Wood for the Trees

The three ethical deodorants I've tried so far haven't ended up well. Firstly I used salt rock for a while but noticed minimal improvement and it didn't prevent me being smelly. Infact the salt rock itself ended up smelly! Given that the smell is caused by bacteria and the salt is supposed to stop bacteria growth this means that bacteria was growing and thriving on the salt which was supposed to stop it. This was problematic. Maybe I just have super strength bacteria? The next ones I tried were T'eo and The Greeench from Lush. I tried T'eo first, this was a solid bar and had no plastic packaging, it worked really well in terms of stopping me smelling but after a few weeks of use I got a bad reaction to it. I went back to Lush and talked to the staff who recommended The Greeench as this was more gentle. However this came in a plastic bottle and I still got a reaction from it. Next I tried Earth Conscious. This came in a nice tin and I was able to apply it us...

My 5yo loves to watch YouTube. (Very heavily monitored, only as a treat but still...) What she most loves to watch is people unwrapping things and people playing with toys and demonstrating them. Judging by the amount of views and by talking to other parents this seems to be all the rage for 5 year olds. At the moment she likes to watch LOL dolls. This has of course led to 'mummy can I have an LOL doll?'. If you have not had the misfortune to know what this is, let me describe some of the video to you. First it is covered in packaging layered round it and so you must remove some disposable plastic wrapping, then a bit more disposable plastic wrapping, then a bit more. This then leaves you with a round plastic ball. It has different sections which you can open. You open the first section and inside is some plastic packaging, which you open and there are some small plastic glasses. Then you open another section, more plastic packaging, inside some shoes. You continue to do t...

Shampoo soap bars can take a little while to get used to, they're different in format and nature to bottled shampoos. Firstly they don't contain SLS. SLS or SLES stands for Sodium Lauryl Sulphate or Sodium Laureth Sulphate. What is this? SLES is an inexpensive and very effective  foaming agent . [1]  SLES,  sodium lauryl sulfate  (SLS),  ammonium lauryl sulfate  (ALS), and  sodium pareth sulfate  are  surfactants  that are used in many cosmetic products for their cleaning and emulsifying properties . Wikipedia So it is added to shampoos as a foaming agent. So the first thing you will notice is that shampoo soap bars don't foam in the same way as shampoo does. Psychologically this may make you feel like your hair isn't getting as clean as we've all been sold the line that foam is good. So why don't they put it in? Firstly it is a cheap ingredient often made from Palm oils. Secondly it is an irritant, although studies have show...