Over the past month I have been researching various topics to do with an active healthy lifestyle. As many of you will know I have been talking about this subject for some time as I work to set up a company that will promote this lifestyle in new and invigorating ways. The research has become more intense and the more i found out the more i wanted to put into practice in my own life! Then I found I was always talking about this to everyone I met and many of you said to put it in a blog so here we go!
Personal Care Products
So 3 weeks ago I threw every single one of my personal care products out and bought all new items, not one of mine was natural and all had pretty bad toxins in (usually Parfum or Fragrance). You only have to do a few google searches to begin to see why this is so bad but this is the simplest and best page i found to outline the main issues. Here is a short quote from this page.
FRAGRANCE can be legally hidden in hundreds of ingredients in “fragrance” or “parfum”: a “trade secret” in the industry. More than 75% of the time if you have fragrance, you have legally hidden phthalates (THAL ates), known endocrine disruptors, that are linked with birth defects, breast cancer, infertility, liver, cancer, diabetes, obesity, and now with autism and ADHD in pregnancy by Dr. Philip Landrigan, Mt Sinai, Children’s Environmental Health Center.
Personal Care Products
So 3 weeks ago I threw every single one of my personal care products out and bought all new items, not one of mine was natural and all had pretty bad toxins in (usually Parfum or Fragrance). You only have to do a few google searches to begin to see why this is so bad but this is the simplest and best page i found to outline the main issues. Here is a short quote from this page.
FRAGRANCE can be legally hidden in hundreds of ingredients in “fragrance” or “parfum”: a “trade secret” in the industry. More than 75% of the time if you have fragrance, you have legally hidden phthalates (THAL ates), known endocrine disruptors, that are linked with birth defects, breast cancer, infertility, liver, cancer, diabetes, obesity, and now with autism and ADHD in pregnancy by Dr. Philip Landrigan, Mt Sinai, Children’s Environmental Health Center.
Ava Anderson is an american girl who researched this in high school and as a result started her own company—can’t get her products in the UK but her website has a great page about the most widely used bad toxins which is a helpful reference when checking ingredients of products. It also has her TEDX talks video on this page.
Like most of you cost and convenience are key factors in deciding what and where i purchase. So although my early research led me to an awesome brand - Neals Yard Remedys, the cost put me off. As a typical guy I only use a few products at low to medium prices. Low priced items were like shower gel or hair product that I could get from the supermarket or Boots. Medium priced items were like face wash and shaving soap which I got from The Bodyshop. So to consider replacing these items at £15 each was not super enticing and I know it won't be for most of you either.
So here are 3 companies I found in the UK that sell organic and
natural products online. These sites don’t make their own products but source
them from all over the world. You can often buy direct from the manufacturers
sites but you can save on postage and packaging if you buy from 1 place. You
could also visit each brands website to check on ingredients and ethics of each
brand etc if you weren’t sure but this takes a lot of time so its much easier if you know you can trust the supplier!
1. Lovelula. These guys do loads of brands and have great ethical policy meaning you can trust what they sell.
2. My Pure. Another one with variety of brands and have a
big banned chemicals list. They reuse packaging, use water soluble packing chips and have a great fast service.
3. Naturismo. This one has loads of products too but not all
are 100% pure but with a site like this you can see a lot of the brands available and then
search for those brands to see where else you can get them or to find out more about that specific
product.
Here are some options of great UK brands
Neals Yard Remedys looks like the best UK made by a long long way but not cheap! They have shops all over the UK too.
Burts Bees they do more than just lipbalm and most products are 100% pure the rest are 99%
with the 1% being a “safe” chemical. Clearly says on packaging. Boots stocks
the lipbalm.
I tried the Burts Bees lipbalm but much prefer this American one - Hurraw, which is available from both My Pure and Naturismo. I will post more about other items I have tried soon.
Burts Bees they do more than just lipbalm and most products are 100% pure the rest are 99%
with the 1% being a “safe” chemical. Clearly says on packaging. Boots stocks
the lipbalm. I tried the Burts Bees lipbalm but much prefer this American one - Hurraw, which is available from both My Pure and Naturismo. I will post more about other items I have tried soon.
Supermarket items at normal prices
I found Original Source shower gel and they have hand
wash too but it wasn’t in Morrisons so I got Simple handwash. (Simple do a variety of products) Both of
these brands look much more natural, particularly original source. All the
other shower gels and handwashes have ‘Parfum’ in. Neither of these companies appear to have the ethical and sustainable side to them in the way that NYR does tho. But
the products are normal price and in mainstream supermarkets.
For a healthy active lifestyle!
