you may know how important it is for us to be sustainable in our home- which includes reducing plastic use (including starting the zoorentiy pet products line) and cutting out palm oil (especially as even the "certified" palm oil is not at all regulated).
but do you know how hard this is to do? mom has been at wits' end working on how she can make changes to our cleaning and beauty products- as well as cutting out even some of her fav foods she's discovered have palm oil in them.
but what this means is things are easier for you! mom is working her butt off to discover and try new things so you can have the benefit of making those choices without trial and error!
want to know what she came up with? here are a few below:
this company is really cool. started by lindsay mccormick, in an attempt to reduce plastic waste, she also recognized the need to responsibly produce her amazing product without palm oil!
the result is a compressed powdered "bite" of palm free tooth paste, sold in glass jars with and compostable (woven) bag refill pouch, that tastes great, foams up well- and besides protecting your teeth, is protecting the environment too!
the current products are only offered without flouride, but this will change in a few short months if you feel this is important.
mom is actually a bit more concerned about ingesting too much of things that are not necessary- and with only 2 cavities in her entire life, she feels she is not at risk without fluoride! she is happy with the current offering- but feel it's only in bite's benefit to offer the fluoridated version too.
her dental exam is in april; we will see what they say...but she is thrilled with the clean results for both her and the environment produced by bites toothpaste bits! she says it makes her enjoy brushing her teeth more- which is never a bad thing!
mom is a big fan of alba botanicals spf face cream, which makes her 800% more beautiful than anyone else- but she was concerned that it contains palm oil and or derivatives.
she was searching for other face creams that don't have any palm in them, which were exceptionally hard to find!
however, a mother daughter team in ny also feels as mom does that NO palm oil is the only good palm oil, and started the fanciful fox- which completely forgoes any palm products. they have instead sourced coconut and olive derived ingredients- which makes mom feel much better.
mom started with their "about face" lotion about 45 days ago and she is really happy with it! this product does NOT contain spf (there is exceptionally stringent FDA oversight when a "medication such as spf is added to a product), which she was a bit bummed about, however, she will continue to look for other spf options (that hopefully have no palm oil)...
in the meanwhile, especially in winter, mom is plenty thrilled with her fanciful fox discovery! i must say i feel it's done wonders for my fine lines as well, since it is especially targeted for "silver foxes"- hot, mature females like myself...plus, the scent is appealing to many canines as mom is always getting her face licked by our friends at the dog daycare to boot....
which makes me feel that more studies need to be done on the exfoliating power of dog tongues...
i digress- this particular lotion comes in a glass jar (bonus) and smells good with a fresh-but-mild botanical scent (though it came beautifully wrapped in a patchouli scented paper which was pretty, but scared her as she doesn't like that scent at all).
there are just a few ingredients, which we believe is always good- and mom has had no breakouts while using it (which was her previous problem when switching). she will definitely be buying this again!
mom has been comparing different cleaners as well as making her own (liquid hand soap, soap bars and laundry detergent). she started with blueland- and might not look much further!
not only are they palm free but the products work well and are inexpensive!
they offer kits, which come with a nice looking plastic spray bottle (but you can also use your own saved from the recycling bin) and tablets in (compostable) paper packages which you combine with water to make your cleaners when you need them.
she only tried the glass cleaner and multi-purpose ones, since we've been making our own liquid hand soap with castile soap- but there is a hand soap option too.
the glass cleaner is great- which even gets off the many grimy dog nose prints that cloud the glass doors at our dog daycare facility! this is a great test of a cleaner because not every one can clean that grub so well AND be streak free, but this one is! mom gets frustrated when she sees volunteers toiling away cleaning the windows and then they look worse than if they'd just left the nose prints- but that's not the case with blueland!
the multi-surface cleaner also works great and cleans a variety of surfaces around the house, in the (dog daycare) lobby, in the kitchen and bathroom without much scrubbing!
she hasn't had as much time to all out experiment with this cleaner yet but she will put it to the test this weekend on our stove, which is covered in splattered oil and more.
besides blueland's effectiveness, the cost is amazing- about $3 a bottle which is much cheaper than most cleaners, especially "eco-conscious" ones!
you can't really go wrong with any of these tested and "little mouse approved" products!
stay tuned for more as mom and i discover so many new products that can help you and your pets live a happier, healthier and more sustainable life!
peace out!
little mouse