Leaping aboard the plastic-free bandwagon

Unless you live on the moon or a very remote volcano I'm guessing you will be aware of the recent sudden surge of activity to save our planet from ourselves.

In human history, much like other animal history we pottered along for years and years, using things, replacing things, recycling things and just generally being fairly neutral in planetary terms. But then suddenly we had a leap into the new, we started inventing things, and we went crazy.

Over only a very, very short space of time (in planet terms) we started filling the place with junk. Using things, tossing them aside, making new things...like children let loose with new toys we just ran amok and suddenly we seem to have sat back and realised we need to take some responsibility.

People are all looking at ways to do that and actions range from nothing ("governments and big business should do that - it's not up to us, what can we do?"), through going vegan, going vegetarian, not buying new clothes (slow fashion is very much en mode), using cotton bags in place of plastic (the jury is still out on that) to not using single use plastics.

I have decided to do a small thing. There is nothing wrong with small things, and we can all do something. I am no longer buying any bathroom stuff, toiletries or make up, that is wrapped in, or uses plastic as its container.

At first this seemed really simple. Years ago I moved back to bars of soap. I love that a bar of soap in the bathroom makes the room smell good, you can store the spare bars in your wardrobe or clothes drawers and get the same lovely effect there too. Choosing only soap packed in paper was simple. There are so many choices, from Lush products and Funky Soap to small businesses on Etsy.

Next I looked at shampoo. Again a nice easy one, I already buy shampoo bars for when I go camping (no danger of spilling the shampoo) so I would just stop buying bottles at all, and use bars at home too

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I use conditioner but more importantly I use a glosser or hair serum, so I was pleased to find a few of these in glass. I usually use one that is packed in plastic, I haven't tried these new ones yet, but I have high hopes.

I'm not a huge makeup user so this wasn't difficult. I only really use facial moisturiser and lip balm. I found a few posh face creams that are packed in glass,and Funky Soap has some in glass or metal tins, and some on Etsy too (Etsy is fast becoming my go to place). Plenty of companies make little tins of lip balm. Some make little tins of hand balm too.

Of course there will be no facial wipes, nothing that is use once and bin is good for that planet. I currently use a flannel, but I am also looking at some cute washable face wipes.

I shower more than I bath, so soap and shower bars are the new go to. And for the odd bath if I really want it scented there are bath salts, bath bombs or glass bottles of bath oil or foam.

Shaving .... I am not binning everything plastic I own already, that would be silly, so I have an electric razor, but the cheap plastic disposables will have to go, I will either have to buy a new safety razor and change the blades, or stop wet shaving. (Tip on blade disposal, place used blades in a small tin until the tin is full, then pop into the metal recycling) Shaving soap is available in blocks.

Deodorant. Back to Lush again for a block of this, although Primal Suds make some too. There are several companies that make deodorant packed in cardboard . My main gripe with them is the price, often nearly 10 times the price of a cheap plastic pack, and the lack of a good antiperspirant , but I'm still hunting.

Teeth. You will all know about bamboo tooth brushes and there are lots on the market. However I do love my electric brush and I think that's something that companies need to look at. I have quite a few spare heads for the electric brush at the moment so I'll be crossing that bridge later. But what about toothpaste? Almost all toothpaste is packed in plastic. Euthymol still uses old fashioned metal tubes but it doesn't contain fluoride (that may or may not be important to you) Most organic and eco toothpastes, powders and tablets don't contain fluoride, which I was pretty annoyed about as fluoride helps protect your tooth enamel. Then I stumbled onto tooth tablets with fluoride from KickPlastic and I have immediately ordered some. What a find the website was! Lots of great plastic free options for home and bathroom.

So that's me sorted. Wood, glass and metal where once there was plastic. I'll let you know if I find any more little gems. And please comment with your own finds, especially makeup - that's not really my thing so I didn't really look for plastic free options there.

No one paid me to post this, or even sent me anything for review, more's the pity ;-)

Even the BodyShop is going Vegan

If you follow me on other social media you will have seen that the other week I was invited to the Body Shop in Chichester to check out all the lovely products, and have a sneak preview at the new ones.

I'm far from a beauty blogger (as you know) but I need to wash, I like a nice bubble bath, I sometimes need to moisturise my elbows and as I age I'm finding I need to pay more attention to my face too. Though I draw the line at makeup. Of course I'm mum to a teen and she uses make up, so she was thrilled to accompany me to see what the Body Shop had to offer.

I haven't been to a Body Shop in a years. Like many people I fell out of love with them when they were bought by L'Oreal in 2006 and seemed to give up on their natural credentials. It was nice to hear that they are now a subsidiary of a Brazilian company, having been bought by the ethical Brazilian cosmetics B-Corp, Natura in 2017.

Body Shop now have the coveted 'leaping bunny' (cruelty free) logo and in even bigger news most Body Shop products are now vegan! And the few that aren't (they use honey in some products) will be having ingredient changes to move them to vegan soon too. Vegan products are being clearly labelled on the packaging too. Body Shop are against all forms of animal testing forever. (Join in and sign the petition here)

But on to the fun things! They have some really nice, and very reasonably priced items in store. The old favourites like White Musk are still there (now using synthetic musk obviously) and a Frosted Plum range smelled very like Dewberry to me, but there are also some lovely new (at least to me) scents too. I am an old lady so this may explain why I loved the British Rose scented body cream, but Raffy is young and she loved it too, and the mango scents.

The Body Shop has a range of products within each scent, so that you can mix and/or match.

The soaps smelled gorgeous, starting at £2 a bar and nicely scented. Need a 'not chocolate' easter gift? This limited edition olive oil soap bunny is too adorable!

Looking for a scrub without plastic microbeads, but still with 'bits'? Body Shop have French Grape Seed Scrub, have a nice glass of pinot and be grapey inside and out!

For anyone keen to try a new face mask, Body Shop have a lovely Himalayan Charcoal Mask, vegan, and formulated without parabens, paraffin, silicone or mineral oil.

I've been trying out some of the products and have been happy with the quality of them. It's nice that they are vegan, and if you can't pop into a store you can order online with free delivery if you spend over £20

Thanks to the staff at Chichester for a fun evening and for sharing your favourite products with us.

Disclosure: I was invited to the event and given a goody bag, I was not paid for my time and all the views in this post are my own.

Valentine's Day, It's all about you!

Be my Valentine? Will you? Will you really?

I have been saying for a while that I like giving things away on the blog almost more than I like winning things on other peoples blogs (not quite, but almost!)

I also love to tell you about fabulous things I find online. So I have the perfect combo here with my discovery of Cherry Diva. A UK based (Birmingham) online store that sells amazingly good value jewellery and accessories. Honestly I adore the quirky little gems they have in stock. And free postage! Whats not to like!.

So far on my 'I must find an excuse to buy this for myself' list are the following...

Meow Ring

Scottie Bangle

 

Love Skeleton Bracelet

So if you will be my Valentine the lovely people at Cherry Diva will send you a gorgeous Valentine's gift!

Just for you! (or your Valentine? even if that Valentine isn't me 'sniff sniff') A rabbit that will never be late for a hot date, he'll be right there, on your wrist!

This Wonderland Charm Bracelet could be yours!

This competition has ended


Good luck.

RHS Flower Show - Hampton Court

Two men strolling along the side of the Thames

"are you going to the flower show?"

"Hampton Court?"

"No I always walk this way"

Ancient jokes aside, DD and I attended Hampton Court Flower show on Sunday and it was glorious. It was of course, hot, as we are in the middle of a heatwave summer. But we enjoyed the day none the less, it was lovely to see our old friend BEE CLEVER the Ecover Bee sculpture, and I was surprised to see how much Ecover was involved in the show! They had sent me 2 free tickets to attend but they sponsored the entire 'Inspire Zone' with innovative garden ideas to save water, the planet and our insect life.
 

Their concept garden was nice, the plants in it were the stars though, gorgeous blues and pinks encouraging bees and butterflies to hang around. The judges agreed as the garden won gold! There were also plenty of planters (large wooden troughs) sponsored by Ecover and designed by various well known gardeners.

We didn't see half of what was on offer at this great show. Never having been before we were content to meander (sweatily) through the gardens, into the floral display tent and browse the numerous shops. After purchasing a parasol DD found time for a quick paddle, earning her compliments from a lady passing by, on her colourfulness and beauty! We spent some time watching a fashion show, not usually my thing but it was cool in the tent, one model had a moustache and several were topless, so we forced ourselves. There was also a chihuahua (called Sweetpea) in a dress.

 

We went into a bee tent too! Met some bees and their keepers and had an excellent and informative chat on bee keeping, helping bees and volunteering with local bee groups.

By 4pm we were hot and tired enough to go home, so it was farewell to the lovely gardens, our friend the bee and the grandeur or Hampton Court, a leisurely boat ride to the station and off home.

All 111 photos I took can be seen HERE on my flickr account

Thanks to Ecover for the tickets.