Friday Favorite & a Celebration!

First Friday Favorites post in quite awhile! I have to share a product that I absolutely LOVE with you today but first I want to share my excitement over a recent milestone:

The Good Life facebook page has reached and surpassed 100 likes! I know that this may seem like small potatoes to some bloggers, but for me it was really exciting. I feel like I don't even know 100 people in real life so to have SO many fans like and follow the page truly means a lot. Thank you all for sharing with your friends and for passing the word along! I will do my very best to keep bringing you tips and tricks for living a greener, better, simpler life!

One more thing before we move on to my Friday Favorite. It has been brought to my attention by my friend Kelly, a fellow blogger over at Healthy Revenge, that sometimes facebook makes it hard for people to see all of my posts on The Good Life page, including blog updates. So if you would, please head on over to The Good Life's facebook page and make sure your screen looks like this:

"Following" should have a check next to it. Also, if you click on the "liked" box it will also give you the option to "get notifications" which you can click if you feel like being notified every time I post in your notifications. Thank you! Keep sharing and engaging in The Good Life here on the blog and on facebook!

Now for my current Friday Favorite!

This one is especially for all the mamas out there, but all women (and maybe some men too...with long hair?) can definitely benefit from this one!

As a busy mom there are always days when Little Miss wakes up before I am ready and I am cursing the fact that I can't just leave the house with my hair wet and not done...I might scare the children in my class. And my mother, who has a peeve about wet hair would kill me. (I know she would probably never know but I would have lingering guilt that she'd find me out!)

Showering, makeup, dressing, and coffee can all be taken care of in a reasonable amount of time, but factor in drying and straightening my longish hair and it adds about 20 minutes. That is a great deal of precious time when you have to get a toddler out the door and want to actually spend a few minutes of quality time with her before you leave. I have to be to work at 7:25. I work 5 minutes from home....thank God. Otherwise I would never make it. And usually am walking in right on time!

I am a big fan of the IDEA of dry shampoo. A product that will help a busy mama on the go get ready and not have greasy looking hair? I'm sold. But I tried tons of other ones that just didn't work. They made my hair heavy, thick, gray looking, and some even more greasy. Not to mention the chemicals! Before I was pregnant with Little Miss I tried the Tresemme dry shampoo. It smelled atrocious. I actually would hold my breath when I used it! Just look at the EWG ratings!

Ingredient Concerns

Ingredient	Concerns	Score
FRAGRANCE	Ecotoxicology, Allergies/immunotoxicity, Irritation (skin, eyes, or lungs), Miscellaneous, Organ system toxicity (non-reproductive)	Data: Fair
OCTINOXATE METHOXYCINNAMATE	Enhanced skin absorption, Biochemical or cellular level changes, Developmental/reproductive toxicity, Endocrine disruption, Allergies/immunotoxicity, Organ system toxicity (non-reproductive), Persistence and bioaccumulation	Data: Limited
ISOBUTANE	Multiple, additive exposure sources, Allergies/immunotoxicity, Contamination concerns (BUTADIENE), Irritation (skin, eyes, or lungs), Organ system toxicity (non-reproductive)	Data: Limited
BUTANE	Multiple, additive exposure sources, Allergies/immunotoxicity, Contamination concerns (BUTADIENE), Irritation (skin, eyes, or lungs), Organ system toxicity (non-reproductive)	Data: Fair
PROPANE	Multiple, additive exposure sources, Allergies/immunotoxicity, Irritation (skin, eyes, or lungs), Organ system toxicity (non-reproductive)	Data: Fair
SD ALCOHOL 40B	Enhanced skin absorption, Cancer, Developmental/reproductive toxicity, Multiple, additive exposure sources, Organ system toxicity (non-reproductive)	Data: None
SULISOBENZONE BENZOPHENONE 4	Enhanced skin absorption, Endocrine disruption, Allergies/immunotoxicity, Irritation (skin, eyes, or lungs), Organ system toxicity (non-reproductive)	Data: Fair
SILICA, AMORPHOUS	Organ system toxicity (non-reproductive), Persistence and bioaccumulation	Data: Fair
ALUMINUM STARCH OCTENYLSUCCINATE	Contamination concerns (ALUMINUM POWDER), Organ system toxicity (non-reproductive), Use restrictions	Data: None
ISOPROPYL MYRISTATE	Irritation (skin, eyes, or lungs)	Data: Fair

The overall score is an 8 which is considered "High Hazard." No wonder I had to hold my breath!
Not to mention it didn't work! 

I gave up on dry shampoo. Until thankfully due to my short lived Birchbox subscription I discovered this awesome product! It totally comes in handy on days when I just don't have time to wash my hair let alone do all the other primping that comes along with it!

LuLu Organics Hair Powder is seriously a miracle product. It is talc free, organic, and made from completely all natural ingredients. Check it out:

I was not sure this stuff would work. After all the directions say that you only need a dime sized amount. Boy was I mistaken! A little goes a LONG way. And it doesn't leave your hair feeling weighted down or greasy, and doesn't leave a residue or look gray like other dry shampoos. It comes in four scents, the one I received which I LOVE is lavender and clary sage which is a nice fresh smelling scent. It retails for $30 for 4 oz which might seem like a lot but it will last FOREVER. The tiny sample amount that I received lasted me for a long time, and I used it a lot! If you aren't sure you want to commit to the larger size before trying, they have a 1 oz travel size that is only $9.50! I absolutely love this stuff. It's the perfect solution to those "days of unwash" where you still want to look, smell, and feel good! You can purchase it directly from their website or from Amazon as well! The best part about it besides the fact that it WORKS is that it is completely natural. Talc is controversial, being linked to carcinogens, and many powder based cosmetics contain talc. I don't know about you but I would much rather spend a little extra and KNOW I am getting a fabulous all natural product. Especially if I am putting it on my body where all the ingredients will be absorbed!




So if you are looking for a fabulous dry shampoo alternative, then look no further than LuLu Organics!

I thank you all again for reading and following, and hope you will continue to enjoy and share The Good Life!

Love and Laughs,

Danielle

Greening the medicine cabinet: Part 1

This is the first post of what will become a series. I'm excited, my first blog series!

I have been working for quite some time on making my medicine cabinet more "green." Let me tell you that this is NOT an easy task! If you remember from this post, I gave some options for taking small and easy steps to lead a greener life. Trading the cosmetics has proved to be not so easy, BUT I am not giving up! Let's talk about what's been happening.

First of all, I am way too busy (read: LAZY) to make all of my own products. I am a creature of convenience, I 100% admit that. I do know it would be a lot easier in the long run, but I just feel like there HAS to be products out there that are affordable and natural. I am working on finding them. Which is why I think this will be a series of posts. But I digress. So yes, we have established that I am too lazy to make my own products, but I have already found some nice alternatives to products I use that are easier than others to switch to.

Today we will focus on my green alternative for:

Eye Makeup Remover

When I worked for Mary Kay ( I know ::gasp::) I used their eye makeup remover. Check out the ingredients of concern as listed on EWG's cosmetic database:

POLOXAMER 184	Data gaps, Ecotoxicology, Contamination concerns (ACETIC ACID, FORMIC ACID, PROPYLENE OXIDE, ETHYLENE OXIDE, 1,4-DIOXANE, ALDEHYDES), Organ system toxicity (non-reproductive), Persistence and bioaccumulation	Data: Limited
CYCLOTETRASILOXANE	Developmental/reproductive toxicity, Ecotoxicology, Endocrine disruption, Organ system toxicity (non-reproductive), Persistence and bioaccumulation	Data: Limited
BENZYL ALCOHOL	Allergies/immunotoxicity, Organ system toxicity (non-reproductive), Occupational hazards, Use restrictions	Data: Fair
BENZALKONIUM CHLORIDE	Allergies/immunotoxicity, Use restrictions	Data: Fair
IMIDAZOLIDINYL UREA	Allergies/immunotoxicity, Contamination concerns (FORMALDEHYDE)	Data: Limited
HEXYLENE GLYCOL	Allergies/immunotoxicity, Irritation (skin, eyes, or lungs)	Data: Fair
ISOHEXADECANE	Ecotoxicology, Organ system toxicity (non-reproductive), Use restrictions

Um no thank you?! I used this on my EYES.

FTR (For the record) you don't want the ingrdients in your product to be higher than 0-2, which is considered "low hazard." This had 5s. SCARY stuff!

Might I remind you, I wasn't into checking the ingredients at this point in my life. I foolishly trusted the FDA and cosmetics companies and believed they wouldn't possibly put anything into my stuff that was unhealthy. It's amazing how drinking the cloth diaper kool-aid takes you down a rabbit hole of epic proportions. Scary stuff in these products I used to use, yes, but I am so glad that I am educated about this stuff now so I can make educated decisions about products that I am using on my body.

Now the reason I stopped using this stuff was because it was $14 a bottle. Not because of the toxins, (remember I was still clueless at that point) but because of the price. So what did I start using?

Good old Dollar General brand. $1.50. Yea buddy!

Until I read the back:

That's a WHOLE lot of toxic stuff. Parabens, SLS, sulfates, mystery "fragrance." Yikes. So I just tried to use water for awhile but still ended up with raccoon eyes. Something had to be done.

So as I was browsing the interwebs one day I came across this post where I read that you can use coconut oil as an eye makeup remover. Of course I HAD to try it. I had coconut oil in the house because we use it for a natural diaper cream when we're out of CJs and I also use it for oil pulling. Well who knew all the awesome uses for it! More research led me to this post where I learned all the other uses for this amazing stuff! It's so amazing. You want to know what's in it?

coconut oil.

That's it.

Here's the brand I use: Spectrum

So you can either take a little and put it on a cotton ball or cloth with some water and wipe the makeup off, or you can mix it with a little bit of distilled water and Dr. Bronner's and voila! The makeup comes right off and leaves nothing behind! I love love love it!

Other ways I use coconut oil in our home:

• diaper cream
• moisturizer
• hair defrizzer
• hangnails 
• shaving cream
• oil pulling
• taken orally for general health
• scars
• deodorant (more on this coming soon-I am currently participating in my own experiment to find an all natural deodorant solution that actually works!)
• cooking
• toothpaste (for whitening!)

As you can see coconut is a necessity in any green medicine cabinet. Eye makeup remover aside, there are literally hundreds of other uses for it! And the best part is that a jar of it costs between $8 and $14 depending on the brand, but it lasts FOREVER. Well not forever, but a really LONG time.

So if you are currently using a toxic eye makeup remover go ahead and try to swap it out for coconut oil. Remember it's all about the little changes that you make to your life over time that count, not getting overwhelmed by trying to change everything at once!

So go ahead and buy a jar of coconut oil next time you are out grocery shopping and put it right in that medicine cabinet! You won't be sorry!

Love and Laughs,

Danielle