Overhauling our body care products, need recommendations

[GoGoGirl]

I'm finally taking my head out of the sand about the toxic body products we've been using.  I know it's time to switch, but I'm so confused about what to switch to.  We need a lot of products, and I'd love to be able to order them from one or two places instead of 12 different places. 

Here's what we need:

1.  Baby wipes

2.  Baby shampoo/wash

3.  Grown up shampoo and conditioner...I don't think we're ready for no-poo yet.  I've been using SLS free stuff from TJ, and it makes my hair feel dry and awful.  Is there anything that will make my hair feel silky, like my old Pantene ProV? 

4.  Face wash...I'm thinking about OCM but need recommendations on which oils to use.

5.  Face moisturizer

6.  Body lotion...I like using CO, but it's messy and the baby keeps leaving oil stains on our clothes when we pick up her oily little self.

7.  Bar soap for the shower and by the sink.

I soooo appreciate any suggestions!

[IndigoKoi]

For shampoo, conditioner,lotion and body wash (which you could even use on baby) I really recommend the Everyday Shea products. They come in HUGE bottles, and while each bottle of product is $10 it will last you a long time. You can get the unscented version, which is what we use and I have been using it on my son for a while now, or they also have it in vanilla mint or lavender. Shampoo and conditioner don't feel like pantene while you're in the shower, but once your hair dries it's silky smooth. Better than other more expensive natural/organic shampoos I've tried.

http://www.everydayshea.com/Index.asp

As for face wash I did use a mix of castor oil and coconut or sweet almond. I just felt like OCM took a lot of time for me to do. I could recommend the products I'm using now, but are you on a particular budget for face care?

[starbuckmom]

I use the OCM when I remember!  I like a mix of jojoba oil, walnut oil and apricot oil.  I use Answer from Nature for my moisturizer when I need it.

For my hair, I haven't switched over to all natural stuff yet.  I use Biolage stuff and it works pretty well.  I don't think there is any thing out there that will help with my type of hair.  I have used Bumble and Bumble for shampoo and conditioner but yet again its not all natural.

Baby wipes: I just use Huggies no scented variety.

Body lotion: I don't use.  If I remember to, I grab my apricot oil and use that after my shower and it works great!  I don't dry my skin completely, I make sure there is some water on my skin to help run in the oil better.

Bar soap: Dr Bronners is good and sometimes I get my soap from a friend who makes goat milk soap.  If I am out, I just use whatever my dh has which is usually Irish Spring.  I only clean my pits, nether regions and under my boobs since this time of year my skin is already dry I don't need to make it worse.

Baby soap:  I have used so many kinds in the past but right now I am using Shea Moisture http://www.sheamoisture.com  I used to find it at my local Target but not anymore.  My kids only get a bath maybe 3 times a week b/c of the dry air.

For soaps at the sinks, the kitchen sink I use whatever all natural kind I find at Target.  For the bathroom sink, I use Dial with grapeseed oil and lemongrass.

[gardenmama76]

1.  Baby wipes - can't help you with store bought there.  We do cloth with baby bits!  Love it!  Would highly recommend it if you're willing - the wipes are from smallwonderswipes.com and the velour/velour are tremendous!  They stay so soft!  Love the baby bits too!  Just microwave a few pieces in a couple of mason jars with a little bit of water to dissolve, then fill the rest of the way with water and pour about a jar and a half over a stack of wipes and pop em in our prince lionheart warmies wipes warmer - works great!  But I have the luxury of being a SAHM to only one baby, so I TOTALLY understand if that's too much for other mamas!  Just thought I'd throw it out there in case you might consider it :)

2. Baby wash - EARTH MAMA ANGEL BABY!!!!  ZERO (yes, that's ZERO) toxins!  Works great!  Seems pricy until you find it at places like mothernature.com - check retailmenot.com first and you can find a coupon code there.  A $6 bottle (mothernature price - almost 3x as much some other places!) lasts me about 2 mo bathing my baby every other day.  The website has free shipping over $49 too!  I'm about to order the 1 L refill there as well for $32 instead of the regular $50 it's sold elsewhere!  I anticipate that should last me forever! 
 

3. Shamp/Cond - I cannot stress enough how much I recommend Giovanni products!  I tell everyone about them!  They are rated well on cosmeticsdatabase, especially when you look at the things they were marked against for.  I must've bought 20 different brands and the shampoos wouldn't clean or the conditioners were either like mayonaise or like water!  It's the ONLY stuff I found where the shampoo was like shampoo, and the condition was like conditioner!  It's available EVERYWHERE! (including big chain stores) but...it's ALSO available at mothernature.com at a fraction of the price!  My hair is dry and super thick and I love their smooth as silk shamp/cond - BUT I did notice the shamp didn't clean as well as I was used to (but I only wash my hair every 3-4 days or so, I'm sure it would be fine if you do it daily), so I start with their golden wheat shampoo, then do both smooth as silk shamp then cond....but now that I think of it, I could probably omit the smooth as silk shampoo and save some money!  The Golden wheat cleans great!

4. face wash - I like a scrub personally, and also use giovanni's sugar scrub in chocolate.  I think it's for your body but it works great on my face and lasts forever.  I just put a little in my hand, cup it and add a little extra water and rub them together and rub on my face.  I love it.  It TOO is available at mothernature.com for much cheaper than elsewhere, but is also available everywhere but it's much more expensive there. 

5/6 - still experimenting on this one.  I tried everyday shea (LOVE their body wash) and hated the lotion (and also hated the shamp/cond)...the lotion is like water.  Disappointing but I do use their body wash. 

7. I JUST recently made the switch from the everyday shea body wash to soap after MUCH experimenting (again!)....

the hands down winner was Tom's of Maine Daily Moisture Bar - this stuff is amazing!  When I've heard soaps described with "luxurious" lather I've always been disappointed.  This stuff is literally luxurious!  It lathers better than any shower gel/body wash I've ever used and only leaves my skin a touch dryer than a body wash.  I used to hate the way soap made my skin feel - not with this stuff!  It's GREAT!  Also available almost everywhere but also at mothernature.com!! 

[dairy2dogs]

3. Aubrey organics blue cammomile shampoo & conditioner

5. For moisturizer I'm using a combination of Green Tea Skin  Natural Anti-aging cream and Tamanu oil. 

6 & 7.  Indigo Wild.  I've never gotten anything from Indigo wild I don't love. 

[lilmom]

1. Seventh Generation chlorine free baby wipes

2. California Baby or Earth Mama Angel Baby

3. I'm still working on this one myself. Giovanni is too heavy for my thin, fine hair. Same problem with Aubrey and I just did not like Jason products at all. Most recently I am using the Say Yes To line, you can find those at Target, but I am not sold on the shampoo yet. I am also not quite ready for no poo.

4. working on that too but I have used the Say Yes To Tomatoes and it's ok

5. Weleda Skin Food or Korres. I love the Korres but it's a little more expensive. (not that Weleda is cheap either) I"m still working on this too

6. I make my own body lotion with lavendar essential oil, emulsifying wax, and hot water. Super easy and works GREAT. Even put it on my son's arm where he gets eczema.

7. Wild Carrot Herbals makes some good soap..there are alot of these out there so you might just try out a few and see what you like.

[GoGoGirl]

Mamas, thanks for your suggestions!  Here's what I've implemented so far:

1.  Baby wipes--7th generation

2.  Baby shampoo/wash--Dr. Bronner's baby mild

3.  Grown up shampoo and conditioner--Dr. Bronners for shampoo, ACV rinse instead of conditioner.  I got the Aubrey organics Honeysuckle Rose conditioner, but I actually like the ACV better.  It makes my hair so silky!  And hello, it's like 1/100th the price!

4.  Face wash--I'm experimenting with Dr. Bronner's, raw honey, and castor/jojoba oil OCM

5.  Face moisturizer--jojoba oil

6.  Body lotion--CO

7.  Bar soap for the shower and by the sink--we're just using Dr. Bronners in a foam pump by the sink, and straight as body wash in the shower

I was even brave enough to try non toxic deoderant alternatives!  I've been using CO and BS.  I smell like a very lightly stinky coconut, lol.  But it's so much healthier for me, so I'll try to use this when I'm not out in the real world.

Edited by GoGoGirl - 2/14/11 at 4:00pm

[justmeandmybrood]

I am SO happy you started this thread!  We are newly on our way to changing our toiletries, and I found this post earlier this AM before heading to WF, so thanks!

My 2 cents as for the baby wipes - when I am out and about, I use wipes; however, at home, I fill a baby wipe tub with some water (about 2c), some jojoba oil and some baby wash (about 1-2tbsp of each) and I use baby wash cloths that I have cut in half.  Baby smells better, I can control how much/what type of chemicals go on baby, and it makes me so happy to know I am not adding to the landfill with more wipes :)  We also started cloth diapering a couple of months ago, and I cannot believe how easy it is these days  :)

How are you liking your Dr. Bronner's for shampoo?  Once I use up my Biolage, that is next on my list, lol!

[th1313hunt]

I know of a great online wholesale health and wellness company where you can get all of those products, except baby wipes,  plus over 350 more.  These products contain NO phosphates, NO Formaldehyde, NO bleach, and NO caustic chemicals.  The company has been in business for over 25 years and is a member of the BBB.  These products are phenomenal!!  Go to http://www.switchingstores.com/luckymama to learn more..... you will be impressed!

[th1313hunt]

@justmeandmybrood......What baby wash are you using?  Be careful because most contain Quaternium-15, which is a Formaldehyde releaser that has been classified as a carcinogen(cancer-causing).  Most baby shampoo's on the market, as well as lotions, make-up, and many other products also contain this.  Check out my blog titled Carcinogenic Toxins in Baby Shampoo at http://www.mykidsarehappy.blogspot.com to read more about this.  It's scary.... 

Edited by th1313hunt - 2/15/11 at 4:00pm

[justmeandmybrood]

th313, I am using Baby Bee's from Burt's Bees for the wipes...and am using up the Baby Magic and Burt's Bees we have so we can start fresh.  Not quite sure which baby wash we will use - with #2 we used Nature's Baby so we will probably return to it.  If you have any suggestions, I am all ears though!!  Now if I can just find a decent shampoo for the rest of us...

I used the Tom's of Maine moisture bar this morning for my shower thanks to GardenMama's post above - love it!!!

[JudiAU]

We use cloth diapers and cloth wipes most of the time. The cloth wipes are nothing fancy. Baby washclothes + water. For healthier disposable wipes, I like 7th Generation. But 7th Generation is not compostable so we generally don't use them. Instead, we use Nature Babycare unscented, bought on Amazon Subscribe and Save.

For baby care, we like unscented California Baby body/shampoo wash and unscented Avalon Organics lotion. Neither is cheap but they both last a long time. More recommendations here:

I haven't liked any of the natural hair care products I've found. Still looking.

I do LOVE Soapwalla deodorant from etsy. It is now a gift if you can believe it...

For bar soap, we use unscented dove.

[GoGoGirl]

I wanted to update my non-toxic deodorant experiment!  I've been using a trick I saw on here...I wipe rubbing alcohol under my arms before I smear on the coconut oil and sprinkle on the baking soda.  Since I started using the rubbing alcohol, I don't smell at all!  I still sweat and get a little wet, but it doesn't smell like anything.  I'm just as happy with it as I was with my mainstream anti-perspirant!  DH is working on an ad campaign right now for a product that treats hypogonadism....he says the medication comes in the form of a deodorant.  You put it under your arms, and it absorbs into your body.  That FREAKED ME OUT.  I liked pretending that the dove and secret I was putting on my pits wasn't actually going into my body, but of course it was.  Scary!!!
 

Originally Posted by justmeandmybrood 

How are you liking your Dr. Bronner's for shampoo?  Once I use up my Biolage, that is next on my list, lol!

I'm really liking Dr. Bronner's for shampoo.  It feels different than regular shampoo does when you're washing your hair, but when my hair dries, it feels just as nice as it did with my Pantene.  I'm using an ACV rinse, which I also really like.  I did buy the Aubrey Organics honeysuckle rose conditioner, but it makes my hair smell like an old lady.  DH says the ACV makes me smell like a salad, but I'd rather that than old lady, hehehehe.

We're also using Dr. Bronner's for baby shampoo and body wash.  I water it down a lot for her.  So far I'm really liking it for everything!  And it's really convenient to have one bottle of stuff that we can use for grown up shampoo, baby shampoo, grown up body wash, baby body wash, and hand soap.

[justmeandmybrood]

GoGoGirl, would you mind telling me which Dr. Bronner's variety you are using?  Sounds right up my alley!  Oh, and lol about the salad smell - it would make me hungry all day, tee hee!

[GoGoGirl]

Sure!  I'm using the unscented 18-in-1 castille soap, I think the unscented version is called Baby Mild.  I want to try the peppermint for myself though!