Photo by bcanna, under a Creative Commons license

I’m looking to beef up the Fashion & Beauty section of TreeHugger—my upcoming day job, for those just tuning in—and would love to know what you would like to see more of. Do you like the product reviews the way they are now? Or would you prefer to read in-depth product testing? Would highlighting new products be more useful or product roundups by type? What are some of the problems you’ve faced maneuvering the world of eco-friendly fashion and beauty products and how could we help make it easier?

My deepest thanks in advance—I don’t throw around exclamation marks lightly, but here you go!

Comment below by August 10, 2007 and stand a change to win a copy Felt Frenzy by Heather Brack and Shannon Okey, with my thanks. I’ll pick a winner at random on the 11th.

Photo by Aubrey Organics

I’ve just run out of my old standby sunscreen from Paula’s Choice, which I’ve loved using because of its nongreasy, unscented, yet gently moisturizing formula—unfortunately, to my everlasting grief, it hasn’t been rated by the Environmental Working Group (EWG), so when my husband called from the natural-foods store asking if I needed anything, I asked him to pick up some sunblock. But because I didn’t have EWG’s list handy (big mistake), after he prattled off some brands, I instantly latched onto a familiar name: Aubrey Organics, the brand I use for my shampoo.

Slathering it on this morning, I give it a big ol’ “meh.” First, its EWG score is a middling 3.0, placing it in the lower-end of the moderate-hazard range.

Next, the cream has a cloying, sickly sweet scent that doesn’t quite arouse my adoration. (Ironically, it’s likely the jasmine oil I’m sniffing; looking at Aubrey’s Web site now, it appears that the company does make an unscented version, however.) And while the Paula’s Choice product glided across my face streak-free, Aubrey’s sunscreen required more effort to rub away any mask-like appearance that might inspire spontaneous bursts of song, while terrifying children and small animals.

Its one saving grace, besides being vegan- and animal-friendly: The sunscreen doesn’t stay on as greasy as other brands I’ve used in the past—even though it contains white camellia, organic shea butter, and organic jojoba oil for hydration—but, considering it costs almost $8 for a 4oz. tube, I think I’ll still give it a miss the next time I’m down the shopping aisle.

Photo by yamiq, under a Creative Commons license

Answer summer’s call to sun, surf, and sand, if you must, but remember to slather on the sunscreen, wherever you may roam, to ward off crispy bits, premature aging, and potential skin cancer caused by the sun’s UV rays.

But the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) hasn’t approved new chemicals sunscreens since 1978, which means that the United States has at least 12 fewer approved—and possibly safer and more effective—sun-blocking ingredients than Europe does. (If you do some quick mental math, that means the FDA has been dawdling on this matter for the past 29 years; it made its last resolution back when the Internet was merely a gleam in Al Gore’s eye, Michael Jackson still looked human, and I was a mewling bairn whose only concern was making doodie.) At the same time, sunscreen products on the shelves go largely unregulated, says the Environmental Working Group, which analyzed the safety and effectiveness of more than 700 name-brand sunscreens.

The Washington, D.C.-based non-profit found that a staggering 84 percent of 785 sunscreen products (with an SPF rating of 15 or higher) offered inadequate protection from the sun’s rays or contained questionable ingredients. “Ironically, some popular sunscreen chemicals break down when exposed to sunlight and must be formulated with stabilizing chemicals,” says EWG, in a press release. “Others penetrate the skin and present significant health concerns.”

In fact, EWG found 50 percent of the products currently on the market to bear claims—such as “all day protection”, “mild as water,” and “blocks all harmful rays”—on their bottles that are “unacceptable” or misleading under the FDA’s draft sunscreen-safety standards. Because the FDA’s standards have not been finalized, however, companies are free to flout and hype up claims that have led to recent class-action lawsuits, involving major brands such as Hawaiian Tropic, Banana Boat, Bull Frog, and Neutrogena, in California, says EWG.

Of the 700-plus sunscreen products EWG scrutinized, it can recommend only 130. It promotes caution with 618 of the products and suggests outright avoiding 37 of them. (Learn more about the methodology used here.)

Check out EWG’s database of sunscreen products it rates the best or considers the worst. Or use its search tool to find out how your current sunscreen product rates. Plus, if you have to spend any amount of time outdoors, be sure to read these tips for both grownups and kids. Apply sunscreen early and apply often. Well, unless looking like freshly tanned leather (or Dina Lohan) is your thing—I don’t judge¹.

¹I will completely judge you.

Poster for Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soapbox

Genius or madman? The late great Dr. Emanuel Bronner, a chemist and third-generation master soapmaker from an orthodox Jewish family in Germany, was likely a little bit of both. In 1947, after escaping from a Chicago mental institution to California, Bronner created the formula for “Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soap,” a peppermint-infused, all-natural liquid soap with myriad applications—from lathering up in the shower to washing your floors to, according to one customer, self-administering enemas—that was quickly embraced by the flower children of the free-love generation.

Around the same time, the self-declared rabbi (and alleged nephew of Albert Einstein) developed an ever-evolving philosophy—or a trippy set of hectoring and often nonsensical-sounding rants, depending on how you saw them—known as “The Moral ABCs,” the text of which he inserted onto the label of each bottle of his soap, with the goal of “uniting Spaceship Earth.” Waking up people to the fact that we were children of the same divine source and that we were “All-One!” proved, however, more important than his children, who were shuttled through more than 15 orphanages and foster homes, while their father passionately barreled forth on an unending mission to preach his gospel of cleanliness and intergalactic love.

An entertaining and edifying film about the man behind one of the most environmentally friendly and socially responsible businesses in operation, Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soapbox leads us on a journey of perseverance, obsession, heartbreak, and faith. Seventy percent of the profits from Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps, made from organic and fair-trade ingredients, go toward humanitarian and environmental causes; the top executives of the firm, including Bronner’s son and grandsons, even capped their salaries to never exceed five times the earnings of their lowest-wage workers.

The hub and I—both fans of the good doctor’s lavender bar soap—caught Dr. Bronner’s by chance when we flipped over to Sundance Channel’s The Green, but the film is also screening in theaters nationwide. Check the movie’s Web site for listings. (You can also watch a clip here.)

Spaceship Earth is lifting off—and how.

Photo by Andrea Chu/Getty Images

From BBC News: “New parents who choose eco-friendly or ethical goods for their babies can pay as much as £700 a year extra, according to new research.”

John Reeve, Chief Executive of Family Investments [which commissioned the study] said: “The cost of being a parent is growing and the added pressure now of choosing ethical or organic products can overwhelm parents living on stretched budgets, especially as families learn to cope with the cost of a new baby.”

What this story doesn’t add is that it’s possible to live frugally and consciously—buying gently used, for instance, won’t wallop your wallet. You can also make your own green cleaning supplies, and even skincare products. Fresh organic produce can also be affordable if you try growing your own, or by joining a co-op or a community-supported agriculture (CSA) group. (You can also just avoid the conventional produce that have the highest pesticide loads if money is truly tight.)

Live simply, but also live richly.

Photo from Amazon.com

(Part of my Green This House program.)

I picked up Pangea Organics’ Pyrenees Lavender with Cardamom Hand & Body Lotion a while ago to quell the complaints of my thirsty winter skin. (I never got around to whipping up my own.) Although somewhat pricey at $15.99 for 8 oz.—compared with, say $5.99 for 18 oz. of something in its class by St. Ives—the moisturizer gets a low hazard score of 0.3 by the Environmental Working Group, while St. Ives’ range of bath and body products get hazard scores ranging from a moderate 1.6 to a danger-danger-Will-Robinson 4.1, likely because of potentially cancer-causing parabens and other chemicals I have trouble pronouncing. (Pangea says it never uses petrochemicals, synthetic ingredients, sulfates, detergents, dyes, or artificial fragrances in its products.)

The calming lavender scent is pleasing without being cloying; the spicy upper notes of cardamom—a scent chai-lovers will instantly recognize—though sharp, never veer into becoming pungent. Made with mostly organic ingredients, the lotion doesn’t dry as sticky as Farmaesthetics’ Nourishing Lavender Milk ($25 for 8 oz.) does, but it’s also not as emollient, which means ultradry skin may prefer to go with Farmasethetics’ lotion.

Pangea rather vaguely states it is “cruelty-free,” but doesn’t carry the little leaping-bunny logo on its products, so it’s hard to tell what it’s animal-testing policies are. I e-mailed the company and was told that it doesn’t test on animals, but frequently tests on its own (human) staff, instead. I’d still like to see the leaping bunny make an appearance, however, to remove any lingering edge of doubt from that nondescript phrase.

An eco-friendly piece of trivia: According to the company’s Web site, Pangea’s bodycare products, once applied, start biodegrading in 48 hours, while other conventional products that contain chemical-foaming agents can take closer to 200 years to break down. That’s just not cool.

Image by Mad Gabs

I love Mad Gabs, not just because it’s a small, woman-owned business, but also because it makes the BEST lip balm EVER for my über-dry, chapped winter lips. And okay, I think the moose lips are a hoot and a half, too. Who doesn’t love moose lips? The company is based in Maine, which is where my sister found the blackberry-flavored Moose Smooch lip balm—in a recyclable tin, no less—that she got me. Mad Gabs products are free of petroleum or petroleum derivatives, synthetics, artificial flavors, or fragrance oils. (The lip balm contains only olive oil, beeswax, Vitamin E oil, and natural flavor, so pucker up, buttercup.) And ever since owner Gab discovered the “horrors of paraffin” (more in a future post), she started making 100-percent-soywax candles scented with essential-oil blends.

The Holiday Moose collection, with sugar-cookie- and candy-cane-flavored body balms and lip smoochers, make fun yet practical stocking stuffers for your mistletoe close-up. (From $3, Mad Gabs)

Here’s a letter we recieved from reader Melanie:

Dear Chekhov,

I have been having issues with beauty packaging lately. I ran out of the hair goop I like to use and I am looking for a refillable replacement or something that doesn’t come in a plastic container. Ideally I would like to be able to make some myself because I think that would be better for the environment and better for my budget. Any suggestions?

Click here for more »

I’ll be at Inside Beauty 2006 all of tomorrow to bring you the scoop on the latest in natural skin care and beauty. Stay tuned, cadets!

Here’s a really quick, easy, and cheap skin-care trick: use a tablespoon of white cane sugar (preferably organic and fair trade) with a carrier—such as lemon juice (for oily skin), olive oil (for dry skin), plain organic yogurt, or aloe vera gel—as a facial scrub.

Sugar contains glycolic acid, which is a potent alpha-hydroxy acid, to smooth skin and slough away dead cells. Rinse with warm water and remember to apply an astringent, such as diluted apple cider vinegar or witch hazel extract and water, to close your pores after.

Your skin will feel incredibly silky.

Related articles:
1. Pinch of Salt
2. One Good Egg

Photo by Amy Eckert/Getty Images

(Part of my Green This House program.)

Rainshow’r Shower Head
Mentioned previously here, suffice to say, we love it. The hub marvels at the higher water-jet pressure despite the shower head being lower flow (due to its great many pinhole perforations). I love the pause switch that saves gallons of water during lathering, but doesn’t lose your carefully calibrated balance of hot and cold water. Plus, the dechlorinating filter, which is supposed to last six to nine months for a family of four, can be mailed to a company that will recycle it at the end of its life.

DIY Skin & Hair Care
My skin is so much happier and clearer since I began mixing up my own skin-care products, and the cost savings have been substantial. Plus, everything is completely edible, which is always the safest bet health-wise when you’re debating over what to smear on your face. I don’t even buy commercial hair conditioner at all, now, but prefer a mix of olive oil, lemon juice/apple cider vinegar, and a few drops of tea tree oil. (Occasionally I add an egg yolk.)

Newbie Gardening
I have a wee catnip seedling and an even-more wee lemon balm seedling growing in TerraNotta pots on my windowsill. A broadleaf thyme cutting I planted taught me a hard lesson about misting young leaves in the mid-afternoon and encouraging leaf burn. Poo. Oh well, ever onward, upward. Oh, I also have three lavender seeds in an Earth Plug I’m quite excited about. (Poor hub has to endure my bursts of “Grow For Me” from Little Shop of Horrors because he’s married to a complete ham.) I didn’t get to go to the farm on Sunday because we weren’t able to get a ride, but I’m sure other opportunities will arise (even if I have to put a bell on Chekhov and pretend he’s a cow). Update: Cause of plant death may in fact be Felis cattus. We made a protective cloche out of an empty cider jug.

Cat Litter
Remember our non-sustainable litter box? I finally managed to convince the hub to unplug the beastly thing. Because the corn-based cat litter we use is biodegradable and flushable, it’s easy to just scoop any kitty byproducts when we visit the bathroom and send it whooshing down the toilet. Chekhov sometimes leans over the toilet to watch, a bit aghast. Most notably, our bathroom doesn’t smell as it sometimes did before.

Bamboo Cutting Board
I am absolutely over-the-moon in love with our attractive, functional, and sustainable bamboo cutting board. It really makes it much more of a joy to prepare food on, as silly as it sounds.

Photo by Dale Windham/Getty Images

Did you know that the skin around your eyes lacks natural oil glands to keep them moisturized? Neither did I until fairly recently, but this explains why the skin around your peepers tend to get dry and wrinkled with age, as well as account for the popularity of under-eye serums. (I admit to having bought one or two in my lifetime, because I’ve been genetically cursed with permanent dark rings I have to keep slathered with concealer so children and small animals don’t flee from me in complete terror. At least, for that particular reason.)

In this excessive heat and humidity, you probably should skip the moisturizing step of your skin-care regimen unless you have inordinately dry skin. You shouldn’t neglect those baby blues (or browns), however. The searing sun can cause a fair amount of damage to those delicate membranes, so I’d recommend sunglasses or a hat. I have a baseball cap I wear when braving the natural elements, even when I’m wearing a summery frock. Yes, I may look like a fashioned-impaired doofus, but who’ll really be laughing when your skin resembles Lindsay Lohan’s reptilian leather after another night of binge-drinking (and just before she admits herself into the hospital for “exhaustion.”) P.S.: You ain’t fooling anyone, Linds.

Right now, I’m experimenting with an under-eye formula that’s one part jojoba oil and one part aloe vera gel. (If you can’t get the actual aloe plant, look for gel that is at least 99 percent pure because synthetics abound on the market.) To figure out which natural oil is best for your skin type, turn to Care2.com’s handy guide:

• Almond: A high protein oil that is lubricating and particularly good for dry skin.
• Apricot kernel: Rich, lubricating, soothing and emollient. Great for lip balm.
• Cocoa Butter: Water repellent, protective, helpful for dry skin, with some sun blocking qualities.
• Grapeseed Oil: One of the least greasy oils that is ideal for protective creams, such as sun screens and blocks, for those with oily skin.
• Lanolin: The fat from sheep (found in pharmacies as anhydrous lanolin). Lanolin is a very rich, water repellent, oily cream, best for older skin, or skin that is cracked and chapped.
• Peanut: A good oil for dry skin because it is nondrying, it is also nutritious and quite adequate for most skin types.
• Sesame: An oil with natural sunscreen qualities, it is rich and anti-inflammatory.
• Jojoba: Technically a liquid wax which will never go rancid, jojoba is a good lubricant for most skin types.
• Olive Oil: Olive oil is a slow dryer, and won’t go rancid for a long time. Olive oil is better for younger skin.
• Shea Butter: Used frequently in moisturizes as a natural sunscreen, it is also a great emollient and moisturizer. Ideal for older skin.
• Wheat Germ Oil: A very nutritious oil rich in vitamin E. The vitamin E provides preservative properties, and this oil is used for the reason in some products.

MakeYourOwnCosmetics.com has another natural dark-circle remover its contributor claims will show results in a week, but it sounds much too involved for someone without a juicer (or who is lazy, like me). If you’re made of tougher mettle, let me know if it works.

If you’re really lazy, check out the Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep site for natural around-eye creams with low hazard scores. (0.3 is the highest I’d go because the thin skin around your eyes will absorb any creams like a thirsty sponge on vacation in the Mojave, including any potential carcinogens.)

Photo by Banana Bay Marina

It drives me ape-batty that despite being the ripe ol’ age of 27, I still occasionally wake up to your average teenager’s scream-inducing nightmare: An angry, attitude-throwing pimple that would sooner cut you than look at you, so what’cha gonna do about it, punk? Blame losing the Punnett Square lottery, impetuous hormones, or the damaging heat and pollution of Manhattan in the summer (otherwise known as Satan’s last bacchanal on earth)—and believe you me, I blame ALL of them—but now and then a bulbous sac of pus rears its ugly head and decides it likes this place so much it’s going to move in. Sometimes it brings friends.

Over the weekend, I tried this youthening mask I read about on Care2.com, and found it pretty much had the same function and consistency of clay masks, which help sop up excess oil, while nourishing and hydrating troubled skin. (This is good because I have no idea where I can purchase clay in the offline world. Also, DIY clay masks sound like more trouble than they’re worth and my natural resting state tends towards inertness. We all have our burdens to shoulder.)

So at first I was all “Brewer’s yeast? What the deuce is Brewer’s yeast? Why are the brewers so elitist that they can’t use regular baking yeast?” (Apropos of nothing, years ago, my sister and I started a faux non-profit called Amnestyeast International, to liberate yeast from the horrors of baking and brewing. We had way too much time but, hey, it was better than running around blowing up 7-11s out of boredom.) Anyway, brewer’s yeast is basically the remains of unbridled yeast genocide and is rich in minerals, protein, and B-complex vitamins. You should be able to find Brewer’s yeast in the supplements aisle of any natural-food store, or even GNC.

Care2 tells you to let the flax seeds sit in water first, but I recommend boiling them straight off because otherwise all you’re going to get is very wet flax seeds. (Boiling it for a few minutes causes the seeds to burst and results in a gooey, almost syrupy gel.) A word of warning: the Brewer’s yeast smells DISGUSTING, plus you’ll feel like you’re spreading Marmite/Vegemite all over your face, but the mask dries quickly and you can almost feel your pores getting the life sucked out of them. (In a good way.) Rinsing your face with warm water afterward does leave your skin remarkably soft, as well.

I’ve read in a number of places that taking Brewer’s yeast orally gives you health benefits out the wazoo (especially for vegetarians), but even if you grew up imbibing Marmite like I did and EVEN if you get the “debittered” kind, I’d recommend mixing it in some milk or juice because otherwise your digestive system might pack up and join the circus. And that’s not a fate I’d wish on anyone.

Photo by Robert Daly/Getty Images

Your July 4 mission: Have a foaming hot chocolate milk bath.

From Country Living:

The ingredients in our Foaming Hot Chocolate Milk Bath are packed with skin softeners like lactic acid, found in powdered milk. Soak in this rich milk bath to soothe and soften your skin. Heat 3 tablespoons of dry bath mix with 1/2 cup water and 2 tablespoons olive oil in a pan and bring to a boil. Add the hot mixture to bathwater while the tub is filling.

• 1 cup instant nonfat dry milk
• 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 cup baking soda
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 2 tablespoons cream of tartar
• 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon

Make the milk bath: Combine all ingredients in a jar, cover and store. Keeps for up to 6 months.

Luxuriate in these eco-friendly bathtubs by Durat, made with 50 percent recycled plastic and completely recyclable. [Via Fabulously Green]

More natural skin-care recipes from the magazine here.

I was brainstorming gift ideas, for the anti-consumerist Christmas I plan on making a tradition of … besides, y’know, 12 papier mâchè ash trays lovingly crafted from mulchy copies of the New York Times … when I stumbled upon this online retailer that supplies kits for making your own natural skin- and home-care products. While ostensibly for children, Kits for Crafts has a certain all-ages whimsy and sophistication, as evidenced in its attention to detail and presentation. Already I can tell you, from my hours and hours of experience stalking the aisles of natural food stores and generally bugging out the staff, that the ingredients would cost significantly less if purchased on your own—you can find tons of recipes online or from books—and then packaged with materials gleaned through serendipity or ingenuity. (The hub, who knows me so well, stumbled upon a yard sale the owner of our local tea shop held last week, and secured, for a song, a few bail-handled canning jars that used to house tea leaves—too perfect!)

Still, the site has scores of wonderful packaging ideas, along with ingredients, bottles, jars, and bags à la carte should you desire them. And you can always plonk down a nice chunk of change for the kits if you have more greenbacks than patience. Best of all, however, is the site’s free (yessiree, FREE) Making Labels section, where, once you register your e-mail address, you can download and print pre-designed TOOCUTEFORWORDS labels and embellishments (including those paper outfits above) you can slap on your own fabulous creations.

Photo by Silvestre Machado/Getty Images

(Part of my Green This House program.)

I’m usually disinclined to order anything off the Internet these days because of the additional fuel and pollution burden this extra route creates, not to mention the typically unecological packaging the product is embalmed in. (Amazon.com, I’m looking at you.) Yet, possibly at this moment, a low-flow dechlorinating shower head that you can pause mid-lather is trucking its way to us from California—a genius of an attachment that has been on my to-buy radar forever. (I’ve been pretty crummy at conserving water in the shower because I’m loathe to “lose my place” once I’ve found the right delicate balance of hot and cold water, which makes me feel like a giant jerkwad.)

An article in Care2.com section on skin-care also had this to say:

“The chlorine in tap water assaults your skin,” [Kat] James [author of The Truth About Beauty: Transform Your Looks and Your Life From the Inside Out] says. It’s irritating, it causes free radical damage, and it destroys the skin-nourishing vitamin E in your body. “A shower-water purifying filter eliminates chlorine and will give you the biggest skin-care bang for your buck,” she says. “You’ll notice changes in your skin that you couldn’t get with even the most expensive product regimen.”

I e-mailed Rainshow’r, the only company I was able to find that manufactured this mystical low-flow, pausable, dechlorinating wonder, to find out if any retailer in my area sold its products. No dice. I had to go the online route.

Then I came across Green Home Environmental Store, an e-tailer based in California that doesn’t have a brick-and-mortar store, or any physical warehouses it keeps stocked. Instead, any goods you order are shipped directly from the vendors. The rationale behind this is, surprisingly, pretty green, which made me take heart in my decision:

Green Home takes the shipping of its products and the impact that we have on the environment quite seriously. When you order from most companies, the product you receive has been shipped twice—once from the manufacturer to the warehouse, and then again from the warehouse to you—and in many cases three times as it is moved from warehouse to warehouse. Green Home’s products are shipped directly. So although there can be an added environmental cost in having two shipments vs. one, Green Home’s model often cancels out—or improves on—existing wasteful shipping processes. Although more than one package may go to you, we saved on multiple shipments having to arrive at a centralized warehouse, where they would perhaps sit on shelves and need to get thrown out, or sent back. Also, we strongly encourage our drop-shippers to use a minimum of packing materials, and always try to sell our products in as large a grouping as possible.

Plus, Rainshow’r claims its shower head will reduce water usage up to 50 percent, and that’s probably not even taking into account the gallons I’ve been wasting while I soap up. So long, shower guilt, hello purdy skin!

Photo by Luca Trovato/Getty Images

I feel like I’ve rediscovered Jesus. During my shower, I rubbed on some coarsely ground sea salt with my yogurt-honey cleanser and OINGO BOINGO ON A TOASTED CRACKER, it exfoliated so well it unearthed some pretty deeply entrenched blackheads. (GEE-ROSS yet strangely mesmerizing.) Care2.com says that salt has natural antiseptic qualities and will “draw out impurities.” I’m a believer.

A simple recipe for “instantly smoother skin” from Care2.com recommends separating an egg white into two portions, washing your face with one half, and then patting the second half on your skin and letting it dry for about 10 minutes. As the water content of the egg white evaporates, the albumin pulls your skin taut, hardening almost like a clay-based facial mask. (Tho’ you canth thalk.) At first I thought those Care2 people were CUCKOO FOR COCOA PUFFS, but washing off the egg white with warm water for the second time really does have a remarkably softening effect on your skin, likely due to the moisturizing and protein-rich content of the egg white. Cracking the top of a cage-free, free-range organic chicken egg¹ and following these no fuss, no muss directions is now something I incorporate into my skin-care regimen twice a week. I don’t have the wherewithal to painstakingly bubble and decant the 90 kinds of essential oils some natural skin-care recipes (insanely) require, but this one’s a cinch.

Slathering on the egg white on your face gets kind of goopy, but at least it’s sheer enough that you wouldn’t scare your brother into hightailing it in your opposite direction while shrieking something about the Phantom of the Opera. Not that I would know personally, of course.

So now you’re left with egg yolk—save it for the next time you wash your hair and massage it into your scalp like a conditioner. (You can also try pairing it with castor oil or one of these other suggestions.)

And don’t throw away the eggshell. Crushing the shell and sprinkling the shards around your more-precious foliage will deter hungry slugs and snails. Alternatively, you can grind up the eggshell, stir it with some cornmeal and scatter the mix around some bird feeders. The calcium from the eggshell will help nesting feathered types lay better eggs. If you crack the top of the egg just right and wash the shell out, you can even use it as a starting pot¹ for wee seedlings. How’s that for zero-waste pampering?

¹Mine are from a farm in New Jersey where the chickens are “free-roaming” and “fed an all-natural diet.” I want to rear two chickens when we move to a place with a yard, however. I’ve already decided to name them Miss Lucinda and Miss Henrietta. They will have bonnets. Okay maybe just on Easter.

²No need for the Fakey MacFakeysons. Display them in an open egg carton for ze tres-country-chic look.

More reasons to make your own skin-care products than you can shake a honey-and-sugar-scrubbed fist at.

From Natural Beauty at Home: More Than 250 Easy to Use Recipes for Body,Bath, and Hair (Revised Edition) by Janice Cox:

Making your own beauty products is simple to do, cost-effective, and fun. Even though I occasionally purchase cosmetics, I find that my own recipes work just as well, if not better, than commercial brands because they are pure and undiluted. You control the ingredients used, and you know there is no cruel animal testing involved.

I have always focused on the enjoyment of making my own cosmetics, but I cannot ignore the cost savings. When you realize what you have been spending on commercial products and how much it costs to create you own homemade versions, you’ll be amazed and delighted. The cost of these ingredients is nothing compared to what companies spend on packaging and marketing their products, which is reflected in their retail prices. You can purchase a honey toner from a well-known natural cosmetics manufacturer for sixteen dollars, or you can make the Honey Toner recipe on page 51 for around eighty-five cents—quite a difference! I once met a lady in her seventies who had worked her whole life for a major cosmetics firm. She told me I could do just as well spreading vegetable shortening on my face as using their most expensive night cream. Many women spend sixty to seventy dollars for expensive night and eye creams when they could make their own products for a few dollars.

Today you can’t pass a cosmetics shop or display without seeing the world natural. All of a sudden, “back to basics” is a trend, and less is definitely better when it comes to beauty and beauty products. There are even natural beauty boutiques now where the products are so fresh you must rush home and pop them in the refrigerator and throw them out after a few days. Commercial companies cannot make cosmetics fresher than you can at home. Time works against them as they mass-produce their products and transport them to retail outlets. Commercial products are made to handle any possible problem that could arise before you purchase them. They are made to withstand a wide range of temperatures (from freezing to boiling) and have a very long shelf life.

Thanks to the yogurt-and-honey cleanser and apple cider vinegar toner I’ve mixed up for daily use, my sister and mother have both remarked that my erstwhile blotchy skin has noticeably improved. (Huzzah!) According to Care2.com, yogurt contains lactic acid, an alpha-hydroxy acid that exfoliates and nourishes while evening out skin tone. Honey heals skin and promote circulation; apple cider vinegar is a natural astringent that balances your skin’s pH at the same time.

Books I’ve placed on hold at my local library for further homemade skin-care machinations:

1. Natural Beauty at Home: More Than 250 Easy to Use Recipes for Body,Bath, and Hair (Revised Edition) by Janie Cox

2. Natural Beauty Basics: Create Your Own Cosmetics and Body Care Products by Dorie Byers

3. The Herbal Home Spa: Naturally Refreshing Wraps, Rubs, Lotions, Masks, Oils, and Scrubs by Greta Breedlove

(Part of my Green This House program.)

My dear friend Juanita kvetched to me about the cost of natural skin-care products—the kind that’s free of known and suspected carcinogenic, reproductive, and developmental toxins. “I’m not willing to sell my kidney just yet,” she muttered. Well I hear you and raise you a liver, girlfriend, because lordy, peace of mind doesn’t come without some serious kaching. But, being the smart alecky kid that I am, I told her she could save a tidy sum simply by raiding her kitchen cabinet and refrigerator, which works brilliantly for inexpensive and au naturale cleaning liquids, as well. Free yourself from the shackles of the capitalist consumerist machine, I whooped, only partly in jest.

When I found out that a tiny 8 oz. bottle of facial cleaner (with a very low hazard score of 0.3) ran for $15.48, I blanched. Instead, I made my bar of soap pull double duty in the shower for a while. (If it was good enough for our forebears, it’s good enough for me.) Then I came across a recipe for an exfoliating sugar scrub that was simply one-quarter cup brown sugar, one tablespoon of honey, and a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar. I’m not one to gush over skin care, but I did feel inordinately radiant and fresh after I gave it a shot one day.

Apple cider vinegar mixed with some water also works amazingly well as a skin toner. (You just have to get over the smell and tell your spouse to zip it.) It also conditions your tresses beautifully while ridding you of shampoo buildup.

Besides saving you money, homemade skin- and hair-care formulas also dispense with petroleum-based plastic packaging, which does add up, even for the most diligent of tree-huggers. (You might want to invest in a spray bottle or two in the beginning, however. Don’t reuse any containers that were filled with toxic chemicals before. In other words, chuck that used Windex bottle with the recyclables.) You also know exactly what you’re spreading across your skin without having to worry about synthetic additives or shelf-life-prolonging preservatives. And look, Ma, no extra food miles!

Peruse the cornucopia of skin-care recipes here and here. Or just Google “skin care recipes” or similar. Help save the planet, your health, and your pocketbook, while looking BEE-YOO-TI-FUL throughout.