Thursday, May 15, 2008

Herbal alternatives

We have made several changes to our lifestyle ever since we became vegetarian last April. Changes not only to our diet but also to the products that we used, especially household and personal products. There are so many toxic substances in many household products and we are very anxious to eliminate them from our home and most importantly, our children. We are still in the process of replacing all chemical based household products with those natural and environmentally friendly ones. For household cleaners, we are using this Australian brand, Earth Choice. It is not 100% chemical free as there's a low chemical content in it. But it is considerably cheaper (cheaper than Seventh Generation) and also gentler on my hands. We bought the dish washing liquid, laundry liquid, surface cleaner and the floor cleaner. We are also using homemade laundry washing powder made up of washing soda and grated soap. You can find more homemade washing liquid/powder recipes from this website.

For personal products. Georgia is using the GAIA products which are organic and also another product from Australian. Georgia has mild eczema on her knees and her condition has improved after she used the moisturizing lotion. Sometimes we even use her body shower gel to wash our faces!!!

Today Andy and myself made a trip to Mustafa centre in Little India to stock up on Indian herbal products. All of them are reasonably priced. We have been using the VEDICA herbal body & face wash powder for a while and we really love it! It doesn't leave your skin dry and it is enriched with skin conditioner, moisturizer and sunscreen to name a few (no need for extra moisturizer, toner or sunscreen!). Our skin smells great with herbal without any artifical overpowering fragrance. As for toothpaste, we are using Vicco herbal toothpaste. No fluoride for us, thank you. We have bought several new products namely herbal hair colour, instant hair pack, children's toothpaste without fluoride and neem & clay shampoo which we will be trying them out and will post our reviews soon.

1 comment:

Melanie Gray Augustin said...

How are the herbal hairdyes? I tried one and hated it. I'm stopping using normal dyes and henna as well. I'd love to find a good organic dye for my hair.

We're also going chemical free. We're now using baking soda and vinegar to clean with (works really well) and have started using soap nuts for the washing. I just love them!