Hippyshopper

SteriPEN Classic UV Light Water Purifier

Combining Star Trek-like cool factor with the simple practicality of a drug-free way to make dubious water safe to drink, the SteriPEN Classic UV Light Water Purifier destroys viruses, bacteria and cysts with a swizzle of the stick.  Since it doesn't use chemicals it's safer for the environment - it doesn't create resistant strains - and it'll make you feel better without your needing more water bottles.  $100 USD.  [GT]

SteriPEN Classic UV Light Water Purifier

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COLD-fX ginseng remedy gets nod from Health Canada

COLD-fX is a ginseng-based remedy which claims "to reduce the frequency, severity and duration of cold and flu symptoms by boosting the immune system."  Health Canada just said, yes, COLD-fX does indeed meet its immune-boosting claims and can continue to advertise them.  COLD-fX is based on ancient Chinese herbal remedies, but has also gone through analysis of its ten years' use plus seven clinical trials.  First popularized by hockey players, it is now expected to come into wider use since it's got some government backing.  [GT]

COLD-fX

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Dr. Hauschka seeks models

Models come in all shapes and sizes (and none) these days, and restrictions have been stretched to a surprising size 16 in one high profile talent search. But skincare experts Dr Hauschka have gone a step further in the search for a new face of the brand, with only one stipulation for applicants: they must live in the UK and use Dr Hauschka products. Get in!

So, if you're male, female, a baby or grandparent - and use the natural skincare range - this could be your big break. For an application form, contact Becca on 01386 791049, or visit Dr Haushka's website. If you've not yet discovered their products, check out our related stories:
 

Dr. Hauschka in/formal consultations | Mmm, moisturiser

A Lush offer

Lush still leads the way in natural, bunny friendly, scrummy smelly stuff, and here's a great excuse to bag yourself some more of their goodies: Order anything from their website, and you can choose 100g of soap for free. All their soaps are vegetarian, most are vegan, and they're packed with fresh ingredients.

They were running this offer in stores as well, and Kiss and Makeup's Charlotte bagged a free block of 'I Should Coco', which we'd recommend to any coconut lovers - it smells yummy and due to the bits of coconut, gives you a good scrub too. Find out all about the offer and order yours on the Lush site.

[Via Kiss and Makeup]

Blooming marvellous lippy from Cargo

It's all coming up roses in the makeup department this year! Cosmetics company Cargo has just launched Plantlove, an eco friendly, ultra-trendy lipstick range that boasts the first biodegradable lipstick tube made from corn instead of the usual plastic. And the lipstick itself is all made from good, clean stuff, containing no mineral oils or petroleum, and a botanical formula with shea butter and vitamin E that's kind to lips.

lBut the bit that really made me go 'squee!' is that the outer packaging is made from flower paper encrusted with real wildflower seeds to make your garden (or in my case, dodgy window box) look gorgeous this spring too. I just hope the Cargo are not merely paying lip-service (boom boom) to such an important issue, and that this won't just be a seasonal fad.

[Via our sister site Kiss and Makeup]

Love yourself: love the planet

Instead of mass-produced cosmetics full of questionable dyes and preservatives, Love the Planet gives you the option of beauty-boosters hand made in small batches using essential oils and sustainable raw materials. No parabens, mineral oils, SLS, GM ingredients, and it's completely vegan. Shown here are their washable cleaning pads, at 5 for £6. Instead of disposable cotton balls, simply toss the pads in the wash and use again. [GT]

Love the Planet

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The WaterRower Oxbridge - all the fun of the river without leaving your living room

Gym equipment - it just ain't pretty. And yes, I know that the best thing for fitness (and avoiding unnecessary consumerism) is to simply go outside for a walk, but let's face it - that's not always fun in the British climate.

Don't clutter up your home with nasty metal-and-rubber objects, though; check out the WaterRower Oxbridge. It combines beautiful cherry wood construction (which, the website claims is ecologically-sound) with a water-filled mechanism. This simulates the experience of actually rowing on a river, which is just about as close to the real thing as I'd like to get.

The WaterRower Oxbridge: £1000 from John Lewis.

[Via GadgetCandy]

Related: Eco Yoga | Yogabugs | Health spas: choose carefully

Mobile phone cancer risk to be investigated

Professor Lawrie Challis is planning a study of 200,000 mobile users over five years to establish once and for all whether handsets pose an increased risk of cancer.

Although research thus far has failed to find a link, Challis makes the point that things such as cigarette smoking and asbestos took ten years of widespread exposure before significant links to health showed up.

Also, an earlier Danish study did appear to find a marginally increased risk of certain types of brain tumour among long-term mobile users. Professor Challis, who is chairman of the government-sponsored mobile telecommunications health research programme, calls this a “hint”.

[Via The Times and MSN] 

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White Cloud Trading health-boosting wool duvets

It's easy to think of wool as a stifling, sticky, scratchy horror, but that's only what happens when wool is handled improperly. If the lanolin is stripped it has no protection against dust mites; if mixed with a synthetic it can no longer breathe. Natural wool with the lanolin intact is naturally resistant to dust mites, plus an excellent insulator. Warm in the winter and cool in the summer, just like cotton, it is the perfect modern blanket material. Those at White Cloud Trading got into wool duvets for precisely these reasons, plus their personal experiences with magnet therapy. (My experience with magnet therapy is that it is goofy, but, one man's goofiness is another man's religion - and the duvets themselves sound top-drawer.) [GT]

White Cloud Trading wool duvets

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Review: Rosa Fina Skincare products from Barefoot Botanicals

In my continuing search for the perfect skincare range, I've been trying out the Rosa Fina range from Barefoot Botanicals. The company creates organic skincare products that are choc full of essential oils and natural plant extracts, avoiding petrochemicals and other potentially harmful substances. The Rosa Fina products are produced using "oil expressed from the macerated seeds of a wild rose growing only in the Chilean Andes" (so not good news for your global footprint, I'm afraid). According to the blurb, "Rosa Mosqueta oil... has been used by the indigenous population for all kinds of skin problems related to ageing" and the products are touted as being good for wrinkles, stretch marks and scars. So how did I get on with them? Find out, after the turn.

The colour of the Rosa Fina Intensive Facial Radiance Cream (£19.95) is truly a sight to behold. Bright yellow is not a colour I tend to associate with moisturiser, and the smell offered a similarly arresting sensual surprise, which won't suit those who prefer more delicate scents. I quite liked it, however.

When it came to using the moisturiser, I found it reluctant to go on and clingy. It certainly left my face feeling smooth, and it wasn't oily, but a slightly sticky finish made putting makeup over the top difficult. However, if you don't wear foundation, you may find this moisturiser suits you perfectly. Getting it to absorb into your skin may take a bit of persuasion, but it does leave you with soft, matte skin.

The Rosa Fina Body Conditioning Lotion (£24.95) suffered similarly clingy tendencies, leaving my skin feeling soft, but without that nice glowing lustre I like from a body lotion.

But while the moisturisers disappointed, the Rosa Fina Intensive Radiance Face Oil (£24.95) was sheer bliss. It makes your skin feel lovely, leaves you with a nice glow, and (slightly counter-intuitively) doesn't make your skin oily. While I wasn't sold on the moisturisers, I really did like the face oil and I'd certainly recommend you check it out. [Katie Lee]

Rosa Fina Skincare range from Barefoot Botanicals

Related: More product reviews on Hippyshopper | More Health & Beauty on Hippyshopper

Used the Rosa Fina Range before? Tell us what you thought of it!

Google and Milk Thistle saves family from death

My grandmother always swore milk thistle was the best thing for my screwed-up liver; she's mentioned it on many occasions over the years and I'm afraid I've always relegated it to the same category as the books I read at her place on spontaneous human combustion.  However, she is sometimes exceptionally right (I am descended from her, after all) and she's definitely come out on the side of the milk thistle angels.  Milk thistle extract just saved five family members from death cap mushroom poisoning.

Though I should point out it was a drug made from the extract, prescription-grade, and that the drugstore milk thistle supplement did not help. Nevertheless, something to discuss with my doctor next time she writes me my usual eight-ten prescriptions. (Wish that was an overstatement.) The story also speaks to the power of the internet: though actually obtaining the drugs was expensive (they had to be couriered from Germany to California) the research happened essentially at lightspeed. Finally, it implies the potential dangers associated with using supplements without knowing precisely what they do. If milk thistle is that powerful, you do run risk of damaging yourself by using it carelessly. Natural does not mean safe. [GT]

A life-or-death situation: Family poisoned by mushrooms first to receive experimental treatment [via Metafilter]

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Solar-powered hearing aid

Godisa - Africa's only hearing aid manufacturer and the only one in the world making them specifically for the sub-Saharan Africa environment - has released the SolarAid.

It is a combination of hearing aid and a lightweight solar-charger that charges the two small batteries.

Batteries that don't need to be replaced and are free to recharge make the hearing aids affordable as well as environmentally-friendly. A fully-charged battery lasts for four to six days, which sounds good to me.

Godisa [Via AmericanInventorSpot]

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'OK to go to health spas, but choose carefully' say reports

I have to admit I'm a sucker for a bit of pampering, and what better way to recover from the stress and excess of the festive season than luxuriating in one of the UK's growing number of health spas? Around now, when I'm just beginning to mourn those summertime riverside ambles and long walks in Holland Park, the warmth and calm of the spa certainly seems like the best way to beat the January blues...

And it seems I'm far from alone. No longer the preserve of the super-rich, many more Britons are heading for these havens of calm, and according to the International Spa Assocition, the sector doubled in size between 1999 and 2003. The days of freezing our proverbials off in the local baths are now well behind us.

But what are all those pumps and heaters that fuel the gallons of water in our beloved jaccuzzis and steam rooms doing to the environment, you might wonder? (If you're not too busy drifting into a higher plane of consciousness as you enjoy a hot stone massage, that is.) The answer, in many cases is clearly 'not a lot of good', but as firm believers in living green lives we can actually enjoy, we're happy to alert you to a recent article in the Guardian that lists a few of the new breed of eco-spas that rely on natural resources for a guilt-free, ecologically sound spa experience. And...relax!

 

World of NZ Manuka honey

Manuka honey is darker and richer than clover honey, and has antibacterial properties that are medically recognized in New Zealand and Australia. Comvita Standard Active Manuka Honey is cold-processed to retain these properties, and recommended for everything from pneumonia to leg ulcers. £9.95 for 500 grams, plus £1.95 P + P. [GT]

Comvita Standard Active Manuka Honey

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Essence of France

You won't be able to get any until the New Year because they've stopped shipping until 2 January, but Essence of France offers such yummy-looking organic French soaps, bath salts and organic flower waters that, patient Hippy that you are, you won't mind a wait. Shown here is their Rose Petal Skin Cream, 60g for a very modest £8.45, loaded with Rose Geranium, Rosewood and Rose Absolute essential oils in a rich mix of olive oil, shea butter and aloe vera (all organic, of course). [GT]

Essence of France

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2006 roundup #34: How to die green

Your last environmental choice involves what happens to you after you're gone.  Do you get pumped full of chemicals that'll leach into the groundwater, and shoved into a really expensive (between £500 and £5000 typically) box that'll get crushed underground after only a couple of days' usage?  Or do you return to the earth from whence you sprang, with options like the Acorn Urn (compressed newspaper, tasteful, and at £45, hardly a burden on your heirs) or the Woodland Burial, where you gently decompose into robin food (via the worm)?  [GT]

Original stories: Acorn Urn | Woodland Burial

2006 roundup #39: Purely Shea fair trade and organic shea butter lasts and lasts

I reviewed Purely Shea shea butter back at the first of August, and despite liberal usage of their 100 gram pot there's barely a scratch on the surface.  It's great for everything from cracked lips to cracked heels, from burned elbows to use as a complexion moisturizer.  "A little goes a long way," I said back then; five months later it's obviously true.  Thumbs up.  [GT]

Original review: Purely Shea shea butter

There Must Be A Better Way Cosmetics

Those who have sensitive skin find cosmetics bring more beastliness than beauty, but often organics give the maidenly glow one truly wants. There Must Be A Better Way offers both polishes and scents, cochineal-free lipstick, organic cotton towels, and other goods to let you set up a safe, cozy spa in your own adjoining. All products are vegetarian-safe and most are vegan. They also have a selection of Children's products that they recommend for the ultra-ultra sensitive. [GT]

There Must Be A Better Way

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Monday ethical celeb: Jackie Chan Organic Skin Care

Kung-fu divinity Jackie Chan has, yes, lent his name to a brand new line of organic skin care products. It's not simply about putting some green in his pockets; Chan is a committed environmentalist who wants this dirty area cleaned up. The packaging is all made of recycled materials, the products are non-polluting, and a chunk of the profits go to the Jackie Chan Charitable Foundation. Plus, the goods themselves just look yummy enough to be their own reward. [GT]

Jackie Chan Skin Care Line Introduced at Cosmoprof Asia [via ecorazzi]

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Not Just Tourists delivers medical supplies on vacation

You may never have been in the situation of trying to have prescriptions delivered to you in a foreign country, but let me assure you, it's nerve-wracking and loaded with arbitrary paperwork.  So imagine if you were trying to deliver needed medical supplies to hundreds, maybe thousands of people - the P + P charges alone can swamp you!  Not Just Tourists is a new project addressing this problem one suitcase at a time.  If you're going to a developing country, or Cuba, and haven't hit your baggage limit, you can sign up to take a pre-packed bag of medical supplies with you.  Antibiotics are the most desperately needed (and they never send narcotics or other controlled substances) but if you're not comfortable transporting drugs at all, you can take crutches, splints, even just bandages.  "Taking medical supplies to the people of Cuba enriched a very enjoyable vacation for Diane and I. We would do it again in a heartbeat."  For more information, visit NotJustTourists.org.  (And if you make it a Treeflight also, and heaven exists, you're sure to go there when the time comes.)  [GT]

NotJustTourists.org

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CDC says: herbal treatments have most benefit, risk

While herbal remedies are a good bet for some health problems, they can also create new ones. "For some conditions like depression and chronic pain, herbs might be a less toxic, less extreme kind of solution," says Kennedy. "These kinds of conditions are tough to treat effectively with conventional drug treatment." But in the case of blood thinners - feverfew, garlic, ginkgo, ginseng, and ginger - they can compound to make you a mini-haemophiliac. Also, ginseng alters blood glucose levels and should never be used by people with diabetes. The biggest problems are that people using herbal remedies almost never tell their doctors, and herbal remedies are often unregulated so purity and strength is a crapshoot. In an extreme case: Researchers from Columbia University and the City University of New York tested 11 commercially available brands of black cohosh, used to treat symptoms of menopause, and found that three of those products contained no black cohosh at all. Caveat emptor indeed! [GT]

Herbal remedies reviewed

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Summer Naturals: natural product ethically packaged

A giant bottle of vinegar may not seem like an exciting stockist item at first glance, but if it allows you to eliminate expensive and unpleasant cleaning products from your cubbyhole under the sink, by Jove, it is so. a href="http://www.summernaturals.co.uk/">Summer Naturals provides huge sized bicarb of soda, vinegar, and essential oils, allowing you to whip up your own green cleaning products at a very modest price and the comfort of knowing exactly what you're bringing into your house. Eco Street has a great interview with Summer Naturals founder, Anne Summers, talking about how she got into it with "a set of Eco Balls and the delivery of some council recycling bins. Before she knew it, she’d accidentally started an online shop selling all those hard to find supplies for making your own, simple cleaning products that are kinder to the environment." [GT]

Summer Naturals [via EcoStreet]

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PrAna ECO Mat lacks evil PVC

You do yoga in order to naturally realign your joints, muscles and breathing (and perhaps spirituality as well). Unfortunately, most yoga mats are going to mess with that by shooting the fresh scent of PVC right up your nose, and rubbing it all over your skin. An alternative is the ECO Sticky mat from PrAna, which is made without heavy metals or PVC (although they don't say what it is made from). $44 USD. Available in lavender, orange and lime. [GT]

ECO Sticky mat

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Bamboo Towels from Ecocentric

What, you may ask, makes the EcoCentric bamboo towels more exciting than any other bamboo towel we've mentioned so far? The answer is, darling, all bamboo towels are exciting, and these are as exciting as any other. Made of 70% bamboo and 30% unbleached cotton, they are - as all bamboo towels - anti-bacterial, anti-static and anti-fungal. If you've got teenagers, you're probably already halfway to buying a set. Washcloths £3, hand towels £9, bath towels £18 and bath sheets £28. [GT]

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New French guide to herbal supplements

Protégez-Vous, the largest consumer watchdog in Quebec, has launched a new guide to natural health products. The Guide des produits de santé naturels is 96 pages, covers 50 natural supplements from echinacea to St. John's Wort, and costs $9.95 CAD. As always, remember: that it's natural doesn't make it healthy. Arsenic is natural! [GT]

Guide des produits de santé naturels

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Ethical celebrity sighting: France quits smoking in public

A year after taking away Jean Paul Sartre's cigarette the French government has decreed that nobody shall smoke in public in the entire country. While this is unquestionbly good - it's a partial health boon and a partial boon in the undoubtedly enormous collection of fines the police will collect from violators - at the same time, it is a little sad to think of Paris without her cigarettes. Helas, even the city of romance has to grow up. Will Canadians give up the donut next? [GT]

Ban threatens French lifestyles

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Weleda super-clean almond facial masque

Weleda Almond Masque is designed to have the minimum necessary ingredients, to make it viable for those with sensitive skin or allergies, and vegan ingredients, for those who want ethical beauty. No fragrance, preservatives, colour, minerals or, obviously, animal products or testing. A mix of cucumber, almond and carrot, it support[s] the skin's natural forces of regeneration, helping the skin to regain its natural balance. And who couldn't use more natural balance? £6.80 for 30ml. [GT]

Weleda Almond Masque

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Visionary Organic Ylang Ylang Soap

Ylang ylang, ground paprika, water, olive and coconut oil - and that's it, in Visionary Soap Company's Organic Ylang Ylang Soap. Each bar varies in size a little since they're hand-cut, running between 100 and 110 grams for £3.45. Fair trade, 100% vegan, and in sustainable packaging. Their promotional materials are also on the move - to recycled paper, banana fiber labels, and hemp. Sounds like breakfast! [GT]

Visionary Soap Company's Organic Ylang Ylang Soap

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Greensand all natural Dead Sea and olive oil soap

The botanicals in Greensand natural handmade soap are grown in the owners' backyard, or in their friends' yards. Without pesticides, of course. Their Castille soap is 100% olive oil and all their other soaps contain at least 50% olive oil. They also believe - as do I! - that when it comes to soap (and many other comestibles) the shorter the ingredient list, the better the product. They create with old-school "cold process", which keeps in the glycerine so your skin turns out tip-top. £3.50 a bar and available in six varieties, notably avocado and nettle with milder lemon tea tree oil. [GT]

Greensand natural handmade soap

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Smell nice twice with Neal's Yard Orange and Geranium

Geranium and orange is a knockout combination - I love Alfresco Beauty without Bites - so Neal's Yard Organic Geranium & Orange Body Butter sounds spang on. It's a lush mix of olive and pumpkin seed oil with shea butter and essential oils. £20. Buy now and get a free Geranium & Orange Soap bar. [GT]

Neal's Yard Organic Geranium & Orange Body Butter

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Loving Lovely Organic beauty goods

Shiny sister site Kiss and Makeup is stark raving mad about the glories of Lovely Organic.  Lovely specializes in top-drawer beauty goods, which ship in 100% natural jute bags with a complimentary organic soap.  Top seller is Doux Me Rose Glacee Milk Cleanser, which Kiss Editor Charlotte called "perfect for dry skin... and nature lovers", and their Mama Coco's Hawaiian Lip Balm was Charlotte's Natural Pick of the Week.  Good prices, too, with Lovely bundles starting at only £5.  We'll be following up soon with Charlotte's reviews of Nature Girl and Speiza products, but if you can't wait that long, visit Lovely Organic and pick up your own.  [GT]

Lovely Organic [via Kiss and Makeup]

Related stories at Kiss and Makeup: Doux Me Rose Glacee Milk Cleanser | Mama Coco's Hawaiian Lip Balm

Do you really need that high colonic?

Purgatives and detoxifiers are multi-million dollar business.  But is there any evidence that they actually do anything that eating well, sleeping enough and exercising will do better?  The Philadelphia Inquirer cites figures on how detox spending is going up, but independent validation of methods is not.  You may recall Prince Charles touting the benefits of coffee enemas in fighting cancer without drugs a couple of years ago.  Such treatments have continued to skyrocket as patients look for hope anywhere they can find it.  However, they needn't be for such dramatic purposes.  For example, I take high doses of calcium magnesium supplements on the advice of my pharmacist, who said they would improve the efficacy of some of my prescriptions, improve my sleep, and help my body cope with the effects of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as car exhaust and cleaning product fumes.  However, I take generic high street varieties, agreeing with medical evidence that more expensive varieties, such as coral calcium, is no better.  I also take bromelain, an enzyme derived from pineapple, because I incidentally noticed that eating pineapple seemed to reduce my joint pain, researched it, and found bromelain was being studied for its abilities to help minor knee complaints in golfers.  (Your mileage may vary with either.)

Do you take any herbal or mineral supplements?  Does brand matter?  How do you know if they help?  Post in comments!  [GT]

Purge or scourge? To cleanse their inner selves, people are spending a fortune on pills and potions, diets and enemas. Detox is a waste, some experts say - or worse.

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Earthbound Organics

Earthbound Organics manufactures organic facial creams, soaps, moisturizers, cleansers, and toners, as well as hemp bags to carry them all in. They also make 15g travel pots to bring organic moisturizers with you wherever you go.  So even when the space aliens come, and threaten to raise the temperature of the Earth one million degrees every day, you'll still look good.  (No guarantee on what happens if you leave the Earth for another planet.)  [John]

Earthbound Organics

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Hemp Garden: sustainable, sensual living

So you don't have the cash for a mini-break and you don't fancy turning the dead fridge in the basement into a workbench - you're not without options to do something new this weekend. May we instead present, for your consideration, the notion of Hemp Garden Body Oils, soothing-stimulating-sensual, with natural scent and bergamot flavour? Surely exactly the thing for a lazy Sunday morning (or a rainy Saturday afternoon) and at £9.99-£11.99 it won't break the bank either. Made of cold-pressed hemp stored in dark glass to keep it fresh, with essential oils and other 100% plant-based ingredients. [GT]

Hemp Garden Body Oils

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TurnBackTime end of summer travel kit sale

TurnBackTime has a travel kit in orange or peppermint with a travel-size deodorant and lip balm in a handy little bag that, even at full price of £6.50 is already a good deal, but given their end-of-summer sale reduction to £4.50 has me wanting to get one of each. The deodorant alone is on for only £3. Considering their products are all-natural and in this case, aluminum free, now's the time to stock up. [GT]

TurnBackTime travel kit in orange or peppermint

The organic pharmacy | Battle of the eco BO busters | Natural beauty causing a buzz

Mysa Silk and Coconut gift box

We'll be reviewing the Mysa line from Beauty Republic in more detail when the samples arrive, but this one gift box looks so pretty that it bears immediate mention. The Mysa Silk Coconut Gift Box Set is a combination of the Mysa salt scrub, the purely coconut body lotion, and two cinnamon soaps, all wrapped in silk. All Mysa products are paraben-free, with no animal testing, and food grade ingredients - plus boxes pretty enough for reuse. At £27.50 this looks like an absolute steal; will post further when I've got some Mysa in (or on) my pretty little hands. [GT]

Mysa Silk Coconut Gift Box Set

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Monday ethics: are tampons okay?

The Guardian asks: is it okay to use tampons? The long and the short seems to be: generally not, sometimes yes. Most tampons involve plastic applicators, paraben preservatives which can mimic estrogen in potentially dangerous ways and have unpredictable environmental consequences, wrappers that don't biodegrade, and a bewildering willingness to apply artificial scents to a part of the body which, frankly, ought not to smell like anything synthetic. But rather than simply griping about an issue, the article does mention alternatives, ranging from Natracare products (organic cotton, readily available in many high street stores now) to the Mooncup to - if you're really dedicated - patterns for making your own washable pads. I've used washable pads for years now and find them much less trouble than one might imagine, and the satisfaction of knowing I'm generating less waste is worthwhile. Please email or comment with yo