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Every winter my husband and I experience assorted minor skin irritations. I have also been reading about all the questionable ingredients in some of our personal care products. So I began searching for products that are simpler, with fewer ingredients. My shopping list would be for items with less packaging, free of parabens, sodium laurel sulfate, and not animal tested, maybe even organic and plant based.
Natural Soaps – Guelph Soap Company and Soap Works
At first I was trying to learn how to make my own soaps and shampoos, but I found the ingredients hard to find and expensive. I started with soap, as my husband seems to always have a rash on the palms of his hands, and we believe it’s the soap we use that irritates his hands, as he washes his hands alot. While I was looking, I came across soap from the Guelph Soap Company and from Soap Works. These are relatively inexpensive soaps with simple ingredients. I found both of these on the Well.ca site.
I had been thinking about trying affiliate links on this blog, but it could only be for products or companies that I actually use and love. So from time to time I will tell you about products that I buy and use and whether I like them or not. This is a learning process for me, so I hope you don’t mind. I have A LOT to learn, so any advice is always appreciated.
Shopping from Well.ca
Well.ca ships to Canada and the United States, and for Canadians, shipping is free for orders over $35. They specialize in trending brands like the Honest Company, The Ordinary, Kirsten Ess, Method and Seventh Generation. It’s also a great source for Vegan food products, and so I purchase things there for some of my Vegan baking projects and experiments.
Being a frugal and practical neo-senior, I always look for value. So the things that I like to purchase, should be in a larger volume, at a reasonable price.
Today’s package of products arrived with shipping free of charge (in Canada) in 2 business days (for me). I chose 4 basic items:
From the Guelph Soap Company I ordered 2 bars of Fragrance Free Au Natural 90g Translucent Glycerin Soap ($3.98CDN).
According to Well.ca, “Guelph Soap Company’s pure and natural soap bars are manufactured using only the finest quality ingredients. All of their translucent bars are made from blended oils, typically palm and palm kernel.” The ingredients listed are:
- Sodium Palmate
- Sodium Palm Kernelate
- Water
- Glycerine
- Sorbitol
- Palm Kernel Acid
- Sodium Chloride
- Tetrasodium Etidronate
- Tetrasodium EDTA
This unscented, clear soap cleaned nicely, was not sudsy, and did not leave a filmy residue on the skin. It was a good buy.
Live Clean Green Earth Daily Care Shampoo
The second item that I purchased was Live Clean Green Earth Daily Care Shampoo in a 750ml bottle for $14.05CDN (at the time of my purchase). According to Well.ca “Live Clean Green Earth Daily Care Shampoo gently cleanses while rejuvenating hair and scalp. Infused with certified organic botanicals of lavender and eucalyptus to stimulate the senses and invigorate circulation in the scalp.”
I like that this comes in a larger container and has a pump! There is no sense for me in buying a teeny-tiny bottle of shampoo for my household. The bottle tells me that the product is 98% plant derived, contains certified organic botanicals, is free of SLS/sulfate, petroleum, phosphate, DEA, paraben, silicone, and phthalate, and is vegan – never tested on animals. This is awesome and exactly what I was looking for!
The Dirty Dozen
I had recently read a series of posts from The David Suzuki Foundation entitled “The Dirty Dozen”, regarding some common shampoo and personal care product ingredients. For example the site states that “DEA and its compounds cause mild to moderate skin and eye irritation i . In laboratory experiments, exposure to high doses of these chemicals has been shown to cause liver cancers and precancerous changes in skin and thyroid” and that “Depending on manufacturing processes, sodium laureth sulfate may be contaminated with measurable amounts of ethylene oxide and 1,4-dioxane. i The International Agency for Research on Cancer ethylene oxide as a known human carcinogen and 1,4-dioxane as a possible human carcinogen“. The Dirty Dozen post also includes parabens and dibutyl phthalate in it’s list of 12 ingredients to avoid in personal care product purchases. I am no scientist or health care provider, just an individual trying to choose healthier products for myself and my family.
This product does have a mild fragrance, but so far I have found it not to be in anyway irritating to my skin – but I will keep testing! There are several different varieties of this product available online from Well, but I wanted to start with this “flavour” – so to speak! It has a good smooth consistency, and easily pumps from the bottle (i.e. I didn’t need my reading glasses in the shower to figure out the pump).
I liked the product line – they also had conditioners and I spotted dish soap, which I may grab next time.
EO Everyone Soap
The 3rd product that I purchased was EO Everyone Soap in coconut and lemon. This is a 946ml or 32 U.S. Ounce container, also with a pump for $14.39CDN at the time of my puchase. This is labelled as a 3 in 1 shampoo, body wash and bubble bath – for everybody. “
“EO introduces Everyone Soap – a natural plant based soap made with pure essential oils. Gentle, fragrant, a perfect shower, bath and shampoo for the whole family. Everyone Soap is a 3 in 1: shampoo, body wash, bubble bath – perfect for a cleansing shampoo, invigorating shower and a fragrant, luxurious bath. Gentle enough for the whole family.” It is described as “Ingredients and essential oils are pure, natural and organic,Cruelty freeParaben, polysorbate free and disodium EDTA free, Gluten free, Non-GMO verified, Sodium laureth/lauryl sulfate free and Gentle and fragrant.” Again, this sounds good to me!
I am purchasing this 3-1 product for use by our 3 young adult boys – when they are home. As University students and athletes, they are accustomed to showering in school residences, gyms, a shall we say – student flop-houses? – and so they tend to use all in one shampoo and body wash products. This is perfect for them, and definitely an improvement from their all in one Old Spice or Irish Spring products! The product pumps easily in a nice clear citrusy gel form, so I think the boys will be pleased.
Suncoat Natural Anti-Frizz Calming Serum
The fourth product that I purchased was a just for me product (or so I think). I purchased Suncoat Natural Anti-Frizz Hair Calming Serum for $13.49CDN. This comes in a 6 Ounce/180ml bottle. According to Well.ca “This genuinely chemical free hair calming serum helps to manage coarse frizzy hair and control fly-aways. Camellia seed oil helps to add shine to the hair, while vitamin E and flax protein protect your hair from environmental damage. Synthetic polymer free/plastic free, Alcohol free and Silicone free.” “Application: After shampooing and conditioning, apply a generous amount to the palm of your hand and distribute evenly to wet hair from root to tip. Style as usual. Excellent to use with Suncoat styling mousse or gel or hair spray for desired hold.”
I purchased this product for me, as my coloured – over salt and pepper hair, is thin and straight – so I didn’t want to weigh it down, but it is brittle and has many split ends from hair colour, age and treatment with hot irons and blow dryers. I was looking for a product to smooth my hair without too much effort, and without making it oily or flat. This product has a fresh “green” scent and was easy to dab through my hair. and it does seem to have a smoothing effect!
I am quite pleased with this purchase, as I am trying to find products that are reasonably priced, and healthier for me and my family, and maybe even environmentally friendly.
Please let me know if you have any comments or advice!
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I use the melaleuca line of products for the same reasons, I react to everything else. Lots of my posts address this issue: https://lorieb.wordpress.com/2019/04/14/allergies-and-sensitivities-trust-your-body/ is just one
Thanks Lori! It looks interesting.
This is great! Thank you 😀 I’m definitely going to check this site out! I too have wanted to make my own laundry detergent and soaps. I already make my own baby wipes, and my cleaning is always done with vinegar. It’s sometimes hard eliminating all the excess stuff in our everyday items. I was making my own “shampoo and conditioner” sort of. It was a wash and a rinse. It’s been awhile and I stopped because my hair is to my hips and it was really hard to get it completely saturated properly.It was made with baking soda and the rinse with apple cider vinegar. My hair was so soft and shiny, I absolutely loved it.
Thanks again 🙂
Thanks Angie! I clean with vinegar too, – sometimes too much, but I’m looking at dish soap and laundry detergent next. I can imagine the baking soda would be hard to shampoo with such long hair! Doing the baby wipes yourself is awesome!
A good informative post-Lillie…As you know cosmetics and cleaning products are a minefield I also steer clear of anything using palm oil derivatives..Deforestation and all that…There is always something isn’t there? I think we all should be doing what is reasonably possible given our lifestyles…Have a lovely weekend 🙂
Thank you for commenting Carol. I’m just trying to learn a little and improve my choices a little one day at a time. I hadn’t thought about palm oil derivatives though – so you are right there’s always something new to learn!
I learn from nearly every post I read, Lillie which is good wecan never stop learning… Have a great week 😊
Thanks Carol!
Great post! Thanks for sharing these products and your thoughts. I love all of them and I will definitely check some of them out.
Thank you. I’m glad you liked the post. Lately we’ve been fretting about all the hand sanitizers we’ve been using, so I think I will experiment with that next. Hope you are keeping well.
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Thank you!
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Thank you very much for your comment!
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Thank you.
I was curious if you ever thought of changing the page layout of your blog? Its very well written; I love what youve got to say. But maybe you could a little more in the way of content so people could connect with it better. Youve got an awful lot of text for only having one or 2 pictures. Maybe you could space it out better?
There may be noticeably a bundle to know about this. I assume you made certain good points in options also.
I have used Guelph Clear soap for a month now and it is fabulous. No odors that are uncomfortable and works great! An excellent product.
I agree Suzette. It solved the problem of irritated skin for us – and it works. It’s also relatively local for us, and very inexpensive.