category.
Lush found a way of reducing this problem by making shampoos in solid blocks like a bar of soap.
Make Your Own Cosmetics
How much do you spend of bathroom products? I decided to have a go at making my own! some were not so difficult. Ointment, for example, is made up of beeswax and oil, melted and stirred together until the cool, then they blend and make a wonderful hand cream or muscle rub. Beeswax is great for healing cracked skin and softening sandal-heal.
All
you do is add essential oils to suit your nose and health requirements and,
voilá,
you have your own special blend formulated to your own exacting requirements!
Getting hold of the right stuff to make your own is comparatively easy in these days of web ordering. www.aromantic.co.uk is a good place to start.
The Romans used to clean themselves by rubbing oil all over their skin and then scraping it off. With it comes all the grime of the road. I'm not sure that this would be a sustainable alternative to a morning shower! More and more, alternatives are available and I now use the Weleda (available from Healthright, Chesham and Acorn, Berkhamsted) range who have a good organic and ethical pedigree.
On the net I have ordered cosmetics from Spirit of Nature who also offer a good range of alternatives.
Petrochemical Derivatives in Cosmetics
SLS (sodium laureth sulphate) is a by-product of the palm, but can also come from the petrochemical industry. So if you do see it on the label make sure it says 'vegetable based'.
Many people are discovering that it doesn't suit them and there is much more publicity these days that most health shops will stock non-SLS products. Personally, I gave up using shampoo all together. A good grooming with a bristle brush and occasional wetting does the trick. Hair is designed to be self-cleaning.
It has been proven that petrochemical derivatives should not be put on the skin. Good old Vaseline should be used for greasing gadgets - not you. Whilst it softens at first, it actually absorbs moisture from your skin, so you re-apply and exacerbate the problem. Use a lip salve with a natural base like beeswax and avoid the petrochemical derivatives. Beeswax has so many incredible properties and the skin just loves it. Make the recipe above with less oil, pour it into a mold, and you have a great lip salve:>)
Reading Ethical Consumer magazine (EC105), there is also the issue of ethics within the Palm Oil Trade.
Cutting Down on Tissues
I'm setting myself another challenge. Cut down on gratuitous use of tissue paper. It's so easy to grab a tissue to dry your hands or wipe up mess on the kitchen work surface instead of using a cloth. I find it happening without thinking. I've got as far as remembering not to throw it in the bin but to recycle it in the compost but I've set myself a target to try and cut down on use altogether.
We can buy recycled paper towels and toilet paper which helps and, although it is never as soft as the virgin wood products, it really doesn't matter in this department! Facial tissues, where you don't want course fibres, can be replaced by a damp flannel.
It's handkerchiefs... I have a problem washing handkerchiefs... tried it once, boiled them in a saucepan as they used to... Maybe there is a technique I haven't heard about. If you know how to wash well used handkerchiefs successfully, please let me know :>)