A Hair Colouring Lesson For Us All

It was reported today that a young lady from Greater Manchester has endured horrific burns due to using a home hair colouring product. The young lady involved is just 22 and is now recovering at home after three days in hospital. There has been no indication of whether her injuries have rendered her scarred for life.

This poor woman is unfortunately serving as a grave warning to all women who wish to change the colour of their hair. She claims to have done a patch test although general opinion appears to be split. Either she DID do a patch test and it was insufficient or she did not do a patch test as she claimed.

The lady who works in a call centre became increasingly blistered over a matter of days. In my opinion, she should have sought medical advice immediately, I do wonder if her lovely face could have been saved if she had been more assertive. Mothers across the world want to keep their children safe and out of pain, I can imagine this story will prompt many women to warn their younger daughters about the perils of home hair colouring.

At buyOrganics, we will soon be stocking organic hair dye. However, this does not mean that people who choose to use this product will not have to do a patch test. People can be allergic to odd things or develop an allergy over time. When it comes to hair dye, whether it is organic or not I would always advise someone to test a product out on their skin beforehand. It may be inconvenient but it could be the difference between a slight inconvenience or a shocking allergic reaction.

Natural Health & Beauty Awards 2009

2,008 readers and a panel of dermatologists helped select the 25 winners of the 5th Annual Beauty Awards.

Votes were cast at www.naturalhealthmag.com for their favorite products. Out of the mass of nominations and submissions, 25 of the year’s best beauty products were chosen.

Some of the submissions and winners may seem suspect to those who appreciate products that are organic and natural from start to finish.

I’m not sure what the deciding factors were but I think they could have done with some help from Stacey and Jo Fairley and their Green Beauty Bible!

Here are the winners -

FACIAL CLEANSER
Olay Definity Penetrating Mousse Cleanser

FACIAL EXFOLIATOR
Skin 2 Skin Oatmeal & Pomegranate Scrub

EYE CREAM
Yes to Cucumbers Eye Love Cucumbers Soothing Eye Gel

FACIAL MOISTURIZER
AVEENO Positively Radiant Tinted Moisturizer

FACIAL NIGHT CREAM
Dr. Andrew Weil for Origins Night Health Bedtime Face Cream

ANTI-AGING FACIAL TREATMENT
Aveda Green Science Firming Face Creme

LIP BALM
Burt’s Bees Sun Protecting Lip Balm SPF 8 with Passionfruit

HAND CREAM
The Healing Seed Virgin Organic Hempseed Oil Hand Cream

BODY MOISTURIZER
Avalon Organics Grapefruit & Geranium Hand & Body Lotion

BODY SCRUB
Aura Cacia Nourishing Body Polishes Fair Trade Certified

SELF-TANNER
Pur Minerals Get a Little

BAR SOAP
Dove Go Fresh Burst Beauty Bar

BODY WASH
Nature’s Gate Pomegranate Sunflower Velvet Moisture Body Wash

SUN CARE
John Masters Organics SPF 30 Natural Mineral Sunscreen

SHAMPOO
Paul Mitchell Tea Tree Lavender Mint Moisturizing Shampoo

CONDITIONER
L’Oréal Paris EverPure Sulfate-Free Color Care Moisture Conditioner

HAIR COLOR
Natural Instincts Champagne Indulgence Collection

HAIR STYLING PRODUCT
Pantene Pro-V Nature Fusion Smooth Vitality Smoothing Crème

BLUSH
The Body Shop Nature’s Minerals Cheek Color

CONCEALER
Jane Iredale Zap & Hide

EYE SHADOW
Almay Pure Blends Eyeshadow

FOUNDATION
Physicians Formula Organic Wear 100% Natural Origin Liquid Foundation SPF 15

LIP COLOR
Aubrey Organics Natural Lips Sheer Tint

MASCARA
Kiehl’s Marvelous Mineral Mascara

NAIL POLISH
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Nail Color

Worried About Customer Deliveries Through the Postal Strike?

We realise that the postal strike may be making you worry about whether or not your order will get to you or not. That’s why we are sending all packages of #40 or more through DHL by 48 hour delivery. That way we can ensure that goods get to you regardless. So if you want to be guaranteed of getting your parcel quickly, please make sure over the next week that your order is over 40 and we can beat this strike together.

Orders under 40 sent through Royal mail may take a bit longer to get to you but are still important to us, so if you have not received your parcel within 28 days then please let us know!

Regards,

Sonia

Sarah Stacey & Jo Fairley Fight the Skincare Green Wash

Jo Fairley and Sarah Stacey, editors of the Green Beauty Bible showed the Ecologist today that they are not adverse to the mammoth task of having to wade through 'ethical' cosmetics, sorting the good from the bad, and have done just that in their new revised addition of their book the Green Beauty Bible.

Whereas only 4 years ago it was easy to track the main green brands, an explosion in the market has resulted in hundreds of green, eco, ethical and natural brands hitting the market causing confusion to many trying to check the ingredients labels. Some are professionally made whilst others are handmade balms made in cottage industry type settings with little or no testing.

This explosion is echoed when we look at the figures. According to Organic Monitor, the UK market is worth £110m and global sales of natural and organic cosmetics are increasing by over US $1 billion a year.

The time has now come when we need a bible to shop by, that goes through the brands and rates them in an easy to understand daisy rating format. The Green Beauty Bible has covered over 1850 products for you to inspect!

‘There are now an extraordinary number of products,’ says Sarah. ‘But just because a product has a tomato on the label it doesn’t mean it’s natural.’

Looking at the label is fine if you have a ‘list of ingredients to avoid’ list or a search engine on hand. But for most people it’s a complicated and confusing experience.

Intelligently, both of them point out the necessity to avoid scare mongering but concentrate instead on doing the best you can for your health, and that diet and sleep are still the cornerstones of beauty and wellbeing. No amount of cream can buy you that making a natural lifestyle hugely important.

The revised paperback edition of The Green Beauty Bible by Sarah Stacey & Josephine Fairley is out now (£14.99, Kyle Cathie)

For more information on natural beauty from The Beauty Bible website click here

John Masters Rose Foaming Facial Wash: Product Review

At a Glance
When I received this product, straight off, I was really impressed that someone had finally done a luxury foaming face wash without harsh chemicals in it. When I checked the ingredients list, this was substantiated as the ingredients are pure and simple; there are no SLS’s, no parabens or phthalates. The foaming element of this organic face wash comes from Lauryl glucoside and Sodium lauroyl glutamate, on closer inspection both of these surfactants are extremely low hazard with the Environmental Working Group classing them as 1 and 0 toxicity respectively, which is excellent. The other main ingredient is Certified Organic Aloe Vera, (unlike luxury high street brands that despite the high price still use water as the main ingredient). Other ingredients include organic plant botanicals and extracts that have excellent herbal properties and benefit for the skin such as ylang ylang, aspen bark extract, plantain, rose damascena, glycerin and citric acid (vit c).

The packaging is really nice, natural high quality recyclable box, nicely printed, very classy and not at all tacky or cheap. The actual foaming face wash inside is in a brown glass bottle which looks really pretty in the bathroom, something you can definitely put on display. It’s not too big and bulky either so, easy to handle and it has a pump top which makes it easy to use last thing at night when you just want to go to bed!

The price is not bad, quite reasonable, at £22 it’s not the cheapest on the market but for what’s in the bottle it’s definitely not overpriced. Other organic skin care lines of this caliber would be charging £50 or more for this sized bottle.

So; what’s it like?
The fragrance is absolutely divine, not nasty yukky or overpowering, just divine. I felt really good after I had used the product, and have had this backed up by other testers who have also said the same thing. You only need a little bit as it lathers up really well, so it’s easy to see that the product is going to last for a while. It leaves your face feeling clean, not stripped bare but moisturized and soft. One of our testers has extremely sensitive skin and eyes, and found that it didn’t irritate her at all.

Leaves you feeling really pampered and like you’ve done something really good for your skin.

A week on, people have commented on how my skin looks good, skin clearer, pores are more refined and black heads reduced.

Good Points
Packaging, look, performance, quality, fragrance and wellbeing factor

Bad Points
Not suitable for people who like more traditional wipe off facial cleansers. Doesn’t say anything on the packaging about removing eye makeup, although it did take all my make up off and having checked with the manufacturers they have said that it is safe for use around the eye area also.

In Summary
A top performing luxury product you can use every day; very pure and worth every penny.

For more information on John Masters products and organic skin care in general visit www.buyorganics.co.uk

Amber Gel - Hair Removal Without the Legwork!!

New in store, we are really excited about this 100% natural hair removal gel. Previously only available to therapists this amazing gel is now available to us at buyOrganics and to you, our customers.

Amber Gel, is made in the UK and contains only the purest natural ingredients; in total it contains Sugar, Water, Apple, Honey, Grape, Pineapple, Raspberry and Fruit Acids (Citrus Limonum). Amber Gel is also delightfully easy to use; we had a go in the office!! It needs no heat to put it on, and the spatulas, instructions and strips come with it.

Available in 3 sizes 15ml, 50ml and 100ml

To get your hands on some just click here, or visit www.buyorganics.co.uk

Sonia xx

Re-launch of Eselle Organics Due in the Next Couple of Weeks

Eselle Organics products have been a bit hard to come by over the last month or so, as they have been busy rebranding and packaging their line. Not that there was anything wrong with the old packaging, I loved the bright orange, but I’m sure Sarah McIntyre will have created something equally exciting.

Even though August is traditionally the quiet time of year, die hard Eselle Organics fans will have found the dirth of products hard to swallow, but good news is here at last as Eselle have informed us that their new products will be available in the next 10 days or so.

One product we will surely welcome back with open arms will be the Men’s sensitive skin moisturiser; all those men out there must have really rough faces without it. Not good news for the girls either!

Extra good news, all the old branded stock is reduced from now to make way for the new products, not much left in stock, so it’s only until stock lasts!

We’ll let you know when we have an exact date and a sneak preview if possible.

TTFN!

Sonia