Home : Tips For Green Living

Green Health

Why Green Health? Taking care of yourself is important, proper exercise and diet play a big role in your overall health. Staying healthy and living green go hand in hand. It seems the greener you become the healthier you are. This page will share with you some ways to be green and healthy.

Packaging : As with most products, and beauty aids are no different, the packaging can be extreme. Most of us buy about two hundred pounds of plastic each year. About sixty pounds of that is packaging we just throw away. Consider the packaging, how much perfume is really in that glass bottle, wrapped in plastic, that you buy and put into a paper bag? Enough to make it worth all that packaging?

Deodorant : Antiperspirants use aluminum salts to seal your pores. Aluminum is an energy hog when it comes to producing and used on your skin can be toxic. Search and seek aluminum-free deodorant.

Eyeliner : Avoid plastic and over packaging. Buy eyeliner pencils encased in wood meaning it will be biodegradable.

Eye Shadow : Use the reusable compacts with slots for refills. This will save you money and keep a little trash out of the landfills. A little trash to the tune of 350,000 pounds each year, just in the U.S..

Foundation : Foundation can be found in reusable, or recyclable, glass containers. Avoid the plastic containers if you can.

Lipstick : Look for lipsticks made with plant-based ingredients. You want to avoid products using synthetic oils, toxic coal tar dyes and paraffin waxes.

Mascara : With mascara you again looking for plant-based products. With mascara you also need to conscious of plastic and over packaging.

Perfume : You are looking for natural pure botanical ingredients. The petroleum derived conventional perfumes are considered to be one of the most prevalent toxins in the environment.

Hair Dye : If you really need this stuff the better choice will be semi or demi-permanent dyes with plant-based pigments. Avoid the permanent varieties with synthetic dyes.

Lotions : Using refillable containers is the greenest way to use hand and body lotions.

Shampoo : Try purchasing your shampoos in post-consumer recycled plastic containers. It takes much less energy to make recycled plastic than it does virgin plastic. Another green shampoo tip is to buy the largest container available. You will save money and use less packaging by doing this.

Sponges : Use completely natural and biodegradable loofah or a plain reusable washcloth. Avoid buying the synthetic nylon ones since nylon is a petroleum product and can not be recycled.

bar of soap

Soap : Use bars of soap as opposed to the liquid varieties. The bars are less expensive and use a lot less packaging. Approximately two and a half million pounds of plastic containers would not clutter up our landfills if every household did this.

Shaving : Disposable plastic razors are neither recyclable or biodegradable. You only need to buy the handle one time. Soap or body wash is a good shaving substitute for shaving foam. If you need the foam, or gel, avoid the aerosol varieties. Aerosol chemicals no longer deplete the ozone layer, they have been replaced by petroleum propellants that are discharged with the foam. This is what goes on your face.

Cotton Balls : Some cotton balls contain polyester, believe it or not. Polyester is a synthetic material related to plastic and it uses sixty seven percent more energy to produce than cotton. When it come to cotton, keep it real.