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Month: August 2017

Tampon Tax

General, Inspiration

Happy Sunday everyone! ☺

I hope you all have had a lovely week. This weeks source of inspiration comes from Laura Coryton’s ‘Stop Taxing Periods’ campaign and the changes made to end the Tampon Tax.

What is the Tampon Tax all about?

In the last few months you’ve probably heard the phrases ‘Tampon Tax’ and ‘Period Poverty’ been used in the news in different parts of the world but how did this movement begin? Here in the U.K, Laura Coryton started the modern-day feminist movement by creating a petition on Change.org pointing out that the tax on tampons are “illogical and sexist” given the fact that “crocodile steaks are considered essential enough to escape tax altogether.”

Why are tampons being taxed in the first place?

Tampons, and other feminine sanitary products alike, are taxed in the U.K because of the restrictions put by the EU law. Initally, when the U.K government had become a part of the European Union tampons were taxed at 17.5%, and was eventually reduced to 5% in the year 2000.

If we were still a part of the EU, the process to scrap the Tampon Tax would require the vote of the other 27 states.

Recent Changes

But last year in March, MP Paula Sherriff proposed the tampon-tax-ending amendment, which Parliament had accepted but unfortunately won’t be followed through until April 2018. Not only are Parliament (finally) supporting the cause, but supermarkets like Tesco and Waitrose are also showing their support by pledging to drop the price of their period products by 5%. So when you go to shop at Tesco or Waitrose the tax on tampons, sanitary pads and panty liners will already be paid for! ☺

It’s so inspiring to see how one person can encourage others to be proactive and ensure that change is followed through.

What can I do?

The fact that we still have to protest and campaign for our basic needs as women still shows the dismissive attitude that politics have had towards womens rights, but thankfully we are taking steps in the right direction. As I’ve mentioned before, the government are looking to implement the tampon-tax-ending amendment in April 2018, but for now you can still make changes by signing the petition that I’ve embedded below to get supermarkets like Sainsbury, Morrisons and Asda to pay the Tampon Tax.

Above Green – The Greenest States

General

Hi everyone! How are you all doing? ☺

Today I’d like to share with you a post on sustainability by Miles from Above Green, a LEED Consulting Company. The post is based on the findings from research on green living habits across the U.S, including a comparison to the U.K and Europe, that Above Green had recently conducted. Those of you who read my blog regularly may have read about Above Green from one of my earlier posts, Sunday Inspiration: Above Green, where I was listed as one of the top eco-conscious bloggers and I was asked to share the post on here so without further ado…

The Greenest States

The below map is based on six key factors relating to renewable energy usage, carbon emissions, water usage, number of electric vehicles, number of green buildings, number of green building professionals, and air quality. The factors were weighted by importance – for example; air quality counted more than the number of electric vehicles.

 

As an environmentalist and employee at a LEED Consulting Company, I am greatly passionate about green buildings and sustainability. My team and I were curious about which state in the United States are the best and worst for green living. Below I’ve also included some interesting findings about the sustainable practices that the UK is engaging in.

Here are some interesting findings in the US based on the six areas we reviewed:

1) The U.S. has over 30 GW of installed solar capacity, which is equivalent to powering 5.7 million homes.

2) The way we extract, manufacture and dispose of products including food add up to 42% of our overall U.S. greenhouse gas emissions every year.

3) The United States is #1 in registered and certified LEED projects as of 2016, which equals to 2.5 million employees working in green buildings every day.

4) 542,000 electric vehicles are on American roads today, which is an incremental increase from previous years helping to reduce carbon emissions.

Here  some interesting findings relating to the UK and Europe to compare:

1) Across Europe solar power generation now stands at 104 GW installed, with 29% solar growth from last year.

2) By 2020 the government expects 20% of the nations energy to come from renewable sources.

3) There are over 90,000 electric plug-in vehicles in Europe today, by the year 2030 initiatives are set to be 1 of every 12 cars will be electric powered. This is great considering 50% of this power is coming from low carbon emitting sources.

4) Wind energy in the UK generates more than any other country generating 5.1 GW, including 30 installed offshore wind farms with more planned shortly.

Conclusion

Both the United States and the UK are fighting against changing the detrimental effects air pollution has on us, but are we doing enough now? Reducing our carbon footprint helps not just the air we breathe but also many beneficial factors to go alongside living a healthy lifestyle. From zero-emitting cleaning materials, natural linens, buying practical items, and local produce can be just a few things we can all start to take into account the next time we’re shopping.

From our findings based on these six key factors, we found that generally, the northern and western states were better for green living. Of course, there are many more factors that could be considered for a complete evaluation. This is our first attempt at finding the greenest places, who knows, maybe next year will be finding the greenest countries. I think we can agree that the UK does, however, capitalize more on the wind and other forms of renewable energy, while the states steadily grow their network in green infrastructure.

Author Bio

Miles Abernathy is a LEED Green Associate and an Environmental Science major. He recently has served as an Executive Assistant at Above Green, a LEED Consulting company based in Middleburg, Virginia, and is currently working on finishing the last year of his degree at University of North Carolina Wilmington. He is a member of the Surfrider Club at UNC-Wilmington, where he spearheaded an Ocean Friendly Garden project on campus, to reduce runoff, in concert with university faculty and local civic organizations.

KiteNest Organic Dry Shampoo Review

Bath & Body, General, Hair Care, Reviews

KiteNest Organic Dry Shampoo Review

Hi everyone!

I hope you all are having a good week. ☺

Today I wanted to share an amazing product that I’ve been using for the past two weeks – KiteNest’s Organic Dry Shampoo.

A little about KiteNest

KiteNest are a Lincolnshire based company whose motto ‘Natural Creations Without Compromise’ is not only central to their ethical focus but to almost everything that they do and create. All of KiteNest’s products are 100% natural, paraben-free, cruelty-free, vegan and are individually crafted and handmade by Chris and Markus. The products that KiteNest sell range from hair care, skin care as well as beeswax products. Everything about this company is clean and green from the product itself, to the packaging including the vermiculite cushioning that’s used to pad the box packaging when shipping the orders.

The Organic Dry Shampoo 

About the product

The Organic dry shampoo is 100% natural and organic, cruelty-free and vegan-friendly, containing no talc and no toxic chemicals or GMOs. The cardboard tube is fully recyclable, and is sourced from responsibly maintained forests in Northern Europe. There are two different organic dry shampoo’s that are available to buy, one for light hair tones and the other being for dark hair tones. (It’s best to get in contact with the KiteNest team, if you’re unsure of which one would be best for your hair type.)

When using the dry shampoo, you simply need to apply some to the roots of your hair and massage it in for roughly 30 seconds to a minute, depending on how thick your hair is or how satisfied with it you are. Once you feel that the shampoo has absorbed the excess oil and moisture then you can brush through your hair to remove the excess powder and style however you like.

KiteNest’s Organic Dry Shampoo is available to buy via their website and is priced at £10 for 150g and if your order is over £30 your postage will be free! (That’s unfortunately only for U.K residents)

Review

The organic dry shampoo that I’ve been using is for dark hair tones. When using it the first thing that I noticed was the ethically sourced packaging and that the dry shampoo smelt like grapefruit – which I love. The powder itself is very lightweight and generally has a very fine texture that’s like talc powder.

At first I made the silly mistake of using too much product on my hair – which resulted in me having to shake most of it off. I eventually realised that I should put on a little bit at a time, and this helped with getting rid of the natural oil in my hair significantly. Quick tip – if you have long hair like mine, then it’s best to use the dry shampoo over your bath tub so that you’re not making too much of a mess or having to struggle over the sink like I did.

Overall, the organic dry shampoo works well in terms of making your hair look and smell fresher than it actually is (lol). The way that it manages to absorb the natural oils and excess moisture in my hair, without having to do much on my part, takes off such a big load as managing my hair is easily the most high maintenance task that I (and many of you all) have to deal with daily. So it’s definitely a thumbs up from me! ☺👍🏼

 

Lastly, I’d like to thank the KiteNest Marketing & PR team for sending me the awesome Organic Dry Shampoo. To check out KiteNest’s full range of products click here.

To read and learn more about how to recycle the vermiculite cushioning click on the link here.

I hope you all enjoyed the review. ♥

Read more hair care reviews here.

Do natural deodorants work?

Bath & Body, General

Hello everyone! How is your weekend going so far?

Do natural deodorants work? Yes! But of course one word isn’t the best way to answer the question.

The reviews that are on this site are all done by myself, from testing out the products, to writing my thoughts about it – but today I’d like to share some research and reviews on natural deodorants (carried out by a very reliable source) – Reviews.com. And of course, like always all the products are cruelty-free and vegan!

Who are Reviews.com?

Reviews.com is a wesbite created and managed by an inquisitive small team who test and review products. Once they review the products and services the team collectively decide on which products and services are the best. Personally I quite like the idea of a team collectively deciding what is the ‘best’ as this makes the research more credible and valuable.

After talking with a dermatologist, a chemist, and two natural deodorant creators, the Reviews.com team hand-tested 23 deodorants to find their top picks: aluminum-free formulas with pleasant scents, goop-free application, and minimal residue.

The Best Natural Deodorants:

1 | Sam’s Natural Deodorant –  “The product is free of aluminum, free of common irritants, and its first two ingredients (coconut oil and baking soda) are verified odor-blockers. We found the circular stick easy to maneuver across our pits, and it left minimal goop on clothes and only a faint sheen on skin. The Cedar and Women’s scents that we tested both lasted through two hours of wear — without smelling overpowering — and if neither of these options appeals to you, Sam’s offers 13 more scents. Each stick is reasonably priced ($10 for 3 ounces) and an easy gateway for anyone interested in transitioning to a natural product.” Those of you based in the U.K can order directly from the Sam’s Natural website by clicking here.

 

2 | Schmidt’s Natural Deodorant – “Schmidt’s sticks for regular skin boast the same odor-busting coconut oil and baking soda as Sam’s, in a similarly flake- and residue-free formula. We tried four of its seven scents and liked the cool “freshly fallen rain” nose of the Charcoal+Magnesium formula — although if you like a pop of floral, its Rose+Vanilla certainly delivers. The price point is about the same as Sam’s: around $10 for 3 ounces.” Schmidt’s Natural Deodorant is available to here in the U.K from Naturisimo.com.

 

3 | For Pit’s Sake! Natural Deodorant – “This product comes in a stick that leaves almost no residue, but we did have to use quite a bit of force to fully coat our pits, which some of our hairy-pitted testers weren’t too into. That said, it includes all threeof the odor-blocking ingredients we pinpointed in our research — coconut oil, baking soda, and zinc — at a comfortable $9.” Unfortunately I couldn’t find any stockists here in the U.K, and I couldn’t find any details of internation shipping but if you are interesting in buying it’s worth getting in touch with the sellers.

 

4 | Green Tidings All-Natural Deodorant -“Like Sam’s and Schmidt’s, this deodorant is vegan and cruelty-free, but its ingredients are also certified organic by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and it’s made in a solar-powered plant. The trade-off? It’s a little more expensive, at $8 for a 1-ounce tube. Green Tidings is aluminum-free and includes baking soda and (organic) coconut oil to fend off body odor. The subtle scent (courtesy of organic lavender essential oil) didn’t last as long as Sam’s, but after two hours, we didn’t notice any BO, either. Testers did find the product a bit gritty, but some of them liked this added assurance that they’d successfully coated their underarms.” Again, this product only seems to be available in the U.S on Amazon.

 

 5 | Fatco Women’s Stank Stop Deodorant – “was the only other natural dedorant we tested that included all three of our wish-list odor-blockers. (It’s also Certified Paleo, and includes beef tallow as a moisturizer.) Fatco is a cream, which means you’ll need to dip your fingers into a (very small) jar to apply the product — a process our testers weren’t wild about. But the deodorant itself was very effective, with a pleasant smell and minimal residue.” Buy online from Amazon (U.S.) 

 

6 | Agent Nateur & Shiva Rose Holi Rose Deodorant – “seemed almost like a combination of deodorant and women’s perfume (although not everyone liked the rose and sandalwood scent). Holi Rose leaves very little residue, and while it was also the most expensive product that we tested ($25 for 1.7 ounces), it’s a good high-end option if you’re concerned about protecting delicate fabric.” You can buy this online from Amazon (U.S).

I’d like to thank the Reviews.com team for sharing their research with me and for allowing me to post about it. ☺

If you’d like to see the full research and review then please click here

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