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At Vitale we are often e-mailed about which Dry Body Brush to use. Our advice varies depending on skin sensitivity, whether or not the person has used a skin brush before and what areas of the body they want to skin brush. Jodie from Bodecare writes this about the range of natural brushes she has created:

All brushes are made of natural materials and vary in bristle firmness to cater for individual preferences. (The Vitale Natural Online Store every brush has details on what the brush is made of, dimensions and the firmness of the brush bristles.)

All Bodecare brush bristles are categorised under Extra Soft, Soft, Medium and Firm.

Extra Soft

• Face brush: Meant for delicate skin on the face, the bristles are silky soft, gentle enough for a baby. Suitable for working with Cleansers and removing face masks.

Soft

• Face brush: Soft bristles suitable for cleansing and removing face masks.
• Nails/Feet: Suitable for buffing residue off nails and lightly cleaning dirt under nail.
• Dry Body Brushing: Best for someone just new to dry body brushing, will still provide good stimulation. This is a great starting point until your skin gets use to dry brushing and then you can graduate to firmer brush bristles.

Medium

• Dry Body Brushing: Suitable for someone wanting extra stimulation, flexible bristle, great exfoliation.
• First time dry body brushers could also start with this level brush, because you only need to use light strokes for dry brushing.

Firm

• Dry Body Brushing: Suitable for experienced dry body brushers, firm, stiff bristles, providing optimum exfoliation, stimulation and massage for the skin.
• Nails: Firm, stiff bristles great for removing dirt from under nails, especially if you are a gardener or mechanic.

It is simply a choice of which brush meets your needs and comfort levels. View the range of Bodecare Brushes here.

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LOHAS stands for Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability which is essentially a socio-economic term that describes a segment of conscious shoppers i.e. people who not only consider their own personal benefit but the impact on the wider community and planet. In Australia this represents around 26 % of the adult population. However, this is a global trend and not only do I think the number of people that start making more conscious choices will rise, particularly in Australia where such a wide range of choices are available.

You can see evidence of this trend impacting on companies and brands alike particularly in the cosmetic industry where the trend  towards natural & organic products has been taken further so it encompassess use of eco packaging materials, fair trade ingredients, stopping the use of palm oil or using sustainable plantation sources and choosing only cruelty free products.

At Vitale it is about ensuring coherence between what we say we do and what we actually do. We do this by:

• ensuring that our products are actually in fact natural – i.e they don’t contain any ingredients considered harmful or toxic to the body
• choosing organic ranges and certified organic where possible
• when products claims to be Fair Trade that they actually are
• choosing brands that use post-consumer recycled packaging or that the packing is recylable where possible
• ensuring any products we stock that include Palm oil are all from sustainable sources (this is only about 3 or 4 products in our entire range and yes we have checked)
• choosing brands that we think are excellent
• providing as much information as we can about products so that you can make an informed choice about the products you use on your skin
• having a multimodality team on hand to help you with your health & wellbeing including naturopaths, aromoatherapists and beauty therapists
• cutting the greenwash (for more on this read Green is the new Black)
• responding to constructive criticism – and yes of course we get feedback from customers particularly when we make a mistake or don’t give the best we can give.

I was prompted to write this little blurb by an article about LOHAS which got me thinking about how we as a company perform. Of course there is always room for improvement but I also think we have set a high standard for ourselves and we strive to achieve it in every way we can.

We would love to hear about areas we could improve so please have your say.

My excitement with the new La Mav range was tempered somewhat when I realized I couldn’t try all the new products at once (I really am still very excited). To really assess the range our Vitale Natural team has had to trial each product at a time. Some of the products we are already familiar with such as the favorite amongst staff and indeed, award winning Bio-A7 Firming Eye Lotion but others are new to us. Over the next few months we will reveal our thoughts on many of the new products but first I wanted to review another of my favorites: Argania Extract Lift and Firm Serum (Lift & Firm Serum for short). Lift & Firm Serum contains some key bio-active ingredients (and this is these are the ingredients that really get me excited as they are considered “active” and have real therapeutic benefits on the skin) including:

• Commiphora Mukul Extract, Wheat Protein & Milk Protein firms and tones
• Argania Spinosa Extract, Acacia Senegal Gum and Rhizobian Gum acts as natural skin tightening agents delivering firmer and lifted appearance.
• Aloe Vera Juice and Rose Distillate instantly revitalise tired skin delivering refreshed, hydrated and healthy glow
• Natural Vitamin E and Jojoba seed oil protect the skin delivering long lasting anti-ageing benefits.

Of these, Argania Spinosa extract, Acacia Senegal and Rhozbian Gum have immediate effects on the skin acting like a flash balm by tightening and lifting skin which is ideal for tired skin around the eyes. Argania also has a long-term biological effect, working to reduce wrinkles particularly on the neck. My first experience of this product was one morning when I had had a late night and a very early start – I looked very tired and quite dehydrated which shows up around my eyes in particular. I thought this was the ideal opportunity to try out this product. I put it on and dashed out the door. Later that morning I checked out the progress and indeed I thought I looked better (I certainly looked better than I felt). Based on that response I have been using it under my moisturizer every day since and generally think my skin looks good. I can’t really notice a difference on my neck as yet as I am a bit haphazard about application in that area. Lift & Firm Serum goes really well with Hibiscus Extract Ultra-Lift Moisturiser.

If you have used this product please add your comments as we would love to hear what you think.

It is lovely to burn a scented candle at home or to eat dinner by candlelight. Unfortunately most candles bought are made from paraffin wax and studies have shown that there are health risks of burning paraffin wax candles. Paraffin is a by-product of the petroleum industry and when burnt it releases some of the same toxins produced when petrol is burnt running a car. It also releases black soot, which may contain toxic chemicals such as naphthalene, methyl ethyl ketone, toluene and benzene and goes into the air you breathe as well as settling on the walls of your home.

The risks don’t end there. Even the wicks of some candles can cause issues in that they may contain a lead or metal core that again, releases toxic emissions when burnt. In addition, many scented candles contain artificial fragrances, which may release phthalates when burnt.

Fortunately there are good alternatives including soy and beeswax. Soy wax is considered the most environmentally friendly candle because it is made from a renewable resource. It is cleaner burning with little soot and no pollutants released from burning. Soy also tends to be longer burning (up to 50% longer than the equivalent paraffin wax candle) due to its cooler burning temperature. However, due to the lower melting temperature, soy wax is mainly used in container candles such as glass jars (one of the benefits is that you can reuse the containers for tea lights after you have burnt the original candle).

Unfortunately many soy candles are still made using metal wicks and artificial fragrances however, if you choose your candles wisely, you can easily avoid both and burn candles with cotton wicks and naturally scented with essential oils.

In addition if your soy candle doesn’t come in a container, check the wax composition as it may be blended with paraffin to make it harder which means it stands alone (ie doesn’t need a container).

At Vitale we have just discovered Eco Aroma candles. Naturally these candles are made from soy wax instead of paraffin. Even better, the fragrances are from natural essential oils and are just divine. Ambience is our current favorite in the shop and we are burning the candle or using the corresponding essential oil.

Sometimes it feels like the whole world is toxic – just living is toxic! Of course I exaggerate but I have found that it is about being aware and making better choices and choosing soy, vegetable or beeswax candles one of those little changes that you can make that all add up to a cleaner home and body.

When I buy a lovely new moisturizer, the first thing I do is get it home and take it out of the box and use some. The bottle goes onto my dresser and once I have reviewed the ingredients for the 3^rd or 4^th time (ingredients are my obsession and I get immense pleasure knowing what I am actually putting on my skin) the box goes in the recycling bin. I cannot bear to think how many boxes I have chucked in the recycling over the years and in my opinion there is too much packaging in the beauty industry. Apparently I am not alone in my opinion. Research conducted by Choice indicated that Beauty items are amongst the most frequently cited for excess packaging by consumers. What’s more most Australians don’t think enough is being done to get rid of unnecessary packaging.

PCR Aluminium & sustainable Bamboo

In defense of beauty packaging, in many cases, the actual product bottle is too small to list the ingredients and so they are listed on the outer packaging. Add to this that many of us that buy organic and natural skin care do not want home-made looking bottles on our shelves, we want products that are good for us, good for the planet and that look good (Green Glamour!). Fortunately, given the growing eco consciousness, the beauty industry is responding with post-consumer recycled packaging, new packaging methods and materials such as bamboo products, bio plastics and use of soy ink instead of traditional petrochemical based products.

Devita's new PCR packaging

Post-consumer recycled content (PCR) is basically any material previously used by a consumer and generally includes paper, plastic, steel and rubber. A prime example of this is Eco Tools brushes which use PCR aluminium for the ferrule (the bit that joins the handle to the bristles) on their brushes. Eco Tools also use fast growing bamboo for the brush handles, replacing less sustainable slow growing timber or plastic. A new company on the market, Pure & Green Organics set out with the aim to not only produce an ACO certified organic range but also to minimise any environmental impact from the product packaging and as such was the first company in the world to use 100% PCR cardboard caps on their products. In a recent change to their product packaging, Devita have changed the exterior packaging to 100% PCR cardboard with recyclable glass bottles replacing plastic product packaging.

BIOpack - made from PLA resin

Bioplastics are a growing market in the packaging and not just for beauty products. Organic materials such corn or sugar resins are being used as an alternative to petrochemical based plastics. Apart from not requiring non-reusable materials, plant resins require 33% less fossil fuel resources and emit 42% less greenhouse gases than bottles made from PET (petrochemical plastic) 1. Pure & Green Organics use BIOpack bottles from renewable plant sugar resources (PLA – short for Polylactic Acid). PLA is compostable and biodegradable in industrial composting conditions, but it will not degrade or disintegrate on shelves.

I would love to hear your thoughts on product packaging and any stories you have about the worst offenders, be they beauty products or others. Noodle packages come to mind. I buy noodles for my dogs sometimes and they are individually wrapped noodle blocks and then have an additional layer of plastic around the whole lot. What a waste! And individually wrapped tea bags, in cardboard boxes with more plastic on the outside! Enough – let’s hear from you!

Reference:

1.  Natureworks LCA Consultants Report